March 13

Events

Pre-1600

*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.

1601–1900

*1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
*1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
*1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins.
*1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
*1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.
*1811 – A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars.
*1826 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution '' Quo Graviora'' in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.
* 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
*1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.
*1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
*1884 – The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885.
*1900 – British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.

1901–present

* 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
*1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.
* 1940 – The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
*1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
*1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory led to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam.
*1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.
* 1969 – Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
* 1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'état.
*1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world with an undersea segment, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.
*1992 – The 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe'').
* 1993 – The 1993 Storm of the Century affects the eastern United States, dropping feet of snow in many areas.
*1996 – The Dunblane massacre leads to the death of sixteen primary school children and one teacher in Dunblane, Scotland.
*1997 – The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader.
*2003 – An article in ''Nature'' identifies the Ciampate del Diavolo as 350,000-year-old hominid footprints.
*2012 – The Sierre coach crash kills 28 people, including 22 children.
*2013 – The 2013 papal conclave elects Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.
*2016 – The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people.
* 2016 – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people.
*2020 – President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States.
* 2020 – Breonna Taylor is killed by police officers who were forcibly entering her home in Louisville, Kentucky; her death sparked extensive protests against police brutality.

Births

Pre-1600

* 1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
*1479 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (d. 1534)
* 1560 – William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, Dutch count (d. 1620)
*1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (probable; d. 1652)
* 1599 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (d. 1621)

1601–1900

* 1615 – Innocent XII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1700)
*1683 – Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, German botanist (d. 1741)
* 1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
*1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1797)
* 1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
*1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
*1763 – Guillaume Brune, French general and diplomat (d. 1815)
*1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
* 1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (d. 1809)
*1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
* 1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
* 1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1858)
*1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
* 1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (d. 1903)
* 1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
*1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
* 1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
*1862 – Paul Prosper Henrys, French general (d. 1943)
*1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian-German painter (d. 1941)
* 1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
*1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
* 1880 – Josef Gočár, Czech architect (d. 1945)
*1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
*1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)
* 1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
* 1886 – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
* 1888 – Paul Morand, French author and diplomat (d. 1976)
*1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor and director (d. 1951)
*1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
* 1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
* 1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
* 1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
* 1899 – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 1978)
*1900 – Andrée Bosquet, Belgian painter (d. 1980)
* 1900 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)

1901–present

* 1902 – Hans Bellmer, German-French painter and sculptor (d. 1975)
* 1904 – Clifford Roach, Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (d. 1988)
* 1907 – Dorothy Tangney, Australian politician (d. 1985)
* 1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
* 1908 – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
* 1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
* 1910 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (d. 1973)
*1911 – José Ardévol, Cuban composer and conductor (d. 1981)
* 1911 – L. Ron Hubbard, American author (d. 1986)
*1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
* 1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (d. 2009)
*1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1998)
* 1914 – Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
* 1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
* 1916 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (d. 2017)
* 1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
*1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
* 1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (d. 2010)
*1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer
* 1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
*1929 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2014)
* 1933 – Mahdi Elmandjra, Moroccan economist and sociologist (d. 2014)
* 1933 – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (d. 2009)
*1935 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
*1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (d. 2012)
*1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
*1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
*1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer
* 1942 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
* 1942 – Scatman John, American singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
*1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns, English economist and academic
*1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician and academic
*1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
*1947 – Lesley Collier, English ballerina and educator
* 1947 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist (d. 2018)
* 1947 – Lyn St. James, American race car driver
*1949 – Ze'ev Bielski, Israeli politician
* 1949 – Sian Elias, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
* 1950 – Joe Bugner, Hungarian-British boxer and actor
* 1950 – Bernard Julien, Trinidadian cricketer
* 1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author (d. 2018)
* 1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter
*1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
* 1952 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer and educator
* 1952 – Tim Sebastian, English journalist and author
*1953 – Andy Bean, American golfer
* 1953 – Michael Curry, 27th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church
*1954 – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Guyanese-English politician and diplomat
* 1954 – Robin Duke, Canadian actress and screenwriter
*1955 – Bruno Conti, Italian footballer and manager
* 1955 – Glenne Headly, American actress (d. 2017)
* 1955 – Olga Rukavishnikova, Russian pentathlete
* 1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
*1957 – John Hoeven, American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
* 1957 – Moses Hogan, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
* 1958 – Mágico González, Salvadoran footballer
* 1958 – Rick Lazio, American lawyer and politician
* 1958 – Caryl Phillips, Caribbean-English author and playwright
*1959 – Dirk Wellham, Australian cricketer
*1960 – Adam Clayton, English-Irish musician and songwriter
* 1960 – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
*1963 – Vance Johnson, American football player
*1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
* 1964 – Craig Dimond, Australian rugby league player
* 1964 – Trevor Gillmeister Australian rugby league player and coach
* 1966 – Chico Science, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
* 1967 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
* 1967 – Pieter Vink

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