On this day: March 31

Events on March 31

• 307 After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian. Wikipedia
• 1174 A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, was revealed in Cairo. Wikipedia
• 1174 A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks. Wikipedia
• 1521 Ferdinand Magellan and members of his crew participated in the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1521 Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1706 The last session of history of the Catalan Courts, the parliament of the Principality of Catalonia, ends. Catalonia's constitutional modernisation passed by the Courts aims to improve the guarantee of individual, political and economic rights (such as the secrecy of correspondence). Wikipedia
• 1761 The 1761 Lisbon earthquake strikes off the Iberian Peninsula with an estimated magnitude of 8.5, six years after another quake destroyed the city. Wikipedia
• 1774 American Revolution: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act. Wikipedia
• 1814 The Sixth Coalition occupies Paris after Napoleon's Grande Armée capitulates. Wikipedia
• 1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened. Wikipedia
• 1901 A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Black Sea, the most powerful ever recorded in the area. Wikipedia
• 1901 Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák premieres at the National Opera House in Prague. Wikipedia
• 1931 An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1939 Events preceding World War II in Europe: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledges British military support to the Second Polish Republic in the event of an invasion by Nazi Germany. 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
• 1942 World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands. Wikipedia
• 1959 After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India. Wikipedia
• 1959 The 14th Dalai Lama crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum. Wikipedia
• 1966 The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1968 American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President." Wikipedia
• 1970 Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit. Wikipedia
• 1991 Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1992 The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow. Wikipedia
• 2016 NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a yearlong mission at the International Space Station. 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
• 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
• 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
• 1970 Alenka Bratušek, Slovenian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Slovenia Wikipedia
• 1971 Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor Wikipedia
• 1972 Evan Williams, American businessman, co-founded Twitter and Pyra Labs Wikipedia
• 1999 Elžbieta Kropa, Lithuanian figure skater Wikipedia
• 1999 Adele Tan, Singaporean sports shooter Wikipedia

Died on March 31

• 1547 Francis I, French king (born 1494) Wikipedia
• 1631 John Donne, English lawyer and poet (born 1572) Wikipedia
• 1671 Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (born 1637) 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
• 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
• 1970 Semyon Timoshenko, Soviet Commander during the Winter War and the Eastern Front of World War II (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1978 Charles Best, American-Canadian physiologist and biochemist, co-discovered Insulin (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1980 Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1995 Selena, American singer-songwriter (born 1971) Wikipedia
• 2001 Clifford Shull, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915) 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

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 2026-10-09 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.