THURSDAY, March 20, 2025

1345-Conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, thought by scholars at the University of Paris to be the "cause of the plague epidemic" known as the Black Death. Actual cause was the bacterium yersinia pestis spread by fleas, rats and other animals.

1774-The British parliament passes first of the Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston harbor until colonists would pay for damages following the Boston Tea Party

1854-Anti-slavery activists within the US Whig political party opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Act form a new Republican Party; notable politicians who switched allegiance include Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison

1933-Dachau the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed

1952-Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan by US Senate

1981-Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron sentenced to 8 years

1987-FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)

1991-Supreme Court rules unanimously employers can't exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage fetus

1994-El Salvador's 1st presidential election following 12-year-old civil war

2003-A U.S.-led coalition launches a ground invasion of Iraq after an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expires