On this day: March 3

Events on March 3

• 724 Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. Wikipedia
• 1575 Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani's army at the Battle of Tukaroi. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: Samuel Nicholas and the Continental Marines successfully landed on New Providence in the Bahamas and began a raid of Nassau, capturing the port the next day. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau. Wikipedia
• 1795 The Fédon Rebellion breaks out in Grenada, the rebels seizing Grenville and later Gouyave. Wikipedia
• 1820 The U.S. Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, which balanced the admission of Missouri as a slave state with that of Maine as a free state. Wikipedia
• 1845 Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1859 The two-day Great Slave Auction, one of the largest such auctions in United States history, concludes. Wikipedia
• 1875 The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and students of McGill University. Wikipedia
• 1878 The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano. Wikipedia
• 1891 Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming was established as the first national forest in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1913 Thousands of women marched in Washington, D.C., "in a spirit of protest" against the exclusion of women from American society. Wikipedia
• 1918 Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. Wikipedia
• 1924 The Ottoman Caliphate is abolished, when the Caliph Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman dynasty is deposed. The last remnant of the old monarchy gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk. Wikipedia
• 1938 Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. Wikipedia
• 1939 In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. Wikipedia
• 1944 The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards. Wikipedia
• 1944 A freight train carrying stowaway passengers stalls in a tunnel shortly after departing from Balvano, Basilicata, Italy just after midnight, with 517 dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people. Wikipedia
• 1953 A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 people. Wikipedia
• 1985 A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1986 The American heavy metal band Metallica released their third studio album, Master of Puppets, considered one of the greatest in the genre's history. Wikipedia
• 2005 Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006, where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur. Wikipedia
• 2013 A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 48 people and injured 200 others in a predominantly Shia Muslim area. Wikipedia

Born on March 3

• 1455 John II of Portugal (died 1495) Wikipedia
• 1756 William Godwin, English journalist and author (died 1836) Wikipedia
• 1839 Jamsetji Tata, Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1845 Georg Cantor, Russian-German mathematician and philosopher (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1847 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-American engineer and academic, invented the telephone (died 1922) Wikipedia
• 1895 Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1911 Jean Harlow, American actress (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1918 Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1924 Tomiichi Murayama, Japanese soldier and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Japan (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1930 Ion Iliescu, Romanian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Romania (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1933 Lee Radziwill, American socialite, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1948 Steve Wilhite, American computer scientist, developer of the GIF image format at CompuServe in 1987 (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1953 Zico, Brazilian footballer and coach Wikipedia
• 1956 Zbigniew Boniek, Polish footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1958 Miranda Richardson, English actress Wikipedia
• 1962 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American heptathlete and long jumper Wikipedia
• 1965 Dragan Stojković, Serbian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1973 Xavier Bettel, Luxembourger lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Wikipedia
• 1982 Jessica Biel, American actress, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1987 Shraddha Kapoor, Indian actress, singer, and designer Wikipedia
• 1993 Antonio Rüdiger, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Camila Cabello, Cuban-American singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia

Died on March 3

• 1700 Chhatrapati Rajaram, 3rd Chhatrapati of Maratha Empire (born 1670) Wikipedia
• 1703 Robert Hooke, English architect and philosopher (born 1635) Wikipedia
• 1792 Robert Adam, Scottish-English architect and politician, designed the Culzean Castle (born 1728) Wikipedia
• 1982 Georges Perec, French author and screenwriter (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 1983 Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 1987 Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1993 Albert Sabin, Polish-American physician and virologist (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 1996 Marguerite Duras, French author and director (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 1999 Gerhard Herzberg, German-Canadian chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2013 James Strong, Qantas CEO from 1993 to 2001 (born 1944) Wikipedia
• 2017 René Préval, Haitian politician (born 1943) Wikipedia
• 2018 David Ogden Stiers, American actor, voice actor and musician (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2018 Roger Bannister, English middle-distance athlete, first man to run a four-minute mile (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2023 Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese novelist, 1994 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature (born 1935) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Anselm, Duke of Friuli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Arthelais Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cunigunde of Luxembourg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Katharine Drexel Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John and Charles Wesley (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marinus and Asterius of Caesarea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Winwaloe Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Hinamatsuri or "Girl's Day" (Japan) Wikipedia
• Liberation and Freedom Day (Charlottesville, Virginia, USA) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Malawi) Wikipedia
• Mother's Day (Georgia) Wikipedia
• Sportsmen's Day (Egypt) Wikipedia
• World Hearing Day Wikipedia
• World Wildlife Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 3” 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.