March 13 is the 72nd day of the year (73rd in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar . There are 293 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).
624 – Battle of Badr : a key battle between Muhammad 's army – the new followers of Islam and the Quraysh of Mecca . The Muslims won this battle, known as the turning point of Islam, which took place in the Hejaz region of western Arabia .
874 – The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles , Constantinople .
1138 – Cardinal Gregorio Conti is elected Antipope as Victor IV , succeeding Anacletus II .
1591 – Battle of Tondibi : In Mali , Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire , despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.
1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard .
1697 – Nojpetén , capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors , the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala .
1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus .
1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in a coup d'état .
1845 – Felix Mendelssohn 's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
1862 – American Civil War : The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation .
1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African-American troops.
1881 – Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
1884 – The Siege of Khartoum , Sudan begins, ending on January 26, 1885.
1897 – San Diego State University is founded.
1900 – Second Boer War : British forces occupy Bloemfontein , Orange Free State .
1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
1921 – Mongolia is proclaimed an independent monarchy, ruled by Russian military officer Roman von Ungern-Sternberg as a dictator.
1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory .
1933 – Great Depression : Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandates a "bank holiday ".
1940 – The Russo-Finnish Winter War ends.
1943 – The Holocaust : German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków .
1954 – First Indochina War : Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French to begin the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ , the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista .
1962 – Lyman Lemnitzer , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , delivers a proposal, called Operation Northwoods , regarding performing terrorist attacks upon Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara . The proposal is scrapped and President John F. Kennedy removes Lemnitzer from his position.
1969 – Apollo program : Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module .
1979 – The New Jewel Movement , headed by Maurice Bishop , ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'état in Grenada .
1985 – The Kenilworth Road riot takes place at an association football match at Kenilworth Road in Luton , England with disturbances before, during and after an FA Cup 6th Round tie between Luton Town F.C. and Millwall F.C. .
1988 – The Seikan Tunnel , the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori and Hakodate , Japan.
1991 – The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
1992 – The Mw 6.7 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe ). At least 498 were killed in this strike-slip event on the North Anatolian Fault .
1996 – Dunblane school massacre : in Dunblane , Scotland, 16 primary school children and one teacher are shot dead by spree killer Thomas Watt Hamilton who then committed suicide.
1997 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
1997 – The Phoenix Lights are seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television.
2003 – Human evolution : The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human had been found in Italy.
2008 – Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.
2012 – At least 28 people are killed in a bus crash in a motorway tunnel near the town of Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais .
2013 – Pope Francis is elected, in the papal conclave , as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church .
2016 – An explosion occurs in central Ankara , Turkey, with at least 37 people killed and 127 wounded.
2016 – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam , killing at least 18 people and injuring 33 others.
1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
1593 – Georges de La Tour , French painter (d. 1652)
1615 – Pope Innocent XII (d. 1700)
1648 – Anne Henriette of Bavaria (d. 1723)
1683 – John Theophilus Desaguliers , French-English philosopher and translator (d. 1744)
1700 – Michel Blavet , French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden , English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1797)
1720 – Charles Bonnet , Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
1753 – Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1821)
1763 – Guillaume Brune , French general and diplomat (d. 1815)
1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey , English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
1770 – Daniel Lambert , English animal breeder (d. 1809)
1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel , German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
1798 – Abigail Fillmore , American wife of Millard Fillmore , 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha , Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1858)
1815 – James Curtis Hepburn , American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
1825 – Hans Gude , Norwegian-German painter and academic (d. 1903)
1855 – Percival Lowell , American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
1857 – B. H. Roberts , English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
1860 – Hugo Wolf , Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky , Russian-German painter (d. 1941)
1870 – Henri Étiévant , French actor and director (d. 1953)
1870 – William Glackens , American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
1874 – Ellery Harding Clark , American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
1883 – Enrico Toselli , Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
1884 – Hugh Walpole , New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)
1886 – Home Run Baker , American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
1886 – Albert William Stevens , American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
1888 – Paul Morand , French author and diplomat (d. 1976)
1889 – Jüri Vilms , Estonian lawyer and politician (d. 1918)
1890 – Fritz Busch , German conductor and director (d. 1951)
1892 – Janet Flanner , American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1897 – Yeghishe Charents , Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
1898 – Henry Hathaway , American director and producer (d. 1985)
1899 – Béla Guttmann , Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 1981)
1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck , American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
1899 – Jan Lechoń , Polish poet and critic (d. 1956)
1899 – Pancho Vladigerov , Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 1978)
1900 – Giorgos Seferis , Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1902 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab , Egyptian singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
1902 – Hans Bellmer , German-French painter and sculptor (d. 1975)
1903 – Yasutaro Koide , Japanese super-centenarian (d. 2016)
1904 – Clifford Roach , Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (d. 1988)
1906 – Evald Tipner , Estonian footballer and ice hockey player (d. 1947)
1908 – Walter Annenberg , American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
1908 – Myrtle Bachelder , American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
1910 – Sammy Kaye , American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
1910 – Kemal Tahir , Turkish journalist and author (d. 1973)
1911 – L. Ron Hubbard , American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (d. 1986)
1913 – William J. Casey , American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
1913 – Joe Kelly , Irish-English race car driver and businessman (d. 1993)
1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov , Russian author and playwright (d. 2009)
1914 – W. O. Mitchell , Canadian author and playwright (d. 1998)
1914 – Edward O'Hare , American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
1916 – Lindy Boggs , American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
1916 – Jacque Fresco , American engineer and academic
1918 – Grigory Pomerants , Russian philosopher and author (d. 2013)
1920 – Ralph J. Roberts , American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
1921 – Al Jaffee , American cartoonist
1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis , Greek general (d. 2010)
1925 – Roy Haynes , American drummer and composer
1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina , Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
1927 – Robert Denning , American interior designer and art collector (d. 2005)
1928 – Ellen Raskin , American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
1929 – Joseph Mascolo , American actor
1929 – Zbigniew Messner , Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2014)
1929 – Bunny Yeager , American model and photographer (d. 2014)
1930 – Blue Mitchell , American trumpet player (d. 1979)
1932 – Jan Howard , American singer-songwriter and actress
1933 – Mahdi Elmandjra , Moroccan economist and sociologist (d. 2014)
1933 – Mike Stoller , American songwriter and producer
1933 – Gero von Wilpert , German author and academic (d. 2009)
1934 – Barry Hughart , American author and screenwriter
1935 – David Nobbs , English author and screenwriter
1935 – Leslie Parrish , American model and actress
1936 – José Mojica Marins , Brazilian actor, director, and screenwriter
1938 – Erma Franklin , American singer (d. 2002)
1938 – Robert Gammage , American captain and politician (d. 2012)
1938 – Tochinoumi Teruyoshi , Japanese sumo wrestler, the 49th Yokozuna
1939 – Marion Foale , English fashion designer
1939 – Neil Sedaka , American singer-songwriter and pianist
1940 – Christopher Gable , English actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 1998)
1940 – Candi Staton , American singer
1941 – Mahmoud Darwish , Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
1941 – Donella Meadows , American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
1942 – Dave Cutler , American computer scientist and engineer
1942 – Geoffrey Hayes , English actor and screenwriter
1942 – Scatman John , American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1999)
1943 – André Téchiné , French director and screenwriter
1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns , English economist and academic
1945 – Anatoly Fomenko , Russian mathematician and academic
1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu , American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
1947 – Lesley Collier , English ballerina and educator
1947 – Beat Richner , Swiss pediatrician and cellist
1949 – Sian Elias , New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
1949 – Julia Migenes , American soprano and actress
1950 – Joe Bugner , Hungarian-English boxer and actor
1950 – Bernard Julien , Trinidadian cricketer
1950 – Charles Krauthammer , American physician, journalist, and author
1950 – William H. Macy , American actor, director, and screenwriter
1951 – Charo , Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
1952 – Wolfgang Rihm , German composer and educator
1953 – Nicola Davies , Welsh lawyer and judge
1953 – Ridley Pearson , American author and bass player
1953 – Deborah Raffin , American actress and producer (d. 2012)
1954 – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos , Guyanese-English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for International Development
1954 – Robin Duke , Canadian actress and screenwriter
1955 – Bruno Conti , Italian footballer and manager
1955 – Glenne Headly , American actress
1955 – Olga Rukavishnikova , Russian pentathlete
1956 – Dana Delany , American actress and producer
1956 – Jamie Dimon , American banker and businessman
1956 – Jonathan Rutherford , English political scientist and academic
1957 – John Hoeven , American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
1957 – Moses Hogan , American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1958 – Rick Lazio , American lawyer and politician
1958 – Caryl Phillips , Caribbean-English author and playwright
1959 – Kathy Hilton , American actress and fashion designer
1959 – Dirk Wellham , Australian cricketer
1960 – Yurii Andrukhovych , Ukrainian poet and author
1960 – Adam Clayton , Irish bass player and songwriter
1960 – Joe Ranft , American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
1962 – Terence Blanchard , American trumpet player and composer
1962 – Seyhan Erözçelik , Turkish poet and author (d. 2011)
1963 – Vance Johnson , American football player
1963 – Fito Páez , Argentinian singer-songwriter, pianist, and director
1964 – Will Clark , American baseball player
1964 – Trevor Gillmeister , Australian rugby league player and coach
1964 – João Gordo , Brazilian singer-songwriter
1966 – Chico Science , Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1967 – Andrés Escobar , Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
1967 – Pieter Vink , Dutch footballer and referee
1970 – Tim Story , American director and producer
1971 – Annabeth Gish , American actress
1972 – Common , American rapper and actor
1972 – Khujo , American rapper
1972 – Augenijus Vaškys , Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1973 – Edgar Davids , Surinamese-Dutch footballer and manager
1973 – David Draiman , American singer-songwriter
1973 – Bobby Jackson , American basketball player and coach
1974 – James Brinkley , Scottish cricketer
1974 – Thomas Enqvist , Swedish tennis player and sportscaster
1975 – Chris Ashworth , American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Glenn Lewis , Canadian singer-songwriter
1976 – James Dewees , American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1976 – Troy Hudson , American basketball player and rapper
1976 – Danny Masterson , American actor and producer
1977 – Mohammed Sylla , Guinean footballer
1977 – Kay Tse , Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
1978 – Tom Danielson , American cyclist
1978 – Kenny Watson , American football player
1979 – Johan Santana , Venezuelan-American baseball player
1979 – Cédric Van Branteghem , Belgian sprinter
1980 – Caron Butler , American basketball player
1980 – Flavia Cacace , Italian-English dancer
1980 – Brad Watts , Australian rugby league player
1982 – Jeremy Curl , Japanese-English explorer, author, and photographer
1982 – Nicole Ohlde , American basketball player
1982 – Adam Thomson , New Zealand rugby player
1983 – George Rose , Australian rugby league player
1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno , American swimmer
1983 – Erkan Veyseloğlu , Turkish basketball player
1984 – Steve Darcis , Belgian tennis player
1984 – Marc Zwiebler , German badminton player
1985 – Alcides Araújo Alves , Brazilian footballer
1985 – Emile Hirsch , American actor
1985 – Ben Lowe , Australian rugby league player
1985 – Taner Sağır , Bulgarian-Turkish weightlifter
1985 – Austin Scott , American football player
1987 – Marco Andretti , American race car driver
1987 – Andreas Beck , German footballer
1987 – Harald Lassen , Norwegian saxophonist and composer
1988 – Furdjel Narsingh , Dutch footballer
1988 – Dani Rivas , Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
1989 – Holger Badstuber , German footballer
1989 – Marko Marin , German footballer
1991 – Eli Kim , American-South Korean singer
1991 – Lê Quang Liêm , Vietnamese chess player
1991 – Tristan Thompson , Canadian basketball player
1991 – Aaron Woods , Australian rugby league player
1992 – L , South Korean singer, dancer and actor
1992 – Kaya Scodelario , English actress
1994 – Gerard Deulofeu , Spanish footballer
1995 – Zella Day , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1997 – Rúben Neves , Portuguese footballer
601 – Leander of Seville , Spanish bishop and saint (b. 534)
1271 – Henry of Almain (b. 1235)
1395 – John Barbour , Scottish priest and poet (b. 1320)
1447 – Shahrukh Mirza , Persian ruler (b. 1377)
1516 – Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1456)
1569 – Louis, Prince of Condé (b. 1530)
1573 – Michel de l'Hôpital , French politician (b. 1507)
1604 – Arnaud d'Ossat , French cardinal and diplomat (b. 1537)
1619 – Richard Burbage , English actor (b. 1567)
1711 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux , French poet and critic (b. 1636)
1719 – Johann Friedrich Böttger , German chemist and potter (b. 1682)
1767 – Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France (b. 1731)
1773 – Philibert Commerson , French historian and explorer (b. 1727)
1800 – Nana Fadnavis , Indian minister and politician (b. 1742)
1808 – Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
1833 – William Bradley , English lieutenant and cartographer (b. 1757)
1842 – Henry Shrapnel , English general (b. 1761)
1854 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle , French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (b. 1773)
1873 – David Swinson Maynard , American physician, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1808)
1879 – Adolf Anderssen , German mathematician and chess player (b. 1818)
1881 – Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
1884 – Leland Stanford, Jr. , American son of Leland Stanford (b. 1868)
1901 – Benjamin Harrison , American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
1906 – Susan B. Anthony , American activist (b. 1820)
1911 – John J. Toffey , American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1844)
1912 – Eugène-Étienne Taché , Canadian engineer and architect, designed the Parliament Building (b. 1836)
1912 – Hugo Treffner , German educator, founded the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium (b. 1845)
1914 – Hakeem Noor-ud-Din , Pakistani physician and scholar (b. 1841)
1918 – César Cui , Russian composer and critic (b. 1835)
1921 – Jenny Twitchell Kempton , American opera singer and educator (b. 1835)
1925 – Lucille Ricksen , American model and actress (b. 1909)
1936 – Francis Bell , New Zealand lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1851)
1938 – Cevat Çobanlı , Turkish general (b. 1870)
1938 – Clarence Darrow , American lawyer and author (b. 1857)
1941 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts , American poet and author (b. 1881)
1943 – Stephen Vincent Benét , American poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1898)
1955 – Tribhuvan of Nepal (b. 1906)
1965 – Corrado Gini , Italian sociologist and statistician (b. 1884)
1965 – Vittorio Jano , Italian engineer (b. 1891)
1965 – Fan S. Noli , Albanian-American bishop and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1882)
1971 – Rockwell Kent , American painter and illustrator (b. 1882)
1972 – Tony Ray-Jones , English photographer (b. 1941)
1975 – Ivo Andrić , Yugoslav novelist, poet, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1983 – Louison Bobet , French cyclist (b. 1925)
1983 – Paul Citroen , German-Dutch illustrator and educator (b. 1896)
1989 – Fahrettin Özdilek , Turkish general and politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1898)
1990 – Bruno Bettelheim , Austrian-American psychologist and author (b. 1903)
1990 – Karl Münchinger , German conductor and composer (b. 1915)
1995 – Leon Day , American baseball player (b. 1916)
1995 – Odette Hallowes , French-English nurse and spy (b. 1912)
1996 – Krzysztof Kieślowski , Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
1998 – Judge Dread , English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
1998 – Bill Reid , Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
1998 – Hans von Ohain , German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1911)
1999 – Lee Falk , American cartoonist, director, and producer (b. 1911)
1999 – Garson Kanin , American director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
1999 – Anton Raadik , Estonian-American boxer (b. 1917)
1999 – Bidu Sayão , Brazilian-American soprano (b. 1902)
2001 – John A. Alonzo , American actor and cinematographer (b. 1934)
2001 – Encarnacion Alzona , Filipino historian and educator (b. 1895)
2001 – Henry Lee Lucas , American serial killer (b. 1936)
2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer , German philosopher and scholar (b. 1900)
2004 – Vilayat Khan , Indian sitar player and composer (b. 1928)
2004 – Franz König , Austrian cardinal (b. 1905)
2005 – Lyn Collins , American singer (b. 1948)
2006 – Robert C. Baker , American chef and educator, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
2006 – Jimmy Johnstone , Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
2006 – Maureen Stapleton , American actress (b. 1925)
2006 – Peter Tomarken , American game show host (b. 1942)
2007 – Arnold Skaaland , American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
2008 – Elizabeth Gilels , Russian violinist (b. 1919)
2009 – Betsy Blair , American actress (b. 1923)
2009 – Alan W. Livingston , American businessman (b. 1917)
2010 – Jean Ferrat , French singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
2011 – Rick Martin , Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2012 – Princess Anna of Saxony (b. 1929)
2012 – Michael P. Barnett , English chemist and computer scientist (b. 1929)
2012 – Michel Duchaussoy , French actor (b. 1938)
2012 – Karl Roy , Filipino singer-songwriter (b. 1968)
2013 – Richard Davey , Australian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1938)
2013 – Cartha DeLoach , American FBI agent and author (b. 1920)
2013 – Ducky Detweiler , American baseball player and manager (b. 1919)
2013 – Perween Rahman , Bangladeshi-Pakistani activist (b. 1957)
2013 – Malachi Throne , American actor (b. 1928)
2014 – Cherifa , Algerian singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2014 – Reubin Askew , American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of Florida (b. 1928)
2014 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr. , American businessman (b. 1926)
2014 – Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond , Irish businessman and politician (b. 1944)
2014 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah , Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (b. 1932)
2014 – Icchokas Meras , Lithuanian-Israeli author and screenwriter (b. 1934)
2015 – Daevid Allen , Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
2015 – Irwin Hasen , American cartoonist (b. 1918)
2015 – Al Rosen , American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
2016 – Hilary Putnam , American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (b. 1926)
2016 – Martin Olav Sabo , American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
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