On This Day: 1 March

1 March in Indian history

• 1796The Dutch East India Company is nationalized by the Batavian Republic.India

1 March in world history

• 2002Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-109 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 2002U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
• 1981Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
• 1966Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.
• 1964Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashes near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, killing 85.
• 1962American Airlines Flight 1 crashes into Jamaica Bay in New York, killing 95.
• 1954Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
• 1950In a trial lasting less than 90 minutes, German–British physicist Klaus Fuchs was convicted of violating the Official Secrets Act by supplying information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union.
• 1944World War II: American and Australian troops won the Battle of Sio against Japanese forces as part of the New Guinea campaign.
• 1942World War II: Japanese forces land on Java, the main island of the Dutch East Indies, at Merak and Banten Bay (Banten), Eretan Wetan (Indramayu) and Kragan (Rembang).
• 1936Hoover Dam, straddling the Arizona–Nevada border on the Colorado River, was completed.
• 1921The Australian cricket team, led by Warwick Armstrong, became the first team to complete a whitewash in the Ashes, an achievement that would not be repeated for 86 years.
• 1921The Kronstadt rebellion began following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in Russia with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks.
• 1914China joins the Universal Postal Union.
• 1870Paraguayan War: Marshal Francisco Solano López died at the Battle of Cerro Corá.
• 1805Samuel Chase, the only Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to be impeached, was acquitted by the Senate.
• 1562An attempt by François, Duke of Guise, to disperse a church service by Huguenots in Wassy, France, turned into a massacre, resulting in 50 dead, and starting the French Wars of Religion.

Born on 1 March

• 1987Kesha, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1953M. K. Stalin, Indian Tamil politician, 8th and incumbent Chief Minister of Tamil NaduIndia
• 1951Sergei Kourdakov, Russian-American KGB agent (died 1973)
• 1944Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of West BengalIndia
• 1930Monu Mukhopadhyay, Indian Bengali actor (died 2020)India
• 1917Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (died 1994)

Died on 1 March

• 1989Vasantdada Patil, Indian politician, 5th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (born 1917)India
• 1925Homer Plessy, American political activist (born 1862 or 1863)
• 1911Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852)
• 1792Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1747)

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 1 March in history?

2002: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-109 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 2002: U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan. 1981: Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze. 1966: Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.

What happened on 1 March in Indian history?

1796: The Dutch East India Company is nationalized by the Batavian Republic.

Which famous people were born on 1 March?

Kesha, American singer-songwriter and actress (1987); M. K. Stalin, Indian Tamil politician, 8th and incumbent Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1953); Sergei Kourdakov, Russian-American KGB agent (died 1973) (1951); Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal (1944).

Which day is observed on 1 March?

Beer Day, marked the end of beer prohibition in 1989 (Iceland); Chalandamarz, traditional Alpine spring festival (Switzerland); Commemoration of Mustafa Barzani's Death (Iraqi Kurdistan); Day of the Balearic Islands (Spain); Disability Day of Mourning.