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- 270 St. Valentine died, marking Valentines Day (some sources say 269, others 273).
- 0842 Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
- 1014 Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.
- 1014 The German king Henry of Bavaria recognizes Benedict VIII as the rightful pope and is crowned at Rome February 14
- 1076 Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1349 Approximately 2,000 Jews were burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg.
- 1540 Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without resistance, executes rebels
- 1556 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared a heretic
- 1556 Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
- 1610 Polish king Sigismund III, Forges Dimitri #2 & Romanov family sign covenant against czar Vasili Shushki
- 1613 King James I's daughter Elizabeth marries Frederik
- 1630 Dutch fleet of 69 ships reaches Pernambuco Brazil
- 1663 Canada becomes a Royal Province of France.
- 1670 Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna
- 1689 English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince Willem III on the throne
- 1711 Händels opera Rinaldo, premieres
- 1743 Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.
- 1761 British troops occupy Fort Michilimackinac in Michigan
- 1766 Dutch governor Falck signs Treaty of Batticaloa with rebels
- 1778 The Star and Stripes (U.S. flag) makes its first appearance at a foreign port, flying aboard the ship Ranger, as it arrives in France.
- 1778 The United States Flag was formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
- 1779 James Cook was killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
- 1794 First US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA
- 1803 Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington PA
- 1803 Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void.
- 1804 Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1826 Lt. Colonel John By 1781-1836 of the Royal Engineers arrives in Hull to plan construction of the Rideau Canal
- 1831 Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
- 1835 The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
- 1843 The event that inspired the song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! is held.
- 1848 James K Polk became first President photographed in office (Matthew Brady)
- 1849 In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
- 1852 Visitor posting - 1st patient accepted at Gt Ormond Street Hospital, London - United Kingdom
- 1854 Texas linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
- 1859 Oregon admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- 1859 Oregon becomes the 33rd state admitted to the Union.
- 1862 Galena, first US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
- 1867 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company issues first policy
- 1876 A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents; Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor
- 1876 Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
- 1879 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
- 1879 The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
- 1886 First trainload of oranges left Los Angeles via the transcontinental railroad.
- 1890 First New South Wales vs South Australia 1st-class cricket game
- 1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
- 1895 First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest at the St James's Theatre in London.
- 1895 Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" opens in London
- 1896 George Lohmann takes a hat-trick vs South Africa, 8-7 for inning
- 1896 South Africa all out for 30 vs England - their lowest ever
- 1899 President McKinley signs a bill making mechanical voting machines legal in the U.S.
- 1899 Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
- 1900 Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
- 1900 Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- 1903 The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor is established.
- 1912 Arizona admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
- 1912 Arizona is admitted to the Union, becoming the 48th state.
- 1912 First US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton CT
- 1912 In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
- 1914 High Council of Labor forms in Hague Netherlands
- 1915 First Canadian Division arrives in France from England, and moves into Flanders.
- 1918 Tarzan of the Apes, the first movie featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan character, is released.
- 1918 USSR adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar
- 1918 Visitor posting - A VERY SPECIAL LADY NAMED MARDIS WAS BORN IN NEW YORK - USA
- 1919 The Polish-Soviet War begins.
- 1919 United Parcel Service forms
- 1920 The League of Women Voters is established in Chicago.
- 1921 Canadian 5¢ nickel coin is authorized
- 1921 Little Review faces obscenity charges for publishing "Ulysses," New York
- 1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson
- 1924 The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is founded.
- 1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed
- 1927 Conn Smythe takes over the Toronto St. Patricks team and renames them the Maple Leafs
- 1929 Visitor posting - Vasily Krasnoslobodtsev was born - Russian Federation
- 1929 Seven rivals of mobster Al Capone are murdered in a Chicago garage, now remembered as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre."
- 1929 UK hist Screen debut of Mickey Mouse – same day as St Valentine's Day massacre!
- 1931 Bradman scores 152 Australia vs West Indies, 154 minutes, 13 fours 2 fives
- 1931 Spanish government of General Damasco Berenguer falls
- 1936 National Negro Congress organizes in Chicago
- 1939 Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of Gone With the Wind
- 1940 British merchant vessel fleet is armed
- 1941 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the New York Midtown Tunnel
- 1941 German Africa Corps lands in Tripoli, Libya
- 1942 Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
- 1942 Visitor posting - Mary Ann Wright born - USA
- 1942 Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra
- 1942 Rotterdam's Maas tunnel opens
- 1943 German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia
- 1943 Soviets recapture Rostov
- 1943 World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
- 1944 Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
- 1944 World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
- 1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
- 1945 Bombing of Prague - probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.
- 1945 Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru join the United Nations.
- 1945 Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans.
- 1945 On the second day of the Bombing of Dresden in World War II the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.
- 1946 The Bank of England goes public.
- 1946 The Bank of England is nationalized.
- 1949 Dutch Drees government presents plan for the building of 30,000 houses
- 1949 First session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem
- 1949 The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
- 1949 The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
- 1950 Moroney scores cricket twin centuries for Australia at Johannesburg
- 1950 USSR & China sign peace treaty
- 1951 Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Jake LaMotta & takes middleweight title
- 1952 6th Winter Olympics games opens in Oslo, Norway
- 1954 Senator John Kennedy appears on "Meet the Press"
- 1956 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
- 1956 Indonesia withdraws from Netherlands Indonesian Union
- 1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at USSR Communist Party Conference
- 1956 The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union starts in Moscow. On the last night of the meeting, Premier Nikita Khruschev condemns Josef Stalin's crimes in a secret speech.
- 1957 Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites
- 1958 Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms
- 1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York NY
- 1960 Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
- 1961 Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
- 1961 Element 103, Lawrencium, first produced in Berkeley CA
- 1962 First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
- 1962 Visitor posting - donna born, Pet chihuahua - USA
- 1962 Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
- 1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1
- 1965 Visitor posting - Helen Heywood is born - United Kingdom
- 1966 Australia introduces first decimal currency postage stamps
- 1966 Australian currency is decimalised.
- 1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"
- 1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up
- 1968 Number one hit on UK music charts - Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn
- 1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Pennsylvania Central
- 1971 Movie "Ben Hur" first shown on television
- 1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House
- 1972 John & Yoko co-host "Mike Douglas Show" for entire week
- 1972 Luna 20 (Russia) launched to orbit & soft landing on Moon
- 1975 Bomb explodes at annex of Amsterdam metro station
- 1976 Number one hit on UK music charts - Slik - Forever And Ever
- 1977 The Unity Bank of Canada and Provincial Bank of Canada merge
- 1978 First "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments
- 1978 Visitor posting - John F. Camajani asks Felicity M. Black to marry him. She says YES!
- 1979 In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
- 1979 Visitor posting - my totaly awosome mom was born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - USA
- 1980 "West Side Story" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 341 performances
- 1980 13th Winter Olympics games open in Lake Placid NY
- 1980 US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares
- 1980 Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from the CBS Evening News.
- 1981 Stardust Disaster. A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people
- 1983 United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher is later convicted of fraud.
- 1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney Australia
- 1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut
- 1986 Visitor posting - Roxanna Dyer was born To Amy Dyer in a little town in Ohio - USA
- 1987 Visitor posting - a beautiful baby girl(malinda) was born to lashawn daniel and keith jenkins - USA
- 1988 Alfredo Stroessner re-elected President of Paraguay
- 1988 General hospital star Jackie Zeman marries Glenn Gorden
- 1989 African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam
- 1989 Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
- 1989 Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
- 1989 Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic
- 1989 The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.
- 1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster
- 1989 World's first satellite Skyphone opens
- 1990 92 people are killed aboarad Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.
- 1990 An Indian Airlines jetliner crashes while landing in southern India, killing 94 passengers and crew.
- 1990 Perrier recalls 160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, are found in some
- 1990 Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system
- 1991 Air raid shelter at Baghdad bombed killing 300
- 1992 Cease fire in Somalia begins
- 1993 Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79
- 1994 Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian serial killer was executed by shooting.
- 1994 Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons
- 1995 Roseanne weds bodyguard Ben Thomas
- 1996 China launches a Long March 3 rocket, carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. The rocket flew off course 3 seconds after liftoff and crashed into a rural village.
- 1997 Abitibi-Price and Stone-Consolidated announce a $2.3 billion merger, creating the world's largest newsprint maker
- 1998 Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
- 1999 John Ehrlichman, presidential advisor during the Nixon administration and imprisoned for his role in the Watergate scandal, dies in Atlanta, at age 73.
- 1999 Quebec Railway Corporation takes over the former CN Mont Joli and Matane subdivisions linking Matane to Riviere du Loup, QC. The Matane sub. was the former Canada and Gulf Terminal Railway.
- 1999 Visitor posting - Joshua M. Loiselle was born.
- 2000 The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
- 2000 Tornadoes rip through southwestern Georgia just after midnight, killing 19 people and injuring more than 100 others.
- 2001 Visitor posting - Christian Smith was born in Cheraw, SC
- 2002 The Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.
- 2004 Visitor posting - MY BROTHER DEVIN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY - USA [email protected]
- 2004 In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
- 2005 Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the Cedar Revolution (Intifada of Independence).
- 2005 Seven people were killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.
- 2009 Visitor posting - Oscar and Joanna's 7th month-aniversary:) "always and forever my love!"
- 2009 Visitor posting - February 14, 2009 Kevin and Kelly get engaged
- 2010 Visitor posting - The CPP and the ABB begin their journey into foreva! U know! - USA
- 2010 Visitor posting - On this date Alan Cook and Diane(VanHollebeke) Cook newly wed since 18 December, 2009 fly to the UK through Paris on Valentine's Day. - United Kingdom
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