THE DAY IN HISTORY · MARCH 15

March 15 in history

What happened on March 15: 5 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 44 BC, 1917, 1939, 1969 and 1973, each linked to the map that shows it.

44 BC

The Ides of March. Caesar is stabbed twenty-three times at a meeting of the Senate — by men convinced they are saving the Republic they are about to bury.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE ROME MAP →

1917 — February Revolution

8-15 Mar 1917 — In Petrograd, bread queues turn into a general strike. The garrison mutinies rather than fire, and within a week the Romanov dynasty has fallen after three centuries. The Provisional Government decides to continue the war, a fatal choice.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WWI MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1939 — Occupation of Prague

15 Mar 1939 — German forces occupy Prague and the remaining Czech lands. Hitler has taken territory beyond what was conceded at Munich, breaking the settlement and undermining appeasement; British and French policy begins to change.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WW2 MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1969 — Sino-Soviet border conflict

2–15 Mar 1969 — Soviet and Chinese troops fight and kill one another over an island in the frozen Ussuri River. Moscow even sounds out Washington about a strike on China’s nuclear sites. The communist world now has two rivals, each of which needs America.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE COLD WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1973 — Nebraska rescinds the ERA

15 Mar 1973 — Nebraska had ratified within a week of Congress. It now votes to withdraw that ratification, and Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky and South Dakota follow. Whether a state may take back its ratification is never settled in court.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE PROTEST AND CHANGE MAP → · THE FULL STORY →