On this day in History - Mar 17

• 0045 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
• 0045 BC - Titus Labienus dies in battle (b. c. 100 BC). Roman leader.
• 0045 BC - Gnaeus Pompeius dies executed.
• 0180 - Marcus Aurelius dies (b. 0121). Roman emperor.
• 0493 - Saint Patrick dies (b. c. 387). Patron saint of Ireland.
• 0624 - A key victory by Muhammad over his Meccan adversaries in the Battle of Badr.
• 1040 - Harold Harefoot dies (b. c. 1016). King of England.
• 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland dies (b. c. 1029).
• 1337 - Edward the Black Prince becomes Duke of Cornwall, the first ever British 'Duke' .
• 1425 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu dies (b. 1407). Ashikaga shogun.
• 1473 - King James IV of Scotland was born (d. 1513) .
• 1577 - The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
• 1649 - Cromwell abolishes the monarchy and declares England a Commonwealth .
• 1672 - England declares war on Netherlands .
• 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet begin their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.
• 1704 - Menno van Coehoorn dies (b. 1641). Dutch military engineer.
• 1705 - Eleanor Shaw and Mary Phillips were executed in England for allegedly bewitching a woman and her two children.
• 1753 - This was the date of the first official St. Patrick's Day.
• 1756 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
• 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
• 1777 - Roger Taney was born (d. 1864). US Chief Justice.
• 1781 - Ebenezer Elliott was born near Rotherham, Yorkshire (d. 01 Dec 1849). English poet.
• 1782 - Daniel Bernoulli dies (b. 1700). Dutch-born mathematician.
• 1804 - Jim Bridger was born (d. 1881). American trapper and explorer.
• 1805 - The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
• 1808 - Motim em Aranjuez, provocado por apoiantes do príncipe das Asturias, Fernando, futuro Fernando VII, que provoca a queda de Godoy, e mais tarde a renúncia de Carlos IV de Espanha.
• 1820 - Jean Ingelow was born (d. 1897). English poet.
• 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler was born (d. 1900). Engineer and inventor.
• 1845 - The rubber band is invented .
• 1853 - Christian Doppler dies. Austrian physician and mathematician .
• 1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
• 1862 - Silvio Gesell was born (d. 1930). Belgian economist.
• 1866 - Pierce Butler was born (d. 1939). US Supreme Court justice
• 1870 - Horace Donisthorpe was born (d. 1951). British entomologist.
• 1880 - Sir Patrick Hastings was born (d. 1952). British barrister.
• 1884 - Alcide Nunez was born (d. 1934). American jazz clarinetist.
• 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
• 1888 - Frank Buck was born (d. 1950). "Big game" hunter.
• 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
• 1892 - Benjamin Drake Van Wissen was born. Australian Engineer.
• 1894 - Paul Green was born (d. 1981). American novelist, playwright.
• 1895 - Shemp Howard was born (d. 1955). Actor.
• 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
• 1901 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
• 1901 - Alfred Newman was born (d. 1970). American film composer.
• 1902 - Bobby Jones was born (d. 1971). American golfer.
• 1903 - Se funda el Racing Club, uno de los más populares de Argentina.
• 1908 - Brigitte Helm was born (d. 1996). German actress.
• 1910 - Joaquin Valverde dies (b. 27 Feb 1846). Spanish composer
• 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (formally announced in 1912).
• 1912 - Bayard Rustin,was born, civil rights activist (d. 1987).
• 1914 - Sammy Baugh,was born, US football player.
• 1917 - Carlo Cassola was born in Rome (d. 29 Jan 1987). Italian neorealist novelist.
• 1917 - Se funda el club Toluca, de México.
• 1917 - Franz Brentano dies (b. 1838) . German philosopher and psychologist.
• 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge was born. Actress .
• 1919 - Nat King Cole was born (d. 1965). American singer.
• 1920 - Mujibur Rahman was born (d. 1975). Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
• 1920 - Olga Orozco was born (d. 1999). Argentine poet, considered one of the major 20th-century South American writers.
• 1926 - Spain & Brazil prevent Germany joining League of Nations.
• 1926 - Siegfried Lenz was born. German writer .
• 1928 - Nascimento de Krieger (Edino Krieger), compositor erudito moderno.
• 1929 - Na Espanha, a Universidade de Madri é fechada pelo governo após tumultos e protestos estudantis.
• 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• 1933 - Penelope Lively was born in Cairo, Egypt. British writer.
• 1935 - Luis Goytisolo was born in Barcelona. Spanish writer.
• 1936 - Ladislav Kupkovic was born. Slovakian composer .
• 1936 - Ken Mattingly was born. Astronaut.
• 1937 - Se funda el club Huracán Buceo, de Montevideo, Uruguay.
• 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev was born (d. 6 Jan 1993). Russian-born dancer and choreographer.
• 1939 - Giovanni Trapattoni was born. Italian football coach. "Giovanni "Trap" Trapattoni has always been regarded in the world of Italian football as a coach for whom the result of a match is more important than the manner in which it is achieved". / Nasce em Cusano Milanino, Itália, Giovanni Trapattoni, treinador de futebol ( AC Milan, Juventus, Inter, Cagliari e Fiorentina em Itália e Bayern Munich na Alemanha foram equipas treinadas por Trapattoni. Também foi seleccionador nacional da Itália). Vários títulos nacionais e internacionais. Foi campeão da Liga portuguesa pelo Benfica na época 2004/2005
• 1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese break out.
• 1939 - Pacto de amistad y no agresión entre la España de Franco y el Portugal de Salazar.
• 1940 - Mark White was born. Texas politician .
• 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1942 - John Wayne Gacy was born (d. 1994). American serial killer.
• 1944 - John Sebastian was born. American singer and songwriter .
• 1944 - Danny DeVito was born in Neptune NJ. American actor (Louie-Taxi, Twins) .
• 1945 -Elis Regina was born (d. 1982). Brazilian singer. / Nascimento de Elis Regina (Elis Regina Carvalho Costa), grande estrela da MPB, em Porto Alegre-RS;
• 1945 - Katri Helena was born. Finnish singer
• 1945 - American forces defeat the Japanese at the battle of Iwo Jima1958: The shape of the Earth is measured for the first time by satellite .
• 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
• 1948 - William Gibson was born. American-born writer .
• 1949 - Pat Rice was born. Northern Irish footballer and football manager.
• 1949 - Patrick Duffy was born. American actor (Dallas, Man from Atlantis, Step-by-Step video with Suzanne Somers ).
• 1950 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium".
• 1950 - Patrick Adams was born. American record producer and songwriter
• 1951 - Kurt Russell was born. Actor ( Executive Decision, Backdraft, Elvis, Used Cars, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango & Cash, Stargate, Tombstone, 3000 Miles to Graceland) .
• 1954 - Eleven people riding a bus near Beersheba were wounded by machine-gun fire from terrorists.
• 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down was born. English actress .
• 1955 - Gary Sinise was born. American actor .
• 1955 - Paul Overstreet was born. Country singer .
• 1956 - Patrick McDonnell was born. American cartoonist .
• 1956 - 8th Emmy Awards: Ed Sullivan Show, Phil Silvers Show & Lucy Ball.
• 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie dies (b. 1897). Scientist.
• 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay dies. President of the Philippines .
• 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• 1958 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
• 1959 - Danny Ainge was born. Basketball player and coach, baseball player .
• 1959 - António Botto dies in Brazil (b. in Abrantes 1897). Portuguese poet.
• 1963 - Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York was beatified by Pope John XXIII.
• 1964 - Muere Lino Enea Spilimbergo, pintor y dibujante argentino.
• 1964 - Rob Lowe was born. American actor.
• 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg dies (b. 1862). Baseball, basketball, football coach and player (b. 1862) .
• 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen
  bomb.
• 1967 - William Patrick Corgan, Jr. was born. American musician .
• 1967 - Barry Minkow was born. Fraudulant businessman .
• 1969 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
• 1972 - Mia Hamm was born. American soccer player .
• 1973 - Caroline Corr was born. Irish singer and musician .
• 1976 - Luchino Visconti dies (b. 1906). Italian film director.
• 1978 - Bolivia rompe relaciones diplomáticas con Chile.
• 1978 - A Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa é destruída por um violento incêndio.
• 1980 - Iniciam-se as emissões regulares a cores na RTP (Portugal).
• 1982 - Mueren asesinados Jacobus Andreas Koster, y otros periodistas, en El Salvador.
• 1983 - Horacio Butler dies in Buenos Aires (b. 28 Aug 1897). Argentine painter.
• 1983 - 9th People's Choice Awards .
• 1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree.
• 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
• 1990 - Abertura da Ópera de Paris.
• 1990 - Capucine dies (b.1931). French actress .
• 1992 - A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1992 - Los presidentes de Guatemala, Jorge Serrano, y El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, firman un Acuerdo de Libre Comercio e integración Económica.
• 1993 - Helen Hayes dies (b. 1900). American actress.
• 1993 - António José Saraiva dies (b. in Leiria, 31 Dec 1917). Portuguese professor and essayist.
• 1996 - Mike Tyson beat Frank Bruno in 3rd round to gain Heavyweight title.
• 1999 - Ernest Gold dies (b. 1921). Austrian composer.
• 1999 - Rod Hull dies (b. 1936). British comedian.
• 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.
• 2003 - Klaus Oldendorff dies. Ship owner .
• 2004 - Massive Unrest in Kosovo. Over 22 killed, 200 wounded, 15 destroyed Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.
• 2004 - J.J. Jackson dies, original MTV VJ (b. 1941 or 1942).
• Data Nacional da Irlanda, St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in Ireland on his feast day, March 17th, since the year 461. Today, Saint Patrick’s Day is still a legal, national holiday in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
• 2005 - George F. Kennan dies (b. 1904). American Cold War strategist and historian.
• 2005 - Andre Norton dies (b. 1912). American writer.
• Feast day of St Patrick: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America (see St. Patrick's Day)