Iraqi authorities hanged Iranian freelance reporter Farzad Bazoft on charges of spying for Israel.
15 March 1244
A Tuesday in history
Weekday
Tuesday
Season
Spring (N. Hemisphere)
Century
13th century
Records
326
1990
1974Transvestism and Transsexualism in Modern Society, the UK's first trans-rights conference, opened with an evening reception in Leeds.
1960Students from the Atlanta University Center, inspired by similar actions in Greensboro, North Carolina, began occupying lunch counters in Atlanta, Georgia.
1956The musical My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, debuted at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City.
1951The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh.
1943World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days of house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long Third Battle of Kharkov.
1943The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.
1931Sing-Song Girl Red Peony (booklet pictured), one of the first sound films produced in China, was released in Shanghai.
1927In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the inaugural edition of the Women's Boat Race.
1921Talaat Pasha, the main perpetrator of the Armenian genocide, was assassinated by Soghomon Tehlirian.
1918Finnish Civil War: The Battle of Tampere started, leading to the capture of approximately 11,000 Red prisoners, and turning the tide of the war in favour of the Whites.
1917Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
1916Six days after Pancho Villa and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. general John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue him.
1910Prospectors drilled into a pressurized deposit within the Midway-Sunset Oil Field in California, resulting in the largest accidental oil spill in history, which eventually released 9 million barrels (1.4 million m3) of crude oil over 18 months.
1875John McCloskey, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, was created the first cardinal from the United States.
- 1874
France and Vietnam signed the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.
1823American sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of New South Greenland, a phantom island, near Antarctica.
1783George Washington delivered a speech to Continental Army officers in Newburgh, New York, asking them to support the supremacy of the Congress of the Confederation, defusing a potential coup.
1311In the Battle of Halmyros, the Catalan Company defeated the forces of Walter V, Count of Brienne, taking control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in present-day Greece.
1147Reconquista: Portuguese troops under King Afonso I captured the city of Santarém from the Almoravids.
856Byzantine emperor Michael III overthrew the regency of his mother Theodora (pictured) to assume power for himself.
-44Julius Caesar , the dictator of the Roman Republic, was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.
Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
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