March 7

March 7 is the 66th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (67th in Leap years). There are 299 days remaining.

Events

161 - Roman emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire.

1798 - The French army enters in Rome: the birth of the Roman Republic

1799 - Napoleon I of France captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.

1814 - Napoleon wins the Battle of Craonne.

1827 - Shrigley Abduction: Ellen Turner, a wealthy heiress in Cheshire, England is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the future politician in colonial New Zealand.

1848 - The Great Mahele (land division) is signed in Hawaii.

1850 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge - Union forces led by General Samuel Curtis defeat Confederate troops under General Earl Van Dorn at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the telephone (patent # 174,464).

1911 - Revolution in Mexico.

1912 - Roald Amundsen first announces to the world that his expedition has reached the South Pole, though they had arrived on December 14, 1911.

1918 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany.

1936 - World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.

1945 - World War II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.

1947 - The Kuomintang and Communist Party of China resume full-fledged Civil War.

1950 - Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.

1951 - Korean War: Operation Ripper - In Korea, United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway begin an assault against Chinese forces.

1965 - In Selma, Alabama, State troopers and local law enforcement forcefully break up a group of 600 civil rights marchers. The event was televised and was dubbed Bloody Sunday.

1968 - Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon begins.

1973 - The ultimately disappointing Comet Kohoutek is discovered by Lubos Kohoutek.

1983 - The Nashville Network (TNN) begins broadcasting.

1984 - The United States attacks San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua.

1987 - Mike Tyson adds the WBA World Heavyweight boxing championship to his WBC one when he beats James Smith after a 12-round fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1988 - Colombia becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1989 - The State Council of the People's Republic of China declares martial law in Lhasa, Tibet.

1994 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.

1996 - The first democratically elected Palestinian parliament is formed.

2001 - The SpongeBob SquarePants You Wish TV special airs on Nickelodeon.

2002 - Opening of The IX Paralympics Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.