All Events

Historical Events on March 15

  • Battle of Guilford Court House

    1781

    American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Court House: Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat a mixed American force numbering 4,400 in a Pyrrhic victory.

  • Augustin-Jean Fresnel

    1819

    French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel wins a contest at the Académie des Sciences in Paris by proving that light behaves like a wave. The Fresnel integrals, still used to calculate wave patterns, silence skeptics who had backed the particle theory of Isaac Newton.

  • Red River Campaign

    1864

    American Civil War: The Red River Campaign: U.S. Navy fleet arrives at Alexandria, Louisiana.

  • Pancho Villa Expedition

    1916

    United States President Woodrow Wilson sends 4,800 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.

  • Nicholas II of Russia

    1917

    Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty.

  • Fuad I of Egypt

    1922

    After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.

  • Voting Rights Act

    1965

    President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.

  • Ethio-Somali War

    1978

    Somalia and Ethiopia signed a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.

  • Syrian Civil War

    2011

    Beginning of the Syrian Civil War.