What happened on March 16? There are more than 309 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About March 16
March 16 is the 76th day of the year 2024. There are 290 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday. This day falls under the 11th week of the year 2024.
On this day in McLeod, Montana 59052 sunrise occured at 07:27 AM and sunset occured at 07:29 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Pisces. The modern birthstone for this month is Aquamarine while the mystical birthstone is Jade.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 319 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 26 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For March 16
- 597 BCBabylonians captured Jerusalem, replaced Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
- 37Caligula became Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius.
- 1190Massacre of Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York.
- 1244Over 200 Cathars are burned after the Fall of Montségur
- 1322The Battle of Boroughbridge took place in the Despenser Wars.
- 1521Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines.
- 1621Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, “Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset.”
- 1660The Long Parliament dissolved.
- 1689The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded.
- 1782American Revolutionary War: Spanish troops capture the British-held island of Roatán.
- 1792King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he died on March 29.
- 1802The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
- 1812Battle of Badajoz (March 16 – April 6) – British and Portuguese forces besieged and defeated French garrison during Peninsular War.
- 1815Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaimed himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
- 1818Second Battle of Cancha Rayada – Spanish forces defeated Chileans under José de San Martín.
- 1861Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who has been evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
- 1865American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
- 1872The 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.
- 1900Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
- 1912Lawrence Oates, an ill member of Robert Falcon Scott’s South Pole expedition, left the tent to die, saying: “I am just going outside and may be some time.”
- 1916The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing crossed the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
- 1924In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume became annexed as part of Italy.
- 1926History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
- 1935Adolf Hitler ordered Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
- 1939From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
- 1939Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran.
- 1940First 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.
- 1942The first V-2 rocket test launch. It exploded at lift-off.
- 1945Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers. 5,000 are killed.
- 1945World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
- 1950Communist Czechoslovakia’s ministry of foreign affairs asked nuncios of Vatican to leave the country.
- 1958The Ford Motor Company produced its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company’s founding.
- 1962A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappeared in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 missing.
- 1963Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing 11,000.
- 1966Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena Target Vehicle.
- 1968General Motors produced its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
- 1968Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
- 1976British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned, citing personal reasons.
- 1977Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
- 1978Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped and is later killed by his captors.
- 1978Supertanker Amoco Cadiz split 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.
- 1983Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
- 1984William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later died in captivity.
- 1985Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
- 1988Halabja 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.
- 1988Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- 1995Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment is officially ratified in 1865.
- 2005Israel officially handed over Jericho to Palestinian control.
Who Were Born On March 16?
- 1338Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (d. 1401)
- 1445Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d. 1510)
- 1473Henry IV the Pious, Duke of Saxony (d. 1541)
- 1581Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d. 1647)
- 1585Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
- 1631René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
- 1654Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d. 1704)
- 1687Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen consort in Prussia (d. 1757)
- 1750Caroline Herschel, German-born astronomer (d. 1848)
- 1751James Madison, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1773Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (d. 1836)
- 1774Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer (d. 1814)
- 1789Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d. 1854)
- 1794Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (d. 1881)
- 1797Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist (d. 1864)
- 1800Emperor Ninko of Japan (d. 1846)
- 1805Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (d. 1861)
- 1822Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (d. 1899)
- 1834James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
- 1839John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (d. 1922)
- 1839René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer and Nobel laureate (d. 1907)
- 1840Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
- 1845Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (d. 1928)
- 1846Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician (d. 1927)
- 1846Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book-smuggler (d. 1918)
- 1851Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (d. 1931)
- 1856Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial, only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1879)
- 1857Charles Harding Firth, British historian (d. 1936)
- 1859Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist (d. 1906)
- 1865Patsy Donovan, American baseball player (d. 1953)
- 1869F. A. Forbes, Scottish author (d. 1936)
- 1871Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (d. 1951)
- 1877Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian shah (d. 1944)
- 1878Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d. 1946)
- 1883Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (d. 1958)
- 1889Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
- 1890Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet actor and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (d. 1948)
- 1892César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (d. 1938)
- 1892James Petrillo, American president of the musicians union (d. 1984)
- 1897Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1901Edward Pawley, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1901Potti Sreeramulu, an Indian revolutionary (d. 1952)
- 1902Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
- 1903Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d. 2001)
- 1905Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
- 1906Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer (d. 2009)
- 1906Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
- 1908René Daumal, French writer (d. 1944)
- 1908Robert Rossen, American film director, screenwriter and producer (d. 1966)
- 1911Dr. Josef Mengele, German physician and SS officer (d. 1979)
- 1911Pierre Harmel, Belgian politician (d. 2009)
- 1912Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
- 1916Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1916Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese Businessman, and Survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings (d.2010)
- 1917Louis C. Wyman, American politician (d. 2002)
- 1917Samael Aun Weor, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
- 1918Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
- 1920Dorothea Binz, Nazi war criminal (d. 1947)
- 1920John Addison, British composer (d. 1998)
- 1920Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
- 1920Sid Fleischman, American author (d. 2010)
- 1920Traudl Junge, German secretary to Adolf Hitler (d. 2002)
- 1922Harding Lemay, American television scriptwriter and playwright
- 1924Beryl Davis, English singer (d. 2011)
- 1925Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (d. 2004)
- 1926Charles Goodell, American politician (d. 1987)
- 1926Jerry Lewis, American comedian
- 1927Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American senator (d. 2003)
- 1927Olga San Juan, American comedian (d. 2009)
- 1927Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1967)
- 1928Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
- 1928Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian actor
- 1928Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45th Yokozuna (d. 2010)
- 1929Nadja Tiller, Austrian actress
- 1930Tommy Flanagan, American jazz pianist (d. 2001)
- 1931Betty Johnson, American singer
- 1932Baruch Modan, Israeli scientist (d. 2001)
- 1932Don Blasingame, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- 1932Kurt Diemberger, Austrian mountaineer
- 1932Walter Cunningham, American astronaut
- 1933Sandy Weill, American financier and philanthropist
- 1934Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (d. 2002)
- 1935Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano
- 1936Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1936Raymond Vahan Damadian, Armenian American practitioner of MRI
- 1937Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (d. 1996)
- 1939Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach
- 1940Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
- 1940Jan Pronk, Dutch politician
- 1940Keith Rowe, English painter and guitarist (AMM)
- 1941Chuck Woolery, American game show host
- 1941Robert Guéï, ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)
- 1942James Soong, Taiwanese politician
- 1942Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
- 1942Roger Crozier, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1996)
- 1943Kim Mu-saeng, South Korean actor (d. 2005)
- 1943Ursula Goodenough, American biologist, zoologist, professor and author
- 1944Andrew S. Tanenbaum, American Computer Science Professor, Author of MINIX OS
- 1946Hubert Soudant, Dutch conductor
- 1946Michael Basman, English chess master
- 1947Baek Yoon-sik, South Korean actor
- 1947Ramzan Paskayev, Chechen accordionist
- 1948Margaret Weis, American author
- 1948Michael Bruce, American musician (Alice Cooper)
- 1948Richard Desjardins, Canadian singer, songwriter and film director
- 1949Elliott Murphy, American singer-songwriter
- 1949Erik Estrada, American actor
- 1949Joe Pilato, Italian-American actor
- 1949Victor Garber, Canadian actor
- 1951Joe DeLamielleure, American football player
- 1951Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
- 1952Alice Hoffman, American author
- 1952Graham Cole, British actor
- 1952Scott Simon, American journalist and radio personality
- 1953Óscar Ramírez, Peruvian revolutionary
- 1953Isabelle Huppert, French actress
- 1953Richard Stallman, American free software activist
- 1954Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
- 1954Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer and actress (Heart)
- 1955Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- 1955Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- 1958Jorge Ramos, Mexican TV anchor
- 1958Kate Worley, American comic book writer (d. 2004)
- 1959Flavor Flav, American rapper, and reality TV star
- 1959Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
- 1960Duane Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960Jenny Eclair, British comedienne, novellist and actress.
- 1961Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1961Michiru Oshima, Japanese composer
- 1961Todd McFarlane, Canadian comic book artist, writer and media entrepreneur
- 1962Philippe Kahn, French entrepreneur
- 1963Jimmy Degrasso, American musician (F5)
- 1963Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d. 2002)
- 1964Gore Verbinski, American movie director
- 1964Pascal Richard, Swiss cyclist
- 1964Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
- 1965Belén Rueda, Spanish actress
- 1965Richard Daniel Roman, English songwriter and record producer
- 1966Hans Peter Geerdes, German musician (Scooter)
- 1967John Darnielle, American Musician
- 1967Lauren Graham, American actress
- 1968Ananya Khare, Indian actress and teacher
- 1968Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
- 1969Aggelos Koronios, Greek basketball coach and retired player
- 1969Judah Friedlander, American actor and comedian
- 1970Joakim Berg, Swedish singer (Kent)
- 1970Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson, Icelandic singer, songwriter and disc jockey
- 1970Reynolds Wolf, American TV meteorologist and journalist
- 1971Alan Tudyk, American actor
- 1972Velibor Radovic, Serbian basketball player
- 1973Brant Bjork, American musician (Kyuss)
- 1973Vonda Ward, American boxer
- 1974Fotini Vavatsi, Greek archer
- 1974Georgios Anatolakis, Greek footballer
- 1975Sienna Guillory, British actress
- 1976Abraham Núñez, Dominican baseball player
- 1976Nick Spano, American actor
- 1976Paul Schneider, American actor
- 1977Donal Óg Cusack, Irish hurler
- 1978Brooke Burns, American actress
- 1979Edison Méndez, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1979Leena Peisa, Finnish musician (Lordi)
- 1979Rashad Moore, American football player
- 1980Felipe Reyes, Spanish basketball player
- 1980Todd Heap, American football player
- 1981Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
- 1981Curtis Granderson, American baseball player
- 1981Danny Brown (rapper), American rapper
- 1981Yoav Ziv, Israeli footballer
- 1982Riley Cote, Canadian hockey player
- 1983Brandon League, American baseball player
- 1983Tramon Williams, American football player
- 1984Hosea Gear, New Zealand rugby player
- 1984Levi Brown, American football player
- 1985Eddy Lover, Panamanian singer
- 1986Boaz Solossa, Indonesian footballer
- 1986Daisuke Takahashi, Japanese figure skater
- 1986Joe Denly, English cricketer
- 1986Ken Doane, American professional wrestler
- 1986Nicole Trunfio, Australian model
- 1986T. J. Jordan, American basketball player
- 1986Toney Douglas, American basketball player
- 1987Tiiu Kuik, Estonian model
- 1989Blake Griffin, American basketball player
- 1989Theo Walcott, English footballer
- 1991Wolfgang Van Halen, American musician
Who Died On March 16?
- 37Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, Roman Emperor (b. 46 BC)
- 455Heraclius, Western Roman courtier
- 455Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor (b. 419)
- 1021Heribert of Cologne, Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Emperor Otto III
- 1037Robert I, Archbishop of Rouen
- 1072Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
- 1322Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276)
- 1410John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (b. 1373)
- 1457László Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman and warrior (b. 1433)
- 1485Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
- 1559Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
- 1620St. John Sarkander, Moravian priest, died of injuries caused by torturing (b. 1576)
- 1649Saint Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
- 1679John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
- 1721James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
- 1736Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (b. 1710)
- 1737Benjamin Wadsworth, President of Harvard University (b. 1670)
- 1738George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
- 1747Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (b. 1690)
- 1838Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician (b. 1773)
- 1888Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (b. 1801)
- 1890Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (b. 1864)
- 1892Samuel F. Miller, American politician (b. 1827)
- 1898Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
- 1899Joseph Medill, mayor of Chicago (b. 1823)
- 1903Roy Bean, American jurist
- 1914Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- 1926Sergeant Stubby, decorated World War I dog
- 1930Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b. 1870)
- 1935Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player (b. 1886)
- 1935John James Rickard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- 1936Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist (b. 1864)
- 1940Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- 1945Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
- 1955Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (b. 1914)
- 1957Constantin Brâncuşi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
- 1961Chen Geng, Chinese military leader (b. 1903)
- 1968Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and writer (b. 1907)
- 1968Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
- 1970Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1946)
- 1971Thomas E. Dewey, American presidential candidate (b. 1902)
- 1975Richard W. DeKorte, American politician (b. 1936)
- 1975T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
- 1977Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b. 1917)
- 1979Jean Monnet, French politician (b. 1888)
- 1980Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b. 1898)
- 1983Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
- 1983Fred Rose, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
- 1984John Hoagland, American photographer (b. 1947)
- 1985Eddie Shore, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
- 1992Roger Lemelin, Canadian novelist and television writer (b. 1919)
- 1992Yves Rocard, French physicist (b. 1903)
- 1993Johnny Cymbal, American singer and producer (b. 1945)
- 1996Charlie Barnett, American actor (b. 1954)
- 1998Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
- 1999Gratien Gélinas, Canadian playwright and director (b. 1909)
- 2000Thomas Ferebee, Hiroshima bombardier (b. 1918)
- 2001Bob Wollek, French race car driver (b. 1943)
- 2001Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
- 2003Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b. 1979)
- 2003Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York (b. 1931)
- 2004Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1910)
- 2005Allan Hendrickse, South African politician (b. 1927)
- 2005Anthony George, American TV actor (b. 1921)
- 2005Dick Radatz, American baseball player (b. 1937)
- 2005Ralph Erskine, British architect (Byker Wall) (b. 1914)
- 2005Todd Bell, American football player (b. 1958)
- 2006David Feintuch, American sci-fi author (b. 1944)
- 2007Manjural Islam, Bangladeshi cricketer (b. 1984)
- 2008Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (b. 1912)
- 2008Daniel MacMaster, Canadian singer (Bonham). (b. 1968)
- 2008G. David Low, American astronaut (b. 1956)
- 2008Gary Hart, American professional wrestling manager and wrestler (b. 1942)
- 2008John Hewer, English actor (b. 1922)
- 2008Ola Brunkert, Swedish session drummer for ABBA (b. 1946)
- 2011Richard Wirthlin, American political strategist for Ronald Reagan. (b. 1931)
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