March 7

161 – Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius. 1138 – Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Coblenz in the presence of the papal legate Theodwin. 1277 – The University of Paris issues the last in a series of condemnations of various philosophical and theological theses. 1573 – A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman–Venetian War and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands. 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives. 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne. 1827 – Brazilian marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina. 1827 – Shrigley abduction: Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future politician in colonial New Zealand. 1850 – Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war. 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces engage Confederate troops at the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas. 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the "telephone". 1900 – The German liner becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore. 1902 – Second Boer War: Boers, led by Koos de la Rey, inflict the biggest defeat upon the British since the beginning of the war, at Tweebosch. 1914 – Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania to begin his reign as King. 1931 – The Parliament House of Finland is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland. 1941 – Günther Prien and the crew of German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappear without a trace. 1945 – World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen. 1950 – Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.