Events of the day 17 March
Events of day 17 March
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:
Marcus Aurelius dies leaving Commodus the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
455:
Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
1001:
The Raja of Butuan in what is now the Philippines sends a tributary mission to the Song dynasty.
1337:
Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
1452:
The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia resulting in a Christian victory.
1560:
Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique.
1677:
The Siege of Valenciennes, during the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France's taking of the city.
1776:
American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
1780:
American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".
1805:
The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
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 Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.
1852:
Annibale De Gasparis discovers in Naples the asteroid Psyche from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte
1860:
The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand land wars.
1861:
The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
1891:
SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
1921:
The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.
1939:
Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins.
1941:
In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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.
1947:
First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.
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 Vanguard 1 satellite.
1959:
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
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 erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.
1966:
Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
1968:
As a result of nerve gas testing 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 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.
2011:
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1972 relating to Somalia is adopted.
2011:
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 relating to Libyan Civil War is adopted.
Celebrations 17 March
1938:
Was born Vasile Tudor Cretu.
1948:
Was born Virginia Musat.
1944:
Was born Paul Cornel Chitic.
1948:
Was born Sultana Craia.
1946:
Was born Alexandru Deal.
1935:
Was born Jeana Morarescu.
1939:
Was born Mihai Ungheanu.
1917:
Was born Zorica Laţcu.
Commemorations 17 March
1973:
