On This Day — 8 March

2000s

2021

International Women's Day marches in Mexico become violent with 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured in Mexico City alone.

International Women's Day

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2021

Twenty-eight political institutions in Myanmar establish the National Unity Consultative Council, a historic alliance of ethnic armed organizations and democratically elected leaders, in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.

National Unity Consultative Council

2018

The first Aurat March (social/political demonstration) is held on International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, since then held annually across Pakistan, and the feminist slogan "Mera Jism Meri Marzi" (My body, my choice), in demand for women's right to bodily autonomy and against gender-based violence, came into vogue in Pakistan.

Aurat March

2017

The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses in stormy weather.

Azure Window

2014

In one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

2010

Headlined by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, TNA Wrestling moves its flagship program, TNA Impact!, to Monday night. This effort to go "big time live" failed but is notable in the history of professional wrestling television.

Hulk Hogan

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2004

A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.

Transitional Administrative Law (Iraq)

2001

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-102, carrying the Expedition 2 crew to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Discovery

1900s

1994

A collision at Indira Gandhi International Airport kills 9 people.

1994 Indira Gandhi Airport collision

1988

Aeroflot Flight 3379 is hijacked by the Ovechkin family and diverted to Veshchevo in the Soviet Union.

Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988)

1985

A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others.

1985 Beirut car bombings

1983

Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".

Cold War

1979

Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.

Philips

1979

Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.

Voyager 1

1966

Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, is destroyed by a bomb.

Nelson's Pillar

1965

Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.

Vietnam War

1965

Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9.

Aeroflot Flight 513

1963

The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'état.

Ba'ath Party

1962

A Turkish Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes into Mount Medetsiz in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, killing all 11 people on board.

Turkish Airlines

1950

The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 "Bus" begins production.

Volkswagen Type 2

1949

President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-Vietnamese emperor Bảo Đại sign the Élysée Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

President of France

1942

World War II: The Dutch East Indies surrender Java to the Imperial Japanese Army.

World War II

1942

World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces capture Rangoon, Burma from the British.

Yangon

1937

Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.

Spanish Civil War

1936

Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.

Daytona Beach and Road Course

1924

A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.

Castle Gate Mine disaster

1921

Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while on his way home from the parliament building in Madrid.

Eduardo Dato

1917

International Women's Day protests in Petrograd mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23 in the Julian calendar).

International Women's Day

1917

The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.

United States Senate

1916

World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.

World War I

1910

French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license.

Aircraft pilot

1800s

1868

Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka.

Sakai incident

1844

King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

Oscar I of Sweden

1844

The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is reopened after 45 years of closure.

Althing

1801

War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

War of the Second Coalition

Before 1800

1782

Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.

Gnadenhutten massacre

1775

An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.

Thomas Paine

1736

Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.

Nader Shah

1722

The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad.

Safavid Iran

1702

Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Anne, Queen of Great Britain

1658

Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden.

Treaty of Roskilde