On this day: March 13

Events on March 13

• 1261 The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Genoa sign a permanent treaty against the Venetians at Nymphaeum. Wikipedia
• 1323 Siege of Warangal: Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq sends an expeditionary army led by his son, Muhammad bin Tughluq, to the Kakatiya capital Warangal – after ruler Prataparudra has refused to make tribute payments. He besieges the city and finally, after a campaign of 8 months, Prataparudra surrenders on November 9. Wikipedia
• 1591 At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one. Wikipedia
• 1781 William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus from the garden of his house in Bath, England, initially considering it to be a comet. Wikipedia
• 1781 William Herschel discovers Uranus. Wikipedia
• 1811 Napoleonic Wars: A British frigate squadron defeated a much larger squadron of French and Italian frigates and smaller vessels in the Battle of Lissa in the Adriatic Sea. Wikipedia
• 1811 A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars. Wikipedia
• 1815 Participants at the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw following his escape from Elba. Wikipedia
• 1845 German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was premiered in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as the soloist. Wikipedia
• 1845 Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist. Wikipedia
• 1848 Klemens von Metternich was forced to resign as the foreign minister of Austria following student demonstrations in Vienna. Wikipedia
• 1888 The eruption of Ritter Island triggers tsunamis that kill up to 3,000 people on nearby islands. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1930 The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory. Wikipedia
• 1940 The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: Nazi troops began the final liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto in German-occupied Poland, sending about 2,000 Jews to the Płaszów labor camp (deportation pictured), with the remaining 5,000 either killed or sent to Auschwitz. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków. Wikipedia
• 1957 Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista. Wikipedia
• 1969 Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module. Wikipedia
• 1986 Claiming the right of innocent passage, the American warships Yorktown and Caron entered Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea. Wikipedia
• 1992 The Mw 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Wikipedia
• 1997 The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader. Wikipedia
• 2013 Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis, making him the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. Wikipedia
• 2013 The 2013 papal conclave elects Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio taking the name Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. Wikipedia
• 2016 Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people. Wikipedia
• 2020 President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States. Wikipedia

Born on March 13

• 1593 Georges de La Tour, French painter (probable; (died 1652) Wikipedia
• 1615 Innocent XII, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1700) Wikipedia
• 1741 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1790) Wikipedia
• 1764 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1845) Wikipedia
• 1781 Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (died 1841) Wikipedia
• 1798 Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (died 1853) Wikipedia
• 1855 Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1897 Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1899 John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1900 Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1911 L. Ron Hubbard, American author, founder of Scientology (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1913 Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1914 Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1920 Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1942 Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1950 William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1956 Dana Delany, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1973 Edgar Davids, Surinamese-Dutch footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1989 Holger Badstuber, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1989 Marko Marin, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1995 Mikaela Shiffrin, American skier Wikipedia
• 2004 Coco Gauff, American tennis player Wikipedia

Died on March 13

• 1447 Shah Rukh, Timurid ruler of Persia and Transoxania (born 1377) Wikipedia
• 1711 Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (born 1636) Wikipedia
• 1808 Christian VII of Denmark (born 1749) Wikipedia
• 1854 Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (born 1773) Wikipedia
• 1879 Adolf Anderssen, German mathematician and chess player (born 1818) Wikipedia
• 1881 Alexander II of Russia (born 1818) Wikipedia
• 1901 Benjamin Harrison, American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (born 1833) Wikipedia
• 1906 Susan B. Anthony, American activist (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1975 Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1996 Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2002 Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 2006 Maureen Stapleton, American actress (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2016 Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2022 William Hurt, American actor (born 1950) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Ansovinus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Christina of Persia Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Gerald of Mayo Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: James Theodore Holly (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Nicephorus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Roderick Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: March 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Kasuga Matsuri (Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara, Japan) Wikipedia
• National Elephant Day (Thailand) Wikipedia
• Africa Scout Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 13” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.