On this day: 31 March
Events, births and deaths on 31 March. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Sian Barbara Allen
- Deaths · Betty Webb
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Imre Kertész
- Deaths · Zaha Hadid
- Deaths · Hans-Dietrich Genscher
100 years ago1926
- Births · John Fowles
- Births · Beni Montresor
- Births · Rocco Petrone
1000 years ago1026
Nothing recorded for that year.
Events · 28
- 1492(Julian date)Alhambra Decree — 1492 decree expelling Jews from Spain
- 1521(Julian date)First Mass in the Philippines — first Christian mass in the Philippines
- 17611761 Lisbon earthquake — Earthquake and tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean
- 1800Action of 31 March 1800 — 1800 minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars
- 1889Eiffel Tower — tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France
- 1899Capture of Malolos — 1899 battle of the Philippine-American War
- 19011901 Black Sea earthquake — earthquake struck Dobrich Province, Bulgaria on March 31, 1901
- 1905First Moroccan Crisis — international crisis over the status of Morocco
- 1913Skandalkonzert — concert
- 1917United States Virgin Islands — unincorporated territory of the United States of America
- 19311931 Nicaragua earthquake — March 1931 earthquake in Nicaragua
- 1931TWA Flight 599 — airplane crash
- 1942Battle of Christmas Island — 1942 battle
- 1957
- 19581958 Canadian federal election — election
- 19661966 United Kingdom general election — general election held in the United Kingdom
- 1986Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940 — Aviation accident
- 1990Poll Tax Riots — series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge
- 1991
- 1992Federation Treaty — treaty signed in 1992 regulating the inner composition of Russia; the text was included into Russian Constiution and all regions became federal subjects
- 1994Qiandao Lake Incident — cross-strait related criminal case in 1994
- 1995TAROM Flight 371 — Aviation accident
- 1995murder of Selena — murder of American singer Selena, taking place on March 31, 1995
- 1996Phoenix Television — State-owned television network
- 20022002 Taiwan earthquake — earthquake took place on March 31st 2002
- 20042004 Fallujah ambush — 2004 An attack on Blackwater contractors.
- 2016Nuit debout — French movement of daily pacific political demonstrations
- 2023Tornado outbreak of March 31 – April 1, 2023 — tornado outbreak in Midwestern and Southern United States
Births · 60
- 1360(Julian date)Philippa of Lancaster — English noblewoman and Portuguese queen consort
- 1499(Julian date)Pius IV — pope of the Catholic Church from 1559 to 1565
- 1504(Julian date)Guru Angad Dev — The second Guru of Sikhism
- 1519Henry II of France — King of France from 1547 to 1559 (1519–1559)
- 1596René Descartes — French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (1596–1650)
- 1621Andrew Marvell — English poet and politician (1621–1678)
- 1675Benedict XIV — pope of the Catholic Church from 1740 to 1758
- 1685Johann Sebastian Bach — German composer (1685–1750)
- 1718Mariana Victoria of Spain — Infanta of Spain by birth, later regent of Portugal (lived 1718-1781)
- 1723Frederick V of Denmark — king of Denmark and Norway
- 1730Étienne Bézout — French mathematician (1730-1783)
- 1732Joseph Haydn — Austrian composer (1732–1809)
- 1778Coenraad Jacob Temminck — Dutch aristocrat and zoologist (1778–1858)
- 1809Edward FitzGerald — English poet and translator (1809–1883)
- 1819Chlodwig, 3rd Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst — German chancellor (1819–1901)
- 1865Anandi Gopal Joshi — One of the first Indian woman doctor (1865-1887)
- 1872Sergei Diaghilev — Russian art critic and impresario (1872–1929)
- 1872Arthur Griffith — Irish politician and writer, founder of Sinn Féin (1871–1922)
- 1878Jack Johnson — American boxer (1878–1946)
- 1890William Lawrence Bragg — Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer
- 1900Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester — British soldier (1900–1974), Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947
- 1906Shinichiro Tomonaga — Japanese physicist (1906-1979)
- 1914Octavio Paz — Mexican writer, poet an diplomat (1914–1998)
- 1915Shoichi Yokoi — Japanese World War II Soldier (1915−1997)
- 1926John Fowles — English novelist (1926–2005)
Deaths · 60
- 528Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei — Northern Wei emperor
- 1251(Julian date)William of Modena — Italian cardinal (died 1251)
- 1340(Julian date)Ivan I of Moscow — Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir
- 1547(Julian date)Francis I of France — King of France from 1515 to 1547 (1494-1547)
- 1567(Julian date)Philip I of Hesse — Landgrave of Hesse
- 1621Philip III of Spain — King of Castilla and León and King of Aragon and Portugal (1578-1621)
- 1631John Donne — English poet and cleric (1572–1631)
- 1671Anne, Duchess of York — English Royal (1637-1671)
- 1797
- 1837John Constable — English painter (1776-1837)
- 1850John C. Calhoun — vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832 (1782–1850)
- 1855Charlotte Brontë — British novelist and poet (1816-1855)
- 1869Allan Kardec — systematizer of Spiritism (1804–1869)
- 1877Antoine Augustin Cournot — French economist and mathematician (*1801 – †1877)
- 1880Henri Wieniawski — Russian-Polish musician (1835–1880)
- 1885Franz Abt — German composer and choral conductor (1819–1885)
- 1913J. P. Morgan — American financier, banker, and art collector (1837–1913)
- 1915Wyndham Halswelle — British athlete and soldier (1882–1915)
- 1917Emil von Behring — German physiologist who received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901 for his discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin
- 1920Paul Gustav Heinrich Bachmann — German mathematician (1837–1920)
- 1927Kang Youwei — Chinese politician and scholar (1858-1927)
- 1944Mineichi Koga — Japanese admiral (1885–1944)
- 1945Hans Fischer — German chemist (1881–1945)
- 1956Ralph DePalma — Italian-American racecar driver
- 1970Semyon Timoshenko — Soviet military commander (1895-1970)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.