First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - MARCH 3rd

This Day in History

March 3rd, 473

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world

Roman Empire:
473 - Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.


March 3rd, 1776

American Revolutionary War Collage American Revolutionary War, Grand Union - Stars and Stripes Flag

American Revolutionary War:
1776 - Battle of Nassau; The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins.
1779 - Battle of Brier Creek; near Savannah, Georgia, the Continental Army is routed.

Wikipedia  Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).
Grand Union - Stars and Stripes Flag


March 3rd, 1799

Napoleonic Wars: (1803–15) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions French Revolutionary Wars, Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay): Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action

French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1799 - Russo-Ottoman siege; of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.

Wikipedia  Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar; Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806; Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet; Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani); Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo; Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807; Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars; Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen; Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford; Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay).


March 3rd, 1820

Missouri Compromise Line (modern state boundaries shown) Blue = Free states / Red = Slave states

United States Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.

Wikipedia  Image: Henry Clay, Stock Montage / Hulton Archive / Getty Images ● Sojourner Truth: A freed slave, Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) pioneered the abolitionist and women's rights movements, campaigning for both causes all over the United States (painting based on a photograph from 1864). (Bettmann / Corbis) ● Map of the Missouri Compromise Line, Red = Free states / Green = Slave states Map (Bowdoin.edu)


March 3rd, 1861

Coronation of Tsar Alexander II (by Mihály Zichy of the coronation of Emperor Alexander II and the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, which took place on 26 August/7 September 1856 at the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - The painting depicts the moment of the coronation in which the Emperor crowns his Empress)

1861 - Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia (Emancipation Manifesto): Tsar Alexander II signs the emancipation reform into law, abolishing Russian serfdom.

Wikipedia  Painting: Coronation of Tsar Alexander II (by Mihály Zichy of the coronation of Emperor Alexander II and the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, which took place on 26 August/7 September 1856 at the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - the painting depicts the moment of the coronation in which the Emperor crowns his Empress)


March 3rd, 1873

Statue of Liberty (The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

Censorship in the United States: The United States Congress enacts the Comstock Law making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.

Wikipedia  Photo: Statue of Liberty; (The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.)


March 3rd, 1910

John D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. (founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust)

Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.

Wikipedia  Photo: John D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. (founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust)


March 3rd, 1915

NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded March 3rd, 1915

NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), the predecessor of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is founded.

Wikipedia  Image: NACA seal, NASA seal.


March 3rd, 1918

World War I: Collage

Post World War I:
1918 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Wikipedia  Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.


March 3rd, 1923

The first issue of Time (March 3, 1923), featuring Speaker Joseph G. Cannon ● Time cover, Benjamin Franklin, July 7, 2003, oil on panel Michael J. Deas

TIME magazine is published for the first time.

Wikipedia  Image: The first issue of Time (March 3, 1923), featuring Speaker Joseph G. Cannon ● Time cover, Benjamin Franklin, July 7, 2003, oil on panel Michael J. Deas.


March 3rd, 1938

Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia

Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

Wikipedia  Painting: Francis Scott Key The Star Spangled Banner


March 3rd, 1939

Mohandas Gandhi Collage

In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest at the autocratic rule in India.

Wikipedia  Photo: Mohandas Gandhi, Gandhi (1906), Mohandas K. Gandhi arrived in South Africa as a young British-trained lawyer (1893) - The New York Times; Gandhi in South Africa (1895); Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, (1920); Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.


March 3rd, 1940

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1940 - Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.
1942 - Attack on Broome; Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.
1943 - In London 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
1944 - The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Nakhimov are instituted in Soviet Union as the highest naval awards.
1945 - Battle of Manila (1945); American and Filipino troops recapture Manila in the Philippines.
1945 - Pawłokoma massacre; A former Armia Krajowa unit massacres at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawłokoma, Poland.
1945 - The Royal Air Force accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.


March 3rd, 1969

Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi)

Apollo Program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

Wikipedia  Photo: Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.
The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi).


March 3rd, 1972

Airliners Crash: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson' navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP

Aviation accidents and incidents:
1972 - Mohawk Airlines Flight 405; crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.
1974 - Turkish Airlines Flight 981; crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.
1991 - United Airlines Flight 585; crashes on approach into Colorado Springs, Colorado killing 25.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP


March 3rd, 1985

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
1985 - Santiago earthquake (1985); A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.


March 3rd, 1991

 An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers on March 3rd, 1991

An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

Wikipedia  Photo: Rodney King ● Screenshots of King lying down and being approached by LAPD officers ● Rodney King was beaten beyong recognition on March 3,1991, credit: The Rodney King Evolution.


March 3rd, 2005

James Stephen 'Steve' Fossett (April 22, 1944 - September 3, 2007) was an American businessman, and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

Wikipedia  James Stephen "Steve" Fossett (April 22, 1944 – c. September 3, 2007) was an American businessman, and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer.
Photo: 1995 First solo transpacific balloon flight - Steve Fossett made a flight of more than 5,430 mi from Seoul, South Korea, to Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, in a helium-filled balloon. ● 2002 Steve Fossett perhaps best known for becoming the first person to fly around the world in a balloon in 2002, covering 31,266km (19,428 miles), credit AP. ● 2005 Steve Fossett (and designer Burt Rutan) for the first unrefueled solo non-stop flight around the world. ● 2006 Steve Fossett set the absolute world record for "distance without landing" by flying from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, around the world eastbound, then upon returning to Florida continuing across the Atlantic a second time to land in Bournemouth, England (25,766 statute miles (41,467 km) and the duration was 76 hours 45 minutes).


March 3rd, 2013

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2013 - Karachi bombing; A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a predominately Shia Muslim area.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)