March 16
Events
Pre-1600
- 597 BC - The first siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonian Empire ends with the city surrendering to king Nebuchadnezzar II.
- 1190 - Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
- 1244 - Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur.
- 1355 - Amidst the Red Turban Rebellions, Han Lin'er, a claimed descendant of Emperor Huizong of Song, is proclaimed emperor of the restored Song dynasty in Bozhou.
1601–1900
- 1621 - Samoset, an Abenaki, visits 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.
- 1696 - The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.
- 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
- 1802 - The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
- 1815 - Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
- 1872 - The Wanderers F.C. win 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.
- 1898 - In Melbourne, the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
1901–present
- 1916 - The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US–Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
- 1918 - Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites execute 70–100 capitulated Reds.
- 1924 - In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.
- 1925 - An earthquake occurs in Dali, China, killing an estimated 5,000 people.
- 1926 - History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
- 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm itself 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.
- 1941 - Operation Appearance takes place to re-establish British Somaliland
- 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
- 1945 - Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in at least 4,000 deaths.
- 1962 - Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappears in the western Pacific Ocean with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.
- 1966 - Launch of Gemini 8 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. It would perform the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: My Lai massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops.
- 1969 - A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.
- 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 - A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73.
- 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, ending the war.
- 1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Lebanon, is kidnapped by Hezbollah; he later dies in captivity.
- 1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he is not released until December 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 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.
- 1988 - The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three persons, one of them a member of PIRA are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.
- 1995 - Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
- 2001 - A series of bomb blasts in the city of Shijiazhuang, China kill 108 people and injure 38 others, the biggest mass murder in China in decades.
- 2003 - American activist Rachel Corrie is killed in Rafah by being run over by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home.
- 2005 - Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
- 2010 - The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed in a fire.
- 2012 - Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batter in history to score 100 centuries in international cricket.
- 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 30.
- 2016 - Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 24 and injuring 18.
- 2020 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday. This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.
- 2021 - Atlanta spa shootings: Eight people are killed and one is injured in a trio of shootings at spas in and near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. A suspect is arrested the same day.
- 2022 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing 4 people and injuring 225.
- 2022 - Mariupol theatre airstrike during the siege of Mariupol.
- 2025 - A fire breaks out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1399 - The Xuande Emperor, ruler of Ming China
- 1445 - Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, Swiss priest and theologian
- 1465 - Kunigunde of Austria, Duchess of Bavaria
- 1473 - Henry IV, Duke of Saxony
- 1559 - Amar Singh I, successor of Maharana Pratap of Mewar
- 1581 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and poet
- 1585 - Gerbrand Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright
- 1590 - Ii Naotaka, Japanese daimyō
- 1596 - Ebba Brahe, Swedish countess
1601–1900
- 1609 - Michael Franck, German poet and composer of hymns
- 1609 - Agostino Mitelli, Italian painter
- 1621 - Georg Neumark, German poet and composer of hymns
- 1631 - René Le Bossu, French literary critic
- 1638 - François Crépieul, Jesuit missionary
- 1654 - Andreas Acoluthus, German scholar
- 1670 - François de Franquetot de Coigny, French general
- 1673 - Jean Bouhier, French jurist and scholar
- 1687 - Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I
- 1693 - Malhar Rao Holkar, Indian nobleman
- 1701 - Daniel Lorenz Salthenius, Swedish theologian
- 1729 - Maria Louise Albertine
- 1741 - Carlo Amoretti, Italian scientist
- 1744 - Nicolas-Germain Léonard, Guadeloupean poet and novelist
- 1750 - Caroline Herschel, German-English astronomer
- 1751 - James Madison, American academic and politician, 4th President of the United States
- 1753 - François Amédée Doppet, French general
- 1760 - Johann Heinrich Meyer, Swiss painter and writer
- 1766 - Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French antiquarian, cartographer, artist and explorer
- 1771 - Antoine-Jean Gros, French painter
- 1773 - Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentinian general and politician, 6th Governor of Buenos Aires Province
- 1774 - Matthew Flinders, English navigator and cartographer
- 1776 - Johan Gijsbert Verstolk van Soelen, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1789 - Francis Rawdon Chesney, English general and explorer
- 1789 - Georg Ohm, German physicist and mathematician
- 1794 - Ami Boué, Austrian geologist and ethnographer
- 1797 - Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist
- 1799 - Anna Atkins, English botanist and photographer
- 1800 - Emperor Ninkō of Japan
- 1805 - Ernst von Lasaulx, German philologist and politician
- 1806 - Félix De Vigne, Belgian painter
- 1808 - Hannah T. King, British-born American writer and pioneer
- 1813 - Gaëtan de Rochebouët, French prime minister
- 1819 - José Paranhos, Brazilian politician
- 1820 - Enrico Tamberlik, Italian tenor
- 1821 - Eduard Heine, German mathematician and academic
- 1822 - Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor
- 1822 - John Pope, American general
- 1823 - William Henry Monk, English organist and composer
- 1825 - Camilo Castelo Branco, Portuguese writer
- 1828 - Émile Deshayes de Marcère, French politician
- 1834 - James Hector, Scottish geologist and surgeon
- 1836 - Andrew Smith Hallidie, English-American engineer and inventor
- 1839 - Sully Prudhomme, French poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1839 - John Butler Yeats, Irish painter
- 1840 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist
- 1840 - Georg von der Gabelentz, German linguist and sinologist
- 1845 - Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna
- 1846 - Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician and academic
- 1846 - Rebecca Cole, American physician and social reformer
- 1846 - Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book smuggler
- 1848 - Axel Heiberg, Norwegian financier and diplomat
- 1851 - Otto Bardenhewer, German theologian
- 1851 - Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist
- 1856 - Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France
- 1857 - Charles Harding Firth, English historian
- 1859 - Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and inventor
- 1865 - Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player and manager
- 1869 - Willy Burmester, German violinist
- 1871 - Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist
- 1871 - Frantz Reichel, French rugby player and hurdler
- 1874 - Frédéric François-Marsal, French prime minister
- 1877 - Léo-Ernest Ouimet, Canadian director and producer
- 1878 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German cardinal
- 1878 - Paul Jouve, French painter
- 1881 - Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer
- 1882 - James Lightbody, American runner
- 1883 - Ethel Anderson, Australian poet, author, and painter
- 1884 - Eric P. Kelly, American journalist and author
- 1884 - J. Alfred Tanner, Finnish singer and songwriter
- 1885 - Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer and musicologist
- 1885 - Sydney Chaplin, English actor
- 1886 - Herbert Lindström, Swedish tug of war player
- 1887 - Emilio Lunghi, Italian runner
- 1887 - S. Stillman Berry, American marine zoologist
- 1889 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete
- 1892 - César Vallejo, Peruvian poet
- 1895 - Ernest Labrousse, French historian
- 1897 - Antonio Donghi, Italian painter
- 1897 - Conrad Nagel, American actor
- 1900 - Cyril Hume, American novelist and screenwriter
- 1900 - Mencha Karnicheva, Macedonian revolutionary and assassin