27 March

Events

Pre-1600

*1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
* 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his ''In Agro Dominico'' condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart on his first voyage to Florida.

1601–1900

* 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
*1638 – The first of four destructive Calabrian earthquakes strikes southern Italy. Measuring magnitude 6.8 and assigned a Mercalli intensity of XI, it kills 10,000–30,000 people.
* 1782 – The Second Rockingham ministry assumes office in Great Britain and begins negotiations to end the American War of Independence.
* 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
* 1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.
* 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
*1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican Army massacres 342 Texian Army POWs at Goliad, Texas.
*1866 – President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866. His veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9.
* 1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
* 1884 – A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.
* 1886 – Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
* 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.

1901–present

* 1901 – Philippine–American War: Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by the Americans.
*1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
* 1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
* 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war's first major Chinese victory over Japan.
*1941 – World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
* 1942 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and Vichy France begin the deportation of 65,000 Jews from Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.
* 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
*1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
* 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
* 1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
*1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
*1976 – The first section of the Washington Metro opens to the public.
* 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.
* 1980 – The Norwegian oil platform '' Alexander L. Kielland'' collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
*1981 – The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
*1986 – A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
*1990 – The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.
* 1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People's Republic of China.
* 1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
* 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
* 1999 – Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav Army SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
*2000 – A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one person and injures 71 others.
*2002 – Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover seder in Netanya, Israel.
* 2002 – Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors; 19 other people are injured.
* 2004 – , a decommissioned ''Leander''-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
* 2009 – The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.
* 2014 – Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
*2015 – Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
* 2016 – A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
*2020 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.

Births

Pre-1600

*1401 – Albert III, duke of Bavaria (d. 1460)
* 1416 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded Order of the Minims (d. 1507)
* 1509 – Wolrad II, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, German nobleman (d. 1578)
* 1546 – Johannes Piscator, German theologian (d. 1625)

1601–1900

*1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)
* 1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
* 1679 – Domenico Lalli, Italian poet and librettist (d. 1741)
* 1681 – Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish-Italian cardinal (d. 1760)
* 1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (d. 1762)
* 1710 – Joseph Abaco, Belgian cellist and composer (d. 1805)
* 1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and author (d. 1779)
* 1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian historian and theologian (d. 1795)
* 1724 – Jane Colden, American botanist and author (d. 1766)
*1745 – Lindley Murray, American-English Quaker and grammarian (d. 1826)
* 1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and composer (d. 1767)
* 1746 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican-French lawyer and politician (d. 1785)
* 1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)
* 1781 – Alexander Vostokov, Estonian-Russian philologist and academic (d. 1864)
* 1784 – Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian philologist, orientalist, and author (d. 1842)
* 1785 – Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)
* 1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1863)
* 1801 – Alexander Barrow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1846)
* 1802 – Charles-Mathias Simons, German-Luxembourger jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1874)
* 1809 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French engineer, urban planner, and politician (d. 1891)
*1811 – Edward William Cooke, English painter and illustrator (d. 1880)
* 1814 – Charles Mackay, Scottish journalist, anthologist, and author (d. 1889)
* 1820 – Edward Augustus Inglefield, English admiral and explorer (d. 1894)
* 1822 – Henri Murger, French novelist and poet (d. 1861)
* 1824 – Virginia Minor, American women's suffrage activist (d. 1894)
* 1839 – John Ballance, Irish-New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893)
* 1843 – George Frederick Leycester Marshall, English colonel and entomologist (d. 1934)
* 1844 – Adolphus Greely, American general and explorer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1935)
*1845 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
* 1845 – Jakob Sverdrup, Norwegian bishop and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs (d. 1899)
* 1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
* 1851 – Ruperto Chapí, Spanish composer, co-founded Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (d. 1909)
* 1851 – Vincent d'Indy, French composer and educator (d. 1931)
* 1852 – Jan van Beers, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1927)
*1854 – Giovanni Battista Grassi, Italian physician, zoologist, and entomologist (d. 1925)
* 1855 – William Libbey, American target shooter, colonel, mountaineer, geographer, geologist, and archaeologist (d. 1927)
*1857 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician, eugenicist, and academic (d. 1936)
* 1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer and footballer (d. 1927)
* 1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American-Swiss scholar and academic (d. 1924)
*1862 – Jelena Dimitrijević, Serbian short story writer, novelist, poet, traveller, social worker, feminist and polyglot (d. 1945)
* 1862 – Arturo Berutti, Argentinian composer (d. 1938)
* 1863 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1933)
*1866 – John Allan, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Victoria (d. 1936)
*1868 – Patty Hill, American songwriter and educator (d. 1946)
* 1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician, 2nd Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1938)
* 1869 – J. R. Clynes, English trade unionist and politician, Home Secretary (d. 1949)
* 1871 – Heinrich Mann, German author and poet (d. 1950)
* 1871 – Joseph G. Morrison, American captain and Nazarene minister (d. 1939)
* 1871 – Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician, Minister of Labour (d. 1948)
*1875 – Albert Marquet, French painter (d. 1947)
* 1877 – Oscar Grégoire, Belgian water polo player and swimmer (d. 1947)
* 1878 – Kathleen Scott, British sculptor (d. 1947)
* 1879 – Sándor Garbai, Hungarian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1947)
* 1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
* 1879 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourger-American painter and photographer (d. 1973)
* 1881 – Arkady Averchenko, Russian playwright and satirist (d. 1925)
* 1882 – Thomas Graham Brown, Scottish mountaineer and physiologist (d. 1965)
*1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)
* 1884 – Gordon Thomson, English rower and lieutenant (d. 1953)
* 1885 – Julio Lozano Díaz, Honduran accountant and politician, 40th President of Honduras (d. 1957)
* 1885 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (d. 1961)
* 1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian politician (d. 1934)
* 1886 – Wladimir Burliuk, Ukrainian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
* 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect, designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building (d. 1969)
* 1887 – Väinö Siikaniemi, Finnish javelin thrower, poet, and translator (d. 1932)
* 1888 – George Alfred Lawrence Hearne, English-South African cricketer (d. 1978)
*1889 – Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (d. 1974)
* 1889 – Leonard Mociulschi, Romanian general (d. 1979)
*1890 – Harald Julin, Swedish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1967)
* 1890 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (d. 1974)
* 1891 – Lajos Zilahy, Hungarian novelist and playwright (d. 1974)
* 1891 – Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, Belarusian-Lithuanian architect, journalist, and diplomat, created the Flag of Belarus (d. 1959)
*1892 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
* 1892 – Thorne Smith, American author (d. 1934)
* 1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (d. 1947)
* 1893 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1981)
* 1893 – George Beranger, Australian-American actor and director (d. 1973)
* 1894 – René Fonck, French colonel and pilot (d. 1953)
* 1895 – Roland Leighton, English soldier and poet (d. 1915)
* 1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1958)
* 1897 – Fred Keating, American magician, stage and film actor (d. 1961)
* 1899 – Francis Ponge, French poet and author (d. 1988)
* 1899 – Herbert Arthur Stuart, German-Swiss physicist and academic (d. 1974)
* 1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress and producer (d. 1983)

1901–present

* 1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator and screenwriter (d. 2000)
* 1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
* 1901 – Eisaku Satō, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
* 1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian journalist and poet (d. 1971)
* 1902 – Sidney Buchman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1975)
* 1902 – Charles Lang