• 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
• 1687 - Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
• 1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
• 1863 - The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000. The wreck was discovered on the same day and month, exactly 102 years later by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
• 1915 - Pluto is photographed for the first time but isn't recognized as a planet.
• 1916 - Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.
• 1918 - The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
• 1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919).
• 1921 - Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.
• 1931 - Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
• 1931 - The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra plays its first concert in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
• 1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
• 1941 - World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.
• 1943 - Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
• 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
• 1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
• 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
• 1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
• 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
• 1962 - Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire takes effect.
• 1965 - The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.
• 1966 - Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four, to start five black players.
• 1969 - The 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build- up.
• 1972 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
• 1978 - UN Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 are passed, calling upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory (Operation Litani), and establishing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
• 1979 - The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
• 1982 - Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the U.K..
• 1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
• 2001 - The Bank of Japan issued a monetary policy known as quantitative easing, which stimulated the Japanese economy after the burst of the dot-com bubble.
• 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• 2004 - Äänekoski bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
• 2004 - A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in the 1950s is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew are left in place, pending further investigations.
• 2004 - 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
• 2008 - GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that's the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed on this day.

Births