On This Day In History
February 21st
1173 Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
1613 Michael Romanov, son of Patriarch of Moscow, elected first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov
1804 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick’s, runs for the 1st time, along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
1916 World War I: Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
1922 Britain declares Egypt a sovereign state
1972 Richard Nixon becomes the first US President to visit China, normalizing relations between the countries in a meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing
Did You Know?
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish “The Communist Manifesto” in London
Today in History in 1848
Would You Believe?
World’s 1st telephone directory issued, 50 subscribers (New Harbor, Connecticut)
Today in History in 1878
February 22nd
303 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia, ordering all churches to be closed and scriptures burnt
1632 Galileo‘s book “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” is published comparing the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems and whether the Earth orbits the sun
1774 British House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright
1797 The Last Invasion of Britain, launched by the French during the Revolutionary Wars, begins near Fishguard, Wales
1825 Russia & Britain establish Alaska-Canada boundary
1967 25,000 US and South Vietnamese troops launch Operation Junction City against the Viet Cong. Largest US airborne assault since WWII.
Did You Know?
Neanderthals, not humans, were the first artists on Earth, producing red cave paintings 65,000 years ago in Spain, according to new research published in “Science”
Today in History in 2018
Would You Believe?
1st cabs with taxi meters begin operating in London
Today in History in 1907
February 23rd
1455 Johannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible (estimated date) [1]
1540 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado‘s expedition sets off from Mexico in search of the 7 cities of Cibola
1836 Alamo besieged for 13 days until March 6 by Mexican army under General Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
1904 United States acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million
1945 US Marines raise American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Pulitzer Prize winning photo of which by Joe Rosenthall later became iconic, inspiring the Marine Corps War Memorial sculpture
1954 1st mass inoculation against Polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine takes place at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1998 Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders
February 24th
1525 Battle of Pavia: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V‘s troops defeat the French killing or wounded 5,000 and capturing French King Francois I
1582 Pope Gregory XIII announces the New Style calendar, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar
1739 Battle of Karnal: Army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah
1821 Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero agree to the Plan of Iguala, stating that Mexico will become a constitutional monarchy, Roman Catholicism the official religion and that Peninsulares and Creoles will enjoy equal political and social rights
1868 US House of Representatives vote 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1942 The “Battle of Los Angeles” takes place, a series of anti-aircraft engagements over the city in response to a rumored but false Japanese attack. It would last until the morning of the following day.
1946 General Juan Perón first elected President of Argentina
2008 Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba due to ill health after nearly fifty years
2022 Russian leader Vladimir Putin announces the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine to “demilitarize” the country moments before Russia launches a full-scale pre-dawn invasion by land, air and sea, with bombings in several cities amid international condemnation
Did You Know?
Scientists identify the first animal that doesn’t need oxygen to breathe – a tiny parasite living in salmon tissue, reported in journal PNAS
Today in History in 2020
Would You Believe?
A 4.4 billion-year-old Crystal is discovered to be the oldest known fragment from the earth’s crust
Today in History in 2014
February 25th
1570 Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy and persecution of English Catholics during her reign. Also absolves her subjects from allegiance to the crown.
1862 First Legal Tender Act 1862 is passed by the US Congress, authorizing the United States note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that was legal tender in America
1910 Dalai Lama flees Tibet for British India to escape Chinese troops
1956 Nikita Khrushchev denounces Joseph Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Did You Know?
Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] wins his first world heavyweight boxing title when Sonny Liston fails to come out for round 7 at the Convention Center, Miami Beach
Today in History in 1964
Would You Believe?
Showman P. T. Barnum exhibits African American slave Joice Heth, claiming she was the 161 year-old nursemaid to George Washington
Today in History in 1836
February 26th
1616 Roman Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism, which states the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun
1797 Bank of England issues first £1 note
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte and his supporters leave Elba to start a 100 day re-conquest of France
1885 Berlin Conference gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to Great Britain
1935 RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt
1991 Coalition planes bomb Iraqi forces retreating from Kuwait during the Gulf War, killing hundreds and creating the so-called ‘Highway of Death‘
2005 Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections, asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76
Did You Know?
1st mass celebrated in 1st American Catholic church, St Joseph’s, Philadelphia
Today in History in 1732
Would You Believe?
P&O’s SS Ceylon begins world’s 1st round-the-world pleasure cruise from Liverpool
Today in History in 1881
February 27th
1693 1st women’s magazine “Ladies’ Mercury” published in London, England
1900 In London, the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (formed in 1893) meet, results in a Labour Representative Committee and eventually the modern Labour Party in 1906
1933 Nazi Germany’s parliament building “The Reichstag” is destroyed by fire; possibly set by the Nazis, who blame and execute Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe
1940 Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (radiocarbon dating) at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California
1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China
1957 Mao’s famous speech to the Supreme State Conference “On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People” expounding Maoist ideals
2012 Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private intelligence company Stratfor