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March 16 in History
Historical Events on March 16
597 BC
Babylonians capture Jerusalem, and replace Jeconiah with Zedekiah as king.
455
Emperor Valentinian III is assassinated by two Hunnic retainers while training with the bow on the Campus Martius (Rome).
934
Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
1190
Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
1244
Over 200 Cathars are burned after the Fall of Montségur.
1322
The Battle of Boroughbridge take place in the Despenser Wars.
1521
Ferdinand Magellan reaches the island of Homonhon in the Philippines.
1621
Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
1660
The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.
1689
The 23rd Regiment of Foot, or Royal Welch Fusiliers, is founded.
1782
American Revolutionary War: Spanish troops capture the British-held island of Roatán.
1782
Anglo-Spanish War (1779): Action of 16 March 1782
1792
King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
1797
French Revolutionary Wars: An Austrian column is defeated by the French in the Battle of Valvasone.
1802
The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
1812
The Siege of Badajoz begins: British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat the French garrison during the Peninsular War.
1815
Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
1818
In the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada, Spanish forces defeated Chileans under José de San Martín.
1864
American Civil War: During the Red River Campaign, Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
1865
American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
1870
The first version of the overture fantasy Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky receives its première performance.
1872
The 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.
1894
Jules Massenet's opera Thaïs is first performed.
1900
Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
1916
The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
1917
World War I: A German auxiliary cruiser is sunk in the Action of 16 March 1917.
1918
Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites executed 70-100 capitulated Reds.
1924
In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.
1925
An earthquake occurs in Yunnan, China.
1926
History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
1935
Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
1936
Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh.
1939
From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
1940
First person killed (James Isbister) in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
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, resulting in around 5,000 deaths.
1958
The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding.
1962
A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.
1966
Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena target vehicle.
1968
Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre occurs; 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.
1969
A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.
1976
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
1977
Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
1978
Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped. (He is later murdered by his captors.)
1978
Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.
1979
Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ends the war.
1983
Demolition of the Ismaning radio transmitter, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
1984
William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. (He later dies 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 chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja 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 funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. A PIRA volunteer and two civilians are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.
1989
In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found near the Pyramid of Cheops.
1991
The airplane carrying eight members of Reba McEntire's touring band crashed on the side of Otay Mountain.
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.
2005
Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
2014
Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.
2016
A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 54.
2016
Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 22 and injuring 18.
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