From Historynet: Today in History March 15

44               Julius Caesar  is assassinated by high-ranking Roman Senators.

933             Henry the Fowler  routs the raiding Magyars at Merseburg, Germany.

1493          Christopher Columbus  returns to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.

1778          In command of two frigates, 

the Frenchman la Perouse  sails east from Botany Bay for the last lap of his voyage around the world.

1820          Maine is admitted as the 23rd state.

1862          General John Hunt Morgan  begins four days of raids near the city of Gallatin, Tenn.

1864          The Red River Campaign begins as the Union forces reach Alexandria, La.

1892          New York State unveils the new automatic ballot voting machine.

1895          Bone Mizell , the famed cowboy of Florida, appears before a judge for altering cattle brands.

1903          The British complete the conquest of Nigeria.

1904          Three hundred Russians are killed as the Japanese shell Port Arthur in Korea.

1909          Italy proposes a European conference on the Balkans.

1916          General John Pershing  and his 15,000 troops chase Pancho Villa  into Mexico.

1934          Henry Ford  restores the $5-a-day wage.

1935          Joseph Goebbels , German Minister of Propaganda bans four Berlin newspapers.

1939          Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia.

1944          Cassino, Italy is destroyed by Allied bombing.

1949          Almost four years after the end of World War II, clothes rationing in Great Britain ends.

1951          French General de Lattre  demands that Paris send him more troops for the fight in Indochina.

1955          The U.S. Air Force unveils the first self-guided missile.

1956          The first performance of My Fair Lady, starring 

Julie Andrews  and Rex Harrison , takes place on Broadway.

1960          Ten nations meet in Geneva to discuss disarmament.

1965          Gamal Abdel Nasser  is re-elected Egyptian President.

1967          President Lyndon Johnson  names 

Ellsworth Bunker  as the new ambassador to Saigon. Bunker replaces Lodge.

1968          The U.S. mint halts the practice of buying and selling gold.

1991          Four Los Angeles police are charged in the beating of  

Rodney King .