March 8 in History

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Historical Events on March 8

1010

Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh.
1126

Following the death of his mother Urraca, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of Castile and León.
1262

Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg.
1576

Spanish explorer Diego García de Palacio first sights the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copán.
1618

Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
1655

John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England's North American colonies where a crime was not committed.
1658

Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655-1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
1702

Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1722

The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into anarchy.
1736

Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.
1775

An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
1777

Regiments from Ansbach and Bayreuth, sent to support Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, mutiny in the town of Ochsenfurt.
1782

Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.
1801

War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.
1817

The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
1844

King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
1862

American Civil War: The Naval Battle of Hampton Roads begins.
1868

Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka.
1910

French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license.
1914

First flights (for the Royal Thai Air Force) at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok.
1916

World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.
1917

International Women's Day protests in St. Petersburg mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23rd in the Julian calendar).
1917

The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
1920

The Arab Kingdom of Syria, the first modern Arab state to come into existence, is established.
1921

Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
1924

A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.
1936

Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.
1937

Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.
1942

World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces gave ultimatum to Dutch East Indies Governor General Jonkheer Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer and KNIL Commander in Chief Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten, to unconditionally surrender.
1942

World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma from British.
1947

Thirteen thousand troops of the Republic of China Army arrive in Taiwan after the February 28 Incident and launch crackdowns which kill thousands of people, including many elites. This turns into a major root of the Taiwan independence movement.
1949

Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is condemned to prison for treason.
1949

President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-emperor of Annam Bảo Đại sign the Élysée Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
1957

Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal after the Suez Crisis.
1957

The 1957 Georgia Memorial to Congress, which petitions the U.S. Congress to declare the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution null and void, is adopted by the U.S. state of Georgia.
1963

The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council of the Revolutionary Command.
1965

Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War.
1966

Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, destroyed by a bomb.
1971

The Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali commences. Frazier wins in 15 rounds via unanimous decision.
1974

Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
1979

Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
1983

While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
1985

A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.
2004

A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.
2014

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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