March 15 2008
Events
44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
221 – Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself emperor of Shu-Han and claims his legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty.
351 – Constantius II elevates his cousin Gallus to Caesar, and puts him in charge of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.
933 – After a ten-year truce, German King Henry I defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut river.
1311 – Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.
1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
1514 – Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
1545 – First meeting of the Council of Trent.
1564 – Mughal Emperor Akbar abolishes jizya (per capita tax) .
1672 – Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse – Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
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.
1820 – Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
1848 – A revolution breaks out in Hungary. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party.
1906 – Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated.
1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends 4,800 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.
1917 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
1922 – After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.
1926 – The dictator Theodoros Pangalos is elected President of Greece without opposition.
1931 – SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 on board.
1933 – Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting the austrofascist dictatorship.
1939 – World War II: German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist.
1939 – Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.
1943 – World War II: Third Battle of Kharkov – the Germans retake the city of Kharkov from the Soviet armies in bitter street fighting.
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces begin an offensive to push Germans from Upper Silesia.
1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 1870 mm (73 inches) of rain falls in a 24 hour period, setting a new world record (March 15 through March 16).
1956 – My Fair Lady premiered on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
1961 – South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
1965 – President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.
1985 – The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
1990 – Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying.
1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.
2004 – French President Jacques Chirac signs the law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools, commonly known as the headscarf ban.
[edit] Births
938 – Romanos II, Byzantine emperor (d. 963)
1275 – Margaret of England (1275–1333), English princess (d. 1333)
1455 – Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)
1493 – Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France (d. 1567)
1591 – Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1660)
1638 – Shunzhi Emperor of China (d. 1661)
1666 – George Bähr, German architect (d. 1738)
1684 – Francesco Durante, Italian composer (d. 1755)
1713 – Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
1754 – Archibald Menzies, Scottish naturalist and surgeon (d. 1842)
1767 – Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (d. 1845)
1771 – Robert Hett Chapman, American Presbyterian minister and president of the University of North Carolina (d. 1833)
1779 – Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (d. 1848)
1790 – Ludwig Immanuel Magnus, German mathematician (d. 1861)
1791 – Charles Knight, English publisher (d. 1873)
1809 – Karl Josef von Hefele, German theologian (d. 1893)
1809 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia (d. 1876)
1813 – John Snow, English epidemiologist (d. 1858)
1818 – Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (d. 1924)
1821 – Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
1821 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (d. 1895)
1821 – William Milligan, Scottish theologian (d. 1892)
1824 – Jules Chevalier, French priest (d. 1907)
1830 – Paul von Heyse, German writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1914)
1830 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer (d. 1905)
1831 – Daniel Comboni, Italian missionary (d. 1881)
1835 – John Henrie Kagi, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
1835 – Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (d. 1916)
1838 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (d. 1889)
1851 – William Mitchell Ramsay, Scottish archaeologist (d. 1939)
1852 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish dramatist (d. 1932)
1854 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1917)
1864 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935)
1865 – Manuk Abeghian, scholar of Armenian literature and folklore (d. 1944)
1866 – Matthew Charlton, Australian politician (d. 1948)
1866 – Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor (d. 1910)
1867 – Lionel Johnson, British poet (d. 1902)
1868 – Grace Chisholm Young, English mathematician (d. 1944)
1869 – Stanisław Wojciechowski, President of Poland (d. 1953)
1874 – Eugène Fiset, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1951)
1882 – Jim Lightbody, American runner (d. 1953)
1884 – Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1951)
1887 – Marjorie Merriweather Post, American entrepreneur (d. 1973)
1890 – Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay, Russian mathematician (d. 1980)
1892 – James Basevi Ord, US army officer (d. 1938)
1897 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (d. 1986)
1899 – George Brent, American film actor (d. 1979)
1904 – Yu Gwan-sun, Korean independence fighter (d. 1920)
1905 – Berthold von Stauffenberg, German lawyer and Nazi opponent (d. 1944)
1907 – Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (d. 1981)
1910 – Nick Stewart, American actor (d. 2000)
1912 – Louis Paul Boon, Flemish journalist and novelist (d. 1979)
1912 – Lightnin' Hopkins, American musician (d. 1982)
1913 – Macdonald Carey, American actor (d. 1994)
1913 – Jack Fairman, British racing driver (d. 2002)
1914 – Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (d. 1985)
1915 – Joe E. Ross, American actor and comedian (d. 1982)
1915 – Caterina Boratto, Italian film actress (d. 2010)
1916 – Fadil Hoxha, Yugoslav politician (d. 2001)
1916 – Harry James, American musician and band leader (d. 1983)
1916 – Frank Coghlan Jr, American actor (d. 2009)
1918 – Richard Ellmann, American biographer (d. 1987)
1918 – Punch Imlach, Canadian hockey coach and general manager (d. 1987)
1919 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d. 2002)
1920 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
1920 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, Nobel laureate
1921 – Madelyn Pugh, American television writer
1921 – Stafford Smythe, Canadian hockey executive (d. 1971)
1923 – Charles Wheeler, British journalist (d. 2008)
1924 – Walter Gotell, German actor (d. 1997)
1925 – Bert Bolin, Swedish meteorologist (d. 2007)
1926 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player (d. 1983)
1926 – Ben Johnston, American composer
1927 – Stanisław Kania, Polish politician
1927 – Christian Marquand, French actor and director (d. 2000)
1927 – Carl Smith, American singer (d. 2010)
1930 – Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate
1930 – Kostas Nestoridis, Greek footballer
1931 – Richard Wirthlin, American political strategist for Ronald Reagan (d. 2011)
1932 – Alan Bean, American astronaut
1933 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, American jurist
1933 – Philippe de Broca, French film director (d. 2004)
1934 – Aldo Giorgini, Italian artist
1934 – Richard Layard, Baron Layard, British economist
1934 – Kanshi Ram, Indian dalit leader
1935 – Judd Hirsch, American actor
1935 – Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist
1935 – Leonid Yengibarian, Armenian clown and actor (d. 1972)
1936 – David Andrews, Irish politician
1936 – Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (d. 1986)
1939 – David Eisenberg, American biochemist
1939 – Ted Kaufman, American politician
1939 – Julie Tullis, British climber (d. 1986)
1939 – Jack Whyte, Scottish-Canadian author
1940 – Frank Dobson, British politician
1940 – Margo Coleman, American advice columnist
1940 – Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
1940 – Mel Phillips, American radio programmer
1941 – Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
1943 – David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
1944 – Chi Cheng, Taiwanese athlete and politician
1944 – Jacques Doillon, French film director
1944 – Sly Stone, American musician
1945 – A. K. Faezul Huq, Bengali lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
1945 – Mark J. Green, American public official
1946 – Bobby Bonds, American baseball player (d. 2003)
1946 – Masaharu Satō, Japanese seiyū
1946 – Howard E. Scott, American musician (War)
1947 – Ry Cooder, American guitarist
1947 – Gino Ferrin, German footballer
1947 – Juraj Kukura, Slovak actor
1948 – Kate Bornstein, American author
1948 – Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
1950 – Jørgen Olsen, Danish singer
1952 – Howard Koh, American state government official
1953 – Kostas Bigalis, Greek singer and songwriter
1953 – Richard Bruton, Irish politician
1954 – Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter
1954 – Craig Wasson, American actor
1954 – Bob Budiansky, American comic book writer, illustrator, and editor
1955 – Dee Snider, American singer (Twisted Sister)
1956 – Clay Matthews, American football player
1957 – Víctor Muñoz, Spanish football manager
1957 – Joaquim de Almeida, Portuguese-American actor
1957 – Park Overall, American actress
1957 – David Silverman, American animator
1959 – Harold Baines, American baseball player
1959 – Renny Harlin, Finnish film director
1959 – Lisa Holton, American writer
1959 – Fabio Lanzoni, Italian model
1960 – Marco Pennette, American television producer
1960 – Chris Sanders, American animator and director
1961 – Terry Cummings, American basketball player
1961 – Craig Ludwig, American ice hockey player
1962 – Jimmy Baio, American actor
1962 – Terence Trent D'Arby, American singer
1963 – Bret Michaels, American musician (Poison)
1964 – Rockwell, American musician
1964 – Davide Pinato, Italian footballer
1967 – Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese artist
1968 – Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
1968 – Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
1968 – Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician
1968 – Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer
1968 – Jon Schaffer, American guitarist (Iced Earth)
1969 – Rona Ambrose, Canadian politician
1969 – Gianluca Festa, Italian footballer
1969 – Timo Kotipelto, Finnish musician
1969 – Apollo Papathanasio, Swedish vocalist
1969 – Kim Raver, American actress
1969 – Yutaka Take, Japanese jockey
1969 – Elvir Laković Laka, Bosnian rock singer
1970 – Derek Parra, American speed skater
1971 – Penny Lancaster, English model
1971 – Joanne Wise, English long jumper
1972 – Mark Hoppus, American musician (+44 and blink-182)
1972 – Mike Tomlin, American football coach
1973 – Lee Jung-jae, South Korean actor & model
1973 – Boris Durdevic, Croatian musician
1974 – Robert Fick, American baseball player
1975 – Eva Longoria, American actress
1975 – Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player
1975 – Darcy Tucker, Canadian hockey player
1975 – Will.i.am, American musician
1976 – Katherine Brooks, American television director
1976 – Cara Pifko, Canadian actress
1977 – Adrian Burnside, Australian baseball player
1977 – Joe Hahn, American musician (Linkin Park)
1977 – Brian Tee, American actor
1978 – Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater
1979 – Kevin Youkilis, American baseball player
1980 – Freddie Bynum, American baseball player
1981 – Mikael Forssell, Finnish footballer
1981 – Veronica Maggio, Swedish singer
1981 – Young Buck, American rapper
1982 – Jordan Hastings, Canadian drummer (Alexisonfire)
1982 – Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player
1982 – Emily Tyndall, American actress
1983 – Sean Biggerstaff, Scottish actor
1983 – Daryl Murphy, Irish footballer
1984 – Badradine Belloumou, French-born football player
1984 – Juninho, Brazilian footballer
1984 – Kostas Vasileiadis, Greek basketball player
1985 – Eva Amurri, American actress
1985 – Antti Autti, Finnish snowboarder
1985 – James MacLurcan, Australian actor
1985 – Tom Chilton, British racing driver
1985 – Kellan Lutz, American model and actor
1985 – Curtis Davies, English footballer
1986 – Adrianne Leon, American singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Taiwan Brown, American video jockey
1988 – Chris Lent, American drummer and keyboardist
1988 – James Reimer, Canadian hockey player
1989 – Bryce Gibbs, Australian rules footballer
1989 – Caitlin Wachs, American actress
1990 – Siobhan Magnus, American singer
1991 – Kii Kitano, Japanese actress
[edit] Deaths
44 BC – Julius Caesar (b. 100 BC)
220 – Cao Cao, King of Wei (b. 155)
493 – Odoacer, King of Italy (b. 435)
1145 – Pope Lucius II
1311 – Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens
1416 – John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (b. 1340)
1536 – Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, Grand Vizier under Suleiman the Magnificent
1575 – Annibale Padovano, Italian composer (b. 1527)
1644 – Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (b. 1576)
1670 – John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (b. 1597)
1673 – Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet (b. 1615)
1701 – Jean Renaud de Segrais, French writer (b. 1624)
1711 – Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (b. 1645)
1820 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, patron saint of Vienna (b. 1751)
1842 – Luigi Cherubini, Italian composer (b. 1760)
1849 – Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, Italian cardinal and linguist (b. 1774)
1891 – Théodore de Banville, French writer (b. 1823)
1891 – Sir Joseph Bazalgette, English civil engineer (b. 1819)
1898 – Sir Henry Bessemer, English metallurgist (b. 1813)
1937 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)
1941 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
1951 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-born astronomer (b. 1889)
1957 – Ernst Nobs, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1886)
1959 – Lester Young, American musician (b. 1909)
1962 – Arthur Compton, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1966 – Abe Saperstein, American basketball executive (b. 1902)
1969 – Miles Malleson, British actor and dramatist (b. 1888)
1969 – Musashiyama Takeshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 33rd Yokozuna (b. 1909)
1970 – Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (b. 1897)
1971 – Jean-Pierre Monseré, Belgian cyclist (b. 1948)
1972 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (b. 1910)
1975 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1900)
1977 – Antonino Rocca, Argentine professional wrestler (b. 1927)
1977 – Hubert Aquin, Canadian novelist, political activist and editor (b. 1929)
1981 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
1983 – Rebecca West, English writer (b. 1892)
1983 – Coloman Braun-Bogdan, Romanian football midfielder and manager (b. 1905)
1985 – Radha Krishna Choudhary, Indian historian and writer (b. 1921)
1988 – Dmitri Polyakov, Soviet double-agent (b. 1926)
1989 – Muhammad Jameel Didi, Maldivian poet (b. 1915)
1989 – Valerie Quennessen, French actress (b. 1957)
1990 – Farzad Bazoft, Iranian-born journalist (b. 1958)
1990 – Tom Harmon, American football player and broadcaster (b. 1919)
1991 – Bud Freeman, American jazz musician (b. 1906)
1997 – Gail Davis, American actress (b. 1925)
1997 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian painter (b. 1906)
1998 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer (b. 1903)
2001 – Ann Sothern, American actress (b. 1909)
2003 – Dame Thora Hird, British actress (b. 1911)
2003 – Paul Stojanovich, Reality TV pioneer (b. 1956)
2004 – Sir William Pickering, New Zealand-born space scientist (b. 1910)
2004 – John Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
2005 – Bob Bellear, Australian judge (b. 1944)
2005 – Shoji Nishio, Japanese martial artist (b. 1927)
2006 – George Rallis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918)
2006 – Red Storey, Canadian football player and hockey referee (b. 1918)
2007 – Charles Harrelson, American hitman and father of Woody Harrelson (b. 1938)
2007 – Bowie Kuhn, American commissioner of baseball (b. 1926)
2007 – Stuart Rosenberg, American film and television director (b. 1927)
2008 – Mikey Dread, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
2008 – Vytautas Kernagis, Lithuanian singer, TV shows announcer (b. 1951)
2008 – Ken Reardon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)
2009 – Ron Silver, American actor (b. 1946)
2011 – Nate Dogg, American rapper, Nathaniel Dwayne Hale. (b. 1969)
2011 – Smiley Culture, British reggae singer, David Victor Emmanuel. (b. 1962)
[edit] Holidays and observances
Christian Feast Day:
Clemens Maria Hofbauer
Leocritia
Louise de Marillac
Raymond of Fitero
Constitution Day (Belarus)
Earliest day on which Palm Sunday can fall, while April 18 is the latest; celebrated on the sixth Sunday of Lent. (Christianity)
International Day Against Police Brutality (International)
Ides of March (Roman Empire)
Hōnen Matsuri (Japan)
National holiday, celebrating the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (Hungary)
World Consumer Rights Day (International)
World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film (International)
First one listed there is pretty amazing. Caesar was stabbed on the date I joined here.
now thats a stick in your head joining a forum day if ever there was one 
21st January 2004
