MAPS OF HISTORY · ON THIS DAY · March 21

THE DAY IN HISTORY · MARCH 21

March 21 in history

1865 — Bentonville

19–21 Mar 1865 — Johnston’s scraped-together army strikes one wing of Sherman’s host in North Carolina — the Confederacy’s last offensive, gallant, briefly successful, and hopeless.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1918 — Operation Michael

21 Mar 1918 — After a five-hour hurricane bombardment, 76 divisions of stormtroops break the British Fifth Army and advance 65 km in a week — farther than anyone since 1914. Then the guns, the supplies and the plan all fail to keep up.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WWI MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1960 — Sharpeville

21 Mar 1960 — South African police fire on a crowd protesting the pass laws, killing 69, most shot in the back. The ANC and PAC are banned and turn to armed struggle; the world can no longer quite look away. Remember them.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1990 — Windhoek — Namibia’s long wait ends

21 Mar 1990 — After 75 years of South African rule and 23 years of war, Sam Nujoma’s SWAPO takes office. Africa’s last colony is free; only apartheid South Africa now remains.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA MAP → · THE FULL STORY →