March
According to the Georgian calendar, March is the third month of the year. According to the early Roman calendar, it was the first month and was called Martius. The ancient Romans later made January 1 the beginning of the year, and March became the third month on the calendar. March has always had 31 days. Its name honours Mars, the Roman God of war.
The winter ends with March, and by its end comes the Spring. Spring in the northern half of the world begins with March 19, 20, or 21. It is the day when the sun is directly over the equator. March can either fill wintry or springy, with as many blustery, windy days as there are mild, sunny days.
In the northern hemisphere, the animals end their hibernation and many plants come to life again in March. The sap flows in the trees again, and the buds begin to show up. Bears, woodchucks, and chipmunks leave their hibernating spots. People begin to start looking for the first robin, for the beginning of Spring arrival.
March's birthstones are aquamarine and bloodstone. These stones mean courage. Its birth flower is the Daffodil.
March 1
1961 - President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, an organization sending young American volunteers to developing countries to assist with health care, education and other basic human needs.
1970: Air Marshal Asghar Khan formed new political party, Tehrik-i-Istaqlal.
1976: General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became Chief of Army Staff.
1981: National population census starts throughout the country.
March 2
1963: Pakistan and China signed a border agreement in Peking (Beijing).
1981: A PIA Boeing 720 with 148 passengers hijacked to Kabul
March 3
Birthday - Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bell and his father were involved in teaching deaf persons to speak. Bell developed an interest in the vibrating membrane as a method of electrically transmitting sounds. His very first sentence spoken on the newly invented telephone on March 10, 1876, was to his assistant, "Mister Watson, come here, I want you."
March 5
1933 - Amid a steadily worsening economic situation, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a four-day "Bank Holiday" to stop panic withdrawals by the public and the possible collapse of the American banking system.
March 6
1953: Martial Law promulgated in Lahore to control disturbances against Ahmadis.
1969: All court cases against students withdrawn in West Pakistan.
Birthday - Renaissance genius Michelangelo (1475-1564) was born in Caprese, Italy. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and visionary best known for his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his sculptures David and The Pieta.
March 7
1977: General elections held in Pakistan. PPP won 155, PNA 35 seats out of 200.
March 8
1957: President Iskander Mirza laid the foundation-stone of the State Bank of Pakistan building in Karachi.
1998: Population census began in the courntry.
March 9
2007: President Musharraf dismissed Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar.
2009: Militants attacked bus with the touring Sri Lankan cricket team. All international cricket matches in Pakistan were suspended. Pakistan also lost its status as hosts for the cricket World Cup 2011.
Birthday - Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) was born in Gzhatsk, Russia. On April 12, 1961, he became the first human in space, orbiting in a capsule 187 miles above the Earth's surface in a flight lasting 108 minutes. His space flight caused a worldwide sensation and marked the beginning of the space race as the U.S. worked to catch up to the Russians and launch an American into space. President John F. Kennedy later asserted the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960's.
March 10
1880 - The Salvation Army was founded in the United States. The social service organization was first founded in England by William Booth and operates today in 90 countries.
Birthday - Politician and playwright Claire Boothe Luce (1903-1987) was born in New York City. She served in the House of Representatives from 1943 to 1947 and then became the first woman appointed as U.S. ambassador to a major country (Italy).
March 11
1918 - The 'Spanish' influenza first reached America as 107 soldiers become sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. One quarter of the U.S. population eventually became ill from the deadly virus, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The death toll worldwide approached 22 million by the end of 1920.
March 12
1949 : Constituent Assembly of Pakistan adopted Objectives Resolution, as a guide to future constitution modeled on the ideology of Islam.
1952: Kalat, Makran, Las Bela and Kharan agreed, with the concurrence of the Central Government, to integrate their territories into Baluchistan.
1999: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic became full-fledged members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) less than ten years after exchanging communist rule for democracy and ending their Cold War military alliances with Soviet Russia.
Birthday - The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) was born in Salonika, Greece. Following World War I, he led the Turkish revolution and became Turkey's first president.
March 13
Birthday - Scientist and clergyman Joseph Priestly (1733-1804) was born in Yorkshire, England. He discovered oxygen and advanced the religious theory of Unitarianism.
March 14
Birthday - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Ulm, Germany. His theory of relativity led to new ways of thinking about time, space, matter and energy. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 and emigrated to the U.S. in 1933 where he was an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany. Believing the Nazis might develop an atomic bomb, he warned President Roosevelt and urged the development of the U.S. Atomic bomb.
Birthday - The first female dentist, Lucy Hobbs (1833-1910) was born in New York state. She received her degree in 1866 from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery and was a women's rights advocate.
March 15
Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Brutus and fellow conspirators. After first trying to defend himself against the murderous onslaught, Caesar saw Brutus with a knife and asked "Et tu, Brute?" (You too, Brutus?) Caesar then gave up the struggle and was stabbed to death.
1955: The biggest post-independence irrigation project, Kotri Barrage was inaugurated.
1999: Pakistan won the final of the inaugural Asian test championship by defeating Srilanka.
March 18
1974 - The five-month-old Arab oil embargo against the U.S. was lifted. The embargo was in retaliation for American support of Israel during the Yom Kipper War of 1973 in which Egypt and Syria suffered a crushing defeat. In the U.S., the resulting embargo had caused long lines at gas stations as prices soared 300 percent amid shortages and a government ban on Sunday gas sales.1978: Lahore High Court awarded death sentence to Bhutto along with four others.
March 19
2003 - The United States launched an attack against Iraq to topple dictator Saddam Hussein from power. The attack commenced with aerial strikes against military sites, followed the next day by an invasion of southern Iraq by U.S. and British ground troops. The troops made rapid progress northward and conquered the country's capital, Baghdad, just 21 days later, ending the rule of Saddam.
March 20
1995 - A nerve gas attack occurred on the Tokyo subway system during rush hour resulting in 12 persons killed and 5,000 injured. Japanese authorities later arrest the leader and members of a Japanese religious cult suspected in the attack.
Birthday - American psychologist B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He pioneered theories of behaviorism and developed the Skinner box, a controlled environment for studying behavior.
March 21
1959: Martial law authorities enforced PRODA to disqualify politicians.
1962: 1962 Constitution was promulgated
1965: National Assembly elections held. Out of 150, Pakistan Muslim League wins 120 seats.
Birthday - Organist and composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was born in Eissenach, Germany. His output included thousands of compositions, many used in churches. Among his best known works; The Brandenburg Concertos for orchestra, The Well-Tempered Clavier for keyboard, the St. John and St. Matthew passions, and the Mass in B Minor.
March 23
1940: Pakistan Resolution passed at a public meeting of All India Muslim League Minto Park ( Now Iqbal Park) Lahore
1956 Constitution is promulgates on Pakistan Day. Major-General Iskander Mirza sworn in as first President of Pakistan.
1960: Foundation of Minar-i-Pakistan is laid.
1962: 1962 Constitution is promulgated.
1985: Muhammad Khan Junejo sworn in as Prime Minister and General Zia as President.
March 24
1934 - The Philippine Islands in the South Pacific were granted independence by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after nearly 50 years of American control.
1989 - One of the largest oil spills in U.S. history occurred as the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska, resulting in 11 million gallons of oil leaking into the natural habitat over a stretch of 45 miles.
2008: Yusuf Raza Gilani is elected as the new Prime Minister.
March 25
1969: Ayub Khan resigns and hands over power to Army Chief General Yahya Khan. Martial law proclaimed and assemblies dissolved.
1992: Pakistan wins Cricket World Cup, defeating England by 22 runs in Melbourne.
March 26
1971 : Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan.
1979 - The Camp David Accord ended 30 years of warfare between Israel and Egypt. Prime Minster Menachem Begin of Israel and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the treaty of mutual recognition and peace, fostered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
March 27
1948 : State of Kalat acceded to Pakistan.
1977 - The worst accident in the history of civil aviation occurred as two Boeing 747 jets collided on the ground in the Canary Islands, resulting in 570 deaths.
March 28
1983: Government lifts censorship from periodicals.
March 29
1983: Foundation-stone of Satellite Earth Station is laid near Rawalpindi.
March 30
1981 - Newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest while walking toward his limousine in Washington, D.C., following a speech inside a hotel. The president was then rushed into surgery to remove a 22-caliber bullet from his left lung. "I should have ducked," Reagan joked. Three others were also hit including Reagan's Press Secretary, James Brady, who was shot in the forehead but survived. The president soon recovered from the surgery and returned to his duties.
Birthday - Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Groot Zundert, Holland. He was a Postimpressionist painter, generally considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. During his short (10-year) painting career he produced over 800 oil paintings and 700 drawings, but sold only one during his lifetime. In 1987, the sale of his painting Irises brought $53.9 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art up to that time. During his life, Van Gogh suffered from despair and bouts of mental illness, at one point cutting off part of his own left ear. He committed suicide in 1890 by gunshot.
March 31
1991 - The Soviet Republic of Georgia, birthplace of Josef Stalin, voted to declare its independence from Soviet Russia, after similar votes by Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Following the vote in Georgia, Russian troops were dispatched from Moscow under a state of emergency.
Birthday - Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was born in Rohrau, Austria. Considered the father of the symphony and the string quartet, his works include 107 symphonies, 50 divertimenti, 84 string quartets, 58 piano sonatas, and 13 masses. Based in Vienna, Mozart was his friend and Beethoven was a pupil
International Days to be celebrated in March
8 March International Women's Day
21 March International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
21 March World Poetry Day [UNESCO]
21 March International Day of Nowruz
21 March World Down Syndrome Day
22 March World Water Day
23 March World Meteorological Day
24 March World Tuberculosis Day
24 March International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
25 March International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
25 March International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members.
National or Independence Days of the Countries of the World
March 01: Bosnia and Herzegovina (from SFR Yugoslavia in 1992)
March 06: Ghana (from the UK in 1957)
March 11: Lithuania (Soviet Union in 1990)
March 12: Mauritius (from the UK in 1968)
March 20: Tunisia (from France in 1956)
March 21: Namibia (from South Africa in 1990)
March 25: Greece (from the Ottoman Empire in 1821)
March 26: Bangladesh (from Pakistan in 1971)
Source: JWT