March 12th

Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius.

The Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone to protect Libyan rebels.

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring.

Elizabeth Smart, a 15-year-old girl who'd vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters.

The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO.

The Church of England ordained women priests for the first time in 460 years.

Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female attorney general of the United States.

The musical "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.

A Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys.

Rock musician Paul McCartney of the Beatles married Linda Eastman in London.

Suharto rises to power in Indonesia. His presidency, which lasted 31 years, was overshadowed by crass human rights violations and the occupation of East Timor.

The cartoon "Dennis the Menace" by Hank Ketcham made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.

President Truman established the 'Truman Doctrine' to aid in the containment of Communism.

Pope Pius XII was crowned at the Vatican.

The "Anschluss" took place as German troops entered Austria. Adolf Hitler annexed his homeland the following day.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the first of his nation-wide "fireside chats" on radio.

Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.

Moscow becomes Russia's capital city. St. Petersburg lost its status as the Russian capital following the Revolution of 1917, which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy.

The Girl Guides, the forerunner of the Girl Scouts of America, was founded.

Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.

Congress accepts Pre-emption Bill: free land in West for colonists.

First record of Johann Gutenberg's Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before.