17 March in history
8 events that happened on 17 March, from 45 BCE to 1958.
45 BCE 2,070 years ago
Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian army at the Battle of Munda
In southern Spain, Julius Caesar defeated the Pompeian army of Gnaeus and Sextus Pompeius and Titus Labienus. Labienus was killed and Gnaeus Pompeius was caught and executed soon afterwards; it was Caesar's last battle of the civil war.
461 CE 1,565 years ago
Traditional date of the death of Saint Patrick
By tradition Patrick, the Romano-British missionary to Ireland, died on 17 March, though the year is uncertain. His feast became Ireland's national day, celebrated by the Irish diaspora worldwide.
1337 CE 689 years ago
Edward the Black Prince receives the Duchy of Cornwall
Edward the Black Prince, eldest son of King Edward III, received the Duchy of Cornwall by a royal charter, having been made duke in parliament in February. It was the earliest creation of a duke in England.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1905 CE 121 years ago
Einstein completes his paper on light quanta
Einstein finished a paper proposing that light comes in discrete packets of energy, explaining the photoelectric effect. It helped found quantum theory and earned him the Nobel Prize.
1948 CE 78 years ago
Brussels Treaty creates a Western European defence pact
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg agreed to defend one another against attack. The pact paved the way for NATO in 1949 and later became the Western European Union.
1958 CE 68 years ago
US launches Vanguard 1 satellite
The grapefruit-sized satellite, mocked by Khrushchev, showed that the Earth is slightly pear-shaped. Long silent, it is the oldest human-made object still in orbit.
Born on 17 March 3
Died on 17 March 7
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.