See what makes March 31 special at Famous Daily.
History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on March 31
- March 31, 0307 "After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian."
- March 31, 1084 Anti-pope Clemens crowns German emperor Hendrik IV
- March 31, 1146 "Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vzelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade."
- March 31, 1492 Queen Isabella of Castilia and Ferdinand of Aragon expels Jews
- March 31, 1504 France and Spain signs ceasefire
- March 31, 1521 "Magelhaes takes possession of Homohon, Archipelago of St Lazarus"
- March 31, 1547 Henry II succeeds François I as king of France
- March 31, 1644 Pope Urbanus VIII and duke of Parma signs Peace of Ferrara
- March 31, 1651 Great earthquake at Cuzco Peru
- March 31, 1657 English Humble Petition offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown
- March 31, 1667 France/England sign anti-Dutch military accord
- March 31, 1683 Emperor Leopold I/Poland signs covenant against Turkey
- March 31, 1717 "A sermon on ""The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ"" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provoked the Bangorian Controversy."
- March 31, 1776 "Abigail Adams wrote her famous ""Remember the ladies"" letter to her husband, John, urging him to include women as he helped construct the US Constitution. He didn't."
- March 31, 1808 French created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to adopt family names
- March 31, 1814 Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris France
- March 31, 1822 "The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, depicted by the French artist Eugne Delacroix."
- March 31, 1831 Mainzer Rijnvaart Convention ends
- March 31, 1831 Québec and Montréal incorporated
- March 31, 1837 Death of English landscape painter John Constable.
- March 31, 1841 First performance of Robert Schumann's first Symphony in B
- March 31, 1849 Colonel John W Geary arrives as first postmaster of San Francisco
- March 31, 1850 "US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%))"
- March 31, 1854 "Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade."
- March 31, 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa: Commodore Perry forces Japan to opens ports to foreign trade
- March 31, 1861 Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans
- March 31, 1862 Civil War action at Island #10 on the Mississippi River
- March 31, 1865 "Battle of Boydton, Virginia (White Oaks Roads, Dinwiddie Court House)"
- March 31, 1865 "General Pickette moves to 5 Forks, abandoning the defense of Peterburg"
- March 31, 1866 "The Spanish Navy bombs the harbour of Valparaso, Chile."
- March 31, 1868 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China
- March 31, 1870 Thomas P Mundy became first black to vote in US (Perth Amboy NJ)
- March 31, 1877 British high director/Governor sir Bartle Frere arrives in Capetown
- March 31, 1877 The family with samurai antecedents who responded to the Saigo army in ita Nakatsu rebels.
- March 31, 1878 Jack Johnson is first black to hold a heavyweight boxing title
- March 31, 1880 The First town completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash IN)
- March 31, 1883 Utrecht begins water pipe system
- March 31, 1885 The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
- March 31, 1889 UK hist Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
- March 31, 1896 "Whitcomb Judson, Chicago IL, patents a hookless fastening (zipper)"
- March 31, 1900 Brigadier-General Broadwoods troops fall into guerrilla hands
- March 31, 1900 The first car advertisement to run in a national magazine appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.
- March 31, 1901 UK hist Seventh full British Census (available for inspection Jan 2002)
- March 31, 1903 "Richard Pearse apparently made the worlds first powered flight, after flying a few hundred metres he crashed into a hedge."
- March 31, 1906 King Edward VII grants British Columbia's Coat-of-Arms.
- March 31, 1906 The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for amateur sports in the United States.
- March 31, 1907 Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt
- March 31, 1909 Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
- March 31, 1914 "Canada now has 3,000 officers and men in the Permanent Force; 5,615 officers and 68,991 men in the militia"
- March 31, 1914 "Seventy-eight hunters die, many crippled by frostbite, in a two day long storm when their sealing steamer, the Newfoundland, fails to pick them up due to mistaken orders."
- March 31, 1916 Dutch government ends all military engagements
- March 31, 1917 US purchases Danish West Indies for $25M and renames them Virgin Islands
- March 31, 1918 First daylight savings time in US goes into effect
- March 31, 1919 Strike against Ruhrgebied government of Scheidemann
- March 31, 1920 "British parliament accept Irish ""Home Rule""-law"
- March 31, 1921 Albert Einstein lectures in New York on his new theory of relativity
- March 31, 1921 British coal miners goes on strike
- March 31, 1922 Prince Hendrik opens trade fair building in Amsterdam
- March 31, 1923 French soldiers fire on workers at Krupp factory in Essen; 13 die
- March 31, 1924 London public transport strike ends
- March 31, 1924 UK hist British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies – became BOAC in 1940)
- March 31, 1926 German Special Court of Justice for state security disbands
- March 31, 1929 "Aviators Kingsford Smith, Ulm, Litchfield and McWilliam leave Sydney for England in Southern Cross; they were forced down in northwest Australia and lost until April 12)."
- March 31, 1930 "The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next thirty eight years."
- March 31, 1931 "in Nicaragua a 5.6 earthquake occurred 2,450 dead. One of the world's deadliest earthquakes."
- March 31, 1931 The great Knute Rockne died in a plane crash
- March 31, 1932 150 wild swans die in Niagara waterfall
- March 31, 1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine
- March 31, 1933 Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
- March 31, 1933 German Republic gives power to Hitler
- March 31, 1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission to relieve rampant unemployment.
- March 31, 1939 Britain and France agree to support Poland if invaded by Germany (and so it begins)
- March 31, 1941 Germany begins a counter offensive in Africa
- March 31, 1941 "Ground broken for Union Square Garage, San Francisco"
- March 31, 1942 "Holocaust in Ivano-Frankivsk (then called Stanislawow), western Ukraine. German Gestapo organise the first deportation of 5.000 Jews from Stanislawow ghetto to Belzec death camp. It was one of the biggest transports to Belzec in the first phase of the camp."
- March 31, 1942 "In World War II, Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession."
- March 31, 1943 "Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ""Oklahoma!"" opens on Broadway"
- March 31, 1943 "US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326"
- March 31, 1944 Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
- March 31, 1944 Japanese Navy Marshal Mineichi Koga dies in the performance of job in the Navy Second Incident.
- March 31, 1945 3rd Algerian division crosses the Rhine
- March 31, 1945 Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in Zutphen
- March 31, 1945 "Tennessee Williams' ""Glass Menagerie"", premieres in New York NY"
- March 31, 1945 US artillery lands on Keise Shima/begins firing on Okinawa
- March 31, 1946 The first election is held in Greece after World War II.
- March 31, 1948 Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe
- March 31, 1949 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
- March 31, 1949 The Dominion of Newfoundland joins Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
- March 31, 1951 "The first commercial US made computer, UNIVAC I, was delivered to the United States Census Bureau."
- March 31, 1951 US tanks exceed 38º of latitude in Korea
- March 31, 1953 "Department of Health, Education and Welfare established"
- March 31, 1953 UN Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjöld Secretary-General
- March 31, 1954 "US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO, established"
- March 31, 1954 USSR offers to join NATO
- March 31, 1955 Chase National (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) merge to form Chase Manhattan
- March 31, 1955 "Collie Smith scores 104 on cricket debut West Indies vs Australia, Kingston"
- March 31, 1955 US Assay Office in Seattle WA closes
- March 31, 1957 Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
- March 31, 1958 US Navy forms atomic sub division
- March 31, 1958 "USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, and urges US and Britain to do same"
- March 31, 1959 "The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum."
- March 31, 1959 "The Dalai Lama, fleeing the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, crosses the border into India, where he is granted political asylum"
- March 31, 1960 "Gore Vidal's ""Best Man"", premieres in New York NY"
- March 31, 1960 Number one hit on UK music charts - Lonnie Donegan - My Old Man's A Dustman
- March 31, 1961 Aklilou Habtewold becomes first premier of Ethiopia
- March 31, 1963 Los Angeles ends streetcar service after 90 years
- March 31, 1964 President Jango Goulart of Brazil chased out of office by military
- March 31, 1964 "The Dictatorship in Brazil, under the aegis of general Castello Branco, begins."
- March 31, 1965 "Iberia Airlines Convair 440, crashed into the sea on approach to Tangier killing 47 of 51 occupants."
- March 31, 1965 US ordered the first combat troops to Vietnam
- March 31, 1966 "25,000 anti war demonstrators march in New York NY"
- March 31, 1966 "USSR launches Luna 10, first lunar orbiter"
- March 31, 1967 Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar
- March 31, 1969 George Harrison and Patti Boyd are fined £250 each for illegal drugs
- March 31, 1970 "Eight terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb."
- March 31, 1970 Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere (after 12 years in orbit).
- March 31, 1971 South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion
- March 31, 1971 William L Calley Jr sentenced to life for My Lai Massacre
- March 31, 1972 Official Beatles Fan Club closes down
- March 31, 1973 Ken Norton defeats Muhammad Ali in a 12 round split decision
- March 31, 1973 Number one hit on UK music charts - Donny Osmond - The Twelfth Of Never
- March 31, 1976 New Jersey Court rules Karen Anne Quinlan may be disconnected from respirator
- March 31, 1978 "Biochemist Charles Best dies at age 79; co-discoverer of insulin, used to treat diabetes."
- March 31, 1978 "Wings release ""London Town"" album"
- March 31, 1979 The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
- March 31, 1980 Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for (WBC) heavyweight boxing title
- March 31, 1980 Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for (WBA) heavyweight boxing title
- March 31, 1981 "53rd Academy Awards: ""Ordinary People"", Robert De Niro, Sissy Spacek win"
- March 31, 1982 "Arkas tanker at Montz LA, spills 1.47 million gallons of oil"
- March 31, 1982 Canada's first fibre optics cable manufacturing plant opens in Saskatoon.
- March 31, 1982 Rock group Doobie Brothers split up
- March 31, 1983 "Earthquake in Colombia kills some 5,000 people"
- March 31, 1983 "In Colombia a 5.5 quake occurred Between 250 and 350 people killed, many injured and extensive damage (VIII) in the Popayan area"
- March 31, 1984 One-legged runner Steve Fonyo dips his artificial leg in St. John's Harbour to start run across Canada to raise money for cancer research
- March 31, 1985 El Salvador's President Duartes Christian-Democrats win election
- March 31, 1986 167 die when Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashes
- March 31, 1986 "A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166."
- March 31, 1986 "English Hampton Court palace destroyed by fire, 1 dead"
- March 31, 1986 In Central California a 5.5 quake occurred Six people were treated for minor injuries. Slight damage (VI) in the Fremont area and power outages in parts of Fremont and San Jose
- March 31, 1986 Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
- March 31, 1988 "Death of Sir William McMahon, Australian Liberal prime minister"
- March 31, 1988 Last East Limburg coal mine closes in Gent Belgium
- March 31, 1989 Donald Trump purchases Eastern's Northeast Shuttle
- March 31, 1990 """Carol and Company"" starring Carol Burnett premieres on NBC-TV"
- March 31, 1990 "200,000 protestors took to the streets of London to show their displeasure at the newly introduced Poll Tax."
- March 31, 1990 Number one hit on UK music charts - Snap - The Power
- March 31, 1990 Riots began in London over the new poll tax laws
- March 31, 1990 "Thousands riot against new poll tax in central London, leaving 75 civilians and 58 police injured and 341 demonstrators under arrest."
- March 31, 1991 Albania offers first multi-party election in 50 years
- March 31, 1991 Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix AZ
- March 31, 1991 "Georgian independence referendum, 1991: nearly 99 per cent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union."
- March 31, 1991 Soviet Republic of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw Pact dissolves
- March 31, 1991 The Establishment of Islamic Constitutional Movement - Hadas in Kuwait.
- March 31, 1992 Delhi beat Tamil Nadu on first innings to win cricket Ranji Trophy
- March 31, 1992 "USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active US Navy Battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California."
- March 31, 1993 "On this day in 1993, Lou Gerstner was approved as IBM's next chairman at a salary of $3.5 million in 1993-$2 million in base salary and a $1.5 million bonus for reaching performance goals."
- March 31, 1994 James Farentino pleads no contest to stalking Tina Sinatra
- March 31, 1994 The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).
- March 31, 1995 Bombay beat Punjab on first innings to win cricket Ranji Trophy
- March 31, 1995 Federal judge orders injunction to end baseball strike
- March 31, 1995 "In Corpus Christi, Texas, Latin superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her own fan club."
- March 31, 1995 "Microsoft Bob, a much ballyhooed ""social interface"" from Microsoft, started shipping."
- March 31, 1996 25th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Patty Sheehan
- March 31, 1996 Karnataka defeat Tamil Nadu on first innings to win Ranji Trophy
- March 31, 1996 Radio Canada International's final shortwave broadcast
- March 31, 1996 "Space Shuttle STS 76 (Atlantis 16), lands"
- March 31, 1996 The sun set on eWorld as Apple pulled the plug on its struggling two-year-old online service.
- March 31, 1996 Wrestlemania XII: Shawn Michaels beats Brett Hart for WWF title
- March 31, 1997 """Daytime to Remember"" a series showing old soaps premieres on ABC-TV"
- March 31, 1997 "Pioneer 10, ends its mission"
- March 31, 1998 Netscape releases the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement; the project is given the code name Mozilla and would eventually be spun off into the non-profit Mozilla Foundation.
- March 31, 1999 Australian aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace are arrested by Serb authorities
- March 31, 2002 "331 Earthquake in Taiwan, which measured 7.1 and killed at least four people."
- March 31, 2004 "In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed."
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