On this Day in the year 45 before the common era (BCE), in his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda; two hundred and twenty-five years later, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius dies leaving his eighteen year old son Commodus as the sole emperor…Commodus was nothing like his father.
On this day in the year 432 of the common era (CE), according to his hagiography, at the age of sixteen, the man who would become Saint Patrick, is captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland; one thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight years later, the first recorded Saint Patrick's Day celebration is held in America, in St. Augustine (where my mother spent part of her childhood), in Spanish-Florida, with the first parade taking place in the same location in 1601 CE, both organized by the Irish Catholic vicar Ricardo Artur. One hundred and thirty-six years after that, in 1737 CE, the Charitable Irish Society of Boston organizes the first observance of Saint Patrick's Day in the Thirteen Colonies; nineteen years later, St. Patrick's Day is first celebrated in New York, New York at the Crown & Thistle Tavern. Six years after that, in 1762 CE, the first Saint Patrick's Day parade is held in New York City; two hundred and eleven years later, St. Patrick's Day marchers carry fourteen coffins commemorating Bloody Sunday. Three years after that, in 1976 CE, four Catholic civilians (including 2 children) are killed and twelve wounded when the Ulster Volunteer Force explodes a car bomb at Hillcrest Bar, Dungannon; fifteen years later, Irish Lesbians & Gays march in St. Patrick's Day parade. Four years after that, in 1995 CE, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams visits the White House in Washington, D.C.
For Further Reading on St. Patrick: https://purelandministries.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-feast-of-patrick-patron-saint-of.html
On this day in the year 1337 CE, Edward the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, it is the first Duchy established in England under the feudal system of fealty in government; six hundred and ten years later, English historian Arnold J. Toynbee appears on the front cover of Time magazine. Fourteen years after that, in 1961 CE, South Africa leaves British Commonwealth; nine years after that, in 1970 CE, the U.S. casts their first United Nations Security Council veto in support England, thereby blocking a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failing to use force against the white-minority government in Rhodesia; thirty-four years later, the British pound hits 2.4545 to Dutch guilder…a record. Twelve years after that, in 2016 CE, archaeologists announce the discovery of an 2,500 year old burial ground that includes an iron age, warrior-king, with seventy-five other graves in Pocklington, England.
On this day in 1775 CE the Transylvania Land Company, headed by Richard Henderson, buys most of Kentucky through a treaty signed with Cherokee chiefs at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River…it is nullified and declared illegal; sixty-seven years later the Treaty of 1842 is agreed to by the Wyandotte Huron, who cedes 114,000 acres of land in Ohio and Michigan to the United States (U.S.), in exchange for 148,000 acres west of the Mississippi…it was a bad deal for the Huron.
In 1776 CE, British forces evacuate Boston for Nova Scotia at the beginning of the Revolutionary War; two years later Britain declares war on France, due to their alliance with the United States.
In 1833 CE the Phoenix Society forms in New York, New York, a mutual aid group for African-Americans in education and seeking education, dedicated to morality, literature and the mechanical arts; fifty-three years later, the Carrollton Massacre takes place in Mississippi, twenty African-Americans are murdered.
In 1845 CE, Henry Jones of Bristol patents a self-rising flour, on this same day, the rubber band is patented by Stephen Perry of London. Twenty-three years later, in 1868 CE, a patent is issued for a postage stamp canceling machine.
In 1854 CE, the first park land is purchased by a U.S. city in Worcester, Massachusetts, sixteen years later, the Massachusetts legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary.
In 1860 CE, six years after the forcible ending of Japan's isolationist policy by Commodore Matthew C. Perry at the head of the U.S. Navy, the Japanese Embassy arrives in San Francisco to sign a Treaty of Friendship.
In 1861 CE, Italy is unified into a single kingdom under Victor Emmanuel II following the campaigns led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.
In 1871 CE the National Association of Professional Base-Ball players organized; one hundred and twenty-three years later, the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians) ban smoking in their new ballpark.
In 1884 CE John Joseph Montgomery makes the first glider flight at Otay, California; twenty-nine years later, the Uruguayan Air Force is founded. Forty-five years later, in 1958 CE, the U.S. Navy launches Vanguard 1 into orbit (the second U.S. launched orbiting vehicle), it measures the shape of the Earth. Fifty-four years after that , in 2012 CE, the MESSENGER spacecraft begins its extended mission after completing its primary yearlong study of Mercury. This extension allowed for deeper investigation of the planet's surface composition, magnetic field and water/ice deposits at the poles.
In 1891 CE the British Steamer "Utopia," sinks off the Straits of Gibraltar, five hundred and seventy-four people lose their lives…no one ever made a movie about this tragic event; nine years later, John Philip Holland achieves a successful test run for the first modern submarine off of Staten Island, submerging for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Fifty-nine years after that, in 1959 CE, the U.S.S. Skate, a nuclear submarine, becomes the first submarine to surface at the North Pole; seven years later, a U.S. submarine locates missing hydrogen bomb on the floor of the Mediterranean sea.
In 1894 CE the United States and China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering U.S.A.; sixty-six years later, the U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the auspices of the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1897 CE, British boxer Bob Fitzsimmons knocks-out the American champion 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett in the fourteenth round, to win the World Heavyweight title in Carson City, Nevada.
In 1901 CE, at a show in Paris, seventy one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings are exhibited and cause a sensation eleven years after his death; on this same day, the free-thinking Democratic League forms in the Netherlands. Eighteen years after that, in 1919 CE, Dutch steel workers strike for an eight hour work day and minimum wages; seven years later, Dutch Calvinists oust rev. J. G. Geelkerken over his symbolic and metaphorical interpretation of Genesis 3.Seventeen years after that, in 1943 CE, in the Netherlands, Physician Willem J. Kolff performs the world's first 'hemodialysis' using his artificial kidney machine, however the treatment is unsuccessful and the patient dies; fourteen years later, the Dutch ban on Sunday driving is lifted; twenty five years after that, in 1982 CE, four members of a Dutch television crew shot dead in El Salvador.
In 1905 CE, Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his quantum theory of light, the foundation of modern physics; forty-five years later, Element 98 -- Californium (Cf) is synthesized at the University of California, Berkeley, (Cf) is a highly radioactive, synthetic actinide metal with atomic number 98, it is As an intense neutron emitter, it is used in nuclear reactor startups, cancer radiotherapy, and specialized industrial scanning. It is extremely rare and expensive, with production limited to a few sites worldwide, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Three years after that, in 1953 CE, the United States performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site; we do it again twenty three years later.
In 1912 CE, the Camp Fire Girls organization is announced by Mrs. Luther Halsey Gulick; five years later, the first exclusively women's bowling tournament begins in St Louis, Missouri. Four years after that, in 1921 CE, Dr Marie Stopes opens Britain's first birth control clinic in London
In 1921 CE, Sailors revolt in Kronstadt, once hailed as heroes of the revolution, their criticisms of the Soviet system are brutally crushed, thousands die, tens of thousands exiled to Finland; on this same day, the Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution. Also on this day, in 1921 CE, Vladimir Lenin proclaims the New Economic Policy to help the country recover from the revolution, and the civil war that followed; three years later; diplomats are exchanged between Sweden and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after Sweden recognizes the U.S.S.R., which takes place on March 15th; also on this day the Netherlands and the U.S.S.R. begin talks over recognition. Sixty-seven years after that, in 1991 CE, nine of fifteen Soviet representatives officially approve New Treaty of Union.
In 1926 CE, Spain and Brazil prevent Germany from joining the League of Nations; one year later, the U.S. government doesn't sign the League of Nations disarmament treaty. Two years after that, in 1929 CE, General Motors acquires German auto manufacturer Adam Opel.
In 1929 CE, Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera closes university of Madrid.
In 1930 CE, on 5th Avenue in New York City, construction begins on the Empire State Building, the world's first skyscraper with over 100 stories, New York, New York.
In 1932 CE, German police raid Adolf Hitler's Nazi headquarters…too little too late; two years later, Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini, and Hungarian prime minister Gyula Gömbös sign Donau Pact, also known as the Protocols of Rome, which guarantee Austrian independence…it did not take.
In 1944 CE, Mount Vesuvius, in Italy, erupts after months of volcanic unrest, destroying several towns near the volcano; nineteen years later, eruptions at Mount Agung in Bali, kills one thousand, nine hundred people.
In 1963 CE, Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York is beatified (canonized in 1975) she is the first American-born saint; after her husband's death and her conversion to Catholicism in 1805, she founded the Sisters of Charity in 1809, establishing the first free Catholic school in the U.S. and initiating the Catholic parochial school system; twenty-seven years later, more than eight hundred members of the Ugandan cult, Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, are killed in a mass murder/suicide orchestrated by the cult leaders. Thirteen years later, in 2013 CE, Pppe Francis delivers his first Angelus prayer and blessing.
In 1969 CE Golda Meir becomes Israel's fourth Prime Minister, the first and only woman to hold the office.
In 1973 CE, the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and a consortium of Western firms led by British Petroleum agree to the formal nationalization of Iran's oil industry in return for an assured twenty-year supply of Iranian oil; fifteen years later, Iran accuses Iraq of using poison gas on the battlefield in violation of the international rules of war.
In 1986 CE the Haemers gang robs a gold transport in Belgium, making off with 35 million BF.
In 1987 CE, IBM releases PC-DOS version 3.3.
In 1992 CE, South African president F. W. de Klerk wins a white only referendum vote to guide the country through the end of Apartheid, over two thirds of white South Africans voted for the change; twenty six years later, Africa's only female head of state, Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, confirms she is resigning amid a scandal concerning her official expenditures.
In 2014 CE the Republic of Crimea is declared; ten years later, after suppressing and murdering his opponents, Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin, tallying 87.8% of the vote, claims a post-Soviet era record-election-victory; the six year term will make him Russia's longest-serving leader in over two-hundred years.
