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This article is about the day. For the 1993 novel, see The Fifth of March

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363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which will bring to his own death.

1046 - Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnameh.

1496 - England King Henry VII issued letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to discover of unknown lands.

1689 - Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham is named Secretary of State for the Northern Department.

1766 - Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

1770 - Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including a black slave named Crispus Attucks, and a boy are killed by British troops in an event that would help start the American Revolutionary War five years later.

1784 - Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney is named President of the Board of Trade.

1793 - French troops are defeated by Austrian forces and Liège is recaptured.

1821 - James Monroe is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.

1824 - First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.

1836 - Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver (.34-caliber).

1842 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande.

1848 - Louis Antoine Garnier-Pages is named French minister of Finance.

1850 - The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.

1860 - Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referenda to join Kingdom of Sardinia.

1861 - The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.

1868 - A court of impeachment is organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson.

1868 - Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito premieres at La Scala.

1872 - George Westinghouse patents the air brake.

1877 - Rutherford B. Hayes is publicly inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States (he was privately inaugurated on March 3).

1894 - Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery becomes First Lord of the Treasury.

1904 - Nikola Tesla, in Electrical World and Engineer, describes the process of ball lightning formation.

1905 - Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden, Manchuria after losing 100,000 troops in three days.

1907 - The second Duma opens in St. Petersburg, Russia and 40,000 demonstrators have to be dispersed by Russian troops.

1912 - Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

1915 - World War I: LZ 33, a zeppelin, is damaged by enemy fire and stranded south of Ostend.

1916 - Spanish football club Real Club Deportivo Mallorca founded.

1917 - Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.

1918 - Bolshevist Russia moves the national capital from Petrograd to Moscow.

1924 - Shefqet Verlaci becomes Prime Minister of Albania.

1931 - Daniel Salamanca Urey is named President of Bolivia.

1933 - Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions.

1933 - In Germany, the Nazis win 44 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections.

1936 - First flight of fighter airplane Spitfire Type 300.

1940 - Members of Soviet politbiuro sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre.

1943 - First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.

1946 - Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

1946 - Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.

1949 - The Jharkhand Party is founded in India.

1955 - The former President of Lithuania, Antanas Merkys dies in Vladimir, Russia.

1958 - Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is established.

1958 - Explorer 2 spacecraft launches, fails to reach Earth orbit.

1964 - Ceylon declares emergency crisis due to unrest.

1966 - A BOAC Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mount Fuji, Japan, killing 124.

1966 - In Luxembourg, Udo Jürgens wins the eleventh Eurovision Song Contest for Austria.

1966 - Bob Seagren vaults 5.19m, an indoor world record.

1968 - U.S. launches Solar Explorer B, aka Explorer 37 from Wallops Island to study the Sun.

1970 - A nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.

1970 - Dubnium atoms first detected conclusively.

1973 - Donald DeFreeze, future Symbionese Liberation Army leader, escapes from Vacaville Prison.

1974 - Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdrew from the west bank of the Suez Canal.

1976 - British pound falls below $2 U.S. for the first time.

1978 - Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.

1979 - Detection equipment picks up a gamma ray burst originating from the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.

1979 - Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter, 172000 miles.

1980 - Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49.

1982 - Venera 14, a Soviet satellite arrives at the planet Venus.

1983 - Bob Hawke becomes Australian prime minister after defeating Malcolm Fraser in Australian elections.

1984 - The Indian government order an attack on the Golden Temple.

1988 - Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands restored and revised.

1991 - Iraq releases all Gulf War prisoners.

1995 - The Free Internet Chess Server was brought online and remains operational today.

1998 - NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water to support a human colony.

1999 - Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.

2001 - In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

2001 - In Santee, California, a school massacre occurs at Santana High School, leaving 2 dead and 15 wounded.

2003 - Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks provokes controversy in the U.S. by stating that the band was "ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

2006 - Three 6 Mafia made history as they became the first African-American hip-hop group to win an Academy Award for Best Song and also became the first hip-hop artists to ever perform at the ceremony.

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1133 - King Henry II of England (d. 1189)

1324 - King David II of Scotland (d. 1371)

1512 - Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (d. 1594)

1563 - John Coke, English politician (d. 1644)

1575 - William Oughtred, English mathematician (d. 1660)

1585 - John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)

1658 - Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (d. 1730)

1693 - Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (d. 1754)

1696 - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)

1703 (N.S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)

1748 - Jonas C. Dryander, Swedish botanist (d. 1810)

1748 - William Shield, English musician (d. 1829)

1750 - Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, French classical scholar (d. 1805)

1794 - Jacques Babinet, French physicist (d. 1872)

1814 - Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian (d. 1889)

1815 - John Wentworth, American politician (d. 1888)

1817 - Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist (d. 1894)

1836 - Charles Goodnight, American cattle rancher (d. 1929)

1853 - Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)

1867 - Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)

1869 - Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal and archbishop (d. 1952)

1870 - Frank Norris, American writer (d. 1902)

1871 - Rosa Luxemburg, Socialist revolutionary (d. 1919)

1873 - Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian explorer and cross-country skier (d. 1961)

1874 - Henry Travers, British actor (d. 1965)

1879 - Sir William Beveridge, British economist (d. 1963)

1886 - Dong Biwu, founder of the Communist Party of China (d. 1975)

1887 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)

1897 - Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)

1898 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 1976)

1898 - Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-Shek (d. 2003)

1904 - Karl Rahner, German theologian (d. 1984)

1908 - Irving Fiske, American writer, playwright, (d. 1990)

1908 - Sir Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)

1910 - Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish mathematician (d. 1940)

1915 - Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician (d. 2002)

1918 - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)

1920 - Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)

1921 - Elmer Valo, baseball player (d. 1998)

1922 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer and film director (d. 1975)

1923 - David Nathan, Welsh journalist (d. 1966)

1923 - Laurence Tisch, American investor

1927 - Jack Cassidy, American actor (d. 1976)

1934 - Daniel Kahneman, Israeli economist, Nobel Prize laureate

1934 - James B. Sikking, American actor

1936 - Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)

1936 - Dean Stockwell, American actor

1937 - Olusegun Obasanjo, leader of Nigeria

1938 - Fred Williamson, American football player and actor

1939 - Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer

1939 - Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef

1939 - Samantha Eggar, British actress

1942 - Felipe González Márquez, Prime Minister of Spain

1943 - Billy Backus, American boxer

1944 - Roy Gutman, American journalist, Pulitzer Prize Winner

1944 - Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (d. 1998)

1947 - Clodagh Rodgers, Irish singer

1948 - Eddy Grant, Guyana-born singer

1948 - Elaine Paige, English singer and actress

1954 - Marsha Warfield, American actress, comedienne

1955 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian

1957 - Mark E. Smith, Vocalist with The Fall

1958 - Andy Gibb, English singer (d. 1988)

1962 - Jonathan Penner, American actor and Survivor contestant

1966 - Michael Irvin, American football player

1969 - MC Solaar, French hiphop artist

1970 - John Frusciante, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

1971 - Evil Jared Hasselhoff, American Musician (Bloodhound Gang)

1971 - Jeffrey Hammonds, Baseball player

1972 - Luca Turilli, Italian musician (Rhapsody)

1973 - Ryan Franklin, baseball pitcher

1974 - Jens Jeremies, German footballer

1974 - Eva Mendes, American actress

1975 - Jolene Blalock, American actress

1975 - Niki Taylor, American model

1976 - Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian basketball player

1976 - Paul Konerko, American baseball player

1977 - Bryan Berard, American hockey player

1977 - Wally Szczerbiak, American basketball player

1979 - Flick Shagwell, British porn actress

1982 - Daniel Carter, New Zealand rugby player

1986 - Matty Fryatt, English footballer

1989 - Jake Lloyd, American actor

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1534 - Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (b. 1489)

1539 - Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India (b. 1487)

1592 - Michael Coxcie, Flemish painter (b. 1499)

1605 - Pope Clement VIII (b. 1536)

1611 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1533)

1622 - Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)

1695 - Henry Wharton, English writer (b. 1664)

1726 - Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician

1778 - Thomas Augustine Arne, English composer (b. 1710)

1815 - Franz Mesmer, Austrian developer of hypnotism (b. 1734)

1827 - Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (b. 1749)

1827 - Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (b. 1745)

1829 - John Adams, last surviving HMS Bounty mutineer (b. 1766)

1849 - David Scott, Scottish painter (b. 1806)

1876 - Marie d'Agoult, German-born writer (b. 1805)

1893 - Hippolyte Taine, French historian (b. 1828

1895 - Henry Rawlinson, British soldier (b. 1810)

1895 - Nikolai Leskov, Russian writer (b. 1831)

1903 - George Francis Robert Henderson, British soldier (b. 1854)

1907 - Friedrich Blass, German classical scholar (b. 1843)

1925 - Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (b. 1859)

1926 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (b. 1841)

1927 - Franz Mertens, German mathematician (b. 1840)

1931 - Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, Anglican Clergyman prosecuted and imprisoned for ritualist activities (b. 1839)

1940 - Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b. 1868)

1944 - Max Jacob, French poet and writer (b. 1876)

1945 - Lena Baker, American murderer (b. 1901)

1947 - Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (b. 1883)

1953 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer, (b. 1891)

1953 - Joseph Stalin, Georgian leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1879)

1977 - Tom Pryce, British Formula One driver (1977 South African Grand Prix)

1977 - Jansen Van Vuuren, Dutch volunteer marshall (1977 South African Grand Prix)

1953 - Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (b. 1897)

1963 - Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932)

1965 - Chen Cheng, Chinese politician (b. 1897)

1965 - Pepper Martin, baseball player (b. 1904)

1966 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (b. 1889)

1967 - Georges Vanier, Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)

1974 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (b. 1888)

1980 - Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (b. 1912)

1980 - Winifred Wagner, German opera producer (b. 1897)

1981 - Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)

1982 - John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)

1984 - Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (b. 1915)

1984 - William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)

1988 - Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian (b. 1933)

1995 - Vivian Stanshall, English musician, artist, actor, writer, Bonzo Dog Band (b. 1943)

1996 - Whit Bissell, American actor (b. 1909)

1997 - Samm Sinclair Baker, American diet author (b. 1909)

1999 - Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)

2000 - Lolo Ferrari, French actress (b. 1970)

2004 - Walt Gorney, American actor (b. 1912)

2006 - Richard Kuklinski, Mafia hit man (b. 1935)

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Learn from Lei Feng Day in China.

Approximate beginning of month of jīngzhé in Chinese calendar.

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Liturgical feasts

St Piran's Day - Cornwall's national day.
Saint Adrian (died 308)
Feast of St. Kieran, patron of the Diocese of Ossory, in Irish calendar.
Saint Theophile (d. 195)
Saint Gerarda
Saint Olivia (d. 308)