The Arab oil ministers agree to end the embargo against the United States, Europe, and Japan on March 18, 1974, on the condition that the United States also promotes Israeli-Syrian disengagement.
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What Happened in March?
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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The mausoleum of China's first Quin Emperor, Qin Shi Huang is accidentally discovered on March 29, 1974,when local farmers unearthed pottery fragments while digging a water well, approximately 1.5 kilometers east of the burial mound which had been visible for over 2000 years.
The finding, became known as Pit 1. The discovery, led to more findings including the famous Terracotta Army, which were unlike any tomb figures seen before. Discoveries continued over the years, including two large painted bronze chariots and horses approximately 20 meters west of the tomb mound. The central burial chamber of Emperor Qin Shi Huang remains unopened to this day due to preservation concerns and historical accounts of lethal traps and mercury rivers. More
The laying of the first pipeline of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) began on March 27, 1975, following road and facility work, which started in April 1974. The $8 billion, 3-year project, spanning from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, employed over 70,000 people to cross three mountain ranges. The first oil flowed June 20, 1977. More
Two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on a runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands. Resulting in the death of 583 people and injuring 61 others. The KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff run, colliding with the starboard side of Pan Am Flight 1736, which was on the runway.
An investigation by The Spanish authorities concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the KLM captain's decision to take off in the mistaken belief that air traffic control (ATC) had issued takeoff clearance. KLM admitted that its crew was responsible for the accident and the airline agreed to financially compensate the relatives of all of the victims. As of March 27, 2026, the Tenerife aircraft accident is the deadliest accident in aviation history. (not including the 911 terrorists attacks).
Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter's moon Io with its closest approach taking place on March 5, 1979. During this flyby encounter, the probe discovered active volcanoes on Io, the first time active volcanoes were seen on another body in the Solar System.
The closest approach to Io, which is about 5% larger than earth's moon, was at an altitude of 20,570 km (12,780 miles) and the images revealed that Io's surface was heavily dotted with active volcanoes, plumes, and lava lakes, appearing as a "pizza-like" surface. It helped scientists determine that Io's volcanic activity supplies the material that populates the Jovian magnetosphere with sulfur, oxygen, and sodium. Voyager 1 continued to study Jupiter and its moons until April 1979 before heading to Saturn.
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A peace treaty is signed between Israel and Egypt on March 26, 1979 at the White House, ending 31 years of conflict between the two countries. The historic peace treaty, based on the Camp David Accords mediated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, between Israel and Egypt, and was agreed to by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin.
The Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melts down on march 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. A combination of equipment malfunctions, design-related problems and worker errors led to TMI-2’s partial meltdown and very small off site releases of radioactivity. More
U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces on March 21, 1980, that the United States was boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Despite Carter's efforts to recruit allies, several key nations, including Britain and France, did not join the boycott. In the end, 65 nations skipped the games. In retaliation for the American-led boycott, the Soviet Union and 14 of its allies boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union did not withdraw from Afghanistan until 1989.
CBS anchor, Walter Cronkite, known as "the most trusted man in America," concludes his 19-year tenure by saying, "Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981". He was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather.
Walter Cronkite retirement was a semi-forced exit despite his legendary status due to CBS's mandatory retirement policy at age 65. He did continued with specials and other projects for CBS. Cronkite, born on November 4, 1916, died at age 92, on July 17, 2009, at his home in New York City..
U.S. President Ronald Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981, in Washington, D.C. just 60 days after his inauguration. Reagan was hit by a bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung and causing serious internal bleeding. He underwent surgery and was released on April 11. More
A rare planetary alignment occurred on March 10, 1982, generating significant public interest and anxiety, due to predictions in the book "The Jupiter Effect", claiming the combined gravitational pull would have catastrophic effects on earth. The planetary alignment was a loose grouping rather than a tight lineup. with negligible effect.
The book , "The Jupiter Effect", by John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann suggested that the alignment of all nine planets on one side of the Sun would create a significant gravitational pull, causing the combined gravitational pull would trigger catastrophic earthquakes, solar flares, and global disasters. However it proved to be harmless, a lesson in distinguishing scientific possibility from sensationalized prediction.
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, on March 11, 1985, succeeding Konstantin Chernenko.
The Pi Day celebration, of the never-ending mathematical constant pi (π), is started on March 14, 1988, by American physicist Larry Shaw, who worked at the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. The celebration began on 3/14 at 1:59 pm (for: 3.14159)
Definition:
Pi is the never-ending mathematical constant (pi (π)), which relates the circumference C of a circle to its diameter d; that is,π = C/d. The numerical value of pi to five decimal places is 3.14159.
Formal Recognitions:
On March 12, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized March 14 as National Pi Day.
On November 26, 2019, UNESCO designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics
Coincidences:
Pi Day shares the calendar with two of history's most famous physicists:
~ Albert Einstein’s Birthday: Born on March 14, 1879.
~ Stephen Hawking’s Death: Passed away on March 14, 2018.
~ Super Pi Day: The date 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 AM/PM represents the first ten digits of Pi.
The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of oil and causing one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history. More
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union on March 14, 1990. He had served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and as head of state beginning in 1988 and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989.
He was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize 1990. Gorbachev resigned form the presidency on December 25, 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated. More
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, becomes independent on March 21, 1990, officially ending 106 years of foreign control, first by Germany (1884–1915) and subsequently by South Africa. Namibia's has a reported 2025 population of over 3 Million, its capital and largest city is Windhoek.
Namibia is a country in Southern Africa bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the northeast, Zimbabwe lies less than 660 feet (200 meters) away along the Zambezi River near Kazungula, Zambia.
White South Africans voted in a historical referendum on March 17, 1992, to end the 40-year-old system of apartheid, with 68.73% of voters supporting the reforms which eventually led to ending white minority rule.
The referendum posed the question to white voters, if they supported the continuation of the negotiated reforms aimed at a new constitution, which began on February 2, 1990, under State President F.W. de Klerk. With 85.08% of the registered white voters participating, the "Yes" side won a landslide victory with 1,924,186 votes (68.73%) against 875,619 "No" votes (31.27%).The referendum also marked the last time only the white electorate participated in a national election. The result enabled negotiations that led to the first non-racial, democratic elections in April 1994, electing Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa.
The USS Missouri (BB-63), known as "Mighty Mo," was decommissioned for the second and final time on March 31, 1992, at Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California; marking the end of the last active American battleship.
The USS Missouri had been recommissioned in 1986 and served during operation Dessert Storm in 1991. It was later donated to a memorial and opened as a museum in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1998.
Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese doomsday cult, carries out a sarin gas attack on March, 20, 1995, by releasing several packages on the Tokyo subway system, killing 13 and injuring over 5000. The odorless, colorless, and highly toxic nerve gas was invented by the Nazis and is one of the most lethal nerve gases known to man.
NATO begins airstrikes against Yugoslavia, on March 24, 1999, marking the start of the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted 78 days.