March 12th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 538, Witiges, the King of the Ostrogoths, ended his siege of Rome and retreated to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius. In 1054 on this day, Pope Leo IX escaped captivity & returned to Rome. The University of Vienna was founded on this day in 1365. The first record of Johann Gutenberg's Bible came on this day in 1455, with a letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini referring to the bible printed a year before. In 1664 on this day, New Jersey became a British colony. On this day in 1689, former English King James II landed in Ireland. On this day in 1737, the body of astronomer & physicist Galileo Galilei Galileo was moved to the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. On this day in 1900 during the Anglo-Boer War, President Steyn of the Orange Free State fled from Bloemfontein. On this day in 1930, Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi began a defiant march to the sea of 300 kilometers to protest the British monopoly on salt. It was his boldest act of civil disobedience to that point against British rule in India.  In 1938 on this day, Nazi Germany took over Austria in what came to be known as the Anschluss. It was one of the major takeovers by Hitler leading up to Word War II. On this day in 1947 during a dramatic speech to a joint session of Congress, President Harry S. Truman asked for U.S. assistance to Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. Historians have often cited Truman's address, which came to be known as the "Truman Doctrine," as the official declaration of the Cold War. In 1968 on this day, Mauritius gained independence from Great Britain (National Day). Australian armed forces withdrew from the conflict in South Vietnam on this day in 1972. On this day in 1976, South African troops departed from the civil war in Angola. Chile's Dictator/ President Pinochet banned the Christian-Democratic Party on this day in 1977.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 538, Witiges, the King of the Ostrogoths, ended his siege of Rome and retreated to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius.

• In 1054 on this day, Pope Leo IX escaped captivity & returned to Rome

• 1088 - Odo of Lagery elected as Pope Urban II, replacing Victor III

• 1144 - Gherardo Caccianemici elected Pope Lucius II, succeeding Callistus II

• 1350 - Orvieto city says it will behead & burn Jewish-Christian couples

• The University of Vienna was founded on this day in 1365.

• The first record of Johann Gutenberg's Bible came on this day in 1455, with a letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini referring to the bible printed a year before.

• 1496 - Jews are expelled from Syria

• 1572 - Luis Vaz de Camoes publishes "Os Lusíados" in Portugal

• 1594 - Company of Distant established for business on East-Indies

• 1597 - England routes troops to Amiens

• 1609 - Bermuda becomes an English colony

• 1619 - Dutch settlement on Java changes name to Batavia

• 1622 - Ignatius of Loyola declared a saint

• 1642 - Abel Tasman is 1st European in New Zealand

• 1664 - 1st naturalization act in American colonies

 

• In 1664 on this day, New Jersey became a British colony. 

• On this day in 1689, former English King James II landed in Ireland.

Replica of the statue of Galileo Galilei outside of Carnegie Museums of Natural History

• On this day in 1737, the body of astronomer & physicist Galileo Galilei Galileo was moved to the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. 

• 1755 - 1st steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine

• 1773 - Jeanne Baptiste Pointe de Sable found settlement now known as Chicago

• 1794 - Theatre Royal in London's Dury Lane opens after being rebuilt

• 1799 - Austria declares war on France

• 1832 - The ballet La Sylphide first premieres at the Opéra de Paris.

• In 1848 on this day, the Second Republic was established in France.

• 1849 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to Calif

• 1850 - 1st US $20 gold piece issued

• 1857 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Simon Boccanegra," premieres in Venice

• 1860 - Congress accepts Pre-emption Bill: free land in West for colonists

• 1865 - Affair near Lone Jack, Missouri

• 1867 - Last French troops leave Mexico

• 1868 - Great Britain annexes Basutoland in Africa (later renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho)

• 1868 - Congress abolishes manufacturer's tax

• 1868 - Henry O'Farrell attempts to assassinate Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

• On this day in 1877, Great Britain annexed Walvis Bay in Southern Africa, in what is present-day Namibia..

Zulu shields

• The British Zulu War began on this day in 1879. 

1881 - Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.

1884 - Mississippi establishes 1st US state college for women

1888 - 2nd day of the Great blizzard of '88 in NE US (400 die)

1889 - Battle at Metema (Gallabad): Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, defeated

1889 - Start of South Africa's 1st Test, v England, Port Elizabeth

1894 - Pittsburgh issues free season tickets for ladies on Tuesday & Friday

1894 - In Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.

1896 - 1st movie in Netherlands (Kalverstr 220)

1897 - Vincent d'Indy's opera "Fervaal," premieres in Brussel

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

• On this day in 1900 during the Anglo-Boer War, President Steyn of the Orange Free State fled from Bloemfontein.

1901 - Ground is broken for Boston's 1st AL ballpark (Huntington Ave Grounds)

1903 - NY Highlanders (Yankees) approved as members of AL

1904 - 1st main line electric train in UK (Liverpool to Southport)

1904 - Andrew Carnegie establishes Carnegie Hero Fund

1906 - Heavy storm ravages Dutch west coast

1908 - Stanley Cup: Mont Wanderers sweep Win Maple Leafs in 2 games

1908 - The Pan-Macedonian group is formed in Athens to support the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.

1910 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Wanderers beat Berlin (Kitchener), 7-3

1912 - Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) forms in Savannah, by Juliette Gordon Low

1912 - Helen Hayes Theater opens at 238 W 44th St NYC

1912 - Establishment of the first football club in Bulgaria - Botev Plovdiv

1913 - Foundation stone of the Australian capital in Canberra laid

1916 - French airship sinks British submarine D3

1917 - Russian Dumas sets up Provisional Committee; workers set up Soviets

1917 - Stalin, Kamenev & Muranov arrives in St Petersburg

1919 - Austrian National Meeting affirms Anschluss (incorporate into Germany)

Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw 1919 - George Bernard Shaw's "Augustus Does His Bit," premieres in NYC

1925 - British government of Baldwin refuses to ratify Geneva agreement

1926 - Denmark begins unilateral disarmament

1926 - Pope Pius XI names J E van Roey archbishop of Malines Belgium

1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing over 600 people.

A statue of Gandhi at Union Square in New York City.

• On this day in 1930, Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi began a defiant march to the sea of 300 kilomters to protest the British monopoly on salt. It was his boldest act of civil disobedience to that point against British rule in India.    Britain's Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet. Citizens were forced to buy the vital mineral from the British, who, in addition to exercising a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax. Although India's poor suffered most under the tax, Indians required salt. Defying the Salt Acts, Gandhi reasoned, would be an ingeniously simple way for many Indians to break a British law nonviolently. He declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for his new campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience.    On March 12, Gandhi set out from Sabarmati with 78 followers on a 241-mile march to the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea. There, Gandhi and his supporters were to defy British policy by making salt from seawater. All along the way, Gandhi addressed large crowds, and with each passing day an increasing number of people joined the salt satyagraha. By the time they reached Dandi on April 5, Gandhi was at the head of a crowd of tens of thousands. Gandhi spoke and led prayers and early the next morning walked down to the sea to make salt.    He had planned to work the salt flats on the beach, encrusted with crystallized sea salt at every high tide, but the police had forestalled him by crushing the salt deposits into the mud. Nevertheless, Gandhi reached down and picked up a small lump of natural salt out of the mud--and British law had been defied. At Dandi, thousands more followed his lead, and in the coastal cities of Bombay and Karachi, Indian nationalists led crowds of citizens in making salt. Civil disobedience broke out all across India, soon involving millions of Indians, and British authorities arrested more than 60,000 people. Gandhi himself was arrested on May 5, but the satyagraha continued without him.    On May 21, the poet Sarojini Naidu led 2,500 marchers on the Dharasana Salt Works, some 150 miles north of Bombay. Several hundred British-led Indian policemen met them and viciously beat the peaceful demonstrators. The incident, recorded by American journalist Webb Miller, prompted an international outcry against British policy in India.    In January 1931, Gandhi was released from prison. He later met with Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, and agreed to call off the satyagraha in exchange for an equal negotiating role at a London conference on India's future. In August, Gandhi traveled to the conference as the sole representative of the nationalist Indian National Congress. The meeting was a disappointment, but British leaders had acknowledged him as a force they could not suppress or ignore.    India's independence was finally granted in August 1947. Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist less than six months later.

• 1930 - Stella Walsh sets record for the 220-yard dash (0:26.1)

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• On this day in 1933, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the first of his nation-wide "fireside chats" on radio.

• 1933 - President Paul von Hindenburg dropped the flag of the German Republic and ordered that the swastika and empire banner be flown side by side.  

1934 - Acting Pres Constantine Päts commits coup in Tallinn Estonia

1934 - Josip Broz (Tito) freed from jail

1934 - Paul Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler," premieres in Berlin

1935 - England establishes 30 MPH speed limit for towns & villages

• In 1938 on this day, Nazi Germany took over Austria in what came to be known as the Anschluss. It was one of the major takeovers by Hitler leading up to Word War II.  Mar 12, 1938: Hitler announces an Anschluss with Austria  On this day, Adolf Hitler announces an "Anschluss" (union) between Germany and Austria, in fact annexing the smaller nation into a greater Germany.    Union with Germany had been a dream of Austrian Social Democrats since 1919. The rise of Adolf Hitler and his authoritarian rule made such a proposition less attractive, though, which was an ironic twist, since a union between the two nations was also a dream of Hitler's, a native Austrian. Despite the fact that Hitler did not have the full approval of Austrian Social Democrats, the rise of a pro-Nazi right-wing party within Austria in the mid-1930s paved the way for Hitler to make his move. In 1938, Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, bullied by Hitler during a meeting at Hitler's retreat home in Berchtesgaden, agreed to a greater Nazi presence within Austria. He appointed a Nazi minister of police and announced an amnesty for all Nazi prisoners. Schuschnigg hoped that agreeing to Hitler's demands would prevent a German invasion. But Hitler insisted on greater German influence on the internal affairs of Austria-even placing German army troops within Austria--and Schuschnigg repudiated the agreement signed at Berchtesgaden, demanding a plebiscite on the question. Through the machinations of Hitler and his devotees within Austria, the plebiscite was canceled, and Schuschnigg resigned.    The Austrian president, Wilhelm Miklas, refused to appoint a pro-Nazi chancellor in Schuschnigg's stead. German foreign minister Hermann Goering then faked a crisis by engineering a "plea" for German assistance from inside the Austrian government (really from a German agent). On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria. Hitler announced his Anschluss, and a plebiscite was finally held on April 10. Whether the plebiscite was rigged or the resulting vote simply a testament to Austrian terror at Hitler's determination, the Fuhrer garnered a whopping 99.7 percent approval for the union of Germany and Austria.    Austria was now a nameless entity absorbed by Germany. It was not long before the Nazis soon began their typical ruthless policy of persecuting political dissidents and, of course, all Jewish citizens.      Mar 12, 1938: Germany annexes Austria  On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich.    In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired for the second time in four years to seize the Austrian government by force and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, learning of the conspiracy, met with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the hopes of reasserting his country's independence but was instead bullied into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet. On March 9, Schuschnigg called a national vote to resolve the question of Anschluss, or "annexation," once and for all. Before the plebiscite could take place, however, Schuschnigg gave in to pressure from Hitler and resigned on March 11. In his resignation address, under coercion from the Nazis, he pleaded with Austrian forces not to resist a German "advance" into the country.    The next day, March 12, Hitler accompanied German troops into Austria, where enthusiastic crowds met them. Hitler appointed a new Nazi government, and on March 13 the Anschluss was proclaimed. Austria existed as a federal state of Germany until the end of World War II, when the Allied powers declared the Anschluss void and reestablished an independent Austria. Schuschnigg, who had been imprisoned soon after resigning, was released in 1945.

1939 - Pope Pius XII crowned in Vatican ceremonies

1940 - Finland surrenders to Russia during WW II, gives Karelische Isthmus

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1941 - German occupiers confiscate AVRO studios in Netherlands

1942 - British troops vacate the Andamanen in Gulf of Bengal

1943 - Soviet troops liberate Wjasma

1945 - 30 Amsterdammers executed by nazi occupiers

1945 - Italy's Communist Party (CPI) calls for armed uprising in Italy

1945 - NY is 1st to prohibit discrimination by race & creed in employment

1945 - USSR returns Transylvania to Romania

1946 - Part of Petsamo province ceded by Soviet Union to Finland

1947 - "Chocolate Soldier" opens at Century Theater NYC for 69 performances

1947 - Belgian government of Huysmans resigns

Bust of American President Harry Truman

• On this day in 1947 during a dramatic speech to a joint session of Congress, President Harry S. Truman asked for U.S. assistance to Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. Historians have often cited Truman's address, which came to be known as the "Truman Doctrine," as the official declaration of the Cold War.    In February 1947, the British government informed the United States that it could no longer furnish the economic and military assistance it had been providing to Greece and Turkey since the end of World War II. The Truman administration believed that both nations were threatened by communism and it jumped at the chance to take a tough stance against the Soviet Union. In Greece, leftist forces had been battling the Greek royal government since the end of World War II. In Turkey, the Soviets were demanding some manner of control over the Dardanelles, territory from which Turkey was able to dominate the strategic waterway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.    On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress to make his case. The world, he declared, faced a choice in the years to come. Nations could adopt a way of life "based upon the will of the majority" and governments that provided "guarantees of individual liberty" or they could face a way of life "based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority." This latter regime, he indicated, relied upon "terror and oppression." "The foreign policy and the national security of this country," he claimed, were involved in the situations confronting Greece and Turkey. Greece, he argued, was "threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by communists." It was incumbent upon the United States to support Greece so that it could "become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy." The "freedom-loving" people of Turkey also needed U.S. aid, which was "necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity." The president declared that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Truman requested $400 million in assistance for the two nations. Congress approved his request two months later.    The Truman Doctrine was a de facto declaration of the Cold War. Truman's address outlined the broad parameters of U.S. Cold War foreign policy: the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and movements throughout the world; communism could attack through outside invasion or internal subversion; and the United States needed to provide military and economic assistance to protect nations from communist aggression.    Not everyone embraced Truman's logic. Some realized that the insurgency in Greece was supported not by the Soviet Union, but by Yugoslavia's Tito, who broke with the Soviet communists within a year. Additionally, the Soviets were not demanding control of the Dardanelles, but only assurances that this strategic waterway would not be used by Russia's enemies-as the Nazis had used it during World War II. And whether U.S. assistance would result in democracy in Greece or Turkey was unclear. Indeed, both nations established repressive right-wing regimes in the years following the Truman Doctrine. Yet, the Truman Doctrine successfully convinced many that the United States was locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Soviet Union, and it set the guidelines for over 40 years of U.S.-Soviet relations.

1948 - -5°F lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in March

1950 - Belgium votes (58%) for return of King Leopold III

1950 - Pope Pius XII encyclical "On combating atheistic propaganda"

1951 - Baseball Commish Happy Chandler loses fight (9-7) to stay in office

33rd US President Harry Truman33rd US President Harry Truman 1951 - Communist troops driven out of Seoul

1954 - 1st performance of Arnold Schoenberg's "Moses und Aaron"

1954 - Anish Kapoor, Mumbai India, Indian born British sculptor

1956 - Dow Jones closes above 500 for 1st time (500.24)

1957 - German DR accepts 22 Russian divisions

1958 - British Empire Day is renamed "Commonwealth Day"

1959 - Dutch Liberal Party wins 2nd parliamentary elections

1959 - US House joins Senate approving Hawaii statehood

1961 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Miami Golf Open

1962 - Dutch Premier De Quay announces secret talks with Indonesia

1963 - Beatles perform as a trio, John Lennon is ill with a cold

1964 - 6th Grammy Awards: Days of Wine & Roses, Striesand wins 2

1964 - Jimmy Hoffa sentenced to 8 years

1964 - Malcolm X resigns from Nation of Islam

1964 - SN Behrmann's "But for Whom Charlie," premieres in NYC

African American Activist Malcolm XAfrican American Activist Malcolm X 1964 - WKAB TV channel 32 in Montgomery, AL (ABC) begins broadcasting

1966 - Bobby Hull's 51st goal of season, sets record

1966 - Jockey Johnny Longden retires after 40 years (6,032 wins)

1966 - Love's 1st album released "Love"

1966 - Pioneer Plaza dedicated

1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1967 - Austria's Reinhold Bachler ski jumps 505 feet

• 1967 - Indonesian congress deprives president Sukarno of authority

National flag of Mauritius.

• In 1968 on this day, Mauritius gained independence from Great Britain (National Day)

1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1969 - 11th Grammy Awards: Mrs Robinson, By the Time I Get to Phoenix wins

1969 - 120 joints found at George & Patti Harrison's home

1970 - US lowers voting age from 21 to 18

1971 - Syrian premier Hafez Assad elected president

1971 - Turkish Government of Demirel forced to resign by Army

1972 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Lady Eve Golf Open

Flag of Australia

• Australian armed forces withdrew from the conflict in South Vietnam on this day in 1972. The last remnants of the First Australian Task Force withdraw from Vietnam. The Australian government had first sent troops to Vietnam in 1964 with a small aviation detachment and an engineer civic action team. In May 1965, the Australians increased their commitment with the deployment of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). The formation of the First Australian Task Force in 1966 established an Australian base of operations near Ba Ria in Phuoc Tuy province. The task force included an additional infantry battalion, a medium tank squadron, and a helicopter squadron, as well as signal, engineer, and other support forces. By 1969, Australian forces in Vietnam totaled an estimated 6,600 personnel.    The Australian contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam. By securing support from other nations, Johnson hoped to build an international consensus behind his policies in Vietnam. The effort was also known as the "many flags" program.    Australia began to withdraw its troops in 1970, following the lead of the United States as it drastically reduced its troop commitment to South Vietnam.

1972 - NHL great Gordie Howe retires after 26 seasons

1974 - Bundy victim Donna Manson disappears, Evergreen SC, Olympia, Wash

1975 - Vietcong conquer Ban me Thuot South Vietnam

Flag of South Africa during the apartheid era

• On this day in 1976 during apartheid white minority rule, South African troops departed from the civil war in Angola.

Flag of Chile

•  Chile's Dictator/ President Pinochet banned the Christian-Democratic Party on this day in 1977.

• 1977 - Egypt's Anwar Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel

• 1977 - Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel

• 1980 - Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago

1981 - Soyuz T-4 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station

1981 - Stephen Sondheim's musical "Marry Me a Little," premieres in NYC

1981 - Walter R T Witschey installs world's largest sundial, Richmond, VA

1982 - 1st-class debut of Courtney Walsh, Jamaica v Leeward Islands

1982 - PLO chief Yassar Arafat appears on "Nightline"

1983 - Don Ritchie runs world record 50 mile (4:51:49)

1984 - Coal Miners' strike ended

1984 - National Union of Mine Workers in England begin a 51 week strike

1984 - British ice dancing team, Torvill & Dean, become 1st skaters to receive 9 perfect 6.0s in world championships

NBA Legend Larry BirdNBA Legend Larry Bird 1985 - Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points

1986 - 210.25 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange

1986 - Susan Butcher wins 1,158 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

1987 - "Les Miserables" opens at Broadway/Imperial NYC for 4000+ perfs

1987 - David Robinson scores 50 points in a NCAA basketball game

1987 - Federal judge dismisses lawsuits sought by Oliver North

1987 - Ice Pairs Championship at Cincinnati won by E Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)

1987 - Men's Fig Skating Championship in Cincinnati won by Brian Orser (CAN)

1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1989 - 15th People's Choice Awards

1989 - 2 cyanide-contaminated Chilean grapes found (Philadelphia)

1989 - Madagascar AREMA party wins parliamentary election

Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders

•  1990 - LA Raiders announce they were returning to Oakland

1991 - 5th Soul Train Music Awards

1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

1993 - 317 killed by bomb attacks in Bombay

1993 - Cleveland radio station WMMS-FM/101.7 is bought by Disney

1993 - Entertainment Tonight's 3,000th show

1993 - Inkhata leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi begins 2½ week speech

1994 - Church of England ordains 1st 33 women priests

1995 - Congress party loses India national election

1995 - Dottie Mochrie wins LPGA PING/Welch's Golf Championship

1995 - Ice Dance Championship at Birmingham UK won by Gritshuk & Platov (RUS)

1995 - Ice Pairs Champ at Birmingham won by Radka Kovarikova & Rene Novotny

1995 - Lara scores 139 in ODI v Australia at Port-of-Spain

1995 - Letitia Vriesde runs South American indoor record 800m (2:00.35)

1995 - Men's Figure Skating Champions in Birmingham won by Elvis Stojko (CAN)

1995 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Birmingham won by Chen Lu (CHN)

1996 - Leeward Islands beat Trinidad by 73 runs to win Red Stripe Trophy

1998 - "Sound of Music," opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC

• 1999 - Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.

2003 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.

2003 - Elizabeth Smart, was found after having been missing for 9 months.

2004 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.

2005 - Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, steps down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.

• 2011 - A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake.

2012 - 100 people are killed in ethnic clashes and cattle raids in South Sudan

2012 - 45 people, including children, are massacred by the Syrian Army in Homs

2012 - China records its highest trade deficit in over a decade

2013 - JOGMEC becomes the first to successfully extract methane hydrate from seabed deposits

2013 - The 2013 Papal conclave begins with no elected new Pope on the first day

1496 - Jews were expelled from Syria.   1609 - The Bermuda Islands became an English colony.   1664 - New Jersey became a British colony. King Charles II granted land in the New World to his brother James (The Duke of York).   1755 - In North Arlington, NJ, the steam engine was used for the first time.   1789 - The U.S. Post Office was established.   1809 - Britain signed a treaty with Persia forcing the French to leave the country.   1857 - "Simon Boccanegra" by Verdi debuted in Venice.   1884 - The State of Mississippi authorized the first state-supported college for women. It was called the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College.   1863 - President Jefferson Davis delivered his State of the Confederacy address.   1889 - Almon B. Stowger applied for a patent for his automatic telephone system.   1894 - Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time.   1903 - The Czar of Russia issued a decree providing for nominal freedom of religion throughout his territory.   1904 - After 30 years of drilling, the tunnel under the Hudson River was completed. The link was between Jersey City, NJ, and New York, NY.   1905 - In Rome, Premier Giovanni Giolliwas forced out of office by continued civil strife.   1906 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations must yield incriminating evidence in anti-trust suits.   1909 - The British Parliament increased naval appropriations for Britain.   1909 - Three U.S. warships were ordered to Nicaragua to stem the conflict with El Salvador.   1911 - Dr. Fletcher of Rockefeller Institute discovered the cause of infantile paralysis.   1912 - The Girl Scout organization was founded. The original name was Girl Guides.   1923 - Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrated phonofilm. It was his technique for putting sound on motion picture film.     1933 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt presented his first presidential address to the nation. It was the first of the "Fireside Chats."   1935 - Parimutuel betting became legal in the State of Nebraska.   1938 - The "Anschluss" took place as German troops entered Austria.   1940 - Finland surrendered to Russia ending the Russo-Finnish War.   1944 - Britain barred all travel to Ireland.   1947 - U.S. President Truman established the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.   1959 - The U.S. House joined the U.S. Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.   1966 - Bobby Hull, of the Chicago Blackhawks, became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to score 51 points in a single season.   1974 - "Wonder Woman" debuted on ABC-TV. The show later went to CBS-TV.   1984 - Lebanese President Gemayel opened the second meeting in five years calling for the end to nine-years of war.   1985 - The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. began arms control talks in Geneva.   1985 - Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) scored a club-record 60 points against the Atlanta Hawks.   1985 - Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that he planned to drop Secret Service protection and hire his own bodyguards in an effort to lower the deficit by $3 million.   1987 - "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.   1989 - Prime Minister Sadiq al Mahdi of Sudan formed a new cabinet to end civil war.   1989 - About 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of an exhibit.   1992 - Mauritius became a republic but remained a member of the British Commonwealth.   1993 - In the U.S., the Pentagon called for the closure of 31 major military bases.   1993 - Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S. attorney general.   1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell of the Loch Ness monster was confirmed to be a hoax. The photo was taken of a toy submarine with a head and neck attached.   1994 - The Church of England ordained its first women priests.   1998 - Astronomers cancelled a warning that a mile-wide asteroid might collide with Earth saying that calculations had been off by 600,000 miles.   1999 - Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic became members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). All three countries were members of the former Warsaw Pact.   2002 - U.S. homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.   2002 - Conoco and Phillips Petroleum stockholders approved a proposed merger worth $15.6 billion.   2003 - In Utah, Elizabeth Smart was reunited with her family nine months after she was abducted from her home. She had been taken on June 5, 2002, by a drifter that had previously worked at the Smart home.   2003 - The U.S. Air Force announced that it would resume reconnaissance flights off the coast of North Korea. The flights had stopped on March 2 after an encounter with four armed North Korean jets.   2009 - It was announced that the Sear Tower in Chicago, IL, would be renamed Willis Tower.   2010 - In the U.S., Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad.

1912 Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts. 1930 Mohandas Gandhi began his 200-mile march to protest the British salt tax.1938 "Anschluss" took place when Hitler incorporated his homeland of Austria into the Third Reich. 1947 President Truman established the "Truman Doctrine" to aid in the containment of Communism. 1993 Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female attorney general of the United States. 1994 The Church of England ordained women priests for the first time in 460 years. 2002 The color-coded terror alert system was unveiled by Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge. 2003 The prime minister of the Serbian state (of Serbia and Montenegro), Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar12.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Some Shots From a Spectacular Sunrise

 

Over this past weekend, we had a truly beautiful morning. It was unseasonably warm for this time of year,  during the early to mid-March part of the year. Winter is rapidly coming to a close (it seems to have largely ended already here in New Jersey, at least based on the weather we have been having in so far this week), but official spring is not yet quite here. 

One of the earliest signs of the approach of spring is daylight savings, which took place this past Sunday. Thus, sunrise came later than it had in a while on Sunday morning.

Yet, it was a spectacular one. 

Now granted, these pictures were not taken in what most would consider an idyllic spot. In fact, they were taken from the parking lot of my weekend job.

But we all do what we can, right?

Under the circumstances, it felt like these really came out fairly well, in fact.

Take a look and enjoy.

Donald Trump Once Pointed Out Absurdity of Spending in Middle East Wars While American Infrastructure Crumbles

This is a picture of a magnet that was being sold at Strand's Book Store in New York City a few years ago. No, I did not buy it, but I liked it and took a picture, which I am sharing here now. 

"We've spent $8 trillion in the Middle East and we're not fixing our roads in this country? How stupid. How stupid is it? And we're not fixing our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals, our schools? It's crazy."

 - Donald Trump in 2020

Ever since President Trump launched this war with Iran - without bothering to seek Congressional approval or give any real or consistent justifications or clearly stated objectives - people have been wondering just what is going on.

Really, it sure feels like a "Wag the Dog" strategy on behalf of the president. After all, he has not kept any of the campaign promises which he largely won his second term on. Gas prices are currently skyrocketing as a result of this war, and grocery prices simply never went down. He never stopped the Ukraine war, or kept his promise of keeping the United States out of foreign wars. Nor did he drop the unemployment rate. As for the promise to release the Epstein Files, we all know how that went.

Still, it seems strange that Trump would have launched this particular war with Iran. First of all, Iran seems like it could easily strike out against US military bases. Secondly, the conflict has, at least so far, caused stock numbers to tank, which is a huge thing for Trump. Finally, it is making oil prices soar, which of course is one of the major campaign promises for Trump. And it's not like he can hide behind something, because he is the one who started the war. He says that higher gas prices are a small price to pay for the security we are getting, but it feels like this war has made the world more dangerous, not less, for Americans.

Given all of that, and the general lack of popularity that this war has garnered among most Americans, it does seem a bit surprising that the Trump White House launched such a high risk/low reward armed conflict in a highly volatile region of the world where Americans do not have the most wonderful memories from other recent military campaigns in the region. Even with the incentive of serving as an obvious distraction, it just seems that there really is no clear or decisive advantage for Trump with Iran. 

And yet, here we are, in another undeclared  - and thus, at best questionably legal - war in the Middle East.

Will War With Iran Help Trump in the U.S.? by Olivier Knox | March 4, 2026:

The Trump administration is on offense in Iran, but on defense at home.  

https://www.usnews.com/news/u-s-news-decision-points/articles/2026-03-04/will-war-with-iran-help-trump-in-the-u-s

Will War With Iran Help Trump in the U.S.? | U.S. News Decision Points | U.S. News

March 11th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Easily the biggest historical event which happened on this day in my lifetime would have been the terrorist attacks of March 11, 2004, when four separate trains were bombed in Madrid, Spain.

On this day in 1425 BCE, Thutmose III, the Pharaoh of Egypt, died (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty). In 417 on this day, Zosimus became the Bishop of Rome. Goths laid siege to Rome on this day in 537. Icon worship was officially re-instated in Aya Sofia in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul, Turkey) on this day in 843. On this day in 1789, Benjamin Banneker along with Pierre L'Enfant began to lay out the plans for the future capital of the newly independent United States, Washington, D.C.. In New Zealand on this day in 1845 during the Flagstaff War, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti led 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. In 1848 on this day, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin became the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government. On this day in 1861 in the early stages of the American Civil War, at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederate constitution was adopted. On this day in 1918, the city of Moscow became the capital of revolutionary Russia. In 1935 on this day, Hermann Goering officially created the Luftwaffe, the Air Force of Nazi Germany. On this day in 1941, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Lend-Lease program, which provided money and materials for the Allies during World War II, went into effect. On this day in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to replace Konstantin Chernenko as the new Soviet leader. On this day in 1990, Lithuania proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union. On this day in 2004, 191 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured when 10 bombs exploded almost simultaneously on four separate trains in three Madrid-area train stations during a busy morning rush hour. The bombs were later found to have been detonated by mobile phones. In 2009 on this day in Germany, the Winnenden school shooting took place, as 17 people were killed at a school. Toyota sold its millionth hybrid vehicle in the United States on this day in 2009. In 2010 on this day, Sebastián Piñera became Chile's president.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 1425 BCE, Thutmose III, the Pharaoh of Egypt, died (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).

• In 417 on this day, Zosimus became the Bishop of Rome

• Goths laid siege to Rome on this day in 537.

• Icon worship was officially re-instated in Aya Sofia in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul, Turkey) on this day in 843.

928 - Trpimir II succeeds to the Croatian throne.

1387 - The Battle of Castagnaro begins.

1502 - Tebriz] shah Ismail I of Persia crowned

1513 - Giovanni de' Medici chosen Pope Leo X

1563 - League of High Nobles routes 2nd protest against King Philip II

1567 - Geuzen army leaves Walcheren to return to Oosterweel

1597 - Land guardian Albrecht occupies Amiens on France

1649 - The Frondeurs (French rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

1665 - NY approves new code guaranteeing Protestants religious rights

1669 - Volcano Etna in Italy erupts killing 15,000

1702 - 1st English daily newspaper "Daily Courant," publishes

1708 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

1779 - US army Corps of Engineers established (1st time)

The Capitol Building & National Mall in Washington, D.C.

• On this day in 1789, Benjamin Banneker along with Pierre L'Enfant began to lay out the plans for the future capital of the newly independent United States, Washington, D.C..

• 1791 - Samuel Mulliken, Phila, is 1st to obtain more than 1 US patent

Pope  Leo XPope Leo X 

• 1795 - Battle at Kurdla India: Mahratten beat Mogols

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

• 1810 - The Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.  

• 1812 - Citizenship granted to Prussian Jews

• 1823 - 1st normal school in US opens, Concord Academy, Concord, Vt

• 1824 - US War Dept creates the Bureau of Indian Affair

British Botanist Charles Darwin

• 1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off Valparaiso, Chile

The flag of New Zealand

• In New Zealand on this day in 1845 during the Flagstaff War, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti led 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

1845 - Seven hundred Maoris led by their chief, Hone-Heke, burned the small town of Kororareka. The act was in protest to the settlement of Maoriland by Europeans, which was a breach of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. 

 

• In 1848 on this day, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin became the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

• 1850 - Woman's Medical College of Penn (1st female medical school)

• 1851 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto," premieres in Venice

• 1861 - Confederate convention in Montgomery, adopts constitution

• On this day in 1861 in the early stages of the American Civil War, at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederate constitution was adopted.  In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas adopt the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America.    The constitution resembled the Constitution of the United States, even repeating much of its language, but was actually more comparable to the Articles of Confederation--the initial post-Revolutionary War U.S. constitution--in its delegation of extensive powers to the states. The constitution also contained substantial differences from the U.S. Constitution in its protection of slavery, which was "recognized and protected" in slave states and territories. However, in congruence with U.S. policy since the beginning of the 19th century, the foreign slave trade was prohibited. The constitution provided for six-year terms for the president and vice president, and the president was ineligible for successive terms. Although a presidential item veto was granted, the power of the central Confederate government was sharply limited by its dependence on state consent for the use of any funds and resources.    Although Britain and France both briefly considered entering the Civil War on the side of the South, the Confederate States of America, which survived until April 1865, never won foreign recognition as an independent government.

• 1862 - Lincoln removes McClellen as general-in-chief & makes him head of

• 1862 - 12] Gen Stonewall Jackson evacuates Winchester Virginia Army of the Potomac. Gen Henry Halleck is named general-in-chief

1864 - Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee

1864 - The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England kills over 250 people in Sheffield.

1865 - Gen Sherman's Union forces occupies Fayetteville, NC

Composer Giuseppe VerdiComposer Giuseppe Verdi 1867 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Don Carlos," premieres in Paris

1867 - Great Mauna Loa eruption (Hawaiian volcano)

1872 - Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

1872 - The Meiji Japanese government officially annexes the Ryukyu Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa prefecture.

1882 - Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association organized in Princeton NJ

1888 - Great blizzard of '88 strikes NE US

1892 - 1st public basketball game (Springfield, Mass)

1895 - Spanish cruiser Reina Regente sinks in Straits of Gibraltar, over 400 die

• 1897 - A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.

Statue of the most famous Boer leader and president of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, located at Church Square in Pretoria, the capital of the old Transvaal Republic, and now still the executive capital of modern day South Africa.

• 1900 - British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury rejected the peace overtures offered from the Boer leader Paul Kruger. 

• 1901 - Cincinnati Enquirer reports Balt mgr John McGraw signed Cherokee Indian Tokohoma, who is really black 2nd baseman Charlie Grant

1904 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 games

1905 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 beat Rat Portage Thisles, 2 games to 1

1910 - Jack Hobbs 1st Test ton (187 v SAfr), his only Test hit wicket

1912 - 1st Stanley Cup game to be played in 3 20-min periods, formerly played in 30-min halfs, Quebec beats Moncton 9-3 on way to sweep

1912 - Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.

1917 - 1st NHL championship game ever played, Toronto Arenas beats Montreal Canadiens 7-3 in 1st of 2 game set (second game on March 13)

• 1917 - World War I: Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.

• On this day in 1918, the city of Moscow became the capital of revolutionary Russia

1918 - Save the Redwoods League founded

1918 - First confirmed cases of the Spanish Flu are observed at Fort Riley, Kansas.

1919 - General strike in Germany, crushed

1922 - Western Hockey Championship: Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA) sweep Regina Capitals, in 2 games

1924 - 3rd term of Belgium Theunis government begins

1924 - Eden Phillpotts' "Farmer's Wife," premieres in London

1924 - NHL Championship: Montreal Canadiens sweeps Ottawa Senators in 2 games

1926 - Eamon da Valera ends leadership of Sinn Fein

1927 - 1st armored commercial car hold-up in US, Pittsburgh

1927 - 1st golden gloves tournament

1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens famous Roxy Theater (NYC)

1928 - Netherlands & Belgium tie 1-1 (soccer match in Amsterdam)

1930 - Pres & Chief Justice William Taft buried in Arlington

1931 - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.

1934 - Netherlands beats Belgium 9-3, in soccer

1935 - Bank of Canada opens

Nazi Politician Hermann GoeringNazi Politician Hermann Goering 

• In 1935 on this day, Hermann Goering officially created the Luftwaffe, the Air Force of Nazi Germany.

• 1936 - British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.

• 1938 - Artur Seyss-Inquart replaces Kurt von Schuschnigg as Chancellor of Austria; German troops also entered the country

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• On this day in 1941, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Lend-Lease program, which provided money and materials for the Allies during World War II, went into effect.    The Lend-Lease program was devised by Roosevelt as a means of aiding Great Britain in its war effort against the Germans, by giving the chief executive the power to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of" any military resources the president deemed ultimately in the interest of the defense of the United States. The reasoning was that if a neighbor was successful in defending his home, the security of your home would be enhanced. It also served to bolster British morale by giving them the sense that they were no longer alone in their struggle against Hitler.    The program was finally authorized by Congress and signed into effect on March 11, 1941. By November, after much heated debate, Congress extended the terms of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, even though the USSR had already been the recipient of American military weapons and had been promised $1 billion in financial aid. By the end of the war, more than $50 billion in funds, weapons, aircraft, and ships had been distributed to 44 countries. After the war, the Lend-Lease program morphed into the Marshall Plan, which allocated funds for the revitalization of "friendly" democratic nations-even if they were former enemies.

• 1942 - 1st deportation train leaves Paris for Auschewitz Concentration Camp

• 1942 - Gen MacArthur leaves Corregidor (Bataan) for Australia

• 1942 - Japanese troop land on North-Sumatra

• 1943 - Nazi Militia forms in Netherlands

1944 - Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel arrested

1945 - 1,000 allied bombers harass Essen, 4,662 ton bombs

1945 - Flemish nazi collaborator Maria Huygens sentenced to death

1948 - 1st black in the US Tennis Open (Reginald Weir)

1948 - Jewish Agency of Jerusalem bombed

1948 - WBAL TV channel 11 in Baltimore, MD (CBS) begins broadcasting

WW2 General Douglas MacArthurWW2 General Douglas MacArthur 1953 - 1st woman army doctor commissioned (FM Adams)

• 1953 - American B-47 accidentally drops a nuclear bomb on South Carolina, the bomb doesn't go off due to 6 safety catches

1954 - US Army charges Senator Joseph McCarthy used undue pressure tactics

1956 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1958 - Charles Van Doren finally loses on TV game show "21"

1958 - Starting this season, AL batters are required to wear batting helmets

1959 - "Raisin in the Sun," 1st Broadway play by a black woman, opens

1959 - Teddy Scholten wins Eurovision Song festival with "A Little Bit"

1960 - Pioneer 5 launched into solar orbit between Earth & Venus

1961 - Then NHL record 40 penalties, Black Hawks & Maple Leafs (20 each)

1963 - Somalia drops diplomatic relations with Great Britain

• 1965 - Indonesia President Sukarno accepts qualifications of Suharto

1966 - Military coup led by Indonesian Gen Suharto breaks out

1966 - A fire at two ski resorts in Numata, Japan kills 31 people.

• 1967 - Pink Floyd releases their 1st single (Arnold Layne)

US Senator Joseph McCarthyUS Senator Joseph McCarthy 1968 - Anti-Zionist Clandestine Radio Voice of El Assifa starts transmitting

1968 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 12nd string quartet

• 1968 - Otis Redding posthumously receives gold record for " Dock of the Bay"

• 1970 - Iraq Ba'th Party recognizes Kurd nation

1972 - "Inner City" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 97 performances

1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA S&H Green Stamp Golf Classic

1974 - Mount Etna in Sicily erupted

1974 - Rhino Store gives people 5 cents to take home Danny Bonaduce's Album

Flag of Portugal

• 1975 - Portugal military coup under general Spinola fails

1975 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

• 1977 - Muslems hold 130 hostages in Wash DC

• 1978 - Terrorists attack mail truck at Tel Aviv, 45 killed

1978 - USF-led Bill Cartwright scores 23 points as the Dons oust NC

Flag of Chile

• 1981 - Chile constitution takes effect, Augusto Pinochet 2nd term begins

1981 - Johnny Mize & Rube Foster elected to baseball Hall of Fame

1982 - Failed military coup under Rambocus/Hawker in Suriname

1982 - Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) resigned rather than face expulsion

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem BeginIsraeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin 1982 - Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat sign peace treaty in Wash DC

1983 - Ice Dance Championship at Helsinki Finland won by Torvill & Dean (GRB)

1983 - Ice Pairs Championship at Helsinki won by Valova & Vasiliev (URS)

1983 - Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Helsinki won by Rosalynn Sumners (USA)

1983 - Men's Fig Skating Championship in Helsinki won by Scott Hamilton (USA)

1984 - Chris Johnson wins LPGA Samaritan Turquoise Golf Classic

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• On this day in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to replace Konstantin Chernenko as the new Soviet leader.  Capping his rapid rise through the Communist Party hierarchy, Mikhail Gorbachev is selected as the new general secretary and leader of the Soviet Union, following the death of Konstantin Chernenko the day before. Gorbachev oversaw a radical transformation of Soviet society and foreign policy during the next six years.    Gorbachev was born in 1931, the son of peasant farmers near Stavropol. As a young man he joined the usual Communist Party youth groups. In 1952, he traveled to Moscow to earn his degree in law. Upon his return to his native town of Stavropol, Gorbachev became extremely active in party politics and began a rapid rise through the Communist Party bureaucracy. Part of his success was due to his intelligence, drive, and ability to see and exploit opportunities. He was also aided by his ability to attach himself to important mentors, such as Yuri Andropov, the head of the dreaded KGB—Russia's secret police. With Andropov's support, Gorbachev was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1971.    During the next decade and a half, Gorbachev worked hard to promote his own career and to support Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. When Brezhnev died in 1982, Andropov took power. Gorbachev's role in the new government expanded, and then Andropov died in 1984. It was widely assumed that Gorbachev would be his successor, but his youth, combined with suspicions from some old-line Communist Party officials that the young man was too reform-minded, led to the selection of Konstantin Chernenko. Gorbachev did not have to wait long for a second chance, however. Chernenko died after less than a year in office. With the rapid-fire deaths of Andropov and Chernenko, Gorbachev had outlived his only serious competition, and he was selected to become the new leader of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985.    During the next six years, Gorbachev led the Soviet Union through a dizzying pace of domestic reforms and foreign policy changes. He relaxed political oppression and led the push for reform of the nation's crumbling economic system. On the foreign policy scene, he worked hard to secure better relations with the United States, and in 1987, he and President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which reduced the number of medium-range missiles each nation kept in Europe.    The pace of change, however, might have been too rapid. By the late-1980s, the Soviet Union was cracking to pieces. Eastern European satellites were breaking free, various Russian republics were pushing for independence, and the economy was on a downward spiral. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president and the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist.

• 1986 - 1 million days since traditional foundation of Rome, 4/21/753 BC

1986 - 12th People's Choice Awards

1986 - 187.27 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange

1986 - Islander Mike Bossy, 1st NHLer to score 50 goals in 9 straight seasons

1986 - Japanese probe Sakigake flies by Halley's Comet at 6.8 million km

1986 - NFL adopts instant replay rule

1987 - Wayne Gretzky scores 1,500th NHL point

1988 - Utrecht conservatory destroyed by fire

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail GorbachevGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev 

• 1988 - British pound note ceases to be legal tender, replaced by one pound coin

The flag of Lithuania.

• On this day in 1990, Lithuania proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union.  Lithuania proclaims its independence from the USSR, the first Soviet republic to do so. The Soviet government responded by imposing an oil embargo and economic blockade against the Baltic republic, and later sent troops.    Lithuanians have lived along the Nemen River and the Baltic Sea for some 3,000 years, and during the medieval period Lithuania was one of the largest states in Europe, stretching from present-day European Russia to as far as the Black Sea. In the late 14th century, Lithuania united with Poland in forming a commonwealth, and with the third partition of Poland in 1795, Lithuania was absorbed into Russia.    In the 19th century, a Lithuanian linguistic and cultural revival began, and with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Levost between Russia and Germany in 1918, Lithuania achieved independence. For the next two decades, however, Poland, Germany, and the USSR all interfered with Lithuania's affairs. In 1940, Soviet forces occupied the country, but in 1941 the Nazis replaced them. During World War II, many Lithuanians fought alongside the Germans against the Soviet Union, but by 1944 the country was liberated and a pro-Soviet communist regime was installed.    In the late 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, or "openness," led Lithuania to reassert its identity, and on March 11, 1990, formal independence was proclaimed. Sajudis, a non-communist coalition established in 1988, subsequently won control of the Lithuanian parliament and Vytautas Landsbergis became Lithuania's first post-Soviet head of state. In January 1991, Soviet paratroopers and tanks invaded Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, beginning a standoff that lasted until September 6, 1991, when the crumbling Soviet Union agreed to grant independence to Lithuania and the other Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia.  

1990 - Maggie Will wins Desert Inn LPGA Golf International

1991 - Janet Jackson signs $40M 3 album deal with Virgin records

1991 - John Smith, amateur wrestler, wins James E Sullivan Award

1991 - Monica Seles ends Steffi Graf's streak of 186 weeks ranked as #1

1993 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Prague won by Kurt Browning CAN

1994 - Eduardo Frei succeeds Patricio Aylwin as president of Chile

1995 - -36.8°F (-38.2°C) in Chosedachar, Komi-district, on 67°N

1995 - Pres Nazarbajev disbands Kazachstan parliament

1995 - Sinn Fein party leader, Gerry Adams, arrives in US

1995 - Yolanda Chen hop-skip-jumps world indoor record 15.03m

1996 - Chris Harris scores 130 in losing NZ side v Australia, World Cup

1996 - Mark Waugh scores 110 v NZ for his third century of the World Cup

Tennis Player Steffi GrafTennis Player Steffi Graf 1996 - The EU Database Directive is passed.

1996 - John Winston Howard becomes the 25th Prime Minister of Australia. His term in office is the second longest in Australian history, ending on December 3, 2007.

1997 - 3rd Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

1997 - Ashes of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry are launched into space

1997 - Beatle McCartney knighted Sir Paul by Queen Elizabeth II

1997 - SF Giant J T Snow suffers a fractured eye socket when hit by a pitch

1999 - Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

• 2003 - The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.

Flag of Spain

• On this day in 2004, 191 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured when 10 bombs exploded almost simultaneously on four separate trains in three Madrid-area train stations during a busy morning rush hour. The bombs were later found to have been detonated by mobile phones. The attacks, the deadliest against civilians on European soil since the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing, were initially suspected to be the work of the Basque separatist militant group ETA. This was soon proved incorrect as evidence mounted against an extreme Islamist militant group loosely tied to, but thought to be working in the name of, al-Qaida.    Investigators believe that all of the blasts were caused by improvised explosive devices that were packed in backpacks and brought aboard the trains. The terrorists seem to have targeted Madrid's Atocha Station, at or near which seven of the bombs were detonated. The other bombs were detonated aboard trains near the El Poso del Tio Raimundo and Santa Eugenia stations, most likely because of delays in the trains' journeys on their way to Atocha. Three other bombs did not detonate as planned and were later found intact.    Many in Spain and around the world saw the attacks as retaliation for Spain's participation in the war in Iraq, where about 1,400 Spanish soldiers were stationed at the time. The attacks took place two days before a major Spanish election, in which anti-war Socialists swept to power.  The new government, led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, removed Spanish troops from Iraq, with the last leaving the country in May 2004.    A second bombing, of a track of the high-speed AVE train, was attempted on April 2, but was unsuccessful. The next day, Spanish police linked the occupants of an apartment in Leganes, south of Madrid, to the attacks. In the ensuing raid, seven suspects killed themselves and one Spanish special forces agent by setting off bombs in the apartment to avoid capture by the authorities. One other bomber is believed to have been killed in the train bombings and 29 were arrested. After a five-month-long trial in 2007, 21 people were convicted, although five of them, including Rabei Osman, the alleged ringleader, were later acquitted.    In memory of the victims of the March 11 bombings, a memorial forest of olive and cypress trees was planted at the El Retiro park in Madrid, near the Atocha railway station.

2006 - Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.

• In 2009 on this day in Germany, the Winnenden school shooting took place, as 17 people were killed at a school.

• Toyota sold its millionth hybrid vehicle in the United States on this day in 2009.  The Toyota Motor Company announces on this day in 2009 that it has sold over 1 million gas-electric hybrid vehicles in the U.S. under its six Toyota and Lexus brands. The sales were led by the Prius, the world's first mass-market hybrid car, which was launched in Japan in October 1997 and introduced in America in July 2000.    When the Prius debuted in 1997 it was considered a "gamble," according to a May 2008 report on Wired.com, because "gas was cheap, SUVs ruled the earth and global warming was only beginning to penetrate mainstream consciousness." However, the Prius's hybrid technology--which uses an electric motor to supplement power from the gasoline, resulting in lower emissions and higher gas mileage--quickly developed a following. Upon its arrival in America, the Prius was an early hit in Hollywood and environmentally conscious celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz were spotted driving their Priuses around Los Angeles. For the 2003 Academy Awards, Toyota provided a fleet of Priuses to chauffeur celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart to the ceremony. Between 2000 and February 2009, Toyota sold over 700,000 Priuses in America, or more than half of the 1.2 million Priuses purchased around the planet.    Toyota went on to expand its stable of hybrids to include the Lexus RX 400h, the world's first hybrid-powered luxury vehicle, which launched in April 2005, and the Highlander Hybrid SUV, which debuted in June of that same year. A hybrid version of Toyota's bestselling Camry sedan followed in April 2006 and was also the first Toyota hybrid to be made in the U.S.    In 2008, Toyota passed America's General Motors (GM) to become the world's largest automaker. GM, which at the time had been hobbled along with the rest of the auto industry by a global economic crisis and slumping car sales, received criticism for being the home of the gas-guzzling Hummer and for failing to develop a hybrid vehicle when Toyota first launched the Prius (the name is reportedly linked to the Latin for "earlier" and meant to connote a car that's ahead of its time).    The same week that Toyota announced its 1 millionth hybrid sold in America, the Ford Motor Company reported that it had built its 100,000th hybrid vehicle in the U.S.

• In 2010 on this day, Sebastián Piñera became Chile's president.

• 2011 - An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

• 2012 - US soldier kills 16 civilians in Afghanistan

Flag of the European Union (EU)

• 2013 - European Union bans the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals

• 2013 - North Korea cuts the phone line with South Korea, breaching the 1953 armistice

• 2013 - Falkland Islands’ sovereignty referendum: 99.8% choose to remain an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom

537 - The Goths began their siege on Rome.   1302 - The characters Romeo and Juliet were married this day according to William Shakespeare.   1649 - The peace of Rueil was signed between the Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government.   1665 - A new legal code was approved for the Dutch and English towns, guaranteeing religious observances unhindered.   1702 - The Daily Courant, the first regular English newspaper was published.   1791 - Samuel Mulliken became the first person to receive more than one patent from the U.S. Patent Office.    1824 - The U.S. War Department created the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Seneca Indian Ely Parker became the first Indian to lead the Bureau.   1861 - A Confederate Convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, where a new constitution was adopted.   1865 - Union General William Sherman and his forces occupied Fayetteville, NC.   1867 - In Hawaii, the volcano Great Mauna Loa erupted.   1882 - The Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association was formed in Princeton, NJ.   1888 - The "Blizzard of '88" began along the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard shutting down communication and transportation lines. More than 400 people died.(March 11-14)   1900 - British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury rejected the peace overtures offered from the Boer leader Paul Kruger.   1901 - Britain rejected an amended treaty to the canal agreement with Nicaragua.   1901 - U.S. Steel was formed when industrialist J.P. Morgan purchased Carnegie Steep Corp. The event made Andrew Carnegie the world's richest man.   1905 - The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.   1907 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt induced California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.   1907 - In Bulgaria, Premier Nicolas Petkov was killed by an anarchist.   1909 - The first gold medal to a perfect-score bowler was awarded to A.C. Jellison by the American Bowling Congress.   1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theatre in New York City.   1930 - Babe Ruth signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees for the sum of $80,000.   1930 - U.S. President Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.  1935 - The German Air Force became an official department of the Reich.   1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the act of providing war supplies to the Allies.   1946 - Communists and Nationalists began fighting as the Soviets pulled out of Mukden, Manchuria.   1946 - Pravda denounced Winston Churchill as anti-Soviet and a warmonger.   1947 - The DuMont network aired "Movies For Small Fry." It was network television's first successful children's program.   1948 - Reginald Weir became the first black tennis player to participate in a U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association tournament.   1959 - The Lorraine Hansberry drama A Raisin in the Sun opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.   1964 - U.S. Senator Carl Hayden broke the record for continuous service in the U.S. Senate. He had worked 37 years and seven days.   1965 - The American navy began inspecting Vietnamese junks in an effort to end arms smuggling to the South.   1969 - Levi-Strauss started selling bell-bottomed jeans.   1978 - Bobby Hull (Winnipeg Jets) joined Gordie Howe by getting his 1,000th career goal.   1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev was named the new chairman of the Soviet Communist Party.   1986 - Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a one-stick model.   1988 - A cease-fire was declared in the war between Iran and Iraq.   1990 - Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet republic to break away from Communist control.   1990 - In Chile, Patricio Aylwin was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since 1973.   1992 - Former U.S. President Nixon said that the Bush administration was not giving enough economic aid to Russia.   1993 - Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the first female attorney general.   1993 - North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty refusing to open sites for inspection.   1994 - In Chile, Eduardo Frei was sworn in as President. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in Chile since 1970.   1997 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant caused 35 workers to be exposed to low levels of radioactivity. The incident was the worst in Japan's history.   1998 - The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.   2002 - Two columns of light were pointed skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

1861 The Confederate States of America adopted its constitution. 1888 A torrential rainstorm hit the East Coast. The rain turned to snow the next day and it became the Blizzard of 1888, the most famous snowstorm in American history. It caused more than 400 deaths. 1930 William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. 1941 President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Bill. 1942 General Douglas MacArthur leaves the Philippines saying, "I shall return." 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became head of the Soviet Union following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. At 54, he was the youngest member of the ruling Politburo. 1990 A newly elected parliament in Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 Augusto Pinochet of Chile, dictator since 1973, steps down. 1993 Janet Reno won unanimous Senate confirmation to be the first female U.S. Attorney General. 2004 Over 200 people were killed and over 1,400 were injured when bombs exploded in Madrid train stations. Al-Qaeda took responsibility for the attacks. 2011 Japan is hit by an enormous earthquake that triggers a deadly 23-foot tsunami in the country's north, about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. Cooling systems in one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station fail shortly after the earthquake, causing a nuclear crisis.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar11.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory