March 15 is the 74th day of the year (75st in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. There are 291 days remaining until the end of the year.

Railways

15 March 1931 Gölbaşı Malatya line (110 km) opened. The Swedish-Danish group built.

Events

1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the New World.
1820 - Maine joins the United States, becoming the country's 23rd state.
1848 – The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 broke out.
1892 - The escalator is patented by Jesse W. Reno.
1892 - Liverpool FC was founded.
1917 – II. Nicholas abdicated in favor of his brother Michael.
1919 – Merzifon was occupied.
1920 – British authorities arrest one hundred and fifty people in Istanbul.
1921 – Former Ottoman Grand Vizier Talat Pasha was killed by 23-year-old Soghomon Tehlirian in Berlin for his role in the Armenian genocide.
1928 – The 15 March Incident began. Arrest warrants were issued for many communists in the Empire of Japan.
1933 - Hitler in Germany, III. He proclaimed the Reich.
1938 – 18 people sentenced to death in an extraordinary court in the USSR, including Nikolay Bukharin, one of the leaders of the October Revolution, were executed.
1939 – President Emil Hácha accepts Nazi Germany's annexation of the Second Czechoslovak Republic and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is proclaimed.
1945 – II. World War II: Soviet forces launch an offensive to clear Upper Silesia from German forces.
1961 - South Africa left the Commonwealth of Nations.
1961 - Turkish Daily News was established. From 3 November 2008 Hürriyet Daily News got its name.
1964 - Actress Richard Burton married actress Elizabeth Taylor.
1985 – The first domain name registration was made on the Internet.
1989 – In the European Champion Clubs' Cup, Galatasaray drew 1-1 in the match between Monaco and Müngersdorf Stadium in Cologne, becoming the first Turkish team to reach the semi-finals in this cup.
2001 – A Tupolev Tu-154 type plane, which was on the Istanbul-Moscow expedition, was hijacked by Chechen pirates. Turkish passenger Gürsel Kambal, Russian stewardess Yuria Fomina and a pirate were killed in the operation organized by Saudi anti-terrorist teams on the plane that was landed in Medina.
2002 – T2, one of the irrigation tunnels of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, became operational.
2003 - Hu Jintao is inaugurated as the 4th President of China.
2004 – For the first time in the People's Republic of China, a lawmaker announced that 10 people are executed annually in the country. The country is keeping its execution figures secret due to criticism from human rights organizations.
2011 – Beginning of the Syrian Civil War.
2011 – Kenan Evren gave an interview to Mehmetçik Foundation, of which he is one of the founders. This was Evren's last interview.
2019 – Christchurch mosque attacks: 51 people were killed and 49 injured in the attacks on Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand. The moment of the incident was broadcast live on social media by the attacker.

Births

270 – Saint Nicholas, Greek Christian saint and bishop (d. 343)
1638 – Shunzhi, third emperor of the Qing Dynasty (d. 1661)
1713 – Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
1738 – Cesare Beccaria, Italian lawyer, philosopher, economist, and man of letters (d. 1794)
1746 – Giovanni Battista Venturi, Italian physicist, diplomat, historian of science, and Catholic priest (d. 1822)
1767 – Andrew Jackson, American politician and 7th President of the United States (d. 1845)
1778 – Pauline Fourès, French painter and novelist (d. 1869)
1821 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (d. 1895)
1830 – Paul Heyse, German writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
1830 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer, historian, author, vegetarian and anarchist (d. 1905)
1833 – Géza Fejérváry, Hungarian general (d. 1914)
1835 – Dürrinev Kadınefendi, first wife of Sultan Abdülaziz and chief lady (d. 1895)
1851 – William Mitchell Ramsay, Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar (d. 1939)
1854 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician and Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1917)
1859 – Camille Julian, French historian (d. 1933)
1869 Stanislaw Wojciechowski, Polish politician (d. 1953)
1872 – Boris Drangov, Bulgarian Colonel and war pedagogue (d. 1917)
1874 – Harold L. Ickes, American politician (d. 1952)
1875 – Faik Bey Konitza, Albanian writer and statesman (d. 1942)
1878 – Reza Pahlavi, shah of Iran (d. 1944)
1879 – Yakov Ganetsky, Soviet diplomat and politician (d. 1937)
1886 – Lili Berky, Hungarian actress (d. 1958)
1887 – Lütfi Kırdar, Turkish physician, statesman, soldier, Governor of Manisa and Istanbul, and Minister of Health (d. 1961)
1887 – Leslie Knighton, English manager (d. 1959)
1887 – Father Salim Öğütçen, Turkish folk poet (d. 1956)
1887 – Mustafa Merlika-Kruja, Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1958)
1888 – Refik Halit Karay, Turkish writer (d. 1965)
1888 – Sophus Nielsen, Danish football player and manager (d. 1963)
1892 – Laura Papo Bohoreta, Bosnian Jewish feminist and author (d. 1942)
1897 – Ağasadık Geraybeyli, Azerbaijani filmmaker (d. 1988)
1931 – Faruk Geç, Turkish journalist, painter, comic-novelist and illustrator (d. 2014)
1932 – Arif Mardin, Turkish-American album producer (d. 2006)
1933 – Philippe de Broca, French film director (d. 2004)
1936 – Göksel Arsoy, Turkish cinema and theater actor
1938 – Mehmet Sağlam, Turkish politician
1938 – Şükrü Saban, Turkish athlete
1941 – Tomris Uyar, Turkish short story writer and translator (d. 2003)
1942 – Molly Peters, English actress (d. 2017)
1943 – David Cronenberg, Canadian filmmaker
1944 – Nebahat Çehre, Turkish actress and singer
1946 – Mahir Çayan, Turkish revolutionary and THKP-C leader (d. 1972)
1947 – Ry Cooder, American guitarist and singer
1948 – Övgün Ahmet Ercan, Turkish scientist and geophysical engineer
1952 – Cemal Gencer, Turkish cinema and TV series actor (d. 2005)
1953 – Bulut Aras, Turkish film actor
1953 – Kumba Yalá, lecturer and politician from Guinea-Bissau (d. 2014)
1953 – Erik-Jan Zürcher, Dutch scientist
1953 – Richard Bruton, Irish politician and economist
1956 – Hasan Akıncıoğlu, Turkish businessman and former Antalyaspor President
1956 – Hasan Doğan, Turkish businessman and President of the Turkish Football Federation (d. 2008)
1957 - Joaquim de Almeida is a Portuguese-American actor
1957 – Víctor Muñoz, Spanish national football player and manager
1957 – David Silverman, American animator
1959 – Ben Okri, Nigerian poet and novelist
1961 Terry Cummings, retired American basketball player
1963 – Bret Michaels was an American musician, actor, director, screenwriter, and producer.
1964 – Rockwell, R&B and pop musician
1967 – Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese manga artist
1968 – Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer and actress
1968 – Jon Schaffer, American musician
1972 – İbrahim Sediyani, Kurdish-Turkish journalist, writer, poet, traveler and nature activist
1975 – Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE world champion
1975 – Eva Longoria, American actress
1975 – will.i.am, American hip hop musician, dancer, songwriter
1977 – Joe Hahn, Korean-American DJ, turntablist, and director
1979 – Onur Aydın, Turkish basketball player
1981 – Young Buck, American rapper
1981 – Mikael Forssell, German-Finnish former football player
1981 – Veronica Maggio is a Swedish pop singer of Italian descent.
1982 - Tom Budge is an Australian actor
1982 – Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, Kenyan long-distance runner
1983 – Umut Bulut, Turkish football player
1983 – Kostas Kaymakoğlu is a Greek national basketball player
1984 - Wilson Aparecido Xavier Júnior, Brazilian football player
1984 – Kostas Vasiliadis, Greek professional basketball player
1985 - Kellan Lutz, American actress and model
1986 – Jai Courtney, Australian actress
1986 – Serkan Çalık, Turkish football player
1986 – Lil Dicky, American singer
1988 - Éver Guzman, Mexican football player
1989 - Sandro, Brazilian football player
1989 – Adrien Silva, Portuguese national football player
1991 – Xavier Henry, American professional basketball player
1992 – Thea Garrett, Maltese singer and songwriter
1993 – Alia Bhatt, Indian actress and singer
1993 – Paul Pogba, French football player
1995 - Guillermo Martínez Ayala, Mexican football player
2000 – Kristian Kostov, Bulgarian-Russian singer

Deaths

44 BC – Julius Caesar, Roman soldier and political leader (b. 100 BC)
220 – Cao Cao, Chinese warlord and penultimate prime minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty (b. 155)
493 – Odoacer, King of Italy (b. 435)
963 - II. Romanos, Byzantine emperor who reigned between 959-963 (b. 939)
1536 – Pargalı Damat İbrahim Pasha, Ottoman statesman and grand vizier (b. 1493)
1833 – Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel, German botanist and physician (b. 1766)
1842 – Luigi Cherubini, Italian-born composer who spent most of his working life in France (b. 1760)
1849 – Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, Italian Catholic cardinal and linguist (b. 1774)
1881 – Nikolai Sablin, Russian politician (b. ?)
1891 – Joseph Bazalgette, British chief engineer (b. 1819)
1918 – Marie-Juliette Olga Lili Boulanger known as Lili Boulanger, Russian-born French composer (b. 1893)
1921 – Mehmed Talat Pasha, Ottoman Grand Vizier and one of the founders of the Union and Progress (b. 1874)
1937 – Howard Phillips Lovecraft, American author (b. 1890)
1938 – Nikolai Bukharin, Soviet politician (b. 1888)
1939 – Mermaid Eftalya, Turkish canto artist and singer (b. 1891)
1941 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
1942 – Alexander von Zemlinsky, Austrian composer, conductor, and music educator (b. 1871)
1944 – Otto von Below, Prussian general (b. 1857)
1945 – Şayan Kadınefendi, the third wife of Murad V (b. 1853)
1959 – Lester Young, American musician (b. 1909)
1962 – Arthur Compton, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (b. 1892)
1970 – Arthur Adamov, Russian-French writer (b. 1908)
1971 – Cevat Fehmi Başkut, Turkish journalist and playwright (b. 1905)
1972 – Ahmed Muradbegović, Bosnian writer, playwright, and novelist (b. 1898)
1975 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek ship owner (b. 1906)
1978 – Jerzy Hryniewski, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1895)
1981 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
1981 – Yaşar Nabi Nayır, Turkish poet and writer (b. 1908)
1988 – Edita Morris, Swedish-American writer (b. 1902)
1989 – Sadettin Öktenay, Turkish composer (b. 1930)
1995 – Mustafa Necati Karaer, Turkish writer, poet, auto biographer and critic (b. 1929)
1997 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (b. 1906)
1998 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and author (b. 1903)
2000 – Mengü Ertel, Turkish designer and art director (b. 1931)
2003 – Dame Thora Hird, English actress, stand-up comedian, presenter and author (b. 1911)
2004 – John Anthony Pople, English mathematician and chemist (b. 1925)
2006 – George George Rallys, Greek politician (b. 1918)
2007 – Stuart Rosenberg, American film director (b. 1927)
2009 – Ron Silver, American actor (b. 1946)
2011 – Nate Dogg, born Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, Grammy-nominated American R&B/hip hop singer (b. 1969)
2014 – David Brenner, American actor, comedian, and author (b. 1936)
2014 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, British journalist, foodie and TV presenter (b. 1947)
2016 – Sylvia Anderson, English producer and actress (b. 1927)
2016 – Ratu Seru Raveive Rabeni, Fijian rugby player (b. 1978)
2017 – Ali Murat Daryal, professor of Turkish Theology (b. 1931)
2017 – Phil Garland, New Zealand folk singer (b. 1942)
2018 – Mohamed Sayah, Tunisian politician (b. 1933)
2019 – Okwui Enwezor, Nigerian writer, poet, curator, poet and educator (b. 1963)
2019 – Wiesław Kilian, Polish politician (b. 1952)
2020 – Mohammed Ami-Tehrani, Iranian weightlifter (b. 1935)
2020 – Suzy Delair, French actress and singer (b. 1917)
2020 – Vittorio Gregotti, Italian architect (b. 1927)
2020 – Aytaç Yalman, Turkish soldier and Turkish Land Forces Commander (b. 1940)
2021 – Gilmar Fubá, Brazilian professional football player (b. 1975)
2021 – Yaphet Kotto, American actor (b. 1939)
2022 – Tom Barnett, former English professional football player and manager (b. 1936)
2022 – Barbara Maier Gustern, American vocal coach, singer, and musician (b. 1935)
2022 – Ma Shaoxin, Chinese actor (b. 1936)
2022 – Anneli Sauli, Finnish actress (b. 1932)

Holidays and special occasions

World Consumers Day