March 16

What happened that day?

• 2016: Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 22 and injuring 18.
• 2016: A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 54.
• 2014: Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.
• 2005: Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
• 1995: Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
• 1991: The airplane carrying eight members of Reba McEntire's touring band crashed on the side of Otay Mountain.
• 1989: In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found near the Pyramid of Cheops.
• 1988: The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. A PIRA volunteer and two civilians are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.
• 1988: [Halabja](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja) chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
• 1988: Iran-Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
• 1985: Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
• 1984: William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. (He later dies in captivity.)
• 1983: Demolition of the Ismaning radio transmitter, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
• 1979: Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ends the war.
• 1978: Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.
• 1978: Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped. (He is later murdered by his captors.)
• 1977: Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
• 1976: British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
• 1969: A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.
• 1968: General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
• 1968: [Vietnam](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam) War: My Lai Massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
• 1966: Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena target vehicle.
• 1962: A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.
• 1958: The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding.
• 1945: Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in around 5,000 deaths.
• 1945: World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
• 1940: First person killed (James Isbister) in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
• 1939: From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
• 1936: Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh.
• 1935: Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
• 1926: History of [Rocket](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket)ry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
• 1925: An earthquake occurs in Yunnan, China.
• 1924: In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.
• 1918: Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites executed 70-100 capitulated Reds.
• 1917: World War I: A German auxiliary cruiser is sunk in the Action of 16 March 1917.
• 1916: The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
• 1900: Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
• 1894: Jules Massenet's opera Thaïs is first performed.
• 1872: The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
• 1870: The first version of the overture fantasy Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky receives its première performance.
• 1865: American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
• 1864: American Civil War: During the Red River Campaign, Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
• 1818: In the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada, Spanish forces defeated Chileans under José de San Martín.
• 1815: Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
• 1812: The Siege of Badajoz begins: British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat the French garrison during the Peninsular War.
• 1802: The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
• 1797: French Revolutionary Wars: An Austrian column is defeated by the French in the Battle of Valvasone.
• 1792: King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
• 1782: Anglo-Spanish War (1779)): Action of 16 March 1782
• 1782: American Revolutionary War: Spanish troops capture the British-held island of Roatán.
• 1689: The 23rd Regiment of Foot, or Royal Welch Fusiliers, is founded.
• 1660: The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.
• 1621: Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
• 1521: Ferdinand Magellan reaches the island of Homonhon in the Philippines.
• 1322: The Battle of Boroughbridge take place in the Despenser Wars.
• 1244: Over 200 Cathars are burned after the Fall of Montségur.
• 1190: Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
• 934: Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
• 455: Emperor Valentinian III is assassinated by two Hunnic retainers while training with the bow on the Campus Martius (Rome).
• 597 BC: Babylonians capture Jerusalem, and replace Jeconiah with Zedekiah as king.