February 23

Events

• 1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints the first Bible on a printing press.
• 1574 - The 5th holy war[?] against the Huguenots begins in France.
• 1660 - Charles XI becomes king of Sweden.
• 1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
• 1820 - The Cato Street conspiracy[?] is exposed.
• 1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries[?] founds the first pharmacy[?] college.
• 1836 - The siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• 1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista[?] - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
• 1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
• 1874 - Walter Winfield[?] patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called lawn tennis[?].
• 1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• 1887 - The French Riviera[?] is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.
• 1898 - Emile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse[?]" which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
• 1900 - Battle of Hart's Hill[?]: In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
• 1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
• 1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
• 1917 - The Russian Revolution begins.
• 1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party[?] in Italy.
• 1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
• 1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island[?].
• 1940 - The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
• 1945 - Following the American victory at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi[?] on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo will later win a Pulitzer Prize.
• 1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
• 1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
• 1956 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".
• 1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
• 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demand $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981 - Antonio Tejero[?], with members of the Guardia Civil[?] enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stops the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo[?] was going to be named president of the government. The coup d'etat would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.
• 1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).
• 1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
• 1993 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
• 1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
• 1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
• 1999 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr[?] by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.

Births

• 1633 - Samuel Pepys, diarist (+ 1703)
• 1685 - Georg Friederich Händel, composer (+ 1759)
• 1743 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild[?], banker (+ 1812)
• 1883 - Karl Jaspers[?], philosopher (+ 1969)
• 1883 - Victor Fleming, director (+ 1949)
• 1899 - Erich Kästner[?], lyricist and narrator (+ 1974)
• 1899 - Elisabeth Langgässer[?], lyricist, narrator and novelist (+ 1950)
• 1840 - Carl Menger, economist (+ 1921)
• 1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights leader (+ 1963)
• 1915 - Paul Tibbets, pilot of the "Enola Gay", dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
• 1939 - Peter Fonda, actor
• 1939 - Majel Barrett, actress
• 1943 - Fred Biletnikoff[?], American football star, coach
• 1944 - Johnny Winter[?], musician
• 1955 - Howard Jones, musician

Deaths

• 1848 - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States
• 1855 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, astronomer, physicist
• 1930 - Horst Wessel[?], Nazi idelogue, composer
• 1934 - Edward Elgar, composer
• 1965 - Stan Laurel, actor, comedian
• 1974 - Harry Ruby[?], composer, writer
• 1979 - W.A.C. Bennett, British Columbia politician
• 1990 - Jose Napoleon Duarte[?], President of El Salvador

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Terminalia[?] held in honor of Terminus
• Catholicism - Feast day of St Polycarp[?].
• Guyana - National Day

February 22 - February 24 - January 23 - March 23 - more historical anniversaries