On March 15

Iraqi authorities hanged Iranian freelance reporter Farzad Bazoft on charges of spying for Israel.

Transvestism and Transsexualism in Modern Society, the UK's first trans-rights conference, opened with an evening reception in Leeds.

Students from the Atlanta University Center, inspired by similar actions in Greensboro, North Carolina, began occupying lunch counters in Atlanta, Georgia.

The musical My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, debuted at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City.

The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh.

The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.

World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days of house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long Third Battle of Kharkov.

In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the inaugural edition of the Women's Boat Race.

Talaat Pasha, the main perpetrator of the Armenian genocide, was assassinated by Soghomon Tehlirian.

Finnish Civil War: The Battle of Tampere started, leading to the capture of approximately 11,000 Red prisoners, and turning the tide of the war in favour of the Whites.

Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.

Six days after Pancho Villa and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. general John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue him.

Prospectors drilled into a pressurized deposit within the Midway-Sunset Oil Field in California, resulting in the largest accidental oil spill in history , which eventually released 9 million barrels (1.4 million m 3 ) of crude oil over 18 months.

John McCloskey, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, was created the first cardinal from the United States.

France and Vietnam signed the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.

American sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of New South Greenland, a phantom island, near Antarctica.

George Washington delivered a speech to Continental Army officers in Newburgh, New York, asking them to support the supremacy of the Congress of the Confederation, defusing a potential coup.

In the Battle of Halmyros, the Catalan Company defeated the forces of Walter V, Count of Brienne, taking control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in present-day Greece.

Reconquista: Portuguese troops under King Afonso I captured the city of Santarém from the Almoravids.

Byzantine emperor Michael III overthrew the regency of his mother Theodora (pictured) to assume power for himself.