Today in History
31 March
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31 March |
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| 1084 Clement III, elected antipope in 1080 by a synod convoked by Henry IV, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. | ||
| 1492 Queen Isabella of Castilia & Ferdinand of Aragon expels Jews | ||
| 1492 Jews in Spain were given three months to accept Christianity or leave. | ||
| 1499 Pope Pius IV was born; he became archbishop of Ragusa in 1545 and was elected pope in December 1559. | ||
| 1504 France & Spain signs ceasefire | ||
| 1519 Henry II, King of Germany (1547-59) was born | ||
| 1521 Magelhaes takes possession of Homohon, Archipelago of St Lazarus | ||
| 1547 King Francis I of France died and was succeeded by Henry II. | ||
| 1570 Louise Juliana, countess of Nassau was born | ||
| 1621 Andrew Marvell, England, poet (To His Coy Mistress) was born | ||
| 1621 Philip III of Spain died and was succeeded by his son, Philip IV. He also ruled Portugal as Philip II. | ||
| 1631 John Donne, English poet, died; he was also a prominent churchman and preacher. | ||
| 1644 Pope Urbanus VIII & duke of Parma signs Peace of Ferrara | ||
| 1651 Great earthquake at Cuzco Peru | ||
| 1657 English Humble Petition offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown | ||
| 1667 France/England signs anti-Dutch military accord | ||
| 1675 Benedict XIV, [Prospero L Lambertini], Italy, Pope (1740-58) was born | ||
| 1683 Emperor Leopold I/Poland signs covenant against Turkey | ||
| 1723 Frederik V, King of Denmark/Norway (1746-66) was born | ||
| 1732 Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer of 104 symphonies and numerous chamber and vocal works, was born. | ||
| 1745 Jews are expelled from Prague | ||
| 1747 Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, German composer was born | ||
| 1796 Johann Wolfgang von Goethes "Egmont," premieres in Weimar | ||
| 1808 French created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to adopt family names | ||
| 1809 Edward FitzGerald, England, writer (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) was born | ||
| 1809 Nikolai Gogol, father of 19th-century Russian realism (Dead Souls) was born | ||
| 1811 Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German physicist and chemist, born. He is credited with inventing the Bunsen burner and the galvanic battery as well as sharing the discovery of spectrum analysis. | ||
| 1814 Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris | ||
| 1831 Mainzer Rijnvaart Convention ends | ||
| 1831 Archibald Scott, Scottish chemist was born | ||
| 1831 Quebec & Montreal incorporated | ||
| 1835 John La Farge, US painter was born | ||
| 1837 English landscape painter John Constable died. Some of his finest landscapes include the "Valley Farm," "Cornfield" and "Haywain." | ||
| 1839 Nikolay Przhevalsky, naturalist, explorer of east central Asia (OS) was born | ||
| 1841 1st performance of Robert Schumann's 1st Symphony in B | ||
| 1854 The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed between the United States and Japan, opening up the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to U.S. traders. | ||
| 1855 Charlotte Bronte, British author of "Jane Eyre" and the oldest of three literary sisters, died in pregnancy. | ||
| 1861 Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans | ||
| 1868 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China | ||
| 1870 In the United States, Thomas Peterson-Mundy became the first black to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment (passed by Congress in February 1870) which required all Southern states to allow blacks to vote. | ||
| 1872 Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist, founder of Sinn Fein | ||
| 1877 British high director/governor sir Bartle Frere arrives in Capetown | ||
| 1880 1st town completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash, IN) | ||
| 1883 Utrecht begins water pipe system | ||
| 1885 Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate | ||
| 1889 300m Eiffel Tower officially opens (commemorates French Revolution) | ||
| 1892 Stanislav Wladyslaw Maczek, Polish/British general-major/commandant was born | ||
| 1896 Whitcomb Judson, Chicago, patents a hookless fastening (zipper) | ||
| 1900 Henry WFA, English duke of Gloucester/earl of Ulters was born | ||
| 1900 Brig-General Broadwoods troops fall into guerrilla hands | ||
| 1903 Richard Pearse flies monoplane several hundred yards (NZ) | ||
| 1905 German emperor Wilhelm II visits Tanger | ||
| 1907 Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt | ||
| 1916 Dutch governament ends all milt engagements | ||
| 1917 The U.S. purchase of the Danish West Indies for $25 million, agreed to the previous August, took effect. They called them the Virgin Islands. | ||
| 1918 Daylight Saving Time went into effect throughout the United States for the first time. | ||
| 1919 Strike against Ruhrgebied government of Scheidemann | ||
| 1920 British parliament accept Irish "Home Rule"-law | ||
| 1921 Albert Einstein lectures in NY on his new theory of relativity | ||
| 1921 British coal miners goes on strike | ||
| 1923 French soldiers fire on workers at Krupp factory in Essen; 13 die | ||
| 1924 Leo Buscaglia, LA Calif, "Dr Hug", psycholigist (Love) was born | ||
| 1924 Croydon Airport: 1st British mig aircraft Imperial established | ||
| 1924 London public transport strike ends | ||
| 1926 German Special Court of Justice for state security disbands | ||
| 1926 John Fowles, England, novelist (Collector, French Leiutenent's Woman) was born | ||
| 1929 Liz Claiborne, fashion designer was born | ||
| 1932 150 wild swans die in Niagara waterfall | ||
| 1933 German Republic gives power to Hitler | ||
| 1934 Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begins radio transmission (Indonesia) | ||
| 1934 Grigori Grigoyevich Nelyubov, Russia, cosmonaut (Vostok 1 backup) was born | ||
| 1935 Richard Chamberlain, Beverly Hills Calif, actor (Dr Kildare) was born | ||
| 1939 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain undertook to defend Poland in an Anglo-French alliance if attacked. | ||
| 1941 Germany begins a counter offensive in Africa | ||
| 1943 US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326 | ||
| 1943 The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" premiered in New York City. | ||
| 1944 Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars | ||
| 1945 3rd Algerian division crosses the Rhine | ||
| 1945 Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in Zutphen | ||
| 1945 US artillery lands on Keise Shima/begins firing on Okinawa | ||
| 1946 Belgian governament of Acker, forms | ||
| 1948 Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe | ||
| 1949 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province | ||
| 1951 US tanks exceed 38ø of latitude in Korea | ||
| 1954 The Soviet Union offered to join NATO. | ||
| 1958 USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, & urges US & Britain to do same | ||
| 1959 The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum. | ||
| 1961 Aklilou Habtewold becomes 1st premier of Ethiopia | ||
| 1964 In Brazil, a period of economic crisis, exacerbated by allegations of official corruption, led to a military revolt against the government of President Joao Goulart. | ||
| 1965 US ordered the 1st combat troops to Vietnam | ||
| 1966 25,000 anti war demonstrators march in NYC | ||
| 1966 Labour Party wins British parliamentary election | ||
| 1966 USSR launches Luna 10, 1st lunar orbiter | ||
| 1968 U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not stand for re-election. | ||
| 1970 Lesotho's prime minister, Leabua Jonathan, announced that King Moshoeshoe II was leaving the country indefinitely and Queen Mamohato would act as regent. | ||
| 1971 U.S. Lieutenant William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment (later reduced to 20 years) for the killings of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in March 1968. | ||
| 1971 South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion | ||
| 1979 The military relationship between Britain and Malta ended after 181 years with the departure of the destroyer HMS London from Valetta Harbour. | ||
| 1980 President Jimmy Carter deregulates banking industry | ||
| 1980 Former U.S. olympic athlete Jessie Owens died. He won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics but Hitler refused to give him the customary winner's handshake because he was black. | ||
| 1983 The Colombian city of Popayan was devastated by an earthquake which killed at least 500 people and left more than 3,000 homeless. | ||
| 1985 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000 | ||
| 1985 El Salvador's Pres Duartes Christian-Democrats win election | ||
| 1986 A Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed into a mountainside in central Mexico en route from Mexico City to Los Angeles. All 166 people on board were killed. | ||
| 1986 English Hampton Court palace destroyed by fire, 1 dead | ||
| 1988 Last East Limburg coal mine closes in Gent Belgium | ||
| 1988 Sir William McMahon, Australian prime minister 1971-72, died | ||
| 1989 Donald Trump purchases Eastern's Northeast Shuttle | ||
| 1990 A rally against a new and unpopular poll tax turned into a violent riot in the heart of London. | ||
| 1991 Albania offers 1st multi-party election in 50 years | ||
| 1991 The Warsaw Pact, which held Eastern Europe under tight Kremlin control for 36 years, formally ceased its existence as a military force when Soviet commanders surrendered their powers. | ||
| 1992 The Security Council imposed an air and arms embargo on Libya to force it to hand over suspected airline bombers. | ||
| 1992 Israel and Spain celebrated the 500th anniversary of Roman Catholic monarchs banishing Jews from Spain with a visit to King Juan Carlos by President Chaim Herzog. | ||
| 1993 The Security Council authorized military intervention for the first time in Yugoslavia, approving the use of force to shoot down planes violating a no-fly ban over Bosnia-Herzegovina. | ||
| 1994 President F.W. de Klerk announced a state of emergency to halt spiraling violence in South Africa's Zulu heartland. | ||
| 1995 The Paris Appeals Court ruled that maverick French soccer boss-turned-politician Bernard Tapie was bankrupt, clearing a way for him to be stripped of his French and European parliament seats. | ||
| 1996 Space Shuttle STS 76 (Atlantis 16), lands | ||
| 1997 Pioneer 10, ends its mission | ||
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