March 17: Day of the year

March 17 is the 76th day of the year (77th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 289 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
• 180 - Marcus Aurelius dies, leaving Commodus as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire.
• 624 - Led by the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeat the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.
• 1328 - Isabella of France, on behalf of her 15-year-old son, Edward III of England, recognizes the independence of Scotland, ending the first of the Scottish Wars of Independence.
• 1337 - Edward, the Black Prince becomes Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
• 1452 - The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia, resulting in a Christian victory.
• 1667 - Siege of Valenciennes: During the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France's taking over of the city.
• 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
• 1780 - American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday on St. Patrick's Day, in solidarity with the Irish people.
• 1800 - British ship HMS Queen Charlotte sinks after a fire on board off Livorno, Tuscany, Italy, killing 673 people.
• 1805 – Italy becomes a Kingdom for the first time, with Napoleon Bonaparte becoming King.
• 1842 - The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.
• 1860 - The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase in the New Zealand Land Wars.
• 1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed, making Italy a united nation. It lasts until 1946, when a majority of voters supports becoming a Republic.
• 1891 – The USS Utopia collides with the HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar, and sinks, killing 562 people.
• 1899 - William Henry Pickering discovers Saturn's moon Phoebe.

1901 – 2000

• 1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
• 1939 - Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Nanchang between the Republic of China's Kuomintang and Japan begins.
• 1941 – In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is opened.
• 1945 – World War II: The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, shortly after its capture.
• 1948 - The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels.
• 1950 - Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name Californium.
• 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines, kills 25 people, including President Ramon Magsaysay.
• 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, escapes Tibet to India.
• 1960 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs invasion.
• 1963 – The Gunung Agung volcano on Bali, Indonesia, erupts, killing around 1,300 people.
• 1966 - A missing American hydrogen bomb is found off the Mediterranean Sea coast of Spain.
• 1968 - As a result of nerve gas testing in Skull Valley, Utah, US, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
• 1969 – Golda Meir becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1988 - Avianca Flight 410, a Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, crashes into a mountainside in Eastern Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people.
• 1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
• 1991 - Diego Maradona is found to have taken cocaine and is banned from football for 15 months.
• 1992 – A referendum in South Africa approves the end of Apartheid.
• 1992 - A suicide car bombing at Israel's Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 29 people.
• 1996 - Legoland Windsor opens in Windsor, Berkshire, England
• 2000 - More than 800 members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in what is considered to be a mass murder and suicide, orchestrated by the leaders of the cult.

From 2001

• 2003 – Robin Cook resigns from the British cabinet over plans to go to war in Iraq.
• 2004 - Unrest occurs in Kosovo. 22 people are killed, and 220 injured, as 35 Serbian Orthodox Shrines in Kosovo and 2 mosques in Belgrade and Nis, Serbia, are destroyed.
• 2008 – New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns over a prostitution scandal. David Paterson replaces him.
• 2009 – Marc Ravalomanana resigns as President of Madagascar, as Andry Rajoelina takes over, following weeks of unrest.
• 2011 - 2011 Libyan civil war: The United Nations Security Council authorizes military intervention to protect civilians in Libya, as well as a no-fly zone over Libya.
• 2013 - A meteorite hits the Moon.
• 2018 - Russia expels 23 British diplomats (after the UK did the same with 23 Russian diplomats on March 14) and also decides to close the British Consulate in Saint Petersburg and end the work of the British Council in Russia. This is because of an ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Up to 1900

• 765 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph (d. 809) (N.S March 27 on Gregorian calendar)
• 1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan (d. 1242)
• 1473 – King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
• 1537 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese general and politician (d. 1598)
• 1628 - François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
• 1665 - Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French musician, harpsichordist and composer (d. 1829)
• 1676 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
• 1686 - Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter, engraver and tapestry designer (d. 1755)
• 1725 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American military and political leader
• 1777 - Patrick Bronte, father of the Brontë sisters (d. 1861)
• 1777 - Roger Brooke Taney, 5th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1864)
• 1780 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish theologian, religious reformer and writer (d. 1847)
• 1794 - Gabriel Antonio Pereira, President of Uruguay (d. 1861)
• 1804 - Jim Bridger, American explorer (d. 1881)
• 1813 – King Kamehameha III of Hawaii (d. 1854) (March 17 was official birthday)
• 1822 – Sa'id, Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt (d. 1854)
• 1832 - Walter Q. Gresham, United States Secretary of State (d. 1895)
• 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor (d. 1900)
• 1846 - Kate Greenaway, English writer and illustrator (d. 1901)
• 1849 - Charles F. Brush, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1929)
• 1856 - Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
• 1858 - Policarpo Bonilla, President of Honduras (d. 1926)
• 1862 - Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
• 1865 – Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland (d. 1922)
• 1868 - Nathan E. Kendall, 23rd Governor of Iowa (d. 1936)
• 1872 - Konstantinos Skarlatos, Greek shooter (d. 1969)
• 1876 - Frederick Ayres, American composer (d. 1926)
• 1877 - Otto Gross, Austrian psychoanalyst (d. 1920)
• 1879 - Jim Nance McCord, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1968)
• 1880 – Lawrence Oates, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
• 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist (d. 1973)
• 1883 - Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
• 1884 – Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1934)
• 1885 - Ralph Rose, American athlete (d. 1913)
• 1886 - Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
• 1888 - Paul Ramadier, French politician (d. 1961)
• 1889 - Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (d. 1931)
• 1892 - Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer and composer (d. 1923)
• 1900 – Alfred Neumann, American movie composer (d. 1970)

1901 – 1950

• 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
• 1906 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
• 1907 – Miki Takeo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
• 1907 - Jean Van Houtte, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
• 1907 - John O. Pastore, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 2000)
• 1911 - Vello Kaaristo, Estonian cross-country skier (d. 1965)
• 1912 - Bayard Rustin, American Civil rights activist (d. 1987)
• 1914 - Juan Ongania, Argentine military officer and politician (d. 1995)
• 1915 - Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
• 1920 - Jose Tomas Sanchez, Filipino cardinal (d. 2012)
• 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli politician and general (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali founder (d. 1975)
• 1925 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
• 1926 - Siegfried Lenz, German writer (d. 2014)
• 1927 - Francisco Gonzalez Ledesma, Spanish writer (d. 2015)
• 1927 - Patrick Allen, British actor (d. 2006)
• 1929 - Peter L. Berger, Austrian philosopher (d. 2017)
• 1930 – James Irwin, American astronaut (d. 1991)
• 1933 – Penelope Lively, British writer
• 1933 - Heather Armitage, British athlete
• 1935 - Oscar Panno, Argentine chess player
• 1936 - Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot and astronaut
• 1937 - Adam Wade, American singer, drummer and actor
• 1937 - Galina Samsova, Russian ballet dancer
• 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Keith O'Brien, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and cardinal (d. 2018)
• 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
• 1939 - Robin Knox-Johnston, British yachtsman
• 1939 - Bill Graham, Canadian politician
• 1940 - Mark White, 40th Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
• 1940 - Jim Telfer, Scottish rugby player
• 1941 - Paul Kantner, American musician (d. 2016)
• 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994; executed by lethal injection)
• 1943 - Jim Weatherly, American singer-songwriter
• 1943 - Bakili Muluzi, former President of Malawi
• 1944 - John Sebastian, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 - Juan Ramon Veron, Argentine footballer and coach
• 1944 - Cito Galston, American baseball player
• 1945 – Michael Hayden, General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1945 - Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
• 1947 - Yury Chernavsky, Russian composer and producer
• 1948 - William Gibson, American writer
• 1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor
• 1949 - Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
• 1949 - Hartmut Briesenick, East German athlete (d. 2013)
• 1949 - Stuart Rose, English businessman

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer
• 1951 - Sydne Rome, American actress
• 1951 - Kurt Russell, American actor
• 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress and singer
• 1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American politician
• 1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor
• 1955 - Mark Boone Junior, American actor
• 1956 - Rory McGrath, English comedian and writer
• 1957 - Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
• 1958 - José-Manuel Abascal, Spanish middle-distance runner
• 1958 - Christian Clemenson, American actor
• 1960 - Ruth Langsford, English television presenter
• 1960 - Michael Whitaker, English equestrian
• 1961 - Sam Bowie, American basketball player
• 1961 - Casey Siemaszko, American actor
• 1961 - Dana Reeve, American actress and activist (d. 2006)
• 1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
• 1962 - Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
• 1962 - Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut (d. 2003)
• 1964 - Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
• 1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer and pundit
• 1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor
• 1964 – Jacques Songo'o, Cameroonian footballer
• 1966 - Espen Hammer, Norwegian philosopher
• 1966 - Andrew Rosindell, English politician
• 1967 - Billy Corgan, American musician
• 1969 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
• 1969 - Bruce Parry, British former soldier, traveler and adventurer
• 1969 - Patricia Ford, American model
• 1969 - Edgar Gronspiron, French skier
• 1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
• 1972 - Sean Price, American rapper an producer
• 1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
• 1974 – Mark Dolan, British television presenter
• 1975 – Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
• 1975 - Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer and producer
• 1975 - Gina Holden, Canadian actress
• 1975 - Andrew Martin, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2009)

From 1976

• 1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (d. 2009)
• 1976 - Alvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
• 1976 - Brittany Daniel, American actress
• 1976 - Cynthia Daniel, American actress and photographer
• 1978 - Pilar Rubio, Spanish actress
• 1978 - Owen Thompson, Scottish politician
• 1979 - Sharman Joshi, Indian actor
• 1979 - Stephen Kramer Glickman, American actor and comedian
• 1979 - Million Wolde, Ethiopian runner
• 1979 - Stormy Daniels, American pornographic actress
• 1980 - Katie Morgan, American pornographic actress
• 1981 - Nicky Jam, American singer and songwriter
• 1981 - Servet Cetin, Turkish footballer
• 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
• 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
• 1983 - Matteo Paro, Italian footballer
• 1984 - Ryan Rottman, American actor
• 1986 – Edin Dzeko, Bosnian footballer
• 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
• 1987 - Rob Kardashian, American television personality
• 1987 - Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1987 - Federico Fazio, Argentine footballer
• 1988 - Fraser Forster, English footballer
• 1988 - Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
• 1988 - Grimes, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1988 - Jack Monroe, English food writer, journalist and activist
• 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
• 1989 - Mason Musso, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1990 - Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1990 - Jean Segura, Dominican baseball player
• 1991 - Thomas Robinson, American basketball player
• 1992 - Eliza Bennett, English actress and singer
• 1992 - John Boyega, English actor
• 1992 - Yeltsin Tejeda, Costa Rican footballer
• 1997 - Katie Ledecky, American swimmer

Up to 1900

• 45 BC - Titus Labienus, Roman leader (b. 100 BC)
• 45 BC - Publius Attius Varus, Roman Governor of Africa
• 180 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (b. 121)
• unknown year (probably 461 or 493) – Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
• 659 - Gertrude of Nivelles, Belgian abbess (b. 626)
• 1040 – Harold Harefoot, King of England
• 1058 - Lulach, King of the Scots
• 1199 - Jocelyn of Glasgow, Scottish monk and bishop (b. 1130)
• 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
• 1425 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (b. 1407)
• 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1479)
• 1620 - John Sarkander, Polish-Moravian priest and saint (b. 1576)
• 1680 - François de Rochefoucauld, French author (b. 1613)
• 1741 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1674)
• 1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1700)
• 1830 - Lauren de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French politician (b. 1764)
• 1846 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1764)
• 1849 – King William II of the Netherlands (b. 1792)
• 1853 – Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician (b. 1803)
• 1871 - Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher (b. 1802)
• 1875 - Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1832)
• 1886 - Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scientist (b. 1794)
• 1893 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (b. 1832)

1901 – 2000

• 1917 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher (b. 1838)
• 1921 - Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Russian mathematician and engineer (b. 1847)
• 1926 - Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (b. 1853)
• 1937 – Austen Chamberlain, English statesman (b. 1863)
• 1941 - Marguerite Nichols, American actress (b. 1895)
• 1946 - Dai Li, Chinese spymaster (b. 1897)
• 1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist (b. 1897)
• 1956 - Fred Allen, American actor (b. 1894)
• 1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
• 1958 - John Pius Boland, Irish politician and tennis player (b. 1870)
• 1961 - Susanna M. Salter, American politician (b. 1860)
• 1962 - Pat Clayton, English soldier and surveyor (b. 1896)
• 1976 - Luchino Visconti, Italian director (b. 1906)
• 1980 - Boun Oum, Laotian politician (b. 1912)
• 1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist (b. 1903)
• 1986 - Heinz Nixdorf, German computer pioneer and entrepreneur (b. 1925)
• 1990 - Capucine, French actress (b. 1931)
• 1993 – Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (b. 1877)
• 1993 - Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
• 1994 - Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1925)
• 1995 - Sunnyland Slim, American blues musician (b. 1907)
• 1995 – Ronnie Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
• 1996 - Rene Clement, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
• 1996 - Terry Stafford, American singer (b. 1941)
• 1999 - Jean Pierre-Bloch, French resistance activist and politician (b. 1905)

From 2001

• 2002 - Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1917)
• 2002 - William Witney, American director (b. 1915)
• 2003 - Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
• 2005 - George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat (b. 1904)
• 2006 - Oleg Cassini, American fashion designer (b. 1913)
• 2006 - G. William Miller, American politician (b. 1925)
• 2007 - John Backus, American computer scientist (b. 1924)
• 2007 - Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor (b. 1919)
• 2009 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian politician and television host (b. 1937)
• 2010 – Alex Chilton, American musician (b. 1950)
• 2010 - Sid Fleischman, American writer (b. 1920)
• 2011 – Michael Gough, British actor (b. 1916)
• 2012 - John Demjanjuk, Ukrainian convicted Nazi war criminal (b. 1920)
• 2012 - Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, leader of the Egyptian Coptic Church (b. 1923)
• 2014 - Mareike Carrière, German actress (b. 1954)
• 2014 - L'Wren Scott, American fashion designer and model (b. 1964)
• 2014 - Oswald Morris, British cinematographer (b. 1915)
• 2014 - Antoni Opolski, Polish physicist (b. 1913)
• 2014 - Mercy Edirisinghe, Sri Lankan actress and singer (b. 1945)
• 2015 - Shaw Taylor, English television presenter and actor (b. 1924)
• 2015 - Ashley Adams, Australian Paralympic shooter (b. 1955)
• 2016 - Shozo Awazu, Japanese judoka (b. 1923)
• 2016 - Paul Daniels, English magician (b. 1938)
• 2016 - Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official (b. 1945)
• 2016 - Solomon Marcus, Romanian mathematician (b. 1925)
• 2016 - Larry Drake, American actor (b. 1950)
• 2016 - Marian Kociniak, Polish actor (b. 1935)
• 2017 - Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
• 2017 - Hugh Hardy, Spanish-American architect (b. 1932)
• 2017 - Lawrence Montaigne, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2017 - Auntie Fee, American YouTube personality (b. 1957)
• 2017 - Inomjon Usmonxo'jayev, Soviet-Uzbek politician (b. 1930)
• 2018 - Phan Van Khai, former Prime minister of Vietnam (b. 1933)
• 2018 - Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, Welsh politician (b. 1934)
• 2018 - Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (b. 1955)
• 2019 - Jorge Insunza Becker, Chilean engineer and politician (b. 1936)
• 2019 - Bill Burlison, American politician (b. 1931)
• 2019 - Manohar Parrikar, Indian politician (b. 1955)
• 2019 - Andre Williams, American R&B musician (b. 1936)

• St. Patrick's Day - celebrating the patron saint of Ireland, celebrated in Ireland and in Irish communities worldwide
• Children's Day (Bangladesh)