MARCH

March 13 wasn’t just another square on the calendar.

It was also a day of papal elections, pivotal battles, scientific breakthroughs, artistic firsts, and defining personal moments.

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WORLD HISTORY624

Battle of Badr Begins, Cementing Early Islamic Power

According to many Islamic historians, the Battle of Badr began around March 13, 624, near the town of Badr in western Arabia. A small Muslim force from Medina clashed with a larger Meccan army in what became the first major battle of the early Muslim community. Despite being outnumbered, Muhammad’s followers prevailed, an outcome that was later seen as a sign of divine favor and a turning point for the new faith. The victory strengthened the political and religious position of the Muslims in Arabia and helped secure Medina as a growing center of Islamic life.

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FAMOUS FIGURES604

Pope Gregory the Great Dies, Leaving a Lasting Spiritual Legacy

On March 13, 604, Pope Gregory I—later called Gregory the Great—died in Rome after a papacy that helped shape medieval Christianity. A former monk and diplomat, Gregory sent missionaries such as Augustine of Canterbury to convert the Anglo-Saxons and reorganized church administration in troubled post-Roman Italy. He also promoted the style of liturgical music that eventually became known as Gregorian chant, linking his name to the sound of Western worship for centuries. Gregory’s writings and reforms made him one of the most influential popes of the early Church and earned him recognition as a Doctor of the Church.

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WORLD HISTORY1519

Cortés Lands on the Gulf Coast, Opening the Road to Tenochtitlan

On March 13, 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés anchored off the coast of what is now Veracruz, Mexico, as he began his expedition into the Aztec Empire. From this beachhead he founded a settlement, formed alliances with Indigenous enemies of the Aztecs, and began the march inland that would lead to the fall of Tenochtitlan. Ships, soldiers, interpreters like Malintzin, and a mix of ambition and royal authority converged on that shoreline. The landing marked the start of a violent reshaping of the political and cultural landscape of central Mexico under Spanish rule.

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U.S. HISTORY1639

Harvard Officially Named for Benefactor John Harvard

On March 13, 1639, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered that the fledgling college at Newtowne be named “Harvard College” after minister John Harvard. Harvard had died the previous year, leaving his library and half of his estate to the school, a bequest so substantial that colonial leaders honored him in the institution’s name. What began as a small training ground for Puritan clergy would grow into one of the most influential universities in the United States. The naming decision fixed John Harvard’s legacy to American higher education and to the town soon renamed Cambridge.

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SCIENCE & INDUSTRY1781

William Herschel Spots Uranus, Expanding the Known Solar System

On March 13, 1781, astronomer William Herschel observed a small disc in the constellation Gemini through his homemade telescope in Bath, England, and realized it was not a star. After initially suspecting it might be a comet, further observations showed it followed a nearly circular orbit, confirming it as a new planet later named Uranus. This was the first planet discovered with a telescope and the first addition to the classical planets known since antiquity. Herschel’s find pushed the boundaries of the mapped solar system and encouraged a new wave of systematic sky surveys and celestial calculations.

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WORLD HISTORY1848

Vienna Uprising Forces Metternich’s Resignation

On March 13, 1848, protests in Vienna escalated into an uprising that shook the Habsburg monarchy and toppled its chief statesman, Prince Klemens von Metternich. Students, workers, and liberal reformers massed in the streets, demanding constitutional government and press freedom as news of earlier unrest in Paris spread across Europe. When troops fired on the crowds, anger swelled, and Metternich, long the symbol of conservative order after the Napoleonic Wars, fled into exile. The day’s violence marked Austria’s entry into the broader wave of 1848 revolutions and exposed the fragility of the old imperial system.

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U.S. HISTORY1862

Union Forces Capture New Bern, North Carolina

On March 13, 1862, during the American Civil War, Union troops under General Ambrose Burnside attacked Confederate defenses near New Bern, North Carolina. Supported by gunboats on the Neuse River, the Federals outflanked earthworks and forced the Confederate line to collapse, driving defenders back and taking the town. New Bern became an important Union base and refuge for enslaved people seeking freedom behind Northern lines. The victory helped secure coastal North Carolina and gave the Union a foothold for further operations in the region.

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WORLD HISTORY1881

Tsar Alexander II Assassinated on the Streets of St. Petersburg

On March 13, 1881, Russian Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded in St. Petersburg when members of the revolutionary group Narodnaya Volya threw bombs at his carriage. Alexander, known for emancipating Russia’s serfs in 1861, had combined major reforms with ongoing autocratic rule, frustrating both conservatives and radicals. As he stepped from his damaged carriage to check on his injured Cossack escort, a second bomb exploded at his feet, shattering his legs and causing mortal injuries. His death brought his more reactionary son Alexander III to the throne, prompting a harsh crackdown on dissent and slowing Russia’s limited political liberalization.

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U.S. HISTORY1897

San Diego Normal School Founded, Seed of a Future University

On March 13, 1897, the California legislature authorized the creation of the San Diego Normal School, a teacher-training institution that would evolve into San Diego State University. The new school reflected a push to professionalize public education and prepare instructors for the growing network of classrooms across Southern California. Classes began later that year with a small enrollment and a curriculum focused on pedagogy rather than research. Over the 20th century, the normal school expanded into a full-fledged university, but its formal founding date remained March 13.

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WORLD HISTORY1900

British Troops Occupy Bloemfontein in the Second Boer War

On March 13, 1900, British forces under Field Marshal Lord Roberts entered Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War. The town fell with relatively little street fighting after earlier clashes along the railway and the Boers’ retreat from defensive positions. Taking the capital was a symbolic and logistical win for Britain, signaling that the independent Boer republics were under intense pressure. Yet the occupation did not end the conflict, which shifted into a long and bitter guerrilla campaign in the South African interior.

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WORLD HISTORY1920

Kapp Putsch Launches a Right-Wing Coup Attempt in Germany

On March 13, 1920, Freikorps units and right-wing politicians marched into Berlin and proclaimed Wolfgang Kapp as Germany’s new chancellor in an effort to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The coup was triggered by government plans to disband some of the paramilitary units that had flourished after World War I. Rather than fight, the legitimate government called for a general strike, and workers across Germany shut down railways, utilities, and offices. Within days the putsch collapsed, but the episode exposed how fragile Germany’s young democracy was in the turbulent early 1920s.

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U.S. HISTORY1925

Tennessee Enacts the Butler Act, Banning Evolution in Classrooms

On March 13, 1925, Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signed the Butler Act into law, making it illegal to teach human evolution in state-funded schools. The statute forbade any curriculum that denied the Biblical account of creation, reflecting tensions between religious fundamentalism and modern science in the 1920s United States. Just months later, the law became the basis for the famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Dayton, where teacher John T. Scopes was prosecuted for covering evolutionary theory. The act remained on Tennessee’s books for decades, even as the national debate about science, faith, and public education continued to evolve.

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SCIENCE & INDUSTRY1930

Discovery of Pluto Announced from Lowell Observatory

On March 13, 1930, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, publicly announced that 24-year-old astronomer Clyde Tombaugh had discovered a new trans-Neptunian object—soon named Pluto. Tombaugh had spent months painstakingly comparing photographic plates of the night sky, looking for a tiny “moving star” whose position shifted against background constellations. The announcement date was chosen to honor both Percival Lowell, who had predicted a “Planet X,” and his birthday on March 13. Although Pluto’s classification has since changed from planet to dwarf planet, the detection marked a milestone in the search for distant objects in the solar system.

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U.S. HISTORY1933

American Banks Begin Reopening After Roosevelt’s “Bank Holiday”

On March 13, 1933, thousands of banks across the United States reopened under new federal safeguards after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s nationwide “bank holiday.” The Emergency Banking Act, rushed through Congress days earlier, allowed only financially sound institutions to resume operations, while regulators examined weaker ones. As doors opened and depositors found that their money was still safe—or in some cases backed by federal support—panic withdrawals eased. The cautious reopening on March 13 marked a turning point in public confidence during the early, desperate phase of the Great Depression.

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WORLD HISTORY1940

Winter War Ends with the Moscow Peace Treaty

On March 13, 1940, Finland and the Soviet Union signed the Moscow Peace Treaty, ending the brutal Winter War that had begun the previous November. Despite fierce Finnish resistance and international sympathy, the small Nordic country was forced to cede large areas of Karelia and other territories to the USSR. The treaty stopped the fighting but displaced hundreds of thousands of Finns from their homes and left deep scars in Finnish society. Militarily, the conflict exposed weaknesses in the Red Army, lessons that other nations noted as Europe slid deeper into World War II.

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U.S. HISTORY1942

U.S. Army K-9 Corps Created to Recruit Dogs for War Service

On March 13, 1942, the U.S. Army officially established the War Dog Program—better known as the K-9 Corps—to train dogs for military duties in World War II. Citizens were encouraged to donate suitable pets and working dogs, which were then trained as sentries, messengers, and mine detectors. These four-legged recruits served in theaters from the Pacific islands to European battlefields, often alongside small units in dangerous terrain. The program’s success laid the groundwork for the permanent use of military working dogs in the U.S. armed forces.

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WORLD HISTORY1943

Liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto Begins

On March 13, 1943, German SS units began the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Kraków, occupied Poland, as part of the Nazi regime’s broader campaign of extermination. Many residents were murdered on the spot or deported to the nearby Płaszów forced-labor camp, while others were sent to killing centers such as Auschwitz. The operation effectively erased the once-vibrant Jewish community that had lived in the city for centuries. Survivor testimonies and postwar trials later used the events of March 13 as stark evidence of the systematic brutality of the Holocaust.

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WORLD HISTORY1954

Battle of Dien Bien Phu Opens in French Indochina

On March 13, 1954, Viet Minh artillery opened fire on the French fortress at Điện Biên Phủ, beginning a climactic siege in the First Indochina War. French commanders had hoped to lure the Viet Minh into a conventional battle at the remote valley, but underestimated their ability to haul heavy guns into the surrounding hills. Over the following weeks, intense bombardment and infantry assaults isolated and wore down the garrison. The battle, launched on March 13, ended in a decisive French defeat and paved the way for the Geneva Accords and the end of French colonial rule in much of Southeast Asia.

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U.S. HISTORY1964

Murder of Kitty Genovese Sparks Debate on Bystander Response

In the early hours of March 13, 1964, 28-year-old Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was attacked and murdered outside her apartment building in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York. Initial newspaper accounts, later challenged in some details, claimed that numerous neighbors heard or saw parts of the assault but did not intervene or call police promptly. The story became a catalyst for psychological research into what came to be known as the “bystander effect,” exploring why people sometimes fail to act in emergencies. It also fueled conversations about urban isolation, community responsibility, and how cities design public-safety responses.

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SCIENCE & INDUSTRY1969

Apollo 9 Splashes Down After Testing the Lunar Module in Orbit

On March 13, 1969, the Apollo 9 mission ended with a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean after a 10-day flight that tested crucial hardware for the Moon landings. Astronauts James McDivitt, David Scott, and Russell “Rusty” Schweickart had put the Lunar Module “Spider” through its paces in Earth orbit, separating from and re-docking with the Command Module. The safe return on March 13 confirmed that the spacecraft systems needed for lunar orbit operations worked in space, not just in simulations. Those rehearsals brought NASA one step closer to the Apollo 11 landing later that summer.

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ARTS & CULTURE1965

Eric Clapton Quits the Yardbirds Over Musical Direction

On March 13, 1965, guitarist Eric Clapton left the British band the Yardbirds, unhappy with their move toward a more commercial pop sound. The group had just released “For Your Love,” a hit single that leaned heavily on harpsichord and polished production rather than the raw blues that Clapton preferred. His departure cleared the way for Jeff Beck and later Jimmy Page to join the band, while Clapton moved on to John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Cream. That decision on March 13 helped shape the careers of several iconic rock guitarists and the sound of British rock in the late 1960s.

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SCIENCE & INDUSTRY1986

Microsoft Goes Public on the NASDAQ

On March 13, 1986, Microsoft Corporation held its initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange, offering shares at $21 apiece. The company, co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, had already built a strong business supplying software for personal computers, particularly its MS-DOS operating system. The IPO instantly made several early employees and investors millionaires on paper and gave Microsoft capital to expand its product line, including the Windows graphical interface. Over time, the March 13 stock listing became a landmark in the growth of the personal computing industry and the rise of software-driven fortunes.

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WORLD HISTORY1996

Dunblane School Shooting Stuns Scotland

On March 13, 1996, a gunman entered Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane and opened fire in a gym class, killing 16 children and their teacher before taking his own life. The attack, one of the deadliest mass shootings in British history, prompted an outpouring of grief and soul-searching across the United Kingdom. Public pressure and campaigning by bereaved families led to significant changes in gun laws, including stricter controls on private handgun ownership. The memory of March 13 remained a powerful reference point in discussions about firearms policy and school safety in Britain.

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FAMOUS FIGURES2013

Jorge Mario Bergoglio Elected Pope Francis

On March 13, 2013, white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney in Vatican City, signaling that the College of Cardinals had elected a new pope: Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Taking the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, he became the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first non-European pontiff in more than a millennium. His election followed the unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, which had left the papal throne vacant. From that evening’s appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis emphasized humility, social justice, and a pastoral style that drew global attention.

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U.S. HISTORY2020

United States Declares National Emergency Over COVID‑19

On March 13, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in response to the rapidly spreading COVID‑19 pandemic. The declaration unlocked federal funds and resources for states, expanded the powers of health agencies, and signaled to the public that the coronavirus outbreak was a major national crisis. That same week, schools closed, large events were canceled, and travel restrictions tightened as case counts rose. The decision on March 13 became a marker for when the pandemic dramatically reshaped daily life in the United States.

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INVENTIONS1877

Patent Granted for Chester Greenwood’s Earmuffs

On March 13, 1877, the U.S. Patent Office granted Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, a patent for his “improvement in ear protectors,” the device now commonly known as earmuffs. Greenwood had devised the idea as a teenager who loved ice skating but hated cold ears, asking his grandmother to sew fur pads onto a wire frame that fit over his head. The patented design made it easier to manufacture and sell the protectors, and Greenwood built a small industry around them in his hometown. His March 13 patent became a touchstone of local pride in Maine, where he is celebrated as an inventive, if modest, contributor to winter comfort.