March 15

March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). There are 291 days remaining.

In the Roman calendar March 15 was known as the Ides of March.

Events

• 44 BC - Ides of March: Julius Caesar, General of the Roman Republic, was assassinated by a group of Roman senators.
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
• 1672 - Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
• 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse - Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
• 1820 - Maine becomes the 23nd U.S. state.
• 1827 - The University of Toronto is chartered
• 1877 - The first Test cricket match, between England and Australia
• 1906 - Rolls-Royce Ltd. is registered
• 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the Mexican border to pursue Pancho Villa.
• 1917 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates himself and his son from the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
• 1919 - The American Legion[?] forms in Paris
• 1922 - After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt[?].
• 1939 - World War II: Nazi troops occupy Bohemia, Moravia as part of Czechoslovakia.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault.
• 1956 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
• 1961 - South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth
• 1989 - The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
• 1990 - Gulf War: Iraqis hang British journalist Farzad Bazoft[?] for spying.
• 1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
• 1990 - The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
• 1991 - Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.

Births

• 1767 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (+ 1845)
• 1779 - Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1848)
• 1800 - Heinrich von Dechsen[?], geologist and mineralogist (+ 1889)
• 1830 - Paul Heyse[?], writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1910 (+ 1914)
• 1854 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901
• 1886 - Sergei Kirov, Soviet revolutionary
• 1905 - Berthold Schenk von Stauffenberg, jurist and Nazi opponent (+ 1944)
• 1907 - Zarah Leander[?], actress and singer (+ 1981)
• 1912 - Lightnin Hopkins[?], musician (+ 1982)
• 1916 - Harry James, musician, band leader (+ 1983)
• 1919 - Lawrence Tierney[?], actor (+ 2002)
• 1920 - Lawrence Sanders[?], novelist (+ 1998)
• 1926 - Norm Van Brocklin[?], American football star
• 1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsberg, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court
• 1933 - Roy Clark[?], country musician
• 1935 - Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist
• 1935 - Judd Hirsch[?], actor
• 1940 - Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead
• 1941 - Mike Love[?], musician ("The Beach Boys")
• 1943 - David Cronenberg, director
• 1944 - Sly Stone, singer
• 1944 - Elisabeth Plessen[?], writer
• 1947 - Ry Cooder, guitarist
• 1955 - Dee Snider[?], singer
• 1961 - Fabio[?], model
• 1962 - Terence Trent D'Arby, singer
• 1972 - Mark Hoppus, musician ("Blink 182")

Deaths

• 44 BC - Julius Caesar
• 1937 - H. P. Lovecraft, horror writer
• 1941 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian impressionist painter
• 1975 - Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate
• 1983 - Rebecca West, writer
• 1990 - Tom Harmon[?], American football star, broadcaster
• 1998 - Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, writer, Olympics gold medalist
• 2001 - Ann Sothern[?], actress
• 2002 - Sylvester Weaver[?], television executive

Holidays and observances

• In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March.

March 14 - March 16 - February 15 - April 15 -- listing of all days

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