On This Day In History
March 6th
1479 Treaty of Alcaçovas: Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa
1836 Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texan defenders, killing 182-257 Texans including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett
1857 Dred Scott Decision: US Supreme Court rules Africans cannot be US citizens
1869 Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society
1899 “Aspirin” (acetylsalicylic acid) patented by Felix Hoffmann at German company Bayer
Did You Know?
World’s oldest message in a bottle found in Western Australia, thrown from German ship Paula 132 years ago (12 June 1886)
Today in History in 2018
Would You Believe?
Police in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, issue an edict requiring Women to wear skirts at least 4 inches below the knee
Today in History in 1921
March 7th
161 Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire
1530 English King Henry VIII‘s divorce request is denied by the Pope
1876 Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone in the US
1912 Roald Amundsen announces his discovery of the South Pole (located 14 December 1911)
1936 Adolf Hitler breaks the Treaty of Versailles by sending troops into the Rhineland
Did You Know?
Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire
Today in History in 321
Would You Believe?
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breith stands before city council and announces that, “women are not physically fit to operate automobiles”
Today in History in 1908
March 8th
1531 Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury
1817 The New York Stock Exchange is founded
1867 British North America Act is passed in the House of Commons, serves as Canada’s constitution for more than 100 years
1917 Russian “February Revolution” begins in earnest with protests celebrating International Woman’s Day and riots in St Petersburg over food rations and conduct of the war [OS=Feb 23]
1948 US Supreme Court rules in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional
1973 The Provisional Irish Republican Army undertakes its first operation in Great Britain, planting four car bombs in London; 10 members of PIRA are arrested at Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the country
2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries
Did You Know?
Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of Paris becomes the 1st ever licensed female pilot
Today in History in 1910
Would You Believe?
Aboriginal DNA study by University of Adelaide shows Aboriginal population dates back 50,000 years from one migration
Today in History in 2017
March 9th
141 BC Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years
1522 Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage of the Reformation
1776 Adam Smith publishes the influential economics book “The Wealth of Nations”
1918 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1933 US Congress is called into special session by President Franklin D Roosevelt, beginning its “100 days”
1961 Soviet flight Sputnik 9 carries and returns from orbit a dog named Chernushka (Blackie), frogs and a guinea pig
Did You Know?
Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Over a billion have been sold worldwide since.
Today in History in 1959
Would You Believe?
Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in the Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
Today in History in 1974
March 10th
241 BC First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end
1783 USS Alliance under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral
1861 West African political leader El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali
1920 Home Rule Act passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by the southern counties, where the Ango-Irish war continues for a year
1945 Deadliest air raid of World War II sets Tokyo on fire after night time B-29 bombings, more than 100,000 people die, mostly civilians
1952 Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
2000 The NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signalling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom
Did You Know?
US issues 1st paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
Today in History in 1862
Would You Believe?
First telephone call; Alexander Graham Bell says “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you” to his assistant Thomas Watson
Today in History in 1876
March 11th
843 Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople
1502 Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524)
1966 Military coup led by Indonesian General Suharto breaks out
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader
2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima nuclear plant
2018 China’s National People’s Congress approves removal of term limits for a leader, will allow Xi Jinping presidency for life
2020 COVID-19 declared a pandemic by the head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with 121,564 cases worldwide and 4,373 deaths
Did You Know?
1 million days since the foundation of Rome on April 21st, 753 BC
Today in History in 1986
Would You Believe?
Digital art work “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” a digital college by Beeple, with a non-fungible token, sells for record $69.3 million in online auction by Christie’s
Today in History in 2021
March 12th
538 Witiges, King of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius
1455 First record of Johannes Gutenberg‘s Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before
1642 Abel Tasman is the 1st European to sight New Zealand, viewing the north-west coast of the South Island
1918 Fearing foreign invasion Vladimir Lenin shifts revolutionary Russia’s capital from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Moscow
1930 Mahatma Gandhi begins his famous 200 mile (300km) protest march against the widely hated British salt tax
1994 The Church of England ordains its first ever 33 female priests
Did You Know?
Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time in a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi
Today in History in 1894
Would You Believe?
Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world’s first black international football player and captain
Today in History in 1881