Events in History
- Mar 1 Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
- Mar 2 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
- Mar 5 In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
- Mar 11 Nicholas Winton (93), former British stockbroker who helped 669 young Jews flee Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Nazi invasion in 1939, receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace
- Mar 11 The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
- Mar 12 Elizabeth Smart found after having been missing for 9 months.
- Mar 12 Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
- Mar 13 The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy
- Mar 14 Start of weekend of protests against war in Iraq that are attended by millions
- Mar 16 The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
- Mar 17 British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for the war with Iraq.
- Mar 18 British Sign Language is recognised as an official British language
- Mar 18 FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
Invasion of Iraq
Mar 19 Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion
Iraqi History
Mar 20 A US-led coalition launches a ground invasion of Iraq after an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expires
- Mar 23 In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom
- Mar 24 The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
- Mar 28 In a "friendly fire" incident, two US A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull
Deaths in History
- Mar 3 Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)
- Mar 3 Peter Smithson, English architect, dies at 79
- Mar 4 Jaba Ioseliani, Georgian bank robber (b. 1926)
- Mar 6 John Sanford, American author (b. 1904)
- Mar 7 Adriaan van der Veen, Dutch writer (Sister at Sea), dies at 86
- Mar 9 Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
- Mar 11 Brian Cleeve, Irish author (b. 1921)
- Mar 11 Ivar Hansen, speaker of the Danish Folketing (b. 1938)
- Mar 12 Zoran Đinđić, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (2001-03), assassinated at 50
- Mar 14 Jack Goldstein, Canadian-born artist (b. 1945)
- Mar 14 Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928)
- Mar 15 Joseph Coors, American CEO of Coors Brewing Company, dies at 83
- Mar 15 Paul Stojanovich, Reality TV pioneer (b. 1956)
- Mar 16 Rachel Corrie, American political activist, killed while trying to block an Israeli armored bulldozer at 23
- Mar 16 Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York, dies of cancer at 71
- Mar 17 Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
- Mar 18 Adam Osborne, British computer pioneer (b. 1939)
- Mar 19 Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator, dies at 76
- Mar 21 Umar Wirahadikusumah, Fourth Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1924)
- Mar 22 Terry Lloyd, English reporter (b. 1952)
- Mar 24 Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1919)
- Mar 26 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician and Senator (NY), dies at 72
- Mar 27 Paul Zindel, American writer (b. 1936)
- Mar 27 Ricardo Munguia, Salvadoran aid worker
- Mar 29 Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b. 1956)
- Mar 30 Valentin Pavlov, Russian politician and Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1991), dies at 65
- Mar 31 H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists