March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). There are 287 days remaining.

Events

up to 19th century

• 1279 - Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
• 1687 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River.
• 1831 - The City Bank of New York is the site of the first bank robbery in United States history ($245,000 taken).
• 1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle on the 21st the Confederate forces had retreated from Greenville, North Carolina.

20th century

1910s-1930s

• 1915 - Pluto is photographed for the first time but was not recognized as a planet.
• 1916 - First United States air combat mission in history as eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa.
• 1918 - The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
• 1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919).
• 1932 - Sydney Harbour Bridge opens.

1940s-1970s

• 1942 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association is established in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
• 1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship.
• 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
• 1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
• 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
• 1962 - Algerian War of Independence: A cease fire takes effect.
• 1972 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
• 1979 - The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.

1980s

• 1981 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• 1982 - Falklands War: Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.
• 1987 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL.

21st century

• 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• 2003 - The invasion of Iraq begins (with the time difference, it actually begins on March 20 at 0100 UTC)
• 2004 - Äänekoski bus disaster - A long-distance lorry and a bus crashed head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people were killed and 13 injured.
• 2004 - The Swedish DC-3, shot down by a Russian Mig-15 in the 1950s, is finally rescued after years of recovery work. The remains of the crew were left in place, pending further investigations.
• 2004 - Taiwanese president Chen Shui-ban was shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20. See 3-19 Shooting Incident.

Births

up to 19th century

• 1434 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1443)
• 1684 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar, (d. 1766)
• 1721 - Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (d. 1771)
• 1813 - David Livingstone, missionary and explorer, (d. 1873)
• 1848 - Wyatt Earp, policeman, gunfighter, (d. 1929)
• 1849 - Alfred von Tirpitz, German soldier, (d. 1930)
• 1864 - Charles Marion Russell, artist, (d. 1926)
• 1865 - William Morton Wheeler, US entomologist, myrmecologist, pioneer in ethology, (d. 1937)
• 1873 - Max Reger, composer, (d. 1916)
• 1883 - Joseph Stilwell, US general, (d. 1946)
• 1888 - Josef Albers, artist (d. 1976)
• 1891 - Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, (d. 1974)
• 1894 - Joe Venuti, jazz musician and violinist, (d. 1978)
• 1894 - Moms Mabley, comedienne, (d. 1975)

20th century

• 1900 - Frédéric Joliot, physicist and winner of 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry, (d. 1958)
• 1905 - Albert Speer, Nazi official, (d. 1981)
• 1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official, (d. 1962)
• 1909 - Louis Hayward, actor, (d. 1985)
• 1914 - Jay Berwanger, American football star, winner of the first Heisman Trophy, (d. 2002)
• 1916 - Irving Wallace, novelist, (d. 1990)
• 1917 - Dinu Lipatti, pianist, (d. 1950)
• 1920 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author
• 1921 - Tommy Cooper, comedy magician
• 1928 - Hans Küng, theologian
• 1928 - Patrick McGoohan, actor
• 1930 - Ornette Coleman, musician
• 1933 - Philip Roth, author
• 1936 - Ursula Andress, actress
• 1939 - Joe Kapp, US football star
• 1943 - Mario Monti, aka "Super Mario"
• 1944 - Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
• 1944 - Sirhan Sirhan, assassin
• 1947 - Glenn Close, actress
• 1955 - Bruce Willis, actor
• 1969 - Connor Trinneer, actor

Deaths

• 1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland, (b. 1241)
• 1623 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556)
• 1721 - Pope Clement XI, (b. 1649)
• 1939 - Lloyd L. Gaines, civil rights activist, (b. c. 1913)
• 1945 - Friedrich Fromm, Nazi official
• 1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, author, (b. 1875)
• 1978 - Gaston Julia, mathematician, (Julia Sets)
• 1980 - Tamara de Lempicka, art deco painter, (b. 1898)
• 1982 - Randy Rhoads, guitarist of Quiet Riot (b. 1956)
• 1987 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist and winner 1929 of the Nobel Prize in Physics, (b. 1892)
• 1989 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
• 1997 - Willem de Kooning, artist, (b. 1904)
• 2003 - Michael Mathias Prechtl, illustrator
• 2004 - Mitchell Sharp, former Canadian Liberal cabinet minister (b. 1911)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Catholicism and Church of England - Saint Joseph's Day for Saint Joseph of Nazareth, spouse of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
  • Father's Day in Spain, Portugal, Belgium.
  • Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain.
• The first day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• The swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California.
• Mojoday in Discordianism

March 18 - March 20 - February 19 - April 19 -- listing of all days