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Today March 16th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
597 BC – Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
1190 – Crusaders start to massacre the Jews of York; many Jews commit suicide rather than submit to baptism.
1249 – The Servite Order is officially approved by Cardinal Raniero Capocci, papal legate in Tuscany.
1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the First War of Scottish Independence.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
1621 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset.
1660 – The Long Parliament disbands.
1689 – The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded.
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
1802 – The United States Military Academy at West Point is established.
1812 – Battle of Badajoz (March 16 – April 6) – British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat French garrison during Peninsular War.
1815 – Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in The Netherlands.
1818 – Second Battle of Cancha Rayada – Spanish forces defeat Chileans under José de San Martín.
1861 – Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough begins as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
1867 – First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.
1872 – The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
1900 – Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
1912 – Lawrence Oates, ill member of Scott s South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, I am just going outside and may be some time.
1916 – The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
1924 – The free port of Fiume is formally annexed by Mussolini s fascist regime.
1926 – History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Conscription was reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
1939 – From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
1939 – Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran.
1942 – History of Rocketry: The first V-2 rocket test launch (exploded at liftoff).
1943 – The Royal Navy Isles Class Trawler HMS Campobello Sinks in the Atlantic.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
1945 – Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
1950 – Communist Czechoslovakia s ministry of foreign affairs asked nuncios of Vatican to leave the country.
1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 1,870mm (73 inches) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
1958 – The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company s founding.
1962 – A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 people missing.
1963 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali, as 11,000 die.
1966 – Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena Target Vehicle.
1968 – Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers: men, women, and children are killed by American troops.
1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
1971 – Government of Trygve Bratteli in Norway.
1976 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
1977 – Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
1978 – Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing terrorists and is later killed by his captors.
1978 – Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history.
1983 – Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
1985 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
1988 – Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
1988 – Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing 5000 people and injured about 10000 people.
1995 – Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
1997 – Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International.
1998 – Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
2003 – The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
2005 – Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
2006 – The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council.
Births
1338 – Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (d. 1401)
1445 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d. 1510)
1473 – Henry IV the Pious, Duke of Saxony (d. 1541)
1581 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d. 1647)
1585 – Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
1631 – René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
1654 – Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d. 1704)
1687 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort in Prussia (d. 1757)
1750 – Caroline Herschel, German-born English astronomer (d. 1848)
1751 – James Madison, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
1773 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (d. 1836)
1774 – Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer of the coasts of Australia (d. 1814)
1789 – Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d. 1854)
1794 – Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (d. 1881)
1800 – Emperor Ninko of Japan (d. 1846)
1805 – Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (d. 1861)
1822 – Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (d. 1899)
1834 – James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
1839 – René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
1839 – John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (d. 1922)
1840 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
1846 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician (d. 1927)
1851 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (d. 1931)
1856 – Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph, called Napoleon IV, the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1879)
1857 – Charles Harding Firth, British historian (d. 1936)
1859 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist (d. 1906)
1865 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player (d. 1953)
1869 – F. A. Forbes, Scottish author (d. 1936)
1877 – Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1941)
1878 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d. 1946)
1889 – Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
1890 – Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet actor and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (d. 1948)
1892 – César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (d. 1938)
1892 – James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (d. 1984)
1897 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
1883 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (d. 1958)
1901 – Edward Pawley, American actor (d. 1988)
1902 – Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
1903 – Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d. 2001)
1905 – Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
1905 – Marlin Perkins, American naturalist (d. 1986)
1906 – Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
1906 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer
1908 – René Daumal, French Surrealist writer (d. 1944)
1908 – Robert Rossen, American film director, screenwriter and producer (d. 1966)
1911 – Dr. Josef Mengele, German, accused Nazi war criminal (d. 1979)
1911 – Pierre Harmel, Belgian politician
1912 – Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
1916 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
1917 – Samael Aun Weor, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
1918 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1920 – Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
1920 – Traudl Junge, Hitler s secretary (d. 2002)
1920 – John Addison, British composer (d. 1998)
1920 – Dorothea Binz, Nazi war criminal (d. 1947)
1920 – Sid Fleischman, American author
1922 – Harding Lemay, American television scriptwriter and playwright
1925 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist, co-inventor of the combined oral contraceptive pill (d. 2004)
1926 – Charles Goodell, American politician (d. 1987)
1926 – Jerry Lewis, American comedian
1927 – Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1967)
1927 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (d. 2003)
1927 – Olga San Juan, American comedian
1928 – Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
1928 – Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian actor
1929 – Nadja Tiller, Austrian actress
1930 – Tommy Flanagan, American jazz pianist (d. 2001)
1931 – Betty Johnson, American singer
1932 – Don Blasingame, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1932 – Walter Cunningham, American astronaut
1933 – Sandy Weill, American financier and philanthropist
1934 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (d. 2002)
1935 – Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano
1936 – Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
1937 – Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (d. 1996)
1939 – Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach
1940 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
1940 – Jan Pronk, Dutch politician
1940 – Keith Rowe, English guitarist (AMM) and painter
1941 – Robert Guéï, ruler of Côte d Ivoire (d. 2002)
1941 – Chuck Woolery, American game show host
1942 – James Soong, Taiwanese politician
1942 – Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
1942 – Roger Crozier, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1996)
1943 – Ursula Goodenough, Evolutionary Scholar, Cell Biologist
1943 – Kim Mu-saeng, South Korean actor (d. 2005)
1946 – Michael Basman, English chess master
1946 – Hubert Soudant, Dutch conductor
1947 – Baek Yoon-sik, South Korean actor
1947 – Ramzan Paskayev, Chechen accordionist
1948 – Michael Bruce, American musician. Guitarist and keyboard player for Alice Cooper
1948 – Margaret Weis, American author
1948 – Richard Desjardins, Quebec singer, songwriter and film director
1949 – Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
1949 – Elliott Murphy, American Singer-Songwriter
1949 – Victor Garber, Canadian actor
1951 – Joe DeLamielleure, American football player
1951 – Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
1952 – Philippe Kahn, French-American entrepreneur
1953 – Isabelle Huppert, French actress
1953 – Richard Stallman, American free software activist
1954 – Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
1954 – Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer, and actress (Heart)
1955 – Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
1955 – Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
1958 – Jorge Ramos, Mexican TV anchor
1958 – Kate Worley, American comic book writer (d. 2004)
1959 – Flavor Flav, American rapper, and reality tv star
1959 – Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
1960 – Duane Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Todd McFarlane, Canadian cartoonist, comic book writer, artist, and media entrepreneur
1961 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league footballer
1963 – Jimmy Degrasso, American musician, drummer
1963 – Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d. 2002)
1964 – Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
1964 – Gore Verbinski, American movie director
1964 – Pascal Richard, Swiss cyclist
1965 – Richard Daniel Roman, English songwriter and record producer
1965 – Belén Rueda, Spanish actress
1967 – Lauren Graham, American actress
1968 – Ananya Khare, Indian actress and teacher
1970 – Paul Oscar (Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson), Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey
1970 – Reynolds Wolf, television meteorologist, journalist
1970 – Joakim Berg, Swedish singer, member of the band Kent
1971 – Alan Tudyk, American actor
1972 – Velibor Radovic, Serbian basketball player
1973 – Brant Bjork, American musician (Kyuss)
1974 – Georgios Anatolakis, Greek footballer
1974 – Fotini Vavatsi, Greek archer
1975 – Sienna Guillory, English actress
1976 – Abraham Núñez, Dominican baseball player
1976 – Paul Schneider, American actor
1976 – Nick Spano, American actor
1977 – Donal Óg Cusack, Irish hurler
1978 – Brooke Burns, American actress
1979 – Edison Méndez, Ecuadorian footballer
1979 – Rashad Moore, National Football League player
1979 – Leena Peisa, Finnish musician (Lordi)
1980 – Felipe Reyes, Spanish basketball player
1980 – Todd Heap, American football player
1981 – Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
1981 – Curtis Granderson, American baseball player
1981 – Yoav Ziv, Israeli footballer
1983 – Brandon League, American baseball player
1984 – Levi Brown, American football player
1985 – Nicole Trunfio, Australian supermodel
1985 – Christopher Wojciechowski, American professional disc golfer
1986 – Ken Doane, American professional wrestler
1986 – T. J. Jordan, American basketball player
1986 – Joe Denly, English cricketer
1987 – Tiiu Kuik, Estonian model
1989 – Peaches Geldof, English socialite
1989 – Theo Walcott, English footballer
1989 – Blake Griffin, American basketball player
1991 – Wolfgang Van Halen, American musician
Deaths
37 – Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, Roman Emperor (b. 46 BC)
455 – Valentinian III, Roman Emperor (b. 419)
1021 – Heribert of Cologne, Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Emperor Otto III
1037 – Robert I, Archbishop of Rouen
1072 – Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
1322 – Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276)
1410 – John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (b. 1373)
1457 – László Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman and warrior (b. 1433)
1485 – Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
1559 – Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
1649 – St. Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
1620 – St. John Sarkander, Moravian priest, died of injuries caused by torturing
1679 – John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
1721 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
1736 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (b. 1710)
1737 – Benjamin Wadsworth, President of Harvard University (b. 1670)
1738 – George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
1747 – Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (b. 1690)
1888 – Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (b. 1801)
1890 – Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (b. 1864)
1892 – Samuel F. Miller, American politician (b. 1827)
1898 – Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
1899 – Joseph Medill, mayor of Chicago (b. 1823)
1903 – Roy Bean, American jurist
1914 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
1926 – Sergeant Stubby, decorated World War I dog
1930 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b. 1870)
1935 – John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
1935 – Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player (b. 1886)
1936 – Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist (b. 1864)
1940 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
1945 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
1955 – Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (b. 1914)
1957 – Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
1961 – Chen Geng, Chinese military leader (b. 1903)
1968 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
1968 – Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and writer (b. 1907)
1970 – Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1946)
1971 – Thomas Dewey, American presidential candidate (b. 1902)
1975 – Richard W. DeKorte, American politician (b. 1936)
1975 – T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
1977 – Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b. 1917)
1979 – Jean Monnet, French politician (b. 1888)
1980 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b. 1898)
1983 – Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
1983 – Fred Rose, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
1984 – John Hoagland, American photographer (b. 1947)
1985 – Eddie Shore, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
1992 – Yves Rocard, French physicist (b. 1903)
1992 – Roger Lemelin, Quebec novelist and television writer (b. 1919)
1993 – Johnny Cymbal, American singer and producer (b. 1945)
1996 – Charlie Barnett, American actor (b. 1954)
1998 – Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
1999 – Gratien Gélinas, Quebec playwright and director (b. 1909)
2000 – Thomas Ferebee, Hiroshima bombardier (b. 1918)
2001 – Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
2001 – Bob Wollek, French race car driver (b. 1943)
2003 – Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b. 1979)
2003 – Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York (b. 1931)
2004 – Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1910)
2005 – Todd Bell, American football player (b. 1958)
2005 – Ralph Erskine, British architect (Byker Wall) (b. 1914)
2005 – Anthony George, American TV actor (b. 1921)
2005 – Allan Hendrickse, South African politician (b. 1927)
2005 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (b. 1937)
2006 – David Feintuch, American sci-fi author (b. 1944)
2007 – Manjural Islam, Bangladeshi cricketer (b. 1984)
2008 – Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (b. 1912)
2008 – Ola Brunkert, Swedish session drummer for ABBA (b. 1946)
2008 – Gary Hart, American professional wrestling manager and wrestler (b. 1942)
2008 – G. David Low, American astronaut (b. 1956)
2008 – John Hewer, Actor famous for portraying Captain Birdseye in British commercials. (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances
Latvia – The controversial Latvian Legion Day
The first day of the Bacchanalia in ancient Rome
Abban of Magheranoidhe
Abban of New Ross
Saint Heribert of Cologne (died 1021)
Saint Agapitus
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