On This Day — 15 March

2026

Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military.

Killing of members of the Bani Odeh family

2022

The 2022 Sri Lankan protests begins amidst Sri Lanka's economic collapse.

Aragalaya

2019

Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings.

Christchurch mosque shootings

2019

Beginning of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.

2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

2019

Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest climate change.

Fridays for Future

2011

Beginning of the Syrian revolution.

Syrian revolution

2008

Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people.

2008 Gërdec explosions

1991

Cold War: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Cold War

1990

Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first and only President of the Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev

1986

Collapse of Hotel New World: Thirty-three people die when the Hotel New World in Singapore collapses.

Collapse of Hotel New World

1978

Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.

Somalia

1974

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.

Sterling Airways Flight 901

1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1961

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.

1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

1951

The Iranian oil industry is nationalized.

Nationalization of the Iranian oil industry

1943

World War II: Third Battle of Kharkiv: The Germans retake the city of Kharkiv from the Soviet armies.

World War II

1939

Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.

Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)

1939

Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.

Carpatho-Ukraine

1927

The first Women's Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on The Isis in Oxford.

Women's Boat Race

1922

After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.

Egypt

1921

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.

Talaat Pasha

1919

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Kontrrazvedka is established as the counterintelligence division of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

Ukrainian War of Independence

1919

The American Legion is founded.

American Legion

1918

Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.

Finnish Civil War

1917

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne, ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty.

Tsar

1907

The first parliamentary elections of Finland (at the time the Grand Duchy of Finland) are held.

1907 Finnish parliamentary election

1894

Madeleine bombing by Désiré Pauwels during the Ère des attentats.

Madeleine bombing

1892

The Lobau bombing is one of the first attacks of the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).

Lobau bombing

1888

Start of the Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888.

Sikkim expedition

1877

First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia.

English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1876–77

1875

Archbishop of New York John McCloskey is named the first cardinal in the United States.

List of archbishops of New York

1874

France and Vietnam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.

French Third Republic

1848

A revolution breaks out in Hungary, and the Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the reform party.

Hungarian Revolution of 1848

1823

Sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reports the existence of the island of New South Greenland near Antarctica.

Benjamin Morrell

1820

Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state.

Maine

1783

In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful, and the threatened coup d'état never takes place.

Newburgh, New York

1781

The British under Charles Cornwallis defeat American forces under Nathanael Greene in the battle of Guilford Court House.

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

1672

King Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, granting limited religious freedom to all Christians.

Declaration of Indulgence (1672)

1626

A dam failure causes the sudden flooding of the mining city of Potosí in present-day Bolivia leading to the death of thousands and the massive release of toxic mercury into the environment.

Dam failure

1564

Mughal Emperor Akbar abolishes the jizya tax on non-Muslim subjects.

Akbar

1412

Treaty of Lublowa: After the Peace of Thorn, Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen asks Sigismund of Hungary for economic aid. Sigismund agrees to mediate reduction to the third installment, demarcation of the Samogitian border, and other matters with a grand tournament. Hunts and lavish feasts were also organized. Sigismund invited, among others, polish king Wladyslaw Jagiello, Heinrich von Plauen and bosnian king Tvrtko II. There were people from 17 countries and languages - 40.000 nobles and 2000 knights were present from all over Europe, even England.

Treaty of Lubowla

1311

Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V, Count of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.

Battle of Halmyros

1147

Afonso I of Portugal captures in a surprise attack the city of Santarem from the Almoravids.

Afonso I of Portugal

933

After a ten-year truce, German King Henry the Fowler defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut river.

Henry the Fowler

897

Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya enters Sa'dah and founds the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen.

Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya

856

Michael III, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, overthrows the regency of his mother, empress Theodora (wife of Theophilos) with support of the Byzantine nobility.

Michael III

493

Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together.

Odoacer

351

Constantius Gallus is elevated as Caesar and then sent to Antioch to govern the Roman East.

Constantius Gallus

-44

The assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, by a group of senators takes place on the Ides of March.

Assassination of Julius Caesar

-200

The Roman Republic under its new consuls Publius Sulpicius Galba and Gaius Aurelius Cotta declares war on Philip V of Macedon, starting the Second Macedonian War.

Roman Republic

-474

Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce.

Roman consul