Historical Events on March 31

Events 1 - 200 of 225

• 1084 Anti-pope Clemens crowns German King Hendrik IV as Holy Roman Emperor
• 1146 Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
• 1492 Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Aragon issue the Alhambra Decree which expels Jews from their Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon
• 1504 France & Spain sign truce

• 1521 The first Mass in the Philippines is generally believed to have been held on the Island of Limasawa, but may also have taken place on Masao in Butuan

• 1644 Pope Urbanus VIII and Duke of Parma sign Peace of Ferrara
• 1651 Great earthquake at Cuzco, Peru

• 1667 France & England sign anti-Dutch military accord
• 1683 Emperor Leopold I of Poland signs covenant against Turkey
• 1717 A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy
• 1736 Bellevue Hospital founded in a New York City almshouse - 1st public hospital in the US
• 1745 Jews are expelled from Prague

• 1808 French created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to adopt family names

• 1822 Massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, (later depicted by artist Eugène Delacroix)
• 1831 Mainzer Rijnvaart Convention ends
• 1831 Quebec & Montreal incorporated
• 1841 1st performance of Robert Schumann's 1st Symphony in B
• 1849 Colonel John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of San Francisco
• 1850 US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%))
• 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa: Commodore Perry forces Japan to opens ports to US
• 1861 Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans (US Civil War)
• 1862 Civil War action at Island #10 on Mississippi River
• 1863 Battle of Grand Gulf, Mississippi and Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia
• 1865 Battle of Boydton, Virginia (White Oaks Roads, Dinwiddie C H)
• 1865 General Pickett moves to 5 Forks, abandoning the defense of Petersburg
• 1866 The Spanish navy bombards the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile
• 1868 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China
• 1870 Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey is the first African American to vote in the US (in a local election on town's charter)
• 1877 British High Commissioner Sir Bartle Frere arrives in Capetown

• 1877 The family with samurai antecedents who responded to the Saigo army in Ōita Nakatsu rebels.
• 1880 1st town to claim to be completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash, Indiana)
• 1883 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit"
• 1883 Utrecht begins water pipe system
• 1885 Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate

• 1900 At " Surprise of Sanna’s Post" in the Second Boer War 150 troops under Brigadier General Robert Broadwood are killed
• 1903 Richard Pearse flies a monoplane several hundred yards in New Zealand

• 1905 67th Grand National: Frank Mason victorious aboard Kirkland; first Welsh-trained horse to win the event
• 1906 GB Shaw's German version of "Caesar & Cleopatra" premieres in Berlin
• 1906 Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports; becomes the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910
• 1907 Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt
• 1909 National Baseball Commission rules players who jump contracts to be suspended for 5 years; players joining outlaw organizations suspended for 3 years
• 1909 Gustav Mahler conducts NY Philharmonic for his 1st time
• 1909 In a diplomatic note to Austria, Serbia recognizes the Bosnian annexation and promises to maintain friendly relations with Austria
• 1916 Dutch government ends all military engagements
• 1917 US purchases Danish West Indies for $25M & renames them Virgin Islands
• 1918 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
• 1919 Strike against Ruhrgebied government of Scheidemann
• 1920 British parliament accepts Irish Home Rule law
• 1921 British coal miners goes on strike
• 1922 KFI-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions
• 1922 Prince Hendrik opens trade fair building in Amsterdam
• 1923 First dance marathon in New York City; Alma Cummings sets record of 27 hours with 6 different partners
• 1923 French soldiers fire on workers at Krupp factory in Essen; 13 die
• 1923 Stanley Cup Final, Denman Arena, Vancouver, BC: Ottawa Senators (NHL) edge Edmonton Eskimos (WCHL), 1-0 for a 2-0 series sweep
• 1924 Croydon Airport, London: Imperial Airways established
• 1924 London public transport strike ends
• 1925 WOWO-AM, Ft Wayne Indiana begins radio transmission (500 watts)
• 1926 German Special Court of Justice for state security disbands
• 1930 The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film for the next 38 years
• 1931 Brilliant Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne (43) is killed with 7 others when light plane crashes on trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles; record 105-12-5 @ .881 remains best ever
• 1932 150 wild swans die in Niagara waterfall
• 1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine
• 1933 1st newspaper published on pine pulp paper, "Soperton News" (Ga)
• 1933 Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
• 1934 Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begins radio transmission (Indonesia)
• 1939 Britain & France agree to support Poland if invaded by Germany

• 1940 Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes 12th Soviet republic (until 1956)
• 1941 Ground broken for Union Square Garage, San Francisco
• 1943 Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" premieres in NYC
• 1943 US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326
• 1944 Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
• 1945 3rd Algerian division crosses the Rhine
• 1945 Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in Zutphen

• 1945 US artillery lands on Keise Shima/begins firing on Okinawa
• 1946 Belgian government of Spaak resigns - shortest ever Belgian government
• 1946 Belgian government of Acker forms
• 1946 First election is held in Greece after World War II
• 1948 US Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe
• 1949 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
• 1951 US tanks exceed 38° of latitude in Korea
• 1953 US Department of Health, Education & Welfare established
• 1953 UN Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjöld for Secretary-General
• 1954 USSR offers to join NATO
• 1955 Merger of Chase National Bank (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) forms Chase Manhattan
• 1955 West Indies cricket all-rounder Collie Smith scores 104 in his Test debut in a 9 wicket 1st Test defeat to Australia in Kingston, Jamaica
• 1958 US Navy forms atomic submarine division
• 1958 USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, & urges US & Britain to do same
• 1960 Gore Vidal's "Best Man" premieres in NYC
• 1961 Aklilou Habtewold becomes 1st premier of Ethiopia
• 1961 8th National Film Awards (India): "Anuradha" wins the Golden Lotus
• 1962 116th Grand National: Fred Winter aboard 28/1 shot Kilmore wins by 10 lengths from Wyndburgh
• 1963 LA ends streetcar service after 90 years
• 1964 President Jango Goulart of Brazil chased out of office by military
• 1965 Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier killing 47 of 51 occupants
• 1966 25,000 anti war demonstrators march in NYC

• 1966 USSR launches Luna 10, 1st lunar orbiter

• 1968 Pirate Radio Station Pegaus (NZ) begins transmitting


• 1968 Seattle's AL club is named Pilots
• 1968 US President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes a troop surge in Vietnam, bringing the total number of US soldiers to a peak of 549,500

• 1970 Federal bankruptcy court allows Seattle Pilots to be sold to Milwaukee
• 1970 Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit
• 1970 Following an Orange Order parade, intense riots erupt on the Springfield Road in Belfast; violence lasts for three days, and the British Army use CS gas for the first time in large quantities
• 1971 South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion
• 1971 William Calley sentenced to life for Mi Lai Massacre
• 1972 Official Beatles Fan Club closes down

• 1973 Philadelphia Flyers score an NHL record tying 8 goals from an astounding 60 shots in the 2nd period of a 10-2 win over New York Islanders

• 1973 127th Grand National: Brian Fletcher wins aboard 9/1 co-favourite Red Rum; recovers from 15 lengths behind at final fence; first of Red Rum's record 3 GN victories
• 1973 Boston Bruins defenceman Bobby Orr scores his 3rd career hat trick in a 7-3 loss at Toronto to become the first player in NHL history to score 100 points for 4 straight seasons

• 1974 American golfer Lee Trevino goes bogey-free for the full 4 rounds as he wins the Greater New Orleans Open by 8 strokes from Bobby Cole and Ben Crenshaw
• 1975 37th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Kentucky, 92-85; 10th title under coach John Wooden who had announced his retirement 2 days earlier
• 1976 Cleveland Cavaliers beat Jazz, 110-101 in New Orleans to clinch club's first ever NBA playoff berth
• 1976 NJ Court rules Karen Anne Quinlan may be disconnected from respirator
• 1977 Michael Cristofer's "Shadow Box" premieres in NYC
• 1978 USSR launches Kosmos 1000 navigational satellite
• 1978 Wings release "London Town" album
• 1979 Montreal Canadiens beat visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 to become just the 2nd team in NHL history to win 50 (or more) games for 4 straight years
• 1979 The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
• 1979 133rd Grand National: Maurice Barnes victorious aboard Rubstic; first Scottish-trained horse to win the event
• 1979 24th Eurovision Song Contest: Gali Atari and Milk and Honey for Israel wins singing "Hallelujah" in Jerusalem

• 1980 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets due to bankruptcy and debt owed to creditors.
• 1981 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: "Can't Stop the Music" wins

• 1982 Arkas tanker at Montz La, spills 1.47 million gallons of oil
• 1982 Rock group Doobie Brothers split up
• 1982 NBA and Players Association reach a 4-year agreement that includes a 53% revenue-sharing plan in return for minimum & maximum payrolls; first of its kind in team sports
• 1983 Popayán Earthquake (5.5 Mw Depth) in Colombia kills 267 people, injuring some 7,500
• 1983 Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother" premieres in NYC

• 1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1984 138th Grand National: Neale Doughty wins aboard 13/1 Hallo Dandy; 23 complete the course, breaking record for most finishers

• 1985 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
• 1985 4th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Old Dominion beats Georgia, 70-65; Monarchs' Tracy Claxton, MOP
• 1985 El Salvador's President José Napoleón Duarte' Christian Democratic Party wins election

• 1985 PGA Tournament Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Calvin Peete shoots final round 66 to win by 3 strokes from D. A. Weibring; Peete only player to break par in all 4 rounds
• 1986 167 die when Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashes
• 1986 48th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Louisville beats Duke, 72-69; first tournament to use a shot clock (initially set at 45 seconds)
• 1986 English Hampton Court palace badly damaged by fire, 1 dead
• 1986 Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
• 1987 49th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana beats Syracuse, 74-73; Hoosiers' guard Keith Smart hits game-winner in final seconds, intercepts full court pass at the last second
• 1988 Last East Limburg coal mine closes in Gent Belgium

• 1988 Pulitzer prize awarded to Toni Morrison for "Beloved"

• 1990 "Carol & Company" starring Carol Burnett premieres on NBC-TV
• 1990 Dionisio Castro cycles world record 20km (57:18.4)
• 1990 Major riots occur in London and other British towns in protest against the new Community Charge poll tax laws

• 1991 10th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Virginia, 70-67; first overtime win in the NCAA's 10-year history
• 1991 Albania offers 1st multi-party election in 50 years
• 1991 Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix, Arizona
• 1991 Georgian SSR votes on whether to remain in the Soviet Union
• 1991 Musical "Will Rogers Follies" premieres in NYC
• 1991 Soviet Rep of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw Pact dissolves

• 1991 The Establishment of Islamic Constitutional Movement - Hadas in Kuwait.

• 1991 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Amy Alcott breaks her own scoring record to win her 3rd DS by 8 strokes over Dottie Pepper; her 5th major title, and 29th & final LPGA Tour win
• 1992 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi: Delhi (Ajay Sharma 175 in 532) beats Tamil Nadu (449) on 1st innings
• 1992 UN Security Council voted to ban flights & arms sales to Libya
• 1992 Phoenix coach Cotton Fitzsimmons guides the Suns to a 128-111 home win over Portland to become the 6th coach in NBA history to record 800 career wins
• 1994 James Farentino pleads no contest to stalking ex-girl Tina Sinatra
• 1994 Walkway from Cleveland's Tower City to Jacobs Field officially opens
• 1994 The Journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull

• 1995 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, Wankhede Stadium, Bombay: Bombay (Sanjay Manjrekar 224 in 6/690) beats Punjab (Vikram Rathour 177 in 372) on 1st innings
• 1995 Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of US District Court in NYC issues an injunction against Major League Baseball owners in move that effectively ends 232-day strike
• 1996 "Getting Away With Murder" closes at Broadhurst NYC after 17 performances
• 1996 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 66 performances
• 1996 15th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Georgia, 83-65; 3 Volunteers in All-Tournament team: Michelle Marciniak, Chamique Holdsclaw, Tiffani Johnson
• 1996 First time in MLB history, the regular season opens in March with Seattle Mariners beating Chicago White Sox, 3-2 in 12 innings at the Kingdome, Seattle
• 1996 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras: Karnataka (Vijay Bharadwaj 146 of 8/620) beats Tamil Nadu (370) on 1st innings
• 1996 Radio Canada International's final shortwave broadcast
• 1996 Space Shuttle STS 76 (Atlantis 16), lands
• 1996 WrestleMania XII, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, CA - Shawn Michaels beats Bret Hart for WWF Heavyweight title
• 1996 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Fred Couples shoots a final round 64 to win his 2nd PC title, 4 strokes ahead of runners-up Colin Montgomerie and Tommy Tolles

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