30th Of March

Events

Pre-1600

* 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
*1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
*1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.

1601–1900

*1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
*1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification.
*1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is "depolarized" by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
*1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
*1841 – The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
*1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
*1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
*1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: " Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
*1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
*1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
*1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
*1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
*1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.
*1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empires.
*1899 – German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
*1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover the first clay tablet with hieroglyphic writing in a script later called Linear B.

1901–present

*1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
*1918 – Beginning of the bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
*1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).
*1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
*1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
* 1944 – Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.
*1945 – World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna. Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
*1949 – Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
*1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
*1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
*1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
*1967 – Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 crashes at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, killing 19.
*1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
*1976 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.
*1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament (MP), is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
*1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
*1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of ''Columbia'' at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
*2002 – The 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
*2008 – Drolma Kyi arrested by Chinese authorities.
*2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
*2017 – SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket.
*2018 – Israeli Army killed 17 Palestinians and wounded 1,400 in Gaza during Land Day protests.
*2019 – Pope Francis visits Morocco.

Births

Pre-1600

* 892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
*1135 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher ( April 6 also proposed, d. 1204)
*1326 – Ivan II of Moscow (d. 1359)
*1432 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (d. 1481)
*1510 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (d. 1566)
*1551 – Salomon Schweigger, German theologian (d. 1622)

1601–1900

*1606 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1647)
*1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
*1640 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1695)
*1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer and educator (d. 1779)
*1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
*1750 – John Stafford Smith, English organist and composer (d. 1836)
*1793 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1877)
*1805 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann, German-Swedish linguist and botanist (d. 1887)
*1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (d. 1899)
*1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)
* 1820 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
*1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
*1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
*1853 – Arnoldo Sartorio, German composer, pianist, and teacher (d. 1936)
*1857 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (d. 1926)
*1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
*1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
*1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
*1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
* 1874 – Josiah McCracken, American hammer thrower, shot putter, and football player (d. 1962)
* 1874 – Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
*1875 – Thomas Xenakis, Greek-American gymnast (d. 1942)
*1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
*1880 – Seán O'Casey, Irish dramatist, playwright, and memoirist (d. 1964)
*1882 – Melanie Klein, Austrian-English psychologist and author (d. 1960)
*1888 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1957)
*1891 – Chunseong, Korean monk, writer and philosopher (d. 1977)
*1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1945)
* 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1960)
* 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
* 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (d. 1918)
* 1892 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (d. 1968)
*1894 – Tommy Green, English race walker (d. 1975)
* 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer, founded Ilyushin Aircraft Company (d. 1977)
*1895 – Jean Giono, French author and poet (d. 1970)
* 1895 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (d. 1975)
* 1895 – Charlie Wilson, English footballer (d. 1971)
*1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Indian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)

1901–present

*1902 – Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 2007)
* 1902 – Ted Heath, English trombonist and composer (d. 1969)
*1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
*1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)
*1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)
* 1905 – Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper and academic (d. 1998)
* 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman (d. 1992)
*1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (d. 1994)
*1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish soldier, mathematician, and academic (d. 1940)
*1911 – Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist and academic (d. 2002)
*1912 – Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1994)
* 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Agriculture (d. 2004)
*1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
* 1913 – Richard Helms, American soldier and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2002)
* 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
* 1913 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general, physician, and politician, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
*1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)
*1915 – Pietro Ingrao, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2015)
*1917 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1995)
*1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
* 1919 – Robin Williams, New Zealand mathematician, university administrator and public servant (d. 2013)
*1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
*1922 – Turhan Bey, American actor (d. 2012)
* 1922 – Arthur Wightman, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
*1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1986)
*1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman, founded IKEA (d. 2018)
*1927 – Wally Grout, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
*1928 – Robert Badinter, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice
* 1928 – Colin Egar, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2008)
* 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and educator (d. 2013)
*1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)
* 1929 – Ray Musto, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
* 1929 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian runner (d. 2012)
*1930 – John Astin, American actor
* 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian singer-songwriter
*1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
* 1933 – Joe Ruby, American animator (d. 2020)
*1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
* 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and academic, designed Haas House (d. 2014)
*1935 – Karl Berger, German pianist and composer
* 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
* 1935 – Gordon Mumma, American composer
*1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
* 1937 – Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, English businessman
*1938 – John Barnhill, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
* 1938 – Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, founded the World Economic Forum
*1940 – Norman Gifford, English cricketer
* 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player and educator
* 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
*1941 – Graeme Edge, English singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2021)
* 1941 – Ron Johnston, English geographer and academic (d. 2020)
* 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistani lawyer and politician, President of Pakistan

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