Milestones: March 8, 2024

March 8, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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FEBRUARY REVOLUTION IN MARCH — RIOTS AND STRIKES BROKE OUT IN RUSSIA ON MARCH 8, 1917, the first phase of the Russian Revolution. The rioting — referred to as the February Revolution because of Russia’s following the Julian calendar (which was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar) at the time — erupted in Petrograd, now known as St. Petersburg, over the scarcity of food and the people’s anger about the Czarist regime’s inability to lead and its corruption. More than 90,000 men and women went on strike to support the uprising, and protesters clashed with police and refused to disperse. Two days later, on March 10, the strike spread among all of Petrograd’s workers, and irate mobs destroyed police stations.

One week later, on March 15 (Gregorian, March 2 Julian calendar) Czar Nicholas II abdicated power, and Russia took the first step toward what would eventually be a Communist revolution.

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REAGAN’S RHETORIC CRITICIZED — FAST-FORWARD 66 YEARS TO MARCH 8, 1983, WHEN PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN PUBLICLY CALLED the Soviet Union an ‘evil empire.’ Whereas the Russian workers were trying to form a government that would enfranchise them, six decades later the Communist-led Soviet Union’s leaders had a nuclear arsenal and were accused of trying to export Communism to other nations. Reagan, who was keynoting a convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Florida on March 8, 1983, repeated his earlier branding of Russia as an evil empire, which he had done the previous year when addressing the British House of Commons. While some people praised Reagan’s borrowing the Star Wars film-inspired terminology to be brilliant rhetoric, others, particularly the international diplomatic community, denounced Reagan’s words as “irresponsible.”

Reagan went beyond the Truman Doctrine of containing Communism, instead urging active intervention in a stance known as the Reagan Doctrine. This happened against the backdrop of protests — both domestic and international — against the U.S.-Soviet arms race.

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EGYPT REOPENS SUEZ CANAL — EGYPT OPENED THE SUEZ CANAL, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas across that nation, on March 8, 1957. The canal, which was the work of French engineers, originally opened in 1969 and for almost nine decades was under French and British control. It was indispensable to Europe as an inexpensive oil shipping route. But when. in July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, his actions prompted anger, with Britain and France sending troops and the Israeli army invading in October 1956. Nasser’s motivation in nationalizing the Suez Canal had been to charge tolls that would underwrite a major dam on the Nile River. The United Nations pressured France and Britain to withdraw, and Egypt again opened the Suez Canal on March 8, 1957, although a major cleanup was necessary before large ships could navigate there.

Egypt would again close the Suez Canal during the 1967 Six-Day War and Israel’s subsequent occupation of the Sinai peninsula. Only eight years later was it reopened as a result of successful peace talks between Israel and Egypt, which led to Israel’s handing the Sinai back to Egypt.

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MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCE — MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370, CARRYING 227 PASSENGERS AND 12 CREW MEMBERS, MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED on March 8, 2014, after losing contact with air traffic control less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. The plane veered off course, disappeared and was never seen again. The Beijing-bound flight was supposed to have landed at 6:30 a.m. (Kuala Lumpur in eastern Malaysia is in the same time zone as Beijing, separate from the rest of Malaysia). About an hour after Flight 370 was scheduled to land in Beijing, Malaysia Airlines announced it was missing. Without any distress signals, severe weather reports, or technical problems, no clues existed to the jetliner’s disappearance. The search began at the point where radar connection was lost, over the Gulf of Thailand.

The international community, including the United States. joined in the search for the missing plane. On March 24, the Malaysian president declared the plane as presumed lost with no survivors. Three months later, Australian investigators believed that the flight was on autopilot when cabin oxygen was depleted, and the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean.

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‘FIGHT OF THE CENTURY’ — MARCH 8, 1971, MARKED THE CLASSIC “FIGHT OF THE CENTURY” FIGHT BETWEEN Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. The match marked Ali’s return to the marquee three-and-a-half years after his boxing license had been revoked when he refused military service in Vietnam. This was Ali’s chance to win back his heavyweight championship. Both Ali and Frazier were undefeated and had won Olympic gold medals and multiple Golden Gloves championships. The handsome Ali, the showman, exploited braggadocio and used a strategy of mental intimidation to keep Frazier off focus. It appeared to work until the eighth round when Frazier gained the advantage. In Round 15, Frazier delivered the knockout punch to Ali with a left hook and was declared the winner.

That night, Frank Sinatra was a photojournalist, sitting ringside for his assignment with Life Magazine.

See previous milestones, here.