This Week in History

March 10

 

241 BC First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.

1783 USS Alliance
under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral.

1861 West African
political leader El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.

1920 Home Rule Act passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by the southern counties, where the Ango-Irish war continues for a year.

1952 Military coup led by General Fulgencio
Batista in Cuba.

 

March 11

 

843 Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

1502 Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524).

1918 Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary Russia.

1966 Military coup led by Indonesian General Suharto breaks out.

1985 Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet
leader.

 

March 12

 

538 Witiges, King of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius.

1455 First record of Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before.

1930 Mohandas Gandhi begins 200m (300km) march protesting British salt tax.

1994 Church of England ordains 1st 33 women priests.

 

March 13

 

624 Battle of Badr: Muhammad’s Muslim forces win significant victory over Meccan army.

1591 Battle at Tondibi: Moroccan army under
Judar defeats Sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai.

1781 William Herschel sees what he thinks is a “comet” but is actually the discovery of the planet Uranus.

1884 Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins by Mahdist forces, lasts 10 months.

1903 Fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in Northern Nigeria, the British claim supremacy on over 500,000 square miles.

1930 Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observa
tory.

 

March 14

 

1590 Battle of Ivry: French King Henry IV beats Catholic League during French Wars of Religion.

1794 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin machine revolutionizing the cotton industry in the southern US states.

1900 Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel’s laws of genetics.

1900 US currency goes on gold standard after Congress passes the Currency Act.

1943 World War II: Kraków Ghetto is “liquidated”.

2013 Xi Jinping is named as the new President of the People’s Republic of China.

 

March 15

 

221 Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself Emperor of Shu-Han, claiming legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty.

1493 Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.

1783 In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d’etat never takes place.

1962 Five research groups announce the discovery of anti-matter.

 

March 16

 

597 BC Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.

1527 Battle of Khanua: Mughal Emperor Babur defeats Rajput forces led by Rana Sanga consolidating Mughal power.

1660 English Long Parliament disbands.

1867 First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in “The Lancet”.

1827 First US newspaper, “Freedom’s Journal” owned and operated by African Americans begins publishing in NYC.

Montana Women in History

Below: Public health nurse Margaret Thomas (shown here circa 1925, back left) traveled throughout western Montana organizing well baby clinics, lecturing on nutrition, care of the sick, and sponsoring school health contests. MHS Photo Archives Lot 30 Box 2 Folder 9

Lucile Dyas used this lightweight McClellan style saddle to visit Lewis and Clark County schools during her superintendency in the 1910s. Both county school superintendents and public health nurses traveled great distances on poorly maintained roads. Montana Historical Society Collection, 2013.39.04 Gift of Donald Gunderson in memory of Lucile Dyas Topping

Photos and text Courtesy of Montana Historical Society

http://montanawomenshistory.org/
“Expanding Their Sphere: Montana Women in Education Administration and Public Health”