On this day: March 21st

On this day: March 21st

There are many and several events on this day in history. Read and discover what happened on this day: On this day: March 21st

On this day: March 20th

On this day: March 21st

Events On this day: March 21st

  • 1788: The Great fire of New Orleans, Louisiana begins.
  • 1857: 100,000 people die in earthquake in Tokyo, Japan.
  • 1871: Journalist Henry Morton Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
  • 1918: During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme began as German General Erich von Ludendorff launched an all-out drive to win the war. The battle began with a five-hour artillery barrage followed by a rush of German troops. The offensive lasted until April 6th and resulted in the Germans gaining about 35 miles of territory. Allied and German casualty figures for both battles approached 500,000.
  • 1943: A suicide/assassination plot by German Army officers against Hitler failed as the conspirators were unable to locate a short fuse for the bomb, which was to be carried in the coat pocket of General von Gersdorff to ceremonies Hitler was attending.
  • 1952: The world’s first rock and roll concert is held in Cleveland, Ohio. DJ Alan Freed presented the concert, which was closed down after only one song because of overcrowding.
  • 1970: Earth Day is celebrated for the first time. The first edition was limited to some cities in the United States. Today, Earth Day is observed by about 1 billion people around the world.
  • 1980: J.R. Ewing is shot on Dallas leading to the catchphrase “Who Shot JR?”
  • 1985: South African Police kill at least 21 black people commemorating a similar mass shooting 25 years before. The Sharpeville massacre in 1985 had left 69 unarmed people dead. It was a turning-point in the history of South Africa.
  • 1999: 1st circumnavigation of the earth by a hot air balloon.
  • 2006: Jack Dorsey sends the world’s first Twitter message, or tweet. The microblogging service revolutionized the communication and social networking landscape. In 2012, about 340 million tweets were posted per day.

Birthdays on this day: March 21st

  • 1685: Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer)
  • 1768: Joseph Fourier (French mathematician)
  • 1806: Benito Juárez (Mexican lawyer, politician, 25th President of Mexico)
  • 1940: Solomon Burke (American singer-songwriter)
  • 1946: Timothy Dalton (Actor as James Bond)
  • 1958: Gary Oldam (Actor)
  • 1960: Ayrton Senna (Brazilian race car driver)
  • 1962: Matthew Broderick (Actor)
  • 1978: Rani Mukerji (Indian actress)
  • 1980: Ronaldinho (Brazilian footballer)
  • 1985: Adrian Peterson (Football Player)

Deaths on this day: March 21st

  • 1556: Thomas Cranmer (English Archbishop of Canterbury)
  • 1656: James Ussher (Irish archbishop)
  • 1843: Guadalupe Victoria (Mexican politician, 1st President of Mexico)
  • 2008: Klaus Dinger (German guitarist, songwriter)
  • 2013: Chinua Achebe (Nigerian author, poet, academic)

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