597 BC – Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
37 – Tiberius, Roman emperor (b. 42 BC) died.
1079 – Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar
1190 – York Progrom: Jews living in York, England, besieged in Clifford’s Tower and massacred or commit sucide rather than submit to baptism
1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the First War of Scottish Independence.
1620 – St. John Sarkander, Moravian priest, died of injuries caused by torturing
1660 – The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.
1739 – George Clymer, US merchant (signed Decl of Ind, Constitution) Born
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
1751 – James Madison, British-American politician, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836) was born.
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden is shot by Count Anckarström at a masked ball at the Opera; he dies on March 29.
1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
1836 – Texas approves a constitution
1850 – Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter” published
1861 – Edward Clark becomes Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who has been evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
1861 – Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union (US Civil War)
1871 – 1st fertilizer law enacted
1881 – Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts
1882 – US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the Red Cross
1900 – Sir Arthur Evans rediscovers the bronze age city of Knossos in Crete, home of the legendary Minotaur
1903 – Roy Bean, American jurist – Born
1906 – Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please), born in London, England
1911 – Josef Mengele, German physician and SS officer (d. 1979) was birthed.
1914 – Gaston Calmette, editor (Le Figaro), killed by Mme Caillaux at 55
1915 – Federal Trade Commission organizes
1916 – The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
1926 – Sergeant Stubby, American dog (b. 1916) died.
1926 – Jerry Lewis, [Joseph Levitch], Newark New Jersey, comedian/fund raiser (MDA), Born
1926 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
1927 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US ambassador to UN/(Sen-D-NY, 1977- ) Born
1933 – Ruth Bader Ginsberg, justice (US Supreme Court) Born
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
1939 – From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
1940 – First person killed in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, James Isbister.
1940 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Parma Italy, director (Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor) Born
1940 – Chuck Woolery, Ky, TV game show host (Love Connection) Born
1942 – The first V-2 rocket test launch. It exploded at lift-off.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
1945 – Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers. 5,000 are killed.
1948 – Billie Holiday is released from prison early because of good behavior
1954 – Nancy Wilson, Seattle rock guitarist (Heart) Born
1955 – President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons in case of war
1958 – The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company’s founding.
1959 – Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty
1959 – Flavor Flav, American rapper and actor (Public Enemy) was born.
1961 – Todd McFarlane, Canadian author, illustrator, and businessman, founded McFarlane Toys was born.
1962 – 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket
1963 – Jimmy DeGrasso, American drummer (Megadeth, Black Star Riders, F5, Y&T, and Suicidal Tendencies) was born.
1964 – Paul Hornung & Alex Karras reinstated in NFL after 1 year suspension
1966 – Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits
1968 – Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
1968 – Robert Kennedy announces presidential campaign
1970 – Tammi Terrell, soul singer (You’re All I Need), dies of brain tumor at 24
1971 – Muddy Waters wins his first Grammy Award, Hollywood
1971 – Thomas E. Dewey, US president candidate (R 1944, 48), dies of a heart attack at 68
1972 – John Lennon & Yoko Ono are served with deportation papers
1973 – Shah of Iran and Consortium members agree to nationalize all assets immediately in return for an assured 20-year supply of Iranian oil
1973 – OPEC discusses raising prices to offset decline of U.S. dollar value
1974 – 1st performance at new Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland in Nashville
1975 – US Mariner 10 makes 3rd & final fly-by of Mercury
1975 – T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done), dies at 64
1977 – Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
1977 – US president Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland
1978 – Amoco Cadiz spills 223,000 tons of crude oil off French coast
1978 – Red Brigade (P2) kidnaps former premier Aldo Moro in Italy, 5 killed
1983 – Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
1983 – Arthur Godfrey, TV host (Arthur Godrey Show), dies at 79
1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later died 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 is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
1988 – The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA (Catholic) funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three people are killed and more than 60 wounded. The attack was filmed by news crews.
1988 – US sends 3,000 soldiers to Nicaragua’s neighbor Honduras
1991 – Seven members of Reba McEntire’s band are killed in a plane crash
1991 – Wolfgang Van Halen, American bass player (Van Halen) was born.
1993 – Mohammed Hussein Nagdi, Iran diplomat/resistance fighter, murdered
1994 – Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan
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.
1998 – Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
2003 – Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American woman involved with the International Solidarity Movement, is killed trying to prevent a Palestinian home from being destroyed by a bulldozer in Rafah.
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.
2012 – Turkish NATO helicopter crashes into a house killing ten people in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan
2012 – George Clooney and other several prominent participants, including Martin Luther King III, are arrested outside the Sundanese Embassy for civil disobedience (Begging for US Intervention)
2013 – A €10 billion Cyprus bailout plan will wipe out 10% of the citizens bank deposits
2014 – Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.