TODAY IN HISTORY: FEBRUARY 15

 

February 15

 

438 – Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus

590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.

706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.

1002 – At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles, Arduin of Ivrea is restored to his domains and crowned King of Italy.

1113 – Pope Paschal II issues Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, recognizing the Order of Hospitallers.

1214 – During the Anglo-French War (1213–1214), an English invasion force led by John, King of England, lands at La Rochelle in France.

1493 – While on board the Niña, Christopher Columbus writes an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World.

1637 – Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1690 – Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, and the Holy Roman Empire sign a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.

1764 – The city of St. Louis is established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA).

1798 – The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier.

1835 – Serbia's Sretenje Constitution briefly comes into effect.

1862 – American Civil War: Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd attack General Ulysses S. Grant's Union forces besieging Fort Donelson in Tennessee. Unable to break the fort's encirclement, the Confederates surrender the following day.

1870 – Stevens Institute of Technology is founded in New Jersey, US, and offers the first Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering.

1879 – Women's rights: US President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing about 274 of the ship's roughly 354 crew. The disaster pushes the United States to declare war on Spain.

1899 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issues a declaration known as the February Manifesto, which reduces the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland, thus beginning the first period of oppression.

1909 – The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.

1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.

1925 – The 1925 serum run to Nome: The second delivery of serum arrives in Nome, Alaska.

1933 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate US President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6.

1942 – World War II: 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.

1944 – World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.

1944 – World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.

1945 – World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden.

1946 – ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

1954 – Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.

1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.

1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1971 – The decimalisation of the currencies of the United Kingdom and Ireland is completed on Decimal Day.

1972 – Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.

1972 – José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.

1982 – The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.

1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

1991 – The Visegrád Group, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to 15 terms of life in prison.

1992 – Air Transport International Flight 805 crashes in Swanton, Ohio, near Toledo Express Airport, killing all four people on board.

1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3B rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, veers off course and crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing somewhere between six and 100 people.

1996 – The Embassy of the United States, Athens, is attacked by an antitank rocket, launched by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November.

2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.

2003 – Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million and 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.

2010 – Two trains collide in the Halle train collision in Halle, Belgium, killing 19 and injuring 171 people.

2012 – Three hundred and sixty people die in a fire at a Honduran prison in the city of Comayagua.

2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.

2021 – Sixty people drown and hundreds are missing after a boat sinks on the Congo River near the village of Longola Ekoti, Mai-Ndombe Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.