March 8

Historic Events

2021

International Women's Day marches in Mexico become violent with 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured in Mexico City alone. ›

2021

Twenty-eight political institutions in Myanmar establish the National Unity Consultative Council, a historic alliance of ethnic armed organizations and democratically elected leaders, in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. ›

2018

The first Aurat March (social/political demonstration) is held on International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, since then held annually across Pakistan, and the feminist slogan "Mera Jism Meri Marzi" (My body, my choice), in demand for women's right to bodily autonomy and against gender-based violence, came into vogue in Pakistan. ›

2017

The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses in stormy weather. ›

2014

In one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown. ›

2010

Headlined by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, TNA Wrestling moves its flagship program, TNA Impact!, to Monday night. This effort to go "big time live" failed but is notable in the history of professional wrestling television. ›

2004

A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council. ›

2001

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-102, carrying the Expedition 2 crew to the International Space Station. ›

1994

A collision at Indira Gandhi International Airport kills 9 people. ›

1988

Aeroflot Flight 3379 is hijacked by the Ovechkin family and diverted to Veshchevo in the Soviet Union. ›

1985

A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others. ›

1979

Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time. ›

1979

Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter. ›

1966

Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, is destroyed by a bomb. ›

1965

Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang. ›

1965

Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9. ›

1963

The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'état. ›

1962

A Turkish Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes into Mount Medetsiz in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, killing all 11 people on board. ›

1950

The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 "Bus" begins production. ›

1949

President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-Vietnamese emperor Bảo Đại sign the Élysée Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam. ›

1942

World War II: The Dutch East Indies surrender Java to the Imperial Japanese Army. ›

1942

World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces capture Rangoon, Burma from the British. ›

1937

Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins. ›

1936

Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race. ›

1924

A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah. ›

1921

Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while on his way home from the parliament building in Madrid. ›

1917

International Women's Day protests in Petrograd mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23 in the Julian calendar). ›

1917

The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule. ›

1916

World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila. ›

1910

French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license. ›

1868

Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka. ›

1844

King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway. ›

1844

The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is reopened after 45 years of closure. ›

1801

War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. ›

1782

Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes. ›

1775

An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery. ›

1736

Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran. ›

1722

The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad. ›

1702

Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland. ›

1658

Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden. ›

1558

The city of Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is founded by Duke John on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. ›

1262

Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg. ›

1126

Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. ›

1010

Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh. ›