1. 483 - St. Felix III begins his reign as Catholic pope.

2. 607 - 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's comet.

3. 624 - Battle of Badr: Muhammad's Muslim forces win a significant victory over the Meccan army.

4. 1560 - Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli.

5. 1564 - Cardinal Granvelle flees Brussels.

6. 1567 - Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzen leger.

7. 1569 - Battle of Jarnac, the Count of Anjou defeats the Huguenots.

8. 1591 - Battle at Tondibi: Moroccan army under Judar (Jaw dar) defeats Sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai.

9. 1634 - First meeting of what would become the Académie Française in Paris at the house of Valentin Conrart.

10. 1639 - Cambridge College, Massachusetts, is renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard.

11. 1656 - Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.

12. 1677 - Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000.

13. 1735 - 1st US Moravian bishop, David Nitschmann, is consecrated in Germany.

14. 1759 - 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's comet.

15. 1772 - Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Galotti" premieres in Brunswick.

16. 1778 - France informs Great Britain of their treaty of alliance with the US; Great Britain responds with a declaration of war against France four days later.

17. 1780 - The Battle of Fort Charlotte ends when Spanish governor of Louisiana and General Bernardo de Gálvez takes the city of Mobile, Alabama.

18. 1781 - William Herschel discovers Uranus.

19. 1790 - John Martin, the 1st American - born actor, performs in Philadelphia.

20. 1797 - Luigi Cherubini's opéra - comique "Médée" premieres at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris, France.

21. 1846 - Friedrich Hebbel's play "Maria Magdalena" premieres in Königsberg.

22. 1852 - Uncle Sam cartoon figure makes its debut in the New York Lantern Weekly.

23. 1861 - 23rd Grand National: Joseph Kendall wins aboard Jealousy at 5/1.

24. 1865 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing the use of slaves as soldiers (US Civil War).

25. 1868 - The US Senate begins the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

26. 1869 - The Arkansas legislature passes an anti - Ku Klux Klan law.

27. 1875 - English FA Cup final, Kennington Oval, London: Royal Engineers and Old Etonians draw 1 - 1; replay won by engineers, 2 - 0.

28. 1877 - American Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs after inventing them at age 15.

29. 1878 - Oxford University defeats Cambridge University in their 1st golf match.

30. 1881 - Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by members of the far - left terror group "People's Will" in St. Petersburg.

31. 1884 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins by Mahdist forces, lasting 10 months.

32. 1888 - The Great Blizzard of 1888 rages across the east coast of the USA and Canada.

33. 1894 - J. L. Johnstone of England invents the horse - racing starting gate.

34. 1897 - San Diego State University is founded.

35. 1900 - British troops occupy Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State (Boer War).

36. 1900 - In France, the length of the working day for women and children is limited by law to 11 hours.

37. 1901 - Amid increasing anti - gambling sentiment, wagering on horse racing is banned in San Francisco, CA; Ingleside Race Track closes on March 15.

38. 1903 - The fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria, the British claim supremacy over 500,000 square miles.

39. 1904 - A bronze statue of Christ on the Argentine - Chilean border is dedicated.

40. 1905 - Mata Hari first performs her dance act at the Guimet Museum, Paris.

41. 1911 - Ivan Caryll's musical "The Pink Lady" premieres at the New Amsterdam Theatre, NYC; runs for 336 performances.

42. 1911 - The Colonial - Born and Settlers Indian Association is formed at a meeting in Durban, South Africa, aiming to fight the infamous 3 - poll tax.

43. 1912 - Bulgaria and Serbia conclude an alliance pact ostensibly against Austria, but it secretly provides for a possible war against Turkey.

44. 1913 - The Kansas legislature approves the censorship of motion pictures.

45. 1915 - Brooklyn Robins manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substitutes a grapefruit.

46. 1918 - The 1st NHL championship: Toronto Arenas beat Montreal Canadiens, outscoring them 10 - 7 in a 2 - game set.

47. 1918 - The American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms.

48. 1918 - Leon Trotsky gains control of the Red Army.

49. 1920 - After the German government is forced to cut its army to 10,000 men, military groups plot an unsuccessful coup - a revolt ended by a general strike.

50. 1921 - Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China.