|
- 0399 BC - The philosopher Socrates sentenced to death.
- 0590 Khosrau II crowned as king of Persia
- 1313 Peace of Angleur
- 1386 Duke Philip the Stout forms Council of Flanders
- 1539 Emperor Charles receives Cardinal Pole in Toledo
- 1552 Dutch coast hit by heavy storm
- 1559 Hurricane wrecks Spanish expedition to start a colony near what is now Pensacola, Florida.
- 1563 Russian troops occupy Polotsk Lithuania
- 1637 Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1637 Ferdinand III succeeds Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor
- 1677 King Charles II reports anti-French covenant with Netherlands
- 1686 Jean Baptiste Lully's opera "Armide," premieres in Paris
- 1689 German Parliament declares war on France
- 1745 Colley Cibbers "Papal Tyranny," premieres in London
- 1763 Austria, Prussia & Saxony sign Peace of Hubertusburg
- 1764 St Louis founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue
- 1764 The city of St. Louis, Missouri established.
- 1768 First mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia
- 1775 Angelo Braschi chosen as Pope Pius VI
- 1797 Battle of Cape St Vincent
- 1799 First US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania
- 1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery
- 1805 Harmony Society officially formed.
- 1842 Postage stamps with adhesive on the back are sold for the first time at the New York City post office.
- 1845 William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, first uses 72" (183 cm) reflector
- 1848 Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston
- 1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave
- 1852 Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient
- 1861 Ft Point completed & garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger)
- 1862 Grant's major assault on Ft Donelson TN
- 1864 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans
- 1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped
- 1870 Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth MN
- 1872 In Victoria British Columbia, the Provincial Legislature meets for the first time as a Province of Canada
- 1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down
- 1879 U.S. President Rutherford Hayes signs a bill enabling female lawyers to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
- 1879 Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1881 Canadian Pacific Railway Act receives the Royal Assent. A Royal Charter pursuant to the Act was granted on February 16th - this incorporated the company. The principal terms provided for the payment to the railway of a subsidy of $25,000,000 and 25,000,000 acres of land, plus the railways (Port Arthur-Selkirk-Winnipeg-Emerson and Port Moody-Savona) already contracted for by the government, upon their completion.
- 1882 First cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin
- 1891 AIK was founded at Biblioteksgatan 8 in Stockholm by Isidor Behrens.
- 1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans
- 1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die
- 1900 General French relieves Kimberley/Cecil Rhodes
- 1903 First Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom
- 1903 Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.
- 1906 British Labour Party organizes
- 1906 The British Labour Party organized.
- 1912 Fram reaches latitude 78º 41' S, farthest south ever by ship
- 1913 First avant-garde art show in America opens in New York NY
- 1918 Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar
- 1918 First WWI US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland
- 1919 1,700 Jews are murdered in the Ukrainian town of Proskoruv by followers of Simon Petlura, Ukrainian Nationalist leader.
- 1919 American Legion organizes in Paris
- 1922 Marconi begins regular broadcasting transmissions from Essex
- 1926 Contract air mail service begins in US
- 1929 St Valentine's Day massacre (Chicago)
- 1931 First Dracula movie released
- 1932 3rd Winter Olympics games close at Lake Placid NY
- 1932 Australia beat South Africa in cricket by an inn in 5 hours 53 minutes playing time
- 1932 George Burns & Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "Guy Lombardo Show"
- 1932 US bobsled team member Eddie Eagan becomes only athlete to win gold in both Summer & Winter Olympics (1920 boxing gold)
- 1933 In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
- 1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party
- 1933 President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survives assassination attempt
- 1933 Social-democratic newspaper "Vorwärts" banned again in Berlin
- 1936 -60º F (-51º C), Parshall ND (state record)
- 1936 Hitler announces building of Volkswagens for the people
- 1936 Sonja Henie, Norway, wins 3rd consecutive Olympics figure skating gold
- 1937 The American Elm becomes the state tree of Nebraska.
- 1939 German battleship Bismarck was launched
- 1941 Duke Ellington first records "Take the A Train"
- 1942 British and Australian forces surrender at Singapore Over 15,000 Australian soldiers become prisoners of war
- 1942 German U-boat shells at Antillian oil refinery
- 1942 Japanese troops march into Palembang, South Sumatra
- 1942 The British colony of Singapore surrenders to Japanese troops during WWII.
- 1942 World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. The Sook Ching massacre begins.
- 1943 Women's camp Tamtui on Ambon (Moluccas) hit by allied air raid
- 1944 891 British bombers attack Berlin
- 1944 Bombing & shooting at Monte Cassino convent Italy, begins
- 1944 World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
- 1946 ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.
- 1946 In Ottawa William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 tells Parliament about Soviet spy ring activities in Canada
- 1948 Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan
- 1950 The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
- 1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released
- 1952 King George VI buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
- 1952 Visitor posting - Steven Myers born - USA
- 1953 Seventeen-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.
- 1955 Pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced
- 1956 Urho Kekkonen appointed President of Finland
- 1957 Andrei A Gromyko succeeds Dmitri Shepilov as Soviet foreign minister
- 1958 Sjafroeddin Prawiranegara forms anti-government of Middle Sumatra
- 1959 Antonio Segni forms Italian government
- 1961 Australia beat West Indies 2-1 in one of best Test Cricket series ever
- 1961 Entire US figure skating team of 18, dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash
- 1961 Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, with the entire US Figure Skating team, several coaches & family.
- 1963 First US female world figure skating champion (Tenley Albright)
- 1964 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks
- 1965 A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
- 1965 Canada flies its new red and white Maple Leaf flag, retiring the Red Ensign.
- 1965 John Lennon passes his driving test
- 1965 Singer Nat King Cole dies in Santa Monica, CA, at age 45.
- 1967 D66 (D'66) wins 7 seats in Dutch 2nd Chamber
- 1967 First anti-bootleg recording laws enacted
- 1967 French Diadème 1-D satellite launches into Earth orbit
- 1970 A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.
- 1970 Ard Schenk becomes world champion all-round skater
- 1970 Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102
- 1970 Nationalists disrupt UN session on Congo
- 1971 After 1200 years Britain abandons 12-shilling system for decimal
- 1972 Dimitrios Papadopoulos becomes metropolitan of Imbros/Tenedos
- 1972 President Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador deposed for 4th time
- 1973 Ottawa restricts oil exports to US, due to possible shortages.
- 1973 USSR launches Prognoz 3 to study sun (589/200,300 km)
- 1976 The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by the national referendum.
- 1977 Royal Bank transfers three head office departments from Montreal to Toronto.
- 1977 Visitor posting - Feb 15,1977 Jason S was born in Daytona Beach
- 1977 Social-democrats win Danish parliamentary election
- 1978 England all out 64 for first loss to New Zealand in cricket (Boycott Captain)
- 1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL
- 1978 In a split decision, Leon Spinks takes the heavyweight boxing champion title away from defending champ Muhammad Ali.
- 1978 Zaire revises constitution
- 1979 Paul Shirley (21) of Australia, sucked a lifesaver for 4 hours 40 minutes
- 1979 Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on Mike Douglas Show
- 1980 Eric Heiden skates Olympics record 500 meter in 38.03 seconds
- 1980 Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time.
- 1981 Rocket-powered ice sled attains 399 kph, Lake George NY
- 1982 Eighty-four workers die when an oil drilling rig sinks off the coast of Newfoundland during a storm.
- 1982 Off the Newfoundlandthe oil drilling rig Ocean Ranger capsizes and sinks in 18 m waves during a fierce storm on the Grand Banks 315 km east of St. John's; all 84 crewmen, 56 of whom are Newfoundlanders, drown in worst marine disaster in Canada
- 1982 The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
- 1984 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq
- 1985 STS 51-E vehicle moves to launch pad
- 1985 World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23
- 1986 Ferdinand Marcos wins rigged Philippines presidential election
- 1987 ABC-TV begins broadcasting "Amerika" mini-series
- 1987 Craig Stadler disqualified from Andy Williams Open for kneeling on a towel to make a shot
- 1987 Nikolai Guljajev becomes world champion skater
- 1989 Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt
- 1989 Visitor posting - february 15 1989 roy porras of the philippines was born
- 1989 Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.
- 1989 The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan, ending nine years of military involvement.
- 1989 Visitor posting - Jason Michael Robert Donoghue was born!
- 1990 Baseball owners lock out players
- 1991 Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga Thailand, 120 die
- 1991 The Visegrd Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
- 1992 100th episode of "Cops" airs on the Fox Network
- 1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys
- 1993 Bombings by Mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogotá Colombia
- 1994 Russia annexed Tatarstan by integrating it into its so-called federation, start of War of Independence and War of Liberation
- 1994 US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti
- 1995 Burundi premier Anatole Kanyenkiko, resigns
- 1995 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17
- 1995 Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems.
- 1995 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion
- 1996 At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashed into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.
- 1996 Mortar attack on the US Embassy in Athens, Greece.
- 1996 Prime Minister Jean Chrétien scuffles with a protestor disrupting Flag Day ceremonies
- 1997 Visitor posting - maricarmen salmeron(sam) was born - USA
- 1998 Dale Earnhardt wins the Daytona 500 after 20 years of disappointment.
- 1998 Dale Eggeling wins Los Angeles Women's Golf Championship
- 1999 Abdullah calan, leader of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party, is arrested in Kenya by Turkish agents.
- 1999 Fire blazes through a nightclub in Taichung, Taiwan, killing 64 people.
- 2000 Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York State vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.
- 2002 At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find uncremated bodies disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
- 2003 Protests against the Iraq war occur in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 8,000,000-30,000,000 people took part, making this the largest peace demonstration in the history of the world.
- 2005 YouTube, the popular Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States.
- 2009 Visitor posting - ADDISON PAIGE BANDEL WAS BORN!!!! - USA
More historical events added daily - keep checking back