On this day: March 31

Events on March 31

• 1146 French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux preached a sermon to a crowd at a council in Vézelay, with King Louis VII in attendance, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Wikipedia
• 1174 A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, was revealed in Cairo. Wikipedia
• 1492 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile sign the Alhambra Decree, ordering all Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the country. Wikipedia
• 1521 Ferdinand Magellan and members of his crew participated in the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1761 Lisbon experienced its second major earthquake in six years, with effects felt as far north as Scotland. Wikipedia
• 1800 After fighting through the night, the French Navy ship of the line Guillaume Tell surrendered to a British squadron in the Malta Channel. Wikipedia
• 1854 U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade. Wikipedia
• 1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened. Wikipedia
• 1899 Philippine–American War: Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces. Wikipedia
• 1901 A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Black Sea, the most powerful ever recorded in the area. Wikipedia
• 1910 Six English towns amalgamated to form a single county borough called Stoke-on-Trent, the first union of its type. Wikipedia
• 1913 Arnold Schoenberg conducted the Vienna Concert Society in a concert of expressionist music that so shocked the audience that they began to riot. Wikipedia
• 1918 Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1921 The Australian Air Force was formed, replacing the short-lived Australian Air Corps and separating it from the Army. Wikipedia
• 1930 To avoid government censorship, Hollywood movie studios instituted their own set of industry censorship guidelines, popularly known as the Hays Code. Wikipedia
• 1942 Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas Island without any resistance. Wikipedia
• 1959 After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India. Wikipedia
• 1964 The Brazilian Armed Forces overthrew President João Goulart, establishing a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years. Wikipedia
• 1986 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940 crashed into the Sierra Madre Oriental near Maravatío, killing 167 people. Wikipedia
• 1991 The Warsaw Pact formally disbands. Wikipedia
• 1992 USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California. Wikipedia
• 1995 American singer-songwriter Selena, known as the "queen of Tejano music", was murdered by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldívar, in Corpus Christi, Texas, deeply affecting the Latino community. Wikipedia
• 1995 TAROM Flight 371 crashed near Balotești, Romania, killing all 60 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2004 The Old National Library Building in Singapore was closed to make way for a tunnel, despite widespread protests. Wikipedia
• 2018 Nikol Pashinyan began his protest walk, starting in the city of Gyumri, opening the 2018 Armenian revolution. Wikipedia
• 2023 A tornado caused the collapse of a venue hosting a sold-out concert in Belvidere, Illinois, United States, resulting in one death and 48 injuries. Wikipedia

Born on March 31

• 1499 Pope Pius IV (died 1565) Wikipedia
• 1519 Henry II of France (died 1559) Wikipedia
• 1596 René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (died 1650) Wikipedia
• 1675 Pope Benedict XIV (died 1758) Wikipedia
• 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (died 1750) Wikipedia
• 1723 Frederick V of Denmark (died 1766) Wikipedia
• 1732 Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1809) Wikipedia
• 1872 Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet manager and critic, founded the Ballets Russes (died 1929) Wikipedia
• 1890 William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1906 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1914 Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1926 John Fowles, English novelist (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1934 Carlo Rubbia, Italian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1934 Richard Chamberlain, American actor (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1934 Shirley Jones, American actress and singer Wikipedia
• 1939 Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian anthropologist and politician, 1st President of Georgia (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1943 Christopher Walken, American actor Wikipedia
• 1948 Al Gore, American soldier and politician, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1955 Angus Young, Scottish-Australian guitarist and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1968 César Sampaio, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1970 Alenka Bratušek, Slovenian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Slovenia Wikipedia
• 1971 Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor Wikipedia

Died on March 31

• 1547 Francis I, French king (born 1494) Wikipedia
• 1621 Philip III, Spanish king (born 1578) Wikipedia
• 1631 John Donne, English lawyer and poet (born 1572) Wikipedia
• 1837 John Constable, English painter and educator (born 1776) Wikipedia
• 1850 John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (born 1782) Wikipedia
• 1855 Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (born 1816) Wikipedia
• 1913 J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier (born 1837) Wikipedia
• 1917 Emil von Behring, German physiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854) Wikipedia
• 1945 Hans Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881) Wikipedia
• 1980 Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1995 Selena, American singer-songwriter (born 1971) Wikipedia
• 2009 Raúl Alfonsín, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2016 Imre Kertész, Hungarian author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2016 Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-born English architect and academic, designed the Bridge Pavilion (born 1950) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Cesar Chavez Day (California, Washington (state)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Abdas of Susa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Acathius of Melitene (Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Anesius and companions Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Benjamin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Balbina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day John Donne (Anglican Communion, Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day Natalia Tułasiewicz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day March 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Freedom Day (Malta) Wikipedia
• International Transgender Day of Visibility Wikipedia
• King Nangklao Memorial Day (Thailand) Wikipedia
• Thomas Mundy Peterson Day (New Jersey, United States) Wikipedia
• Transfer Day (US Virgin Islands) Wikipedia
• World Backup Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “March 31” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/March 31” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 31” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for March 31 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.