This is a list of selected March 21 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Flag of Namibia -
Coat of Arms of Namibia -
President Sam Nujoma of Namibia -
Alcatraz Island -
Pope Pius VII -
Kenny Washington -
Rudolf Christoph von Gersdorff -
Position of Solar System in the Milky Way -
Alexander H. Stephens -
Painting depicting the victims of the Sharpeville massacre -
Statue of Phra Phrom at the Erawan Shrine -
Poster for the Moondog Coronation Ball -
A 1545 depiction of Thomas Cranmer -
Battle of Karameh aftermath
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Benito Juárez Day in Mexico; | unreferenced section (Ancestry), refimprove section |
| World Poetry Day | stub |
| World Down Syndrome Day | needs more footnotes and cleanup |
| ; Mother's Day in the Arab world | refimprove sections |
| Independence Day in Namibia (1990); | outdated |
| 630 – Byzantine emperor Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem. | lots of CN tags (6) and a lot of other sentences that should be so tagged |
| 1800 – After being elected as a compromise candidate after several months of stalemate, Pope Pius VII was crowned in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché. | refimprove |
| 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Alexandria was fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt. | refimprove section |
| 1804 – The Napoleonic Code, the French civil code established under Napoleon, entered into force, eventually strongly influencing the law of many other countries. | unreferenced section, refimprove sections |
| 1871 – Otto von Bismarck, the founder of the German Empire, was proclaimed as its first chancellor. | lots of CN tags (11), especially in one section |
| 1937 – Pope Pius XII's encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, condemning antisemitism and criticizing Nazism, was read from the pulpits of all Catholic churches in Germany. | Too many block quotes |
| 1943 – World War II: Wehrmacht officer Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler by suicide bombing, but had to abort the plan at the last minute. | needs more footnotes |
| 1945 – World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully defended the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concluded. | refimprove section |
| 1983 – In the West Bank, a number of Palestinian girls complained of breathing difficulties due to strange odors, leading to accusations of poison gas. | refimprove section |
| 1989 – An article in Sports Illustrated alleged that Pete Rose, the manager of the Major League Baseball team Cincinnati Reds, was involved in gambling. | unreferenced sections |
| 2006 – A man smashed the statue of Phra Phrom at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, with a hammer, and was subsequently beaten to death by bystanders. | Tagged for referencing |
| 2006 – The first message on the social media site Twitter was sent by Jack Dorsey. | Multiple banner issues |
Eligible
- 1556 – Former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, one of the founders of Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake for heresy in Oxford, England.
- 1788 – A large fire destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans.
- 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: During their march on Paris, Coalition forces defeated Napoleon's French army on the final day of the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
- 1861 – Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, gave an extemporaneous speech laying out the Confederacy's rationale for seceding from the United States.
- 1918 – First World War: The German Army opened the Spring Offensive with Operation Michael, attempting to break through the Allied lines and to seize ports on the English Channel.
- 1937 – A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico Blanton Winship, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 21 people and injuring 235 others.
- 1946 – The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington, making him the first African-American player in the National Football League since 1933.
- 1952 – The Moondog Coronation Ball (poster pictured), generally considered to be the first major rock and roll concert, took place at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1960 – Police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire on a group of unarmed black demonstrators who were protesting pass laws, killing 69 people and wounding 180 others.
- 1963 – Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California—one of the world's most notorious and best known prisons—was closed.
- Born/died this day: | Absalon |d|1201| John Law |d|1729| William Y. Slack |d|1862| Evelina Haverfield |d|1920| Nobuo Uematsu |b|1959|Emily Infeld |b|1990| Wolfgang Wagner |d|2010| Marina Salye |d|2012
March 21: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2024); Oltenia Day in Romania
Scottish Cup
- 1874 – Queen's Park defeated Clydesdale 2–0 in the final of the inaugural Scottish Cup (trophy pictured).
- 1913 – More than 360 were killed and 20,000 homes were destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
- 1968 – War of Attrition: The Battle of Karameh took place between the Israel Defense Forces and allied troops of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces.
- 1980 – The American soap opera Dallas aired the episode "A House Divided", which led to eight months of international speculation on "Who shot J.R.?"
- 2019 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, China, killed 78 people and injured 640 others.
- Ælla of Northumbria and Osberht of Northumbria (d. 867)
- Alice Henry (b. 1857)
- Al Williamson (b. 1931)
- Chinua Achebe (d. 2013)