Events

• AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
• 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Didius Julianus.
• 364 – Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor.
• 1566 – The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta’s capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
• 1737 – The Marathas under Baji Rao I attack and defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Delhi.
• 1776 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
• 1794 – Allies under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeat French forces at Le Cateau.
• 1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia.
• 1801 – Treaty of Florence is signed, ending the war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Naples.
• 1809 – Peninsular War: France defeats Spain in the Battle of Medellín.
• 1814 – War of 1812: In the Battle of Valparaíso, two American naval vessels are captured by two Royal Navy vessels of equal strength.
• 1854 – Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.
• 1860 – First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.
• 1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory.
  • The battle began on 26 March.
• 1871 – The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
• 1883 – Tonkin Campaign: French victory in the Battle of Gia Cuc.
• 1910 – Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion, after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.
• 1918 – General John J. Pershing, during World War I, cancels 42nd ‘Rainbow’ Division’s orders to Rolampont for further training and diverted it to the occupy the Baccarat sector.
  • Rainbow Division becomes “the first American division to take over an entire sector on its own, which it held longer than any other American division-occupied sector alone for a period of three months”.
• 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege.
• 1941 – World War II: Britain’s Mediterranean Fleet sinks three heavy cruisers and two destroyers of Italy’s Regia Marina.
• 1942 – World War II: A British combined force permanently disables the Louis Joubert Lock in Saint-Nazaire in order to keep the German battleship Tirpitz away from the mid-ocean convoy lanes.
• 1946 – Cold War: The United States Department of State releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
• 1951 – First Indochina War: In the Battle of Mạo Khê, French Union forces, led by World War II hero Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, inflict a defeat on Việt Minh forces commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp.
• 1959 – The State Council of the People’s Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.
• 1968 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students.
• 1999 – Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill 146 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.
• 2003 – In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.

People (Births)

• 1750 – Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan general and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 1816).
• 1773 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (d. 1844).
• 1818 – Wade Hampton III, American general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (d. 1902).
• 1832 – Henry D. Washburn, American politician, general and explorer (d. 1871).
• 1873 – John Geiger, American rower (d. 1956).
• 1886 – Gustave Mesny, French general (d. 1945).
• 1892 – Tom Maguire, Irish general (d. 1993).
• 1894 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain (d. 1941).
• 1912 – Marina Raskova, Russian pilot and navigator (d. 1943).
• 1918 – Edward Amy, Canadian soldier (d. 2011).
• 1930 – Robert Ashley, American soldier and composer (d. 2014).
• 1933 – Frank Murkowski, American soldier, banker, and politician, 8th Governor of Alaska.
• 1934 – Laurie Taitt, Guyanese-English hurdler (d. 2006).
• 1949 – Ronnie Ray Smith, American sprinter (d. 2013).
• 1957 – Harvey Glance, American sprinter and coach.
• 1986 – Bowe Bergdahl, American sergeant.

People (Deaths)

• 1868 – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1797).
• 1870 – George Henry Thomas, American general (b. 1816).
• 1893 – Edmund Kirby Smith, American general (b. 1824).
• 1900 – Piet Joubert, South African soldier and politician (b. 1831 or 1834).
• 1947 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (b. 1897).
• 1969 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890).
• 2000 – Anthony Powell, English soldier and author (b. 1905).
• 2006 – Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defence (b. 1917).
• 2014 – Jeremiah Denton, American admiral and politician (b. 1924).