TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019

On this day in history:

44 BC - Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by high ranking Roman Senators. The day is known as the “Ides of March.”

1341 - During the Hundred Years War, an alliance was signed between Roman Emperor Louis IV and France’s Philip VI.

1493 - Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first New World voyage.

1778 - In command of two frigates, the Frenchman la Perouse sailed east from Botany Bay for the last lap of his voyage around the world.

1840 - Strzelecki climbs and names Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mountain.

1877 - The first international cricket Test on Australian ground begins at the Melbourne Cricket ground. Australia won by 45 runs.

1903 - The British conquest of Nigeria was completed. 500,000 square miles were now controlled by the UK.

1904 - Three hundred Russians were killed as the Japanese shelled Port Arthur in Korea.

1907 - In Finland, woman won their first seats in the Finnish Parliament. They took their seats on May 23.

1917 - Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicated himself and his son. His brother Grand Duke succeeded as czar.

1927 - An explanation is given in the southern newspaper, the Register, for the origin of the nickname “crow-eater” as applied to South Australians.

1938 - Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.

1939 - German forces occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and part of Czechoslovakia.

1944 - Cassino, Italy, was destroyed by Allied bombing.

1946 - British Premier Attlee offered India full independence after agreement on a constitution.

1949 - Clothes rationing in Great Britain ended nearly four years after the end of World War II.

1985 - In Brazil, two decades of military rule came to an end with the installation of a civilian government.