History Events on March 31

In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.

#1958_Canadian_federal_election

Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces.

#Malolos

Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution

#2018_Armenian_revolution

The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.

#United_States

An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000.

#1931_Nicaragua_earthquake

The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.

#Civilian_Conservation_Corps

TAROM Flight 371, an Airbus A310-300, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, killing all 60 people on board.

#TAROM_Flight_371

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.

#Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Pacific_Railroad

American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

#President_of_the_United_States

Brazilian General Olímpio Mourão Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'état.

#Olímpio_Mourão_Filho

Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

#Daylight_saving_time

The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.

#National_Collegiate_Athletic_Association

Queen Isabella of Castile issues the Alhambra Decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.

#Isabella_I_of_Castile

The city of San Cristóbal, Táchira is founded.

#San_Cristóbal,_Táchira

The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.

#Eiffel_Tower

The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.

#Chios_massacre

World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.

#Nazi_Germany

A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.

#1931_Transcontinental_&_Western_Air_Fokker_F-10_crash

The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence; this concert became known as the Skandalkonzert.

#Modernism

1991 Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.

#1991_Georgian_independence_referendum

The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.

#Dominion_of_Newfoundland

The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

#USS_Missouri_(BB-63)

Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

#Explorer_1

Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.

#Bernard_of_Clairvaux

Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.

#1957_Upper_Voltan_Territorial_Assembly_election

American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

#American_Revolutionary_War

The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

#Soviet_Union

The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

#WrestleMania

The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.

#Motion_Picture_Production_Code

The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

#United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.

#March_Days

The 14th Dalai Lama, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.

#14th_Dalai_Lama

A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.

#Sermon

World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.

#World_War_II

The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.

#Royal_Australian_Air_Force

Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

#Serbia

Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.

Netscape releases Mozilla source code under an open source license.

Selena is murdered by her fan club's president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas after accusations of Saldívar embezzling money from Selena's fan club.

The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow.

Approximately 200,000 protesters take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.

Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.