Human Saga

On March 12

On March 12, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930).

On this day

12 March – 6 April 1930Salt March and the Civil Disobedience MovementPolitics & governance

Between 12 March and 6 April 1930, Mohandas K. Gandhi led a 24-day, roughly 385-kilometre march from his Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat to defy the British salt monopoly and tax.

Also this week in history (Mar 9 – Mar 15)

15 March 44 BCEAssassination of Julius Caesar (the Ides of March)Politics & governance

Having defeated Pompey at Pharsalus in 48 BCE and won the civil war, Julius Caesar accumulated unprecedented power, and in early 44 BCE he was made dictator perpetuo, dictator in perpetuity.

9 March 1776Adam Smith's The Wealth of NationsEconomy & trade

On 9 March 1776 Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the founding text of classical economics.

1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroikaPolitics & governance

Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 11 March 1985 and launched two interlinked reform programmes.

11 March 2020The COVID-19 pandemicSocial & demographic

The COVID-19 pandemic was the deadliest global disease outbreak in a century, killing an estimated seven million or more people and upending economies, health systems, and daily life worldwide.

On 13 March 1591 a Moroccan expeditionary force under Judar Pasha, dispatched across the Sahara by the Saadi sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, crushed the army of Askia Ishaq II at Tondibi near Gao.

9–15 March 2016AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol, a milestone of the deep-learning revolutionScience, technology & invention

Between 9 and 15 March 2016 in Seoul, South Korea, AlphaGo, a program developed by the London-based DeepMind, defeated the world-class player Lee Sedol four games to one in the ancient board game Go.

On 11 March 2018 China's National People's Congress voted overwhelmingly, 2,958 in favour with only two opposed, to amend the constitution and remove the two-term limit on the presidency, clearing the way for Xi Jinping to remain in office…

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