What happened on 21 March?

9 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1871 Bismarck's chancellorship Minister-President of Prussia from 1862 and then Chancellor of the Reich he had made: the Kulturkampf, social insurance and the alliance system.
2. 1804 Napoleonic Code Comprehensive civil code promulgated under Napoleon; basis of civil law in much of continental Europe and beyond.
3. 1918 Spring Offensive (Kaiserschlacht) Germany's last gamble — five massive offensives on the Western Front.
4. 1960 Sharpeville massacre South African police kill 69 unarmed protesters in Sharpeville; turning point in the international anti-apartheid movement.
5. 1806 Born: Benito Juarez Indigenous Mexican president who reformed the church-state relationship.
6. 1839 Born: Modest Mussorgsky Russian composer; member of The Five.
7. 1935 Persia renamed Iran Reza Shah asks the world to call his country Iran, its endonym, rather than the Greek-derived Persia.
8. 1858 Lucknow falls to the British Colin Campbell's army — Highlanders, Sikhs and Gurkhas behind the heaviest siege train yet seen in India — retakes the capital of Awadh, the rebellion's last great stronghold. The
9. 2006 Twitter launched Microblogging service that reshapes political and media life.