civil war

On 17 March 45 BC, Caesar won the last battle of his civil war at Munda. He later said he had often fought for victory, but at Munda he fought for his life. He had a year left.

On 14 March 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin — a crude wooden machine he hoped would reduce slavery. It did the opposite.

On 8 March 1963, a handful of young Ba'athist officers seized Damascus in a coup so bloodless and unremarkable that the population greeted it with indifference. Nobody noticed. That was the problem.