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.
• 0659 - Gertrude of Nivelles dies. Belgian abbess.
• 1040 - Harold Harefoot dies (b. c. 1016). King of England.
• 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland dies (b. c. 1029).
• 1199 - Jocelin dies. Bishop of Glasgow.
• 1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan was born (d. 1242)
• 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan dies (b. 1220).
• 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) .
• 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici dies (b. 1478). Ruler of Florence.
• 1565 - Alexander Ales dies (b. 1500). Scottish theologian.
• 1577 - The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
• 1628 - François Girardon was born (d. 1715). French sculptor.
• 1640 - Philip Massinger dies (b. 1583). English dramatist.
• 1649 - Cromwell abolishes the monarchy and declares England a Commonwealth .
• 1649 - Gabriel Lallemant dies (b. 1610). French Jesuit missionary, one of the Canadian Martyrs.
• 1672 - England declares war on Netherlands .
• 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet begin their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.
• 1676 - Thomas Boston was born (d. 1732). Scottish church leader.
• 1680 - François de La Rochefoucauld dies (b. 1613). French writer.
• 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.
• 1713 - Juraj Jánošík dies (b. 1688). Famous Slovak outlaw.
• 1715 - Gilbert Burnet dies (b. 1643). Scottish Bishop of Salisbury.
• 1725 - Lachlan McIntosh was born (d. 1806). Scottish-born American military and political leader.
• 1741 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau dies (b. 1671). French poet.
• 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).
• 1764 - George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield dies. English astronomer
• 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
• 1777 - Roger Taney was born (d. 1864). 5th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
• 1780 - Thomas Chalmers was born (d. 1847). Scottish pastor, social reformer, author, and scientist.
• 1781 - Ebenezer Elliott was born near Rotherham, Yorkshire (d. 01 Dec 1849). English poet.
• 1782 - Daniel Bernoulli dies (b. 1700). Dutch-born mathematician.
• 1787 - Edmund Kean was born (d. 1833). English actor.
• 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.
• 1830 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr dies (b. 1764). French marshal.
• 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler was born (d. 1900). German engineer and inventor.
• 1845 - The rubber band is invented.
• 1846 - Kate Greenaway was born (d. 1901). English children's author and illustrator.
• 1846 - Friedrich Bessel dies (b. 1784). German mathematician and astronomer.
• 1849 - William II of the Netherlands dies (b. 1792).
• 1853 - Christian Doppler dies (b. 1803). Austrian physician and mathematician .
• 1856 - Mikhail Vrubel was born (d. 1910). Russian painter.
• 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.
• 1875 - Ferdinand Laub dies (b. 1832). Czech violinist.
• 1879 - Rodrigo Solano was born in Penafiel (d. 1910). Portuguese journalist and poet.
• 1880 - Sir Patrick Hastings was born (d. 1952). British barrister.
• 1881 - Walter Rudolf Hess was born (d. 1973). Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1883 - Urmuz was born (d. 1923). Romanian writer.
• 1884 - Alcide Nunez was born (d. 1934). American jazz clarinetist.
• 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
• 1886 - Princess Patricia of Connaught was born (d. 1974). British princess.
• 1888 - Paul Ramadier was born (d. 1961). French politician.
• 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.
• 1893 - Jules Ferry dies (b. 1832). French statesman.
• 1894 - Paul Green was born (d. 1981). American novelist, playwright.
• 1895 - Shemp Howard was born (d. 1955). Actor.
• 1897 - Jozef C. Mazur was born (d. 1970). American stained glass artist and painter.
• 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.
• 1906 - The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity is founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
• 1907 - Sonny Werblin was born (d. 1991). Former owner of the New York Jets.
• 1908 - Brigitte Helm was born (d. 1996). German actress.
• 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA) (formally announced in 1912).
• 1910 - Joaquin Valverde dies (b. 27 Feb 1846). Spanish composer
• 1912 - Bayard Rustin was born (d. 1987). American civil rights activist.
• 1912 - Lawrence Oates dies (b. 1880). English army officer.
• 1913 - The Uruguayan Air Force was founded.
• 1914 - Sammy Baugh was born. American football player.
• 1915 - Henry Bumstead was born (d. 2006). American art director.
• 1916 - Ray Ellington was born (d. 1985). British singer.
• 1917 - Carlo Cassola was born in Rome (d. 29 Jan 1987). Italian neorealist novelist.
• 1917 - Se funda el club Toluca, de México.
• 1917 - Delta Phi Epsilon was founded at New York University Law School.
• 1917 - Franz Brentano dies (b. 1838) . German philosopher and psychologist.
• 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge was born. Actress.
• 1918 - Silvio Pinto was born (d. 1997). Brazilian painter.
• 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.
• 1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
• 1922 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born (d. 1975). Founding Leader of Bangladesh.
• 1925 - Gabriele Ferzetti was born. Italian film and stage actor
• 1925 - Maria Magdalena Pinheiro Nogueira dies (b. 1862) Mother of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.
• 1926 - Spain & Brazil prevent Germany joining League of Nations.
• 1926 - Siegfried Lenz was born. German writer.
• 1926 - Aleksei Brusilov dies (b. 1853). Russian general.
• 1928 - Krieger (Edino Krieger) was born. Composer.
• 1928 - William John McKeag was born (d. 2007). Canadian politician.
• 1929 - Na Espanha, a Universidade de Madrid é fechada pelo governo após tumultos e protestos estudantis.
• 1930 - James Irwin was born (d. 1991). American astronaut.
• 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• 1931 - David Peakall was born (d. 2001). British scientist.
• 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. American astronaut.
• 1937 - Se funda el club Huracán Buceo, de Montevideo, Uruguay.
• 1937 - Adam Wade was born. American singer and actor
• 1937 - Austen Chamberlain dies (b. 1863). English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1938 - Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien was born. Northern Irish clergyman
• 1938 - Zola Taylor weas born (d. 2007). American singer (The Platters)
• 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev was born (d. 6 Jan 1993). Russian-born dancer and choreographer.
• 1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out.
• 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 - Jim Gary was born (d. 2006). American sculptor.
• 1939 - Robin Knox-Johnston was born. British Yachtsman
• 1939 - Pacto de amistad y no agresión entre la España de Franco y el Portugal de Salazar.
• 1940 - Mark White was born. American politician .
• 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Paul Kantner was born. American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
• 1941 - Wang Jin-pyng was born. Taiwanese politician
• 1941 - Marguerite Nichols dies (b. 1895). American actress.
• 1942 - Holocaust: 1,500 Jews from the Lviv Ghetto (western Ukraine) arrived at Belzec death camp (eastern Poland). Until 30 March 15,000 Jews from Lviv (Ukraine) were deported to face death in Belzec by German Gestapo.
• 1942 - John Wayne Gacy was born (d. 1994). American serial killer.
• 1942 - Dimitris Poulikakos was born. Greek composer, singer and actor
• 1944 - Pattie Boyd was born. British photographer and model
• 1944 - Cito Gaston was born. American baseball player and manager
• 1944 - John Sebastian was born. American singer and songwriter .
• 1945 - The strategically important captured railway Bridge at Remagen, having sped the end of WW-II, but ironically no longer taking artillery fire, collapses ten days into the battle rendering the lodgement on the Germany bank of the Rhine dependent entirely on pontoon bridges.
• 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 - Michael Hayden was born. General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1945 - American forces defeat the Japanese at the battle of Iwo Jima.
• 1946 - Dai Li dies (b. 1897). Chibese spymaster.
• 1947 - James Morrow was born. American author.
• 1947 - Jan Andersson was born. Swedish politician.
• 1947 - Yury Chernavsky was born. Russian-born composer and producer.
• 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
• 1948 - Alex MacDonald was born. Scottish Footballer and football manager.
• 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 ).
• 1949 - Daniel Lavoie was born. French Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1949 - Aleksandra Ekster dies (b. 1882). Russian painter.
• 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. American actor (Executive Decision, Backdraft, Elvis, Used Cars, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango & Cash, Stargate, Tombstone, 3000 Miles to Graceland) .
• 1951 - Donald Findlay was born. Scottish lawyer
• 1951 - Scott Gorham was born. American musician (Thin Lizzy)
• 1951 - Craig Ramsay was born. Canadian ice hockey player
• 1952 - Nikos Xydakis was born. Greek musician and composer.
• 1952 - Perla was born. Paraguayan singer
• 1953 - Chuck Muncie was born. American former football running back.
• 1953 - Filemon Lagman was born (d. 2001). Filipino communist revolutionary.
• 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 - Cynthia McKinney was born. American politician.
• 1955 - Gary Sinise was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Paul Overstreet was born. Country singer.
• 1956 - 8th Emmy Awards: Ed Sullivan Show, Phil Silvers Show & Lucy Ball.
• 1956 - Patrick McDonnell was born. American cartoonist.
• 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie dies (b. 1897). French physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1956 - Fred Allen dies (b. 1894). American actor and comedian.
• 1957 - Mal Donaghy was born. Northern Irish footballer
• 1957 - Michael Kelly was born (d. 2003). American journalist.
• 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay dies (b. 1907). President of the Philippines .
• 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• 1958 - Pat Bolland was born. Canadian Broadcaster.
• 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
• 1959 - Christian Clemenson was born. American actor.
• 1959 - Danny Ainge was born. Basketball player and coach, baseball player.
• 1959 - António Botto dies in Brazil (b. in Abrantes 1897). Portuguese poet.
• 1960 - President Eisenhower signed a National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program which lead to the Bay of Pig invasion
• 1961 - Casey Siemaszko was born. American actor
• 1961 - Dana Reeve was born (d. 2006). American actress and activist.
• 1961 - Andrew Paul was born. English actor
• 1961 - Susanna M. Salter dies (b. 1860). Mayor of Argonia, Kansas.
• 1962 - Clare Grogan was born. Scottish actress-singer
• 1962 - Ank Bijleveld-Schouten was born. Dutch politician
• 1963 - Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York was beatified by Pope John XXIII.
• 1963 - Nick Peros was born. Canadian composer
• 1963 - Alex Fong Chung-Sun was born. Chinese actor
• 1964 - Rob Lowe was born. American actor
• 1964 - Lee Dixon was born. English footballer
• 1964 - Jacques Songo'o was born. Cameroonian footballer
• 1964 - Lino Enea Spilimbergo dies. Argentinian painter.
• 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg dies (b. 1862). Baseball, basketball, football coach and player
• 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen
  bomb.
• 1966 - Jeremy Sheffield was born. English actor.
• 1967 - Billy Corgan was born. American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)
• 1967 - Barry Minkow was born., American religious leader and ex-convict (fraud)
• 1967 - William Patrick Corgan, Jr. was born. American musician .
• 1969 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1969 - Mathew St. Patrick was born. American actor.
• 1969 - Alexander McQueen was born. British fashion designer.
• 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
• 1970 - Gene Ween was born. American Musician (Ween)
• 1970 - Yanic Truesdale was born. Canadian actor.
• 1971 - Bill Mueller was born. American baseball player.
• 1971 - Pedro Laginha was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1972 - Melissa Auf der Maur was born. Canadian musician.
• 1972 - Marc Gunn was born. Poet, podcaster, and Celtic musician (Brobdingnagian Bards)
• 1972 - Mia Hamm was born. American soccer player.
• 1973 - The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, as a former prisoner of war comes home to the United States to reunite with his family.
• 1973 - Caroline Corr was born. Irish singer and musician.
• 1973 - Rico Blanco was born. Filipino singer (Rivermaya)
• 1973 - Vance Wilson was born. American baseball player
• 1973 - Jerome Woods was born. American Football player for the Kansas City Chiefs
• 1974 - Mark Dolan was born. TV show host.
• 1974 - Louis Kahn dies. American architect.
• 1975 - Justin Hawkins was born. British singer (The Darkness)
• 1975 - Andrew "Test" Martin was born. Canadian professional wrestler
• 1975 - Natalie Zea was born. American actress
• 1976 - Stephen Gately was born. Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone)
• 1976 - Brittany Daniel was born. American actress.
• 1976 - Cynthia Daniel was born. American actress and photographer.
• 1976 - Álvaro Recoba was born. Uruguayan footballer.
• 1976 - Scott Downs was born. American baseball player.
• 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.
• 1978 - Adam Jennings was born. British actor, producer and film director
• 1979 - The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
• 1979 - Andrew Ference was born. Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 - Samoa Joe was born. Samoan professional wrestler
• 1979 - Stormy Daniels was born. American pornographic actress.
• 1980 - Iniciam-se as emissões regulares a cores na RTP (Portugal).
• 1980 - Danny Califf was born. American soccer player
• 1981 - Kyle Korver was born. American Basketball Player
• 1981 - Paul Dean dies (b. 1913). American baseball player.
• 1982 - Mueren asesinados Jacobus Andreas Koster, y otros periodistas, en El Salvador.
• 1982 - Steven Pienaar was born. South African footballer.
• 1983 - Raul Meireles was born. Portuguese football player (FC Porto)
• 1983 - Haldan Keffer Hartline dies (b. 1903). American physiologist, Nobel laureate.
• 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.
• 1986 - Olesya Rulin was born. American actress.
• 1987 - Santo Trafficante, Jr. dies (b. 1914). American gangster.
• 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
• 1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
• 1988 - Nikolas Asimos dies (b. 1949). Greek counter-culture composer and singer.
• 1989 - Merritt Butrick dies (b. 1959). American actor.
• 1990 - Abertura da Ópera de Paris.
• 1990 - Capucine dies (b.1931). French actress .
• 1990 - Ric Grech dies (b. 1946). British bass player (Blind Faith - Traffic) .
• 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.
• 1992 - Grace Stafford dies (b. 1903). American actress.
• 1993 - Helen Hayes dies (b. 1900). American actress.
• 1993 - António José Saraiva dies (b. in Leiria, 31 Dec 1917). Portuguese professor and essayist.
• 1995 - Ronnie Kray dies (b. 1933). British gangster.
• 1995 - Rick Aviles dies (b. 1952). American actor.
• 1996 - René Clément dies (b. 1913). French film director and screenwriter.
• 1996 - Terry Stafford dies (b. 1941). American singer.
• 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.
• 2000 - The 800+ deaths of members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God on March 17, 2000 is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult.
• 2002 - Rosetta LeNoire dies (b. 1911). American actress.
• 2002 - Pat Weaver dies (b. 1908). American broadcast executive.
• 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.
• 2003 - Klaus Oldendorff dies. Ship owner .
• 2003 - Su Buqing dies (b. 1902). Chinese mathematician and educator.
• 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 (b. 1941). American television personality
• 2005 - George F. Kennan dies (b. 1904). American Cold War strategist and historian.
• 2005 - Andre Norton dies (b. 1912). American writer.
• 2006 - Bob Blue dies (b. 1948). American singer/songwriter.
• 2006 - Oleg Cassini dies (b. 1913). American fashion designer.
• 2006 - Ray Meyer dies (b. 1913). American basketball coach.
• 2006 - Bob Papenbrook dies (b. 1955). American voice actor.
• 2007 - John Backus dies (b. 1924). American computer scientist.
• 2007 - Roger Bennett dies (b. 1959). American Southern Gospel performer.
• 2007 - Jim Cronin dies. Animal welfare campaigner and founder of Monkey World in Dorset, England.
• Feast day of St Patrick: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America (see St. Patrick's Day)
• Ancient Latvia - Kustonu Diena (return of the larks) observed
• Boston, Massachusetts - Evacuation Day
• Ancient Rome - the second day of the Bacchanalia in honor of Bacchus
• Ancient Rome - the Liberalia in honor of Liber