March 21 is the anniversary of the first rock concert. Authorities shut it down after the first act but the geni was out of the bottle, and "rock and roll was here to stay." This is also the date of notable battles and the closing of "America's Devils Island."
717. The Battle of Vincy is fought betweem Charles Martel and Ragenfrid. It was a contest between Charles and the Austrasians on one side and the king of the Franks, Chilperic II, and his mayor of the palace, Ragenfrid, on the other.
"Mayor of the Palace" was an early medieval title and office,used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries. During the 7th century, the office of Mayor of the Palace developed into the true power behind the throne in Austrasia, the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Franks under the Merovingian dynasty. The mayor had the real decision power, while their kings had only a ceremonial function, not unlike the relationship between the shogun and emperor in Japan.
Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer) was proclaimed Mayor of the Palace, ruling the Franks in the name of a titular King, and proclaimed himself Duke of the Franks (the last four years of his reign he did not even bother with the facade of a King) and by any name was de facto ruler of the Frankish Realms.
Apart from his victory at Vincy, he is best remembered for winning the Battle of Tours in 732, which has traditionally been characterized as an action saving Europe from the Muslim expansionism that had conquered Iberia. Charles's victory was a turning point in world history because it preserved western Europe from Muslim conquest and Islamization.
1152. The marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine is annulled. In the same year he was crowned King of France, Louis VII was married on 25 July 1137 to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, heiress of William X of Aquitaine. The pairing of the monkish Louis VII and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she once reportedly declared that she had thought to marry a King, only to find she'd married a monk. They had only two daughters, Marie and Alix.
The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment; in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. Eleanor subsequently married Henry, Count of Anjou, the future Henry II of England, in the following May giving him the duchy of Aquitaine, three daughters, and five sons. Louis VII led an ineffective war against Henry for having married without the authorization of his suzerain; the result was a humiliation for Henry and Eleanor's enemies, who saw their troops routed, their lands ravaged, and their property stolen. Louis reacted by coming down with a fever, and returned to the Ile-de France.
1413. Henry V becomes King of England; he would become one of the great warrior kings of the Middle Ages. By the time Henry died, he had not only consolidated power as the King of England but had also effectively accomplished what generations of his ancestors had failed to achieve through decades of war: unification of the crowns of England and France in a single person. In 2002 he was ranked 72nd in the 100 Greatest Britons poll.
1556. In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for heresy and treason on the orders of Queen Mary I, aka "Bloody Mary," a staunch Roman Catholic who was determined to purge England of Protestantism. Cranmere is regarded as a martyr by the Anglican Church.
1685. German composer Johann Sebastian Bach is born. Bach was a composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque Period. He enriched many established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach wrote much music, which was revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty. Many of his works are still known today, such as the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B minor, the Well-Tempered Clavier, and his passions, cantatas, partit as, and organ works.
1778. Just three days after British Loyalists and Hessian mercenary forces assault the local New Jersey militia at Quinton's Bridge, three miles from Salem, New Jersey, the same contingent surprises the colonial militia at Hancock's Bridge, five miles from Salem. During the battle, the Loyalists not only kill several members of the Salem militia, but also two known Loyalists.
In what became known as the Massacre at Hancock's Bridge, at least 20 members of the Salem militia lost their lives, some after attempting to surrender. The Loyalists reputedly exclaimed, "Spare no one! Give no quarter!" as they stormed the house of Judge William Hancock, a Loyalist whose house the Patriots had commandeered, while the Patriot militia slept. Judge Hancock and his brother were bayoneted in the melee, although both were known to be staunch supporters of the crown and were themselves non-violent Quakers.
1788. The Great New Orleans fire destroys 856 buildings and leaves most of the town in ruins. The Good Friday fire started about 1:30 p.m. at the home of Army Treasurer Don Vincente Jose Nunez, 619 Chartres Street at Toulouse Street, less than a block from Jackson Square (Plaza de Armas), and within five hours consumed almost the entire city fed by a strong wind from the southeast. The fire destroyed the original Cabildo and virtually all major buildings in the French Quarter including the city's main church, the municipal building, the army barracks, armory, and jail. Only two fire engines were operational and they were destroyed by the fire. Louisiana Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró set up tents for the homeless.
The Spanish would replace the wooden buildings with structures with courtyards, thick brick walls, arcades, and wrought iron balconies. Among the new buildings were the signature New Orleans buildings of St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytere. After just six years of rebuilding, on December 8, 1794, another 212 buildings were destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire of 1794. Still a colony of Spain, rebuilding continued in Spanish style, and most French architecture was eliminated from the French Quarter.
1790. Thomas Jefferson takes office as America's first secretary of state.
1800. With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché. The original had been seized by the French.
1814. During the Napoleonic Wars, Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
1844. This is the original date predicted by William Miller for the return of Christ.
1857. An earthquake in Tokyo, Japan, kills over 100,000 people.
1871. Otto von Bismarck is appointed Chancellor of the German Empire. As Minister-President of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he engineered the Unification of Germany. From 1867 on, he was Chancellor of the North German Confederation. When the German Empire was declared in 1871, he served as its first Chancellor.
From 1862 to 1888 Bismarck served at the pleasure of King (later Emperor) Wilhelm I, with whom he shared a similar outlook and enjoyed a cordial relationship. The accession of Wilhelm's grandson, Wilhelm II, who was more than 40 years younger than Bismarck, marked the decline of Bismarck's influence, and he was eventually forced to resign and retire into private life in 1890.
1913. Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio. It ranks as the greatest natural disaster in Ohio's history.
The flood was created by a series of three winter storms that hit the region in March 1913. Within three days, 8-11 inches of rain fell throughout the Great Miami River watershed on frozen ground, resulting in more than 90% runoff that caused the river and its tributaries to overflow. The existing series of levees failed, and downtown Dayton experienced flooding up to 20 feet (6.1 m) deep. This flood is still the flood of record for the Great Miami River watershed, and the amount of water that passed through the river channel during this storm equals the flow over Niagara Falls each month.
1918. The Second Battle of the Somme begins in World War I.
1925. Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
1928. Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
1932. A storm system arising in the Gulf of Mexico spawns a devastating series of tornadoes that kills more than 350 people across the Southeast U.S. over two days. Thousands were seriously injured and many were left homeless by this deadly rash of twisters.
1935. Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means "Land of the Aryans."
1945. British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma, in World War II.
1946. The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in the American football since 1933.
1952. The first rock and roll concert in history takes place when Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, Ohio. Freed, a disc jockey, is credited with coining the term "Rock and Roll," which at the time was African-American slang for sexual intercourse.
For the first ever rock concert, more tickets were printed than the arena's actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting. With an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that -- and worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in -- the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams ended.
1963. Alcatraz prison closes. Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay.
During the 29 years it was in use, the prison held such notable criminals as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz), James "Whitey" Bulger and Alvin Karpis, who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate.
During its years of operation the penitentiary logged no officially successful escape. Thirty-four prisoners were involved in fourteen attempts, two men trying twice; seven were shot and killed, two drowned, five were unaccounted for, and the rest were recaptured. Two prisoners made it off the island but were returned, one in 1945 and one in 1962.
1965. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1970. Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
1976. French porn actress Liza Harper is born She began performing in 1994, when she turned 18 years old. Her first movie was Perversity in Paris. Harper then moved to the United States in 1995 and began performing in the pro-am video industry. She moved to professional productions in 1996. She disappeared from the scene in the early 2000s, but in 2004-2005 began appearing again, primarily in Internet-based productions. (See pictures.)
1980. U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
1989. Sports Illustrated reports allegations tying baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
1997. In a Tel Aviv, Israel coffee shop, a suicide bomber kills 3 and injures 49.
1999. Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
2005. Ten people are killed in a school shooting In Red Lake, Minnesota -- the worst since the Columbine High School massacre.
Jeffrey Weise, a student at Red Lake High School, killed seven people including a teacher and a security guard. He had previously killed his grandfather (a police officer) and his grandfather's girlfriend/partner at home before going to school to commit the massacre. Seven others were wounded. When police cornered Weise inside the school, he shot and killed himself.
Another student believed to be involved in planning the event was arrested one week after the shootings. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder based on several email messages he exchanged with Jeff Weise which involved plans for the Red Lake High School massacre. The conspiracy charge was eventually dropped, though he pled guilty to transmitting threatening messages through the Internet.
2011. The Tripoli compound of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is targeted for more bombing raids in the third night of the international intervention in Libya. Rebel forces go on the offensive following Western-led airstrikes with clashes near Ajdabiya and in Misrata.
Elsewhere, surgeons at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, perform the first full face transplant in the United States.