March 3 is the 62nd day of the year (63rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 303 days remain

until the end of the year.

Events
Pre-1600
• 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western
Roman Empire.[1]
• 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes
emperor of Japan.
• 1575 – Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani's army at the
Battle of Tukaroi.
• 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.[2]

1601–1900
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States
Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
• 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier
Creek near Savannah, Georgia.
• 1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.
• 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
• 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.[3]
• 1849 – The Territory of Minnesota is created.[4]
• 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
• 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history,
concludes.
• 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.
• 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law,
making it illegal to send any "obscene literature and articles of immoral use" through the
mail.
• 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette.
• 1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the
Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano.
• 1891 – Shoshone National Forest is established as the first national forest in the US and
world.

1901–present
• 1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from
managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.
• 1913 – Thousands of women march in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C.
• 1918 – Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I,
and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded
Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.
• 1923 – Time publishes its first issue.[5]
• 1924 – The 407-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished, when Caliph Abdülmecid II of the
Ottoman Caliphate is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed
Turkey of Kemal Atatürk.
• 1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy.[6]
• 1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
• 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.[7]
• 1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule
in British India.
• 1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper
Flamman in Luleå, Sweden.
• 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more
than 100 people.
• 1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an
air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
• 1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest
naval awards.
• 1944 – A freight train carrying stowaway passengers stalls in a tunnel shortly after departing
from Balvano, Basilicata, Italy just after midnight, with 517 dying from carbon monoxide
poisoning.[8]
• 1945 – World War II: In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of
The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.[9]
• 1953 – A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan,
killing 11.
• 1958 – Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.
• 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
• 1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and
insufficient training in emergency procedures.
• 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346
aboard.
• 1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
• 1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers' national executive
voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal
over pit closures.
• 1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and
leaving nearly a million people homeless.
• 1986 – The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent
from the United Kingdom.
• 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police
officers.
• 1991 – United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on its final approach to Colorado Springs killing
everyone on board.[10]
• 2005 – James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a
drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the
deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.
 • 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world
solo without refueling.[11]
• 2005 – Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives,
beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006, where all the highest political offices
(including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand
the first country for this to occur.
• 2013 – A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a
predominantly Shia Muslim area.[12]
• 2017 – The Nintendo Switch releases worldwide.[13]

Births
Pre-1600
• 1455 – John II of Portugal (d. 1495)[14]
• 1455 – Ascanio Sforza, Catholic cardinal (d. 1505)[15]
• 1506 – Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja (d. 1555)[16]
• 1520 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian theologian and reformer (d. 1575)[17]
• 1583 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English-Welsh soldier, historian,
and diplomat (d. 1648)[18]
• 1589 – Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1676)[19]

1601–1900
• 1606 – Edmund Waller, English poet and politician (d. 1687)[20]
• 1652 – Thomas Otway, English playwright and author (d. 1685)[21]
• 1678 – Madeleine de Verchères, Canadian rebel leader (d. 1747)[22]
• 1756 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (d. 1836)
• 1778 – Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1841)