On This Day — 31 March

2023

A historic tornado outbreak occurs in the American Midwest and South.

Tornado outbreak of March 31 – April 1, 2023

2018

Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution.

2018 Armenian Revolution

2016

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a yearlong mission at the International Space Station.

NASA

2005

The dwarf planet Makemake is discovered by a team led by astronomer Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory.

Dwarf planet

2004

Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.

Anbar campaign (2003–2011)

1998

Netscape releases Mozilla source code under an open source license.

Netscape

1995

Selena is murdered by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Selena

1995

TAROM Flight 371, an Airbus A310-300, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, killing all 60 people on board.

TAROM Flight 371

1993

The Macao Basic Law is adopted by the Eighth National People's Congress of China to take effect December 20, 1999. Resumption by China of the Exercise of Sovereignty over Macao

Macao Basic Law

1992

The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

USS Missouri (BB-63)

1992

The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow.

Treaty of Federation

1991

Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.

1991 Georgian independence referendum

1991

The Warsaw Pact formally disbands.

Warsaw Pact

1990

Approximately 200,000 protesters take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.

Poll tax riots

1986

Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940 crashes into the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range near the Mexican town of Maravatío, killing 167.

Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940

1980

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad

1970

Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

Explorer 1

1968

American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

President of the United States

1966

The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

Soviet Union

1966

The Labour Party under Harold Wilson wins the 1966 United Kingdom general election.

Labour Party (UK)

1964

Brazilian General Olímpio Mourão Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'état and 21 years of military dictatorship.

Olímpio Mourão Filho

1959

The 14th Dalai Lama crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.

14th Dalai Lama

1958

In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.

1958 Canadian federal election

1957

Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.

1957 Upper Voltan Territorial Assembly election

1951

Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

Remington Rand

1949

The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.

Dominion of Newfoundland

1945

World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.

Nazi Germany

1942

World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.

World War II

1939

Events preceding World War II in Europe: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledges British military support to the Second Polish Republic in the event of an invasion by Nazi Germany.

Events preceding World War II in Europe

1933

The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.

Civilian Conservation Corps

1931

An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000.

1931 Nicaragua earthquake

1931

A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.

1931 Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash

1930

The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.

Hays Code

1921

The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.

Royal Australian Air Force

1918

Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.

March Days

1918

Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

Daylight saving time

1917

According to the terms of the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, the islands become American possessions.

Treaty of the Danish West Indies

1913

The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence; this concert became known as the Skandalkonzert.

Modernism (music)

1909

Serbia formally withdraws its opposition to Austro-Hungarian actions in the Bosnian Crisis.

Bosnian Crisis

1906

The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.

National Collegiate Athletic Association

1905

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declares his support for Moroccan independence in Tangier, beginning the First Moroccan Crisis.

Wilhelm II

1901

Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák premieres at the National Opera House in Prague.

Rusalka (opera)

1899

Philippine–American War: Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces.

Philippine–American War

1889

The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.

Eiffel Tower

1885

The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

1854

Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

Commodore (United States)

1814

The Sixth Coalition occupies Paris after Napoleon's Grande Armée capitulates.

War of the Sixth Coalition

1774

American Revolution: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

American Revolution

1761

The 1761 Lisbon earthquake strikes off the Iberian Peninsula with an estimated magnitude of 8.5, six years after another quake destroyed the city.

1761 Lisbon earthquake

1717

A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.

Benjamin Hoadly

1706

The last session of history of the Catalan Courts, the parliament of the Principality of Catalonia, ends. Catalonia's constitutional modernisation passed by the Courts aims to improve the guarantee of individual, political and economic rights (such as the secrecy of correspondence).

Catalan Courts

1657

The Long Parliament presents the Humble Petition and Advice offering Oliver Cromwell the British throne, which he eventually declines.

Long Parliament

1521

Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines.

Ferdinand Magellan

1492

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile sign the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, ordering all Jews in their kingdoms to either convert to Christianity or leave the country.

Ferdinand II of Aragon

1272

Pope Gregory X calls for a General Church Council to discuss reunion of Churches, Crusade to the Holy Land and Church reform.

Pope Gregory X

1174

A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks.

Pro-Fatimid conspiracy against Saladin

1146

Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.

Bernard of Clairvaux

307

After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.

Minervina