WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012

Today is Wednesday, March 21, the 81st day of 2012. There are 285 days left in the year.

1349 ― 3,000 Jews killed in Black Death riots in Efurt, Germany

1610 ― King James I addresses English House of Commons

1697 ― Czar Peter the Great begins tour through West-Europe

1804 ― French civil Code of Napoleon adopted

1857 ― Earthquake hits Tokyo; about 107,000 die

1935 ― Persia officially renamed Iran

1951 ― 290,000 U.S. soldiers in Korea

1961 ― Beatles' first appearance at the Cavern Club

1965 ― Martin Luther King Jr. begins march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

1975 ― Ethiopia ends monarchy after 3,000 years