On This Day in History for March 13

Events 1 - 100 of 136

• 483 St Felix III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
• 607 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
• 624 Battle of Badr: Muhammad's Muslim forces win significant victory over Meccan army
• 1138 German king Koenraad II von Hohenstaufen crowned
• 1560 Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli
• 1564 Cardinal Granvelle flees Brussels
• 1567 Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzenleger
• 1569 Battle of Jarnac, Count of Anjou defeats Huguenots
• 1591 Battle at Tondibi: Moroccan army under Judar defeats Sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai
• 1634 First meeting of what would become the Academie Francaise in Paris at the house of Valentin Conrart
• 1639 Cambridge College, Massachusetts, renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard
• 1656 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam
• 1677 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000
• 1735 1st US Moravian bishop, David Nitschmann, consecrated in Germany
• 1759 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
• 1772 Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Calotti" premieres in Brunswick

• 1846 Friedrich Hebbel's "Maria Magdalena" premieres in Königsberg

• 1869 Arkansas legislature passes anti-Ku Klux Klan law

• 1884 Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins by Mahdist forces, lasts 10 months
• 1884 US adopts Standard Time
• 1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages across the east coast of the USA and Canada
• 1897 San Diego State University is founded.
• 1900 British troops occupy Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State (Boer War)
• 1900 In France the length of the working day for women and children is limited by law to 11 hours.
• 1903 Fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in Northern Nigeria, the British claim supremacy of over 500,000 square miles
• 1904 Bronze statue of Christ on Argentine-Chilean border dedicated

• 1911 The Colonial-Born and Settlers Indian Association is formed at a meeting in Durban, South Africa, and has at its aim to fight the infamous 3 poll tax
• 1912 Bulgaria and Serbia conclude an alliance pact ostensibly against Austria, but it secretly provides for a possible war against Turkey
• 1913 Kansas legislature approved censorship of motion pictures

• 1918 American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms
• 1920 After the German government is forced to cut its army to 10,000 men, military groups plot an unsuccessful coup - a revolt ended by a general strike
• 1921 Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China

• 1922 WRR-AM in Dallas TX begins radio transmissions
• 1923 Lee de Forest demonstrates his sound-on-film moving pictures (NYC)


• 1925 Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution
• 1930 Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory
• 1933 American banks allowed to reopen after a government imposed bank holiday

• 1935 Driving tests introduced in Great Britain
• 1938 In a process known as Anschluss, Austria is annexed into Nazi Germany
• 1940 Finland-Russian cease fire signed, the Winter War ends. Finland gives up Karelische
• 1941 A Bougne forms AGRA (Amis du Grand Reich Allemand)
• 1942 Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps, becomes 1st woman colonel in US army

• 1943 Frank Dixon wins Knights of Columbus mile (4:09.6)
• 1944 USSR recognizes Italian government of Pietro Badoglio
• 1945 Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands
• 1945 Nazi Sicherheitsdienst arrests Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman
• 1946 Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium Socialist Party) forms Belgian government - shortest Belgian government (ends 31 March)
• 1949 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Yvonne C Sherman
• 1949 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
• 1950 General Motors reports net earnings of $656,434,232 (record)
• 1951 2nd Dutch government of Drees forms
• 1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
• 1954 Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu
• 1955 Bir BSD Mahendra succeeds Tribhubana as king of Nepal

• 1958 Government troops land in Sumatra Indonesia
• 1961 Elizabeth Gurley Finn (70) becomes President of US Communist Party

• 1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145
• 1961 Old type, black & white notes cease to be legal tender
• 1962 Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty
• 1963 Two Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska
• 1963 Indonesia & Netherlands reinstate diplomatic relations
• 1964 Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack
• 1967 Congo sentences ex-premier Moise Tsjombe to death
• 1967 Robert Anderson's "You Know I Can't Hear You ..." premieres in NYC
• 1968 Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah, kills 6,000 sheep
• 1969 Apollo 9 returns to Earth
• 1970 100 year Beehive anniversary ends in brawl in Amsterdam
• 1970 Digital Equipment Corp introduces PDP-11 minicomputer
• 1970 San Francisco city employees begin 4-day strike
• 1973 Syria adopts constitution
• 1973 Minskoff Theater opens at 200 W 45th St NYC
• 1974 Glenn Turner scores twin tons for NZ's 1st win against Aust
• 1975 Bernard Slade's "Same Time, Next Year" premieres in NYC
• 1977 Dennis Lillee takes 6-26, England all out 95 in Centenary Test
• 1978 Moluccan "suicide commandos" occupies Province house
• 1979 European Monetary System is established, ECU created
• 1979 Gairy dictatorship in Grenada overthrown by New Jewel Movement
• 1980 Eric Heiden skates world record 1000m (1:13.60)
• 1980 Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto
• 1980 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Dortmund won by Jan Hoffmann GDR

• 1982 Ice Pairs Championship at Copenhagen won by Baess & Thierbach (GDR)
• 1983 1st USFL overtime game-Birmingham Stallions beat Oakld Invaders 20-14

• 1985 Michael Secrest (US) begins 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards
• 1986 Soyuz T-15 carries 2 cosmonauts to Soviet space station Mir
• 1986 Microsoft has its Initial public offering.

• 1987 Washington Caps score 5 goals against Toronto in 3 mins & 3 secs

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• 1372 Louis I, Duke of Orléans, Brother of Charles VI of France, born in Paris (d. 1407)
• 1548 Sasbout Vosmeer, Dutch Catholic theologist and apostole vicar, born in Delft, Netherlands (d. 1614)
• 1585 Federico Cesi, Italian naturalist and founder of the first modern scientific society, the Accademia dei Lincei, 1603, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1630)
• 1599 Johannes Berchmans, Dutch Jesuit and Roman Catholic saint, born in Diest, Seventeen Provinces (d. 1621)
• 1615 Innocent XII [Antonio Pignatelli], Pope (1691-1700), born in Spinazzola, Italy (d. 1700)
• 1683 John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-British natural philosopher and freemason, born in La Rochelle, France (d. 1744)
• 1696 Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, French marshal and statesman, 3rd Duke of Richilieu, born in Paris (d. 1788)
• 1719 John Griffin Whitwell, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British field marshal, born in Oundle, Northamptonshire (d. 1797)
• 1720 Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist and writer, born in Geneva (d. 1793)
• 1741 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1764-90), born in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria (d. 1790)
• 1744 David Allan, Scottish painter, born in Alloa, Scotland (d. 1796)
• 1763 Guillaume Brune, French marshal, born in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France (d. 1815)

• 1768 Charles Louis Willem Josef van Keverberg, Dutch civil servant, born in Haelen, Netherlands (d. 1841)
• 1770 Daniel Lambert, English gaol keep and famous for his unusually large size (weighed 739 lbs (334 kg) at death), born in Blue Boar Lane, Leicester (d. 1809)
• 1781 Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German architect, city planner and painter (Altes Museum, Neue Wache), born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of Brandenburg (d. 1841)
• 1798 Abigail Fillmore, American 1st lady (1850-53), born in Stillwater, New York (d. 1853)
• 1815 James Curtis Hepburn, American missionary and linguist, born in Milton, Pennsylvania (d. 1911)
• 1818 Albion Parris Howe, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Standish, Maine (d. 1897)
• 1820 Louis Hébert, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army) and civil engineer, born in Iberville Parish, Louisiana (d. 1901)
• 1822 Moritz von Strachwitz, German poet, born in Peterwitz, Silesia (d. 1847)

• 1858 Maximilien Luce, French painter, born in Paris (d. 1941)
• 1864 Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter, born in Torzhok, Russia (d. 1941)
• 1870 Albert Meyer, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1929-38), born in Fällanden, Switzerland (d. 1953)
• 1872 Oswald Garrison Villard, American journalist and editor of the New York Evening Post, born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 1949)
• 1875 Lizzy Ansingh, Dutch painter (Caught Sultane), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1959)
• 1881 Balthazar Huibrecht Verhagen, Dutch dramatist and writer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1950)
• 1884 Emanuel Stickelberger, Swiss writer (Bluthochzeit), born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1962)
• 1884 Hugh S Walpole, British novelist and playwright (Jeremy, Maradick at 40), born in Auckland, New Zealand (d. 1941)
• 1884 Oskar Loerke, German writer (Longest Day-1926), born in Świecie, Poland (d. 1941)
• 1892 Janet Flanner, American journalist (New Yorker), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 1978)
• 1896 Dorothy Aldis, American children's writer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1966)
• 1897 Marcel Thiry, Belgian writer and wallon militant, born in Charleroi, Belgium (d. 1977)
• 1899 Jan Lechoń [Leszek Józef Serafinowicz], Polish poet, born in Warsaw, Congress Poland (d. 1956)
• 1899 John Van Vleck, American physicist, mathematician, and Nobel Laureate who pioneered the modern quantum mechanical theory of magnetism, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 1980)
• 1904 Henry Iliffe Cozens, English Royal Air Force pilot, born in London (d. 1995)
• 1907 Mircea Eliade, Romanian religious historian (Le Yoga) and author, born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 1986) [O.S. 02-28]
• 1907 Albert Hughes Williams, teacher and historian (d. 1996)
• 1907 Maria Pia de Braganca, Portuguese journalist and writer who claimed to be the bastard daughter of King Carlos I of Portugal, born in Lisbon (d. 1995)
• 1907 Charles Brink, German-born British classical scholar (Horace), born in Berlin (d. 1994)
• 1908 Walter Annenberg, American publisher (Triangle-TV Guide) and philanthropist, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2002)
• 1909 Gilbert Inglefield, British architect and Mayor of London (1967-68) (d. 1991)
• 1911 L. Ron Hubbard, American sci-fi writer (Death Quest) and founder of the Scientology cult, born in Tilden, Nebraska (d. 1986)
• 1912 James Friell, Scottish political cartoonist (Daily Worker), born in Glasgow (d. 1997)

• 1913 Sergey Mikhalkov, Soviet writer and poet, born in Moscow (d. 2009) [NS]
• 1913 Sir Reo Stakis, Anglo-Cypriot hotel magnate (d. 2001)
• 1914 Tessie O'Shea, Welsh stage and screen entertainer, born in Cardiff (d. 1995)
• 1914 Edward O'Hare, American naval aviator of the U.S. Navy, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1943)
• 1914 W.O. Mitchell, Canadian writer (Who Has Seen the Wind?), born in Weyburn, Canada (d. 1998)
• 1916 Lindy Boggs [Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs], American political administrator, born in New Roads, Louisiana (d. 2013)
• 1916 Jacque Fresco, American industrial designer and founder of the Venus Project, born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2017)
• 1917 Maria Vlamynck, Flemish author
• 1919 Faye Glenn Abdellah, American pioneer in nursing research and US government official (health services), born in NYC, New York (d. 2017)
• 1920 Frans van der Elst, Belgian attorney and MP (Volksunie), born in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Belgium (d. 1997)
• 1920 Ralph J Roberts, American businessman and founder of Comcast, born in NYC, New York (d. 2015)
• 1921 Al Jaffee, American comic strip cartoonist and illustrator (MAD Magazine), born in Savannah, Georgia
• 1923 William F. Bolger, 65th Postmaster General of the United States, born in Waterbury, Connecticut (d. 1989)
• 1926 F. H. McClintock, British criminologist, born in London (d. 1994)
• 1927 Charles Sickman Corsen, Dutch Antillean poet, born in Curacao, Costa Rica (d. 1994)
• 1927 Robert Denning, American interior designer, born in NYC, New York (d. 2005)
• 1929 Jim Slater, British financier and writer, born in Heswall, Cheshire (d. 2015)
• 1929 Bill Cunningham, American fashion photographer (New York Times), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2016)
• 1931 Marc Dessauvage, Belgian architect, born in Moorslede, Belgium (d. 1984)
• 1933 Frank H. Murkowski, American politician, U.S. Senator from Alaska (1981-2002), born in Seattle, Washington
• 1933 Donald Henry "Pee Wee" Gaskins, American serial killer (claimed to have murdered over 100 people), born in Florence County, South Carolina (d. 1991)
• 1934 Barry Hughart, American author of fantasy novels (Bridge of Birds), born in Peoria, Illinois
• 1935 Michael Walzer, American political theorist, born in New York
• 1935 David Nobbs, English comedic writer (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin), born in Petts Wood, Kent (d. 2015)
• 1937 Fofó Iosefa Fiti Sunia, Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa, born in Fagasá, Pago Pago
• 1938 Patricia W Amicone, educator/midwife
• 1941 Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian prominent poet and writer, born in al-Birwa, Galilee (d. 2008)
• 1942 Dave Cutler, American software engineer, born in Lansing, Michigan
• 1945 Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko, Russian mathematician, born in Stalino, USSR
• 1946 Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli soldier who died leading rescue operation Entebbe in Uganda, born in NYC, New York (d. 1976)
• 1950 Charles Krauthammer, American conservative political commentator and psychiatrist (The Washington Post), born in NYC, New York (d. 2018)
• 1955 Patricia J. Engfer, General manager (Hyatt Regency-Orlando), born in Hackensack, New Jersey

• 1957 John Hoeven, American politician, governor of North Dakota, born in Bismarck, North Dakota
• 1958 Rick Lazio, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New York, born in Amityville, New York
• 1959 Kathy Hilton, American socialite-Hilton Hotels, mother of Nikki Hilton and Paris Hilton, born in NYC, New York
• 1960 Yuri Andrukhovych, Ukrainian writer, poet and political essayist, born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
• 1970 Michael Arrington, American founder of blog TechCrunch, born in Orange, California
• 1971 Robert Lanham, American author and satirist (The Hipster Handbook), born in Richmond, Virginia
• 1982 Jeremy Curl, British explorer, first non-African to cross the Tanezrouft area of the Sahara without motorized transport, born in Tokyo
• 1986 Chiaki Kyan, Japanese gravure idol, born in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
• 1989 Peaches Geldof, English columnist and daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, born in London (d. 2014)

• 1994 Cuba Godding Jr (26) weds Sara Kapfer (26)

• 624 Abu Sufjan becomes Quraish chief and leader of Mecca after loss at Battle of Badr against Muslim forces
• 1202 Mieszko III, the Elder, grand duke of Poland (1173-77, 1200-02), dies
• 1271 Henry of Almain, English crusader (b. 1235)
• 1395 John Barbour, Scottish poet
• 1516 Vladislav II Jagiello, king of Bohemia (1490-1516), dies at 60
• 1558 Jean Fernel, French physician/physiologist, dies
• 1569 Louis, Prince of Condé (1530-69), dies in Battle of Jarnac at 39
• 1573 Michel de l'Hôpital, French statesman
• 1604 Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer, dies at 66
• 1711 Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)
• 1773 Philibert Commerçon, French naturalist and explorer (b. 1727)
• 1778 Charles le Beau, French historian (b. 1701)
• 1803 William Emes, English landscape architect (b. 1729 or 1730)
• 1808 King Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
• 1837 Nikita P Panin, Russian diplomat and minister of Foreign affairs, dies at 66
• 1842 Henry Shrapnel, English Army officer and inventor (created the shrapnel shell), dies at 80
• 1881 Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, assassinated at 62
• 1884 Leland Stanford, Jr., son of American railroad magnate, Stanford University named for him (b. 1868)
• 1895 Louise Otto-Peters, German suffragist, women's rights movement activist and author (The Wandering Star), dies at 75

• 1903 Nicolas Beets [Hildebrand], Dutch writer (Camera Obscura) and theologian, dies at 88

• 1911 Jacob M van Bemmelen, Dutch physicist/chemist, dies at 80
• 1911 John J. Toffey, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient (b. 1844)
• 1915 Sergei Witte, 1st Prime Minister of Russia (1905-06), dies at 65
• 1930 Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, American writer (Revolt of Mother), dies at 77
• 1938 Clarence S Darrow, Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80
• 1938 Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician and intellectual, dies at 49
• 1941 A Coenradi, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1941 Bernard Ijzerdraat, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1941 E Hellendoorn, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1941 J Eyl, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1941 Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and novelist (b. 1881)
• 1943 Stephen Vincent Benét, American author (b. 1898)
• 1943 J. P. Morgan, Jr. [John Pierpont], American financier and son of J.P. Morgan, Sr., (J.P. Morgan & Co.), dies of a stroke at 75
• 1946 Abraham Bredius, Dutch art historian (Rembrandt), dies at 90
• 1946 Werner von Blomberg, German minister of Reichswehr, dies at 67
• 1946 Karl Haushofer, German soldier and geographer, dies at 76
• 1948 Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the U.K., dies at 77
• 1949 Henri Giraud, French general (b. 1879)
• 1951 Alfred Hugenberg, German RC pres-dir of Krupp/media magnate, dies
• 1951 James I Wedgwood, British theosophist and bishop (Liberal Catholic Church), dies at 67
• 1955 Maharajadhiraja Tribhuvana Bir Bikram Yung Bahadur Shum Shere, dies
• 1955 Yung Deva, king of Nepal (191.-55), dies at about 48
• 1964 Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, stabbed to death in Queens; almost 40 witnesses but no rescuers
• 1965 George Calinescu, Romanian author (Lauda Lucrorilor), dies at 65
• 1965 Corrado Gini, Italian statistician (b. 1884)
• 1965 Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, poet, and politician (b. 1882)
• 1965 Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (b. 1891)
• 1971 Rockwell Kens, US artist/painter/illustrator, dies at 88
• 1972 Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer, dies of Leukemia at 30
• 1975 Ali Sastroamidjojo, Indonesian attorney/minister/premier, dies at 71
• 1975 Ivo Andric, Yugoslavian novelist (Bridge on Drina, Nobel 1961), dies at 82
• 1975 Ruth Schaumann, German author, painter and sculptor (Rose, Black King), dies at 75
• 1977 Fanie Lou Hamer, freedom fighter, dies
• 1977 Jan Patocka, Czech philosopher, dies in prison
• 1982 Wilfred Hawker, Suriname sgt-major, executed
• 1983 Paul R Citroen, Dutch sculptor, dies at 86
• 1986 Alvaro Fayad Delgado, Colombian guerilla leader (M-19), dies
• 1987 Bernhard Grzimek, German zoologist (West Germany), dies at 77
• 1990 Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psycho-analyst (Uses of Enchantment), commits suicide at 86
• 1992 Hans Redeker, Dutch art critic (Algemeen Handelsblad), dies
• 1993 Ralph Smith Fults, US gangster (Bonnie & Clyde gang), dies at 82
• 1994 Sandra Paretti, romantic novelist, dies at 59
• 1994 James Cecil Humpy" Parker, American disgraced ex-Sheriff convicted of violating inmates civil rights and of torture, dies at 58
• 1995 Abdul Ali Mazari, Afghan Shiite leader, shot to death
• 1995 John Silverlight, journalist, dies at 75
• 1995 Leo Kaplan, lawyer (ASCAP), dies at 89
• 1995 P C J van Lierde, Dutch vicar-gen of Vatican (1951-91), dies at 87
• 1996 Brian Hulls, television news cameraman, dies at 48
• 1996 Lucy Faithfull, children's campaigner, dies at 85
• 1998 Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
• 1998 Hans von Ohain, German-American aerospace engineer, dies at 86
• 1999 Lee Falk, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
• 2001 Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian (b. 1895)
• 2001 Cranley Onslow, British politician (C, dies at 74
• 2002 Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900)
• 2004 Franz König, Austrian Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1905)
• 2006 Robert C. Baker, Inventor of the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
• 2006 Peter Tomarken, American game show host (Press Your Luck) (b. 1942)
• 2009 James Purdy, American author, dies at 94
• 2010 He Pingping, the world's shortest man who was able to walk. (b. 1988)
• 2014 Reubin Askew, American politician (37th Governor of Florida), dies at 85
• 2016 Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, dies at 89
• 2017 Eligio [Kika] De La Garza, American politician (Rep-D-Texas, 1965-97), dies at 89

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