What Happened on March 15th in History
30 historical events on this date
First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia.
The Australia and New Zealand tour of the England cricket team in 1876â77 was at the time considered to be another professional first-class cricket tour of the colonies, as similar tours had...
Start of the Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888.
The Sikkim expedition was an 1888 British military expedition to expel Tibetan forces from Sikkim. The roots of the conflict lay in BritishâTibetan competition for suzerainty over Sikkim.
The Lobau bombing is one of the first attacks of the Ăre des attentats (1892-1894).
The Lobau bombing was a bomb attack in Paris, France, carried out on 15 March 1892, by the anarchist militant Théodule Meunier against the Lobau barracks. Organized four days after the Saint-Germain...
Madeleine bombing by DĂ©sirĂ© Pauwels during the Ăre des attentats.
The Madeleine bombing was a bomb attack carried out on 15 March 1894 by the anarchist militant Désiré Pauwels at the Madeleine church, facing the French National Assembly in Paris. The attack...
The first parliamentary elections of Finland (at the time the Grand Duchy of Finland) are held.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Grand Duchy of Finland on 15 and 16 March 1907. They were the first parliamentary election in which members were elected to the new Parliament of Finland by...
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne, ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty.
Tsar ( ) is a Slavic title derived from the Latin word caesar, which was intended to mean emperor in the European medieval sense of the termâa ruler with the same rank as a Roman emperor, holding it...
Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.
The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of recently independent Finland between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. The clashes...
Ukrainian War of Independence: The Kontrrazvedka is established as the counterintelligence division of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the UkrainianâSoviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the...
The American Legion is founded.
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an organization of U.S. veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, in turn...
Talaat Pasha, former Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire and chief architect of the Armenian genocide, is assassinated in Berlin by a 23-year-old Armenian, Soghomon Tehlirian.
Mehmed TalĂąt Pasha, commonly known as Talaat Pasha or Talat Pasha, was a Turkish activist, revolutionary, politician, and convicted war criminal who served as the de facto leader of the Ottoman...
After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to...
The first Women's Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on The Isis in Oxford.
The Women's Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. First rowed in 1927, the race has taken place annually since 1964....
Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.
The military occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany began with the German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, continued with the creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and by...
Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.
Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine was an autonomous region within the Second Czechoslovak Republic and short-lived state. It was created in December 1938 and renamed from Subcarpathian Rus',...
World War II: Third Battle of Kharkiv: The Germans retake the city of Kharkiv from the Soviet armies.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
The Iranian oil industry is nationalized.
The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry resulted from a movement in the Iranian parliament (Majlis) to seize control of Iran's oil industry, which had been run by private companies, largely...
At the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, South Africa announces that it will withdraw from the Commonwealth when the South African Constitution of 1961 comes into effect.
The 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the 11th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in March 1961, and was hosted by...
President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Johnson was vice president under John F. Kennedy from 1961 until Kennedy's assassination in...
Fifteen people are killed when Sterling Airways Flight 901, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, catches fire following a landing gear collapse at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran.
On 15 March 1974, Sterling Airways Flight 901, a Sud Aviation Caravelle operated by Sterling Airways, experienced a landing gear failure as it was taxiing for take-off. The right main landing gear...
Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. Stretching across the Horn of Africa, it borders Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the...
Collapse of Hotel New World: Thirty-three people die when the Hotel New World in Singapore collapses.
The collapse of Hotel New World was a civil disaster that occurred in Singapore on 15 March 1986. The Hotel New World was a six-story building situated at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen...
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first and only President of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the...
Cold War: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist...
Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of GĂ«rdec, Albania, killing 26 people.
At approximately 12 p.m. local time on March 15, 2008, at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec in the Vorë Municipality of Albania, U.S. and Albanian munitions experts were...
Beginning of the Syrian revolution.
The Syrian revolution was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria â with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime â lasting from 2011 to 2024 as part of the...
Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings.
On 15 March 2019, two consecutive terrorist mass shootings took place in Christchurch, New Zealand. They were committed during Friday prayer, first at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton at 1:40Â p.m.,...
Beginning of the 2019â20 Hong Kong protests.
From 2019 until 2020, protests were held in Hong Kong in response to the Hong Kong government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in regard to extradition. It was the...
Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest climate change.
Fridays for Future (FFF), also known as the School Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from...
The 2022 Sri Lankan protests begins amidst Sri Lanka's economic collapse.
The Aragalaya was a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy, which led to a...
Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military.
Four members of the Bani Odeh family were killed on 15 March 2026 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) opened fire on their car in Tammun in the West Bank. Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, 37, his wife Waad...