March 17 in History

Historical Events on March 17

45 BC

In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
180

Marcus Aurelius dies leaving Commodus the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
455

Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
1001

The Raja of Butuan in what is now the Philippines sends a tributary mission to the Song dynasty.
1337

Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
1452

The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia resulting in a Christian victory.
1560

Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique.
1677

The Siege of Valenciennes, during the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France's taking of the city.
1776

American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
1780

American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".
1805

The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
1824

The Malay archipelago splits into two domains after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.
1842

The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed;
1860

The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand land wars.
1861

The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
1891

SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
1921

The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.
1939

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins,
1941

In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1942

Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.
1945

The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.
1947

First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.
1948

Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.
1950

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "californium".
1957

A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
1958

The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
1959

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
1960

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
1963

Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.
1966

Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
1968

As a result of nerve gas testing in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
1969

Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
1970

My Lai Massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
1973

The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
1979

The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
1985

Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
1988

A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
1988

Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
1992

Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
1992

A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
2000

Five hundred thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.
2003

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
2004

Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.
2011

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1972 relating to Somalia is adopted.
2011

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 relating to Libyan Civil War is adopted.

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