March 25th

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A powerful earthquake rocked Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, killing as many as 1,000 people.

President Bill Clinton acknowledged during his Africa tour that "we did not act quickly enough" to stop the slaughter of 1 million Rwandans four years earlier.

An 81-day standoff by the antigovernment Freemen began at a ranch near Jordan, Mont.

WikiWikiWeb, the world's first wiki, is launched. Ward Cunningham introduced the wiki, or user-editable website. Today, Wikipedia is the world's most well known and widely used wiki.

American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth from the Mir space station after a 10-month stay, during which his native country, the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.

Thousands of people join the first peaceful demonstrations against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. The Candle Demonstration was brutally dispersed by the Police but was the first step towards the Velvet Revolution that resulted in the establishment of democracy in the country.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is assassinated by his nephew. Despite the king's dying wish that the life of the assassin be spared, Faisal bin Musaid was publicly executed on June 18, 1975.

The 25,000-person Alabama Freedom March to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks, led by Martin Luther King Jr., ended its journey from Selma on the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala.

1st guided missile launched from nuclear powered sub (Halibut).

6 countries found the European Economic Community. The EEC's establishment was an important step towards European integration and the creation of the European Union (EU).

The Soviet Union begins deporting some 90,000 Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians to some of Russia's most inhospitable areas. Operation Priboi, also known as March deportation, was designed to weaken the Baltic nationalist movement. Most of the deportees, labeled “enemies of the people” by the Soviet authorities, were women and children.

Horton Smith won the first Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Georgia.

The Scottsboro boys were arrested in Alabama.

The home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.

A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York City killed 145 workers.

Italian troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

Jacob S. Coxey began leading an 'army' of the unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., to demand help from the federal government.

British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire; penalty of £120 per slave introduced for ship captains.

Maryland was founded by English colonists sent by the second Lord Baltimore.

Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co.

1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus.