March 17

Events

Pre-1600

* 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
* 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.
* 455 – Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.
* 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
* 1400 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.

1601–1900

* 1776 – American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
* 1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy.
* 1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.
* 1842 – The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo is formally organized with Emma Smith as president.
* 1860 – The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.
*1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
* 1862 – The first railway line of Finland between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, called '' Päärata'', is officially opened.
* 1891 – collides with in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

1901–present

* 1921 – The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.
* 1942 – Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.
* 1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.
* 1948 – Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.
* 1950 – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "californium".
* 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
* 1958 – The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit.
* 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
* 1963 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.
* 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
* 1968 – As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
* 1969 – Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
* 1973 – The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph '' Burst of Joy'' is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
* 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
* 1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
* 1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
* 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
*1992 – Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
* 1992 – A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
*2000 – Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.
* 2003 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
* 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.
* 2016 – Rojava conflict: At a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society declares the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

Births

Pre-1600

* 763 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (d. 809)
* 1231 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (d. 1242)
* 1473 – James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
* 1523 – Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Catholic cardinal (d. 1584)
* 1537 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (d. 1598)

1601–1900

* 1611 – Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, Swedish field marshal (d. 1662)
* 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichord player and composer (d. 1729)
* 1676 – Thomas Boston, Scottish philosopher and theologian (d. 1732)
* 1686 – Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter and engraver (d. 1755)
* 1725 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (d. 1806)
* 1777 – Patrick Brontë, Irish-English priest and author (d. 1861)
* 1777 – Roger B. Taney, American politician and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)
* 1780 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, economist, and educator (d. 1847)
* 1781 – Ebenezer Elliott, English poet and educator (d. 1849)
*1804 – Jim Bridger, American fur trader and explorer (d. 1881)
* 1806 – Norbert Rillieux, African American inventor and chemical engineer (d. 1894)
* 1820 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (d. 1897)
* 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (d. 1900)
* 1839 – Josef Rheinberger, Liechtensteiner-German organist and composer (d. 1901)
* 1842 – Rosina Heikel, Finnish physician (d. 1929)
*1846 – Kate Greenaway, English author and illustrator (d. 1901)
* 1849 – Charles F. Brush, American businessman and philanthropist, co-invented the Arc lamp (d. 1929)
* 1849 – Cornelia Clapp, American marine biologist (d. 1934)
* 1856 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
* 1862 – Martha P. Falconer, American social reformer (d. 1941)
* 1862 – Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
*1864 – Joseph Baptista, Indian engineer, lawyer, and politician (d. 1930)
* 1866 – Pierce Butler, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1939)
* 1867 – Patrice Contamine de Latour, Spanish poet (d. 1926)
* 1877 – Edith New, English militant suffragette (d. 1951)
* 1877 – Otto Gross, Austrian-German psychoanalyst and philosopher (d. 1920)
* 1880 – Patrick Hastings, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1952)
* 1880 – Lawrence Oates, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1912)
* 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
* 1884 – Alcide Nunez, American clarinet player (d. 1934)
* 1885 – Ralph Rose, American track and field athlete (d. 1913)
* 1886 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
* 1888 – Paul Ramadier, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1961)
* 1889 – Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (d. 1931)
* 1891 – Ross McLarty, Australian politician, 17th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1962)
*1892 – Floyd B. Barnum, American college football coach (d. 1965)Staff (September 15, 1921)
"Jamestown College Fall Semester Begins Sept. 20"
''Jamestown Weekly Alert''. Retrieved April 9, 2021.Staff (September 24, 1921)
"27 Men Are Out at Jamestown"
''The Bismarck Tribune''. Retrieved April 9, 2021.Staff (October 8, 1921)
"Jamestown Will Play Here Today"
''Grand Forks Herald''. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
* 1892 – Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1923)
* 1894 – Paul Green, American playwright and academic (d. 1981)
* 1895 – Lloyd Rees, Australian painter (d. 1988)
* 1900 – Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (d. 1970)

1901–present

* 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer and lawyer (d. 1971)
* 1904 – Chaim Gross, Austrian-American sculptor and educator (d. 1991)
* 1905 – Lillian Yarbo, American comedienne, dancer, and singer (d. 1996)
* 1908 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (d. 1996)
* 1907 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
* 1907 – Takeo Miki, Japanese politician, 41st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
* 1910 – Sonny Werblin, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1991)
* 1912 – Bayard Rustin, American activist (d. 1987)
* 1914 – Sammy Baugh, American football player and coach (d. 2008)
* 1915 – Robert S. Arbib Jr., American ornithologist, writer and conservationist (d. 1987)
* 1915 – Bill Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider (d. 2011)
* 1916 – Ray Ellington, English drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
* 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, and television host (d. 1965)
* 1920 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
* 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician, 12th Israeli Minister of Communications (d. 2009)
* 1922 – Patrick Suppes, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 2014)
* 1924 – Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (d. 2013)
* 1925 – Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
* 1926 – Siegfried Lenz, Polish-German author and playwright (d. 2014)
* 1927 – Betty Allen, American soprano and educator (d. 2009)
* 1928 – William John McKeag, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2007)
* 1930 – Paul Horn, American-Canadian flute player and saxophonist (d. 2014)
* 1930 – James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1991)
*1931 – Patricia Breslin, American actress (d. 2011)
* 1931 – David Peakall, English-American chemist and toxicologist (d. 2001)
* 1933 – Myrlie Evers-Williams, American journalist and activist
* 1933 – Penelope Lively, English author
* 1935 – Fred T. Mackenzie, American biologist and academic
* 1935 – Adam Wade, American singer, drummer, and actor
* 1936 – Ida Kleijnen, Dutch chef (d. 2019)
* 1936 – Ladislav Kupkovič, Slovakian composer and conductor (d. 2016)
* 1936 – Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut
* 1937 – Galina Samsova, Russian ballerina
* 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
* 1938 – Keith O'Brien, Northern Ireland-born Scottish cleric, theologian, and cardinal (d. 2018)
* 1938 – Zola Taylor, American singer (d. 2007)
* 1939 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (d. 2006)
* 1939 – Bill Graham, Canadian academic and politician, 4th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
* 1939 – Robin Knox-Johnston, English sailor and first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe
* 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
* 1940 – Mark White, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
*1941 – Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese soldier and politician
* 1941 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
* 1941 – Max Stafford-Clark, English director and academic
* 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer and rapist (d. 1994)
* 1943 – Jeff Banks, Welsh fashion designer
* 1943 – Andrew Brook, Canadian philosopher, author, and academic
*1944 – Pattie Boyd, English model, author, and photographer
* 1944 – Cito Gaston, American baseball player and manager
* 1944 – John Sebastian