Browse Historical Events by Month:
The first Olympic games, the founding of dynasties, and legendary battles. Explore historic milestones from March that influenced today's world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States on March 4, 1897.McKinley emphasized the need for tariff reform and financial stability following the economic distress of the Panic of 1893. The Spanish American War took place during his term in office.
Aspirin, probably the best known brand in medicine is entered in the trademark register of the Kaiserliches Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin on March 6, 1899, by the German company Bayer, after being first successfully synthesized.
Salicin, which is converted into salicylic acid in the body, is found in the bark of willows. Its therapeutic effect has been known since time immemorial. The progenitor of all physicians, Hippocrates of Kos, described it around 400 B.C. as a medicine against fever and pain; Teutons and Celts cooked a broth from willow bark as medicine. More
Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, was granted a U.S. Patent for his "navigable balloon" on March 14, 1899. The first Zeppelin airship, the LZ-1, made its maiden flight on July 2, 1900, lasting about 20 minutes over Lake Constance in Germany.
The Inventor: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a retired German Brigadier General who and devoted his efforts to creating the dirigible, after his retirement in 1891
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Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition team begins their ascent of Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano on March 5, 1908, reaching Mt. Erebus's summit on March 10. The journey, which came to an end in 1909) was one of the most successful Antarctic expeditions of the time, locating the South Magnetic Pole and reaching 88° 23′ S (just 112 miles from the Geographic South Pole).
The British Antarctic expedition had sailed from England on the 200-ton Nimrod, determined to map previously uncharted territories. The expedition was based at Cape Royds after sea ice prevented them from reaching the planned site at Hut Point. The Shackleton’s Hut, built by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his 1907–1909 Nimrod expedition at Cape Royds still stands today, as a preserved, iconic, and historic, timber-prefabricated, Antarctic base camp, containing original supplies, crates, and artifacts, is maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and accessible to visitors. There is also a nearby Adélie penguin colony. maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and accessible to visitors.
The U.S. first lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant the first two cherry trees from a gift of 3,020 trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. The two first trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin. The ceremonial event is now commemorated at the annual Washington’s National Cherry Blossom Festival. After the end of the 2024 spring’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Park Service will cut down 158 cherry trees from the nearly 3,700 total to reconstruct a seawall around the Tidal Basin, fortifying the area against sea level rise and extreme precipitation events. More
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Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States on March 4, 1913. The Federal Reserve Act, the Child Labor Reform Act, and legislation supporting unions were passed during his term. However, he also allowed Jim Crow laws to be put into place in Washington D.C., segregating the Treasury and Postal Service departments.
Wilson was elected to a second term in office in 1916, running on the slogan “He Kept us Out of War”. However, the United States of America declared war on Germany in April 1917 and entered WWI.
The German Empire, formally declares war on Portugal, on March 9, 1916, during WWI. Portugal had supported its alliance with Great Britain, seizing German ships which were anchored in Lisbon’s harbor. The declaration of war drew Portugal into World War I alongside the Allied powers.
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Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne on March 15, 1917 (March 2 O.S), amid the chaos, protests and demonstrations of the Russian Revolution, ending the 300 year Romanov dynasty. More
The USS Cyclops (AC-4) was a massive U.S. Navy collier (coal ship) which was last seen on March 4, 1918, departing Barbados for Baltimore on a trip originating in Brazil.
It was carrying 309 people including officers crew and passengers and a heavy cargo of Manganese ore, which was heavier and denser than coal. The ship was never seen again and its wreck has never been found. It remains the largest non-combat loss of life in U.S. Navy history.
The first major, documented cases of the1918 influenza pandemic (often called the "Spanish Flu") occurred on March 4, 1918, at Camp Funston, Fort Riley in Kansas. Within days, over 1,100 soldiers were hospitalized and went on to spread rapidly through U.S. military bases and then to Europe, causing 50–100 million deaths worldwide (Roughly 675,000 in the U.S.)
The total worldwide number of infections is estimated to have been 500 million people. (one-third of the world's population at the time). The "Spanish Flu" name is a misnomer. Major WW I powers like the U.S., UK, France, and Germany suppressed news of the illness to maintain morale. However, Spain was a neutral country and its press reported freely on the outbreak, leading to the false perception that the disease originated there
The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time, preventing U.S. entry into the League of Nations.
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Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States on March 4, 1921. He focused on reducing taxes and promoting business growth, limiting government involvement in the economy. Harding died in office on August 2, 1923 and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
His administration was marred by the "Teapot Dome scandal" a major government corruption scandal where President Harding's Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall secretly leased government oil reserves (like Wyoming's Teapot Dome) to private oil companies taking bribes from Oil men Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny in exchange for these deals. He became the first cabinet member to go to prison for such crimes.
British India arrests Mohandas Gandhi in Bombay for organizing resistance against British rule on March 10, 1922, for sedition due to his writings advocating non-cooperation, leading to a six-year prison sentence although he served two.
He faced repeated arrests for defying British rule through nonviolent civil disobedience, like the Salt March, inspiring widespread movements for India's independence.
American Physicist Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926, in Auburn, Massachusetts. The 10-foot rocket used gasoline and liquid oxygen to reach an altitude of 41 feet and flew for 2.5 seconds, proving the feasibility of liquid propulsion for future space travel.
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States on March 4, 1929. He presided during the Great depression/ His policies to combat it were broadly seen as too conservative and inadequate. and overly conservative. He lost his reelection bid to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
President Herbert Hoover signed a Public Law that mking the "Star-Spangled Banner” the official U.S. national anthem of the United states. The words are from a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814.
During the War of 1812, on September 13, 1814, Key watched a night-time battle between Great Britain and America that took place in Baltimore, Maryland at Fort McHenry. When he saw the American flag still flying in the morning, he wrote a poem that tells the story of his experience. More
Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr, the 20-month-old son of the famous aviator and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped on March 1, 1932, from the nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, New Jersey. More
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States, on March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression and delivers his famous "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" speech.
Adolf Hitler orders the rearmament of Germany including military conscription in violation of The Treaty of Versailles. More
The Hoover Dam is officially completed on March 1, 1936, when it was turned over to the federal government by the contractors. Completed in just under five years, ahead of the seven-year schedule from its official start of April 20, 1931. The final concrete was placed on May 29, 1935, and it was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on September 30, 1935.
