March 13

Pre-1600

 * 624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
 * 1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
 * 1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.

1601–1900

 * 1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
 * 1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
 * 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins.
 * 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
 * 1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.
 * 1811 – A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars.
 * 1826 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.
 * 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
 * 1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.
 * 1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
 * 1884 – The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885.
 * 1888 – The eruption of Ritter Island triggers tsunamis that kill up to 3,000 people on nearby islands.
 * 1900 – British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.

1901–present

 * 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
 * 1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.
 * 1940 – The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
 * 1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
 * 1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory led to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam.
 * 1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.
 * 1969 – Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
 * 1974 – Sierra Pacific Airlines Flight 802 crashes into the White Mountains near Bishop, California, killing 36.
 * 1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'état.
 * 1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world with an undersea segment, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.
 * 1992 – The 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
 * 1993 – The 1993 Storm of the Century affects the eastern United States, dropping feet of snow in many areas.
 * 1996 – The Dunblane massacre leads to the death of sixteen primary school children and one teacher in Dunblane, Scotland.
 * 1997 – The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader.
 * 2003 – An article in Nature identifies the Ciampate del Diavolo as 350,000-year-old hominid footprints.
 * 2012 – The Sierre coach crash kills 28 people, including 22 children.
 * 2013 – The 2013 papal conclave elects Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio taking the name Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.
 * 2016 – The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people.
 * 2016  – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people.
 * 2020 – President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States.
 * 2020  – Breonna Taylor is killed by police officers who were forcibly entering her home in Louisville, Kentucky; her death sparked extensive protests against racism and police brutality.

Pre-1600

 * 1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
 * 1479 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (d. 1534)
 * 1560 – William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, Dutch count (d. 1620)
 * 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (probable; d. 1652)
 * 1599 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (d. 1621)

1601–1900

 * 1615 – Innocent XII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1700)
 * 1683 – Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, German botanist (d. 1741)
 * 1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
 * 1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1797)
 * 1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
 * 1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
 * 1763 – Guillaume Brune, French general and diplomat (d. 1815)
 * 1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
 * 1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (d. 1809)
 * 1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
 * 1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
 * 1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1858)
 * 1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
 * 1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (d. 1903)
 * 1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
 * 1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
 * 1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
 * 1862 – Paul Prosper Henrys, French general (d. 1943)
 * 1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian-German painter (d. 1941)
 * 1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
 * 1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
 * 1880 – Josef Gočár, Czech architect (d. 1945)
 * 1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
 * 1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)
 * 1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
 * 1886  – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
 * 1888 – Paul Morand, French author and diplomat (d. 1976)
 * 1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor and director (d. 1951)
 * 1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
 * 1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
 * 1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
 * 1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
 * 1899  – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 1978)
 * 1900 – Andrée Bosquet, Belgian painter (d. 1980)
 * 1900  – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Hans Bellmer, German-French painter and sculptor (d. 1975)
 * 1904 – Clifford Roach, Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (d. 1988)
 * 1907 – Dorothy Tangney, Australian politician (d. 1985)
 * 1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
 * 1908  – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
 * 1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
 * 1910  – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (d. 1973)
 * 1911 – José Ardévol, Cuban composer and conductor (d. 1981)
 * 1911  – L. Ron Hubbard, American author, founder of Scientology (d. 1986)
 * 1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
 * 1913  – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (d. 2009)
 * 1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1998)
 * 1914  – Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
 * 1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
 * 1916  – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (d. 2017)
 * 1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
 * 1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist (d. 2023)
 * 1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (d. 2010)
 * 1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer
 * 1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
 * 1929 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2014)
 * 1933 – Diane Dillon, American illustrator
 * 1933  – Mahdi Elmandjra, Moroccan economist and sociologist (d. 2014)
 * 1933  – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (d. 2009)
 * 1935 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
 * 1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (d. 2012)
 * 1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
 * 1941 – Lee Moses, American R&B Soul Singer and Guitarist (d. 1998)
 * 1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer
 * 1942  – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
 * 1942  – Scatman John, American singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
 * 1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns, English economist and academic
 * 1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician and academic
 * 1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
 * 1947 – Lesley Collier, English ballerina and educator
 * 1947  – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist (d. 2018)
 * 1947  – Lyn St. James, American race car driver
 * 1949 – Ze'ev Bielski, Israeli politician
 * 1949  – Sian Elias, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
 * 1950 – Joe Bugner, Hungarian-British boxer and actor
 * 1950  – Bernard Julien, Trinidadian cricketer
 * 1950  – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author (d. 2018)
 * 1950  – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
 * 1952 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer and educator
 * 1952  – Tim Sebastian, English journalist and author
 * 1953 – Andy Bean, American golfer (d. 2023)
 * 1953  – Michael Curry, American bishop, 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
 * 1953  – Deborah Raffin, American actress (d. 2012)
 * 1954 – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Guyanese-English politician and diplomat
 * 1954  – Robin Duke, Canadian actress and screenwriter
 * 1955 – Bruno Conti, Italian footballer and manager
 * 1955  – Glenne Headly, American actress (d. 2017)
 * 1955  – Olga Rukavishnikova, Russian pentathlete
 * 1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
 * 1956  – Jamie Dimon, North-American businessman and banker
 * 1957 – John Hoeven, American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
 * 1957  – Moses Hogan, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
 * 1958 – Mágico González, Salvadoran footballer
 * 1958  – Rick Lazio, American lawyer and politician
 * 1958  – Caryl Phillips, Caribbean-English author and playwright
 * 1959 – Dirk Wellham, Australian cricketer
 * 1960 – Adam Clayton, English-Irish musician and songwriter
 * 1960  – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
 * 1962 – Alfredo Maia, Portuguese politician
 * 1963 – Mariano Duncan, Dominican baseball player and manager
 * 1963  – Vance Johnson, American football player
 * 1963  – Fito Páez, Argentine musician, songwriter and filmmaker
 * 1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
 * 1964  – Trevor Gillmeister, Australian rugby league player and coach
 * 1966 – Chico Science, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
 * 1967 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
 * 1967  – Pieter Vink, Dutch footballer and referee
 * 1970 – Tim Story, American director and producer
 * 1971 – Annabeth Gish, American actress
 * 1971  – Allan Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager
 * 1971  – Adina Porter, American actress
 * 1972 – Common, American rapper and actor
 * 1972  – Trent Dilfer, American football player, coach, and analyst
 * 1973 – Edgar Davids, Surinamese-Dutch footballer and manager
 * 1973  – David Draiman, American singer-songwriter
 * 1973  – Bobby Jackson, American basketball player and coach
 * 1974 – James Brinkley, Scottish cricketer
 * 1974  – Thomas Enqvist, Swedish tennis player and sportscaster
 * 1975 – Mark Clattenburg, English football referee
 * 1976 – Troy Hudson, American basketball player and rapper
 * 1976  – Danny Masterson, American actor and producer
 * 1978 – Tom Danielson, American cyclist
 * 1979 – Johan Santana, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1979  – Cédric Van Branteghem, Belgian sprinter
 * 1980 – Caron Butler, American basketball player
 * 1982 – Izi Castro Marques, Brazilian basketball player
 * 1982  – Nicole Ohlde, American basketball player
 * 1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno, American swimmer
 * 1984 – Geeta Basra, Indian actress
 * 1985 – Alcides, Brazilian footballer
 * 1985  – Emile Hirsch, American actor
 * 1986 – Neil Wagner, South African-New Zealand cricketer
 * 1987 – Marco Andretti, American race car driver
 * 1987  – Andreas Beck, German footballer
 * 1988 – Furdjel Narsingh, Dutch footballer
 * 1989 – Holger Badstuber, German footballer
 * 1989  – Peaches Geldof, English columnist, television personality, and model (d. 2014)
 * 1989  – Sandy León, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1989  – Marko Marin, German footballer
 * 1989  – Robert Wickens, Canadian racing driver
 * 1990 – Anicet Abel, Malagasy footballer
 * 1990  – Marcell Dareus, American football player
 * 1991 – Daniel Greig, Australian speed skater
 * 1991  – Tristan Thompson, American basketball player
 * 1992 – Lucy Fry, Australian actress
 * 1992  – George MacKay, English actor
 * 1992  – Ozuna, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and rapper
 * 1993 – Tyrone Mings, English footballer
 * 1994 – Gerard Deulofeu, Spanish footballer
 * 1994  – Mohammed Siraj, Indian cricketer
 * 1995 – Mikaela Shiffrin, American skier
 * 1995  – Jang Su-jeong, South Korean tennis player
 * 1996 – Brayden Point, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1997 – Pyper America, American model, actress, and musician
 * 1997  – Landry Shamet, American basketball player
 * 1998 – Jay-Roy Grot, Dutch footballer
 * 1998  – Jack Harlow, American rapper, singer-songwriter, and actor
 * 2002 – Frank Gore Jr., American football player
 * 2004 – Coco Gauff, American tennis player

Pre-1600

 * 1202 – Mieszko III the Old, king of Poland (b. c. 1121)
 * 1271 – Henry of Almain, English knight (b. 1235)
 * 1415 – Minye Kyawswa, Crown Prince of Ava (b. 1391)
 * 1447 – Shah Rukh, Timurid ruler of Persia and Transoxania (b. 1377)
 * 1573 – Michel de l'Hôpital, French politician (b. 1507)

1601–1900

 * 1601 – Henry Cuffe, Politician (b. 1563)
 * 1619 – Richard Burbage, English actor (b. 1567)
 * 1711 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)
 * 1719 – Johann Friedrich Böttger, German chemist and potter (b. 1682)
 * 1800 – Nana Fadnavis, Indian minister and politician (b. 1742)
 * 1808 – Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
 * 1823 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (b. 1735)
 * 1833 – William Bradley, English lieutenant and cartographer (b. 1757)
 * 1842 – Henry Shrapnel, English general (b. 1761)
 * 1854 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (b. 1773)
 * 1873 – David Swinson Maynard, American physician, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1808)
 * 1879 – Adolf Anderssen, German mathematician and chess player (b. 1818)
 * 1881 – Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
 * 1884 – Leland Stanford Jr., American son of Leland Stanford (b. 1868)
 * 1885 – Giorgio Mitrovich, Maltese politician (b. 1795)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Benjamin Harrison, American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
 * 1906 – Susan B. Anthony, American activist (b. 1820)
 * 1912 – Eugène-Étienne Taché, Canadian engineer and architect, designed the Parliament Building (b. 1836)
 * 1921 – Jenny Twitchell Kempton, American opera singer and educator (b. 1835)
 * 1936 – Francis Bell, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1851)
 * 1938 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and author (b. 1857)
 * 1943 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1898)
 * 1946 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (b. 1878)
 * 1951 – Ants "the Terrible" Kaljurand, Estonian anti-communist, freedom fighter and forest brother (b. 1917)
 * 1953 – Johan Laidoner, Estonian general and statesman (b. 1884)
 * 1961 – Lise Lindbæk, Norwegian journalist and war correspondent (b. 1905)
 * 1962 – Anne Acheson, Irish sculptor (b. 1882)
 * 1965 – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (b. 1891)
 * 1965  – Fan Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1882)
 * 1971 – Rockwell Kent, American painter and illustrator (b. 1882)
 * 1972 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941)
 * 1975 – Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
 * 1976 – Ole Haugsrud, American sports executive (b. 1900)
 * 1983 – Paul Citroen, German-Dutch illustrator and educator (b. 1896)
 * 1990 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (b. 1903)
 * 1995 – Odette Hallowes, French nurse and spy (b. 1912)
 * 1996 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
 * 1998 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
 * 1998  – Hans von Ohain, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1911)
 * 1999 – Lee Falk, American cartoonist, director, and producer (b. 1911)
 * 1999  – Garson Kanin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
 * 2001 – John A. Alonzo, American actor and cinematographer (b. 1934)
 * 2001  – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (b. 1895)
 * 2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (b. 1900)
 * 2004 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (b. 1905)
 * 2006 – Robert C. Baker, American businessman, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
 * 2006  – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
 * 2006  – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
 * 2006  – Peter Tomarken, American television personality, game show host (b. 1942)
 * 2007 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
 * 2009 – Betsy Blair, American actress (b. 1923)
 * 2009  – Alan W. Livingston, American businessman (b. 1917)
 * 2010 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
 * 2011 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
 * 2013 – Clive Burr, English drummer and songwriter (b. 1957)
 * 2014 – Reubin Askew, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of Florida (b. 1928)
 * 2014  – Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, Irish businessman and politician (b. 1944)
 * 2014  – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (b. 1932)
 * 2014  – Icchokas Meras, Lithuanian-Israeli author and screenwriter (b. 1934)
 * 2015 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
 * 2016 – Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (b. 1926)
 * 2017 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (b. 1965)
 * 2018 – Emily Nasrallah, Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. (b. 1931)
 * 2021 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American professional boxer (b. 1954)
 * 2021  – Murray Walker, English motorsport commentator and journalist (b. 1923)
 * 2022 – William Hurt, American actor (b. 1950)
 * 2024 – Philippe de Gaulle, French admiral (b.1921)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast days:
 * Ansovinus
 * Gerald of Mayo
 * James Theodore Holly (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * Nicephorus
 * Roderick
 * March 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Kasuga Matsuri (Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara, Japan)
 * National Elephant Day (Thailand)
 * Africa Scout Day