March 15

Historic Events

2026

Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military. ›

2022

The 2022 Sri Lankan protests begins amidst Sri Lanka's economic collapse. ›

2019

Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings, which remains the deadliest terror attack in New Zealand history. ›

2019

Beginning of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. ›

2019

Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest climate change. ›

2011

Beginning of the Syrian revolution. ›

2008

Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people. ›

1991

Cold War: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany. ›

1990

Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first and only President of the Soviet Union. ›

1986

Collapse of Hotel New World: Thirty-three people die when the Hotel New World in Singapore collapses. ›

1978

Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War. ›

1974

Fifteen people are killed when Sterling Airways Flight 901, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, catches fire following a landing gear collapse at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran. ›

1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act. ›

1961

At the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, South Africa announces that it will withdraw from the Commonwealth when the South African Constitution of 1961 comes into effect. ›

1951

The Iranian oil industry is nationalized. ›

1939

Germany occupies Czechoslovakia. ›

1939

Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day. ›

1927

The first Women's Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on The Isis in Oxford. ›

1922

After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt. ›

1921

Talaat Pasha, former Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire and chief architect of the Armenian genocide, is assassinated in Berlin by a 23-year-old Armenian, Soghomon Tehlirian. ›

1919

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Kontrrazvedka is established as the counterintelligence division of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. ›

1919

The American Legion is founded. ›

1918

Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins. ›

1917

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne, ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty. ›

1907

The first parliamentary elections of Finland (at the time the Grand Duchy of Finland) are held. ›

1894

Madeleine bombing by Désiré Pauwels during the Ère des attentats. ›

1892

The Lobau bombing is one of the first attacks of the Ère des attentats (1892-1894). ›

1888

Start of the Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888. ›

1877

First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia. ›

1875

Archbishop of New York John McCloskey is named the first cardinal in the United States. ›

1874

France and Vietnam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina. ›

1848

A revolution breaks out in Hungary, and the Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the reform party. ›

1823

Sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reports the existence of the island of New South Greenland near Antarctica. ›

1820

Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state. ›

1783

In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful, and the threatened coup d'état never takes place. ›

1781

The British under Charles Cornwallis defeat American forces under Nathanael Greene in the battle of Guilford Court House. ›

1672

King Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, granting limited religious freedom to all Christians. ›

1626

A dam failure causes the sudden flooding of the mining city of Potosí in present-day Bolivia leading to the death of thousands and the massive release of toxic mercury into the environment. ›

1564

Mughal Emperor Akbar abolishes the jizya tax on non-Muslim subjects. ›

1412

Treaty of Lublowa: After the Peace of Thorn, Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen asks Sigismund of Hungary for economic aid. Sigismund agrees to mediate reduction to the third installment, demarcation of the Samogitian border, and other matters with a grand tournament. Hunts and lavish feasts were also organized. Sigismund invited, among others, polish king Wladyslaw Jagiello, Heinrich von Plauen and bosnian king Tvrtko II. There were people from 17 countries and languages - 40.000 nobles and 2000 knights were present from all over Europe, even England. ›

1311

Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V, Count of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece. ›

1147

Afonso I of Portugal captures in a surprise attack the city of Santarem from the Almoravids. ›

933

After a ten-year truce, German King Henry the Fowler defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut river. ›

897

Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya enters Sa'dah and founds the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen. ›

856

Michael III, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, overthrows the regency of his mother, empress Theodora (wife of Theophilos) with support of the Byzantine nobility. ›

493

Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together. ›

351

Constantius Gallus is elevated as Caesar and then sent to Antioch to govern the Roman East. ›

44 BC

The assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, by a group of senators takes place on the Ides of March. ›

200 BC

The Roman Republic under its new consuls Publius Sulpicius Galba and Gaius Aurelius Cotta declares war on Philip V of Macedon, starting the Second Macedonian War. ›

474 BC

Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce. ›