On this day: 13 March

The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.

The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Genoa sign a permanent treaty against the Venetians at Nymphaeum.

Siege of Warangal: Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq sends an expeditionary army led by his son, Muhammad bin Tughluq, to the Kakatiya capital Warangal – after ruler Prataparudra has refused to make tribute payments. He besieges the city and finally, after a campaign of 8 months, Prataparudra surrenders on November 9.

A Spanish mercenary army surprised a band of rebels at the Battle of Oosterweel in the Habsburg Netherlands, beginning the Eighty Years' War.

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.

Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.

Nojpetén, capital of the Itza Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.

Participants at the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw following his escape from Elba.

Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.

German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was premiered in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as the soloist.

Klemens von Metternich was forced to resign as the foreign minister of Austria following student demonstrations in Vienna.

The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.

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.

The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885.

The Kapp Putsch (participants pictured), an attempted coup aiming to undo the German Revolution of 1918–1919, briefly ousted the government of the Weimar Republic.

The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.

The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.

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.

Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.

Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'état.

Claiming the right of innocent passage, the American warships Yorktown and Caron entered Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea.

The 53.85 km (33.46 mi) Seikan Tunnel opened between the cities of Hakodate and Aomori, Japan.

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-29 carrying the TDRS-4 satellite.

The Mw 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).

The 1993 Storm of the Century affects the eastern United States, dropping feet of snow in many areas.

The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader.

The Filipino singer Rachelle Ann Go won the reality talent show Search for a Star, performing a cover of Mariah Carey's "Through the Rain" in the grand final.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis, making him the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere.

President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou is sworn in as the first female President of Greece amid strict COVID-19 measures.