Today in History
23nd February
George Frideric Handel
7
"Sir Galahad" (1862)
by George Frederick Watts (1817-1904)
Miniatur oil portrait of John Keats by Severn, 1819
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23nd February |
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| 1417 Paul II, [Pietro Barbo], Italy, Pope (1464-71) was born | ||
| 1455 Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, Bible (estimated date) | ||
| 1574 France begins 5th holy war against Huguenots | ||
| 1615 Cornelis Galle II, Flemish engraver/illustrator, baptised was born |
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| 1660 Charles XI becomes king of Sweden | ||
| 1668 Fire in Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, emperor Leopold I rescued | ||
| 1672 Joan Blaeus publishers destroyed by fire in Amsterdam | ||
| 1685 George Frideric Handel, German composer, born; best known for his great choral work "Messiah." | ||
| 1689 Dutch prince William III proclaimed king of England | ||
| 1734 Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Frankfurt, founder (House of Rothschild) was born | ||
| 1778 Baron von Steuben joins Continental Army at Valley Forge | ||
| 1792 Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners) | ||
| 1804 Conspirators against Napoleon, for restoration of Louis XVIII | ||
| 1813 1st US raw cotton-to-cloth mill founded in Waltham, Mass | ||
| 1817 George Watts, London, painter was born | ||
| 1820 The Cato Street Conspiracy, an attempt to assassinate British Cabinet ministers, was foiled with only hours to spare. The plotters were executed. | ||
| 1821 John Keats, English Romantic poet, died in Rome. | George Frideric Handel |
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| 1836 Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, leading several thousand Mexican troops, began besieging the Alamo mission settlement held by a force of 145 Texans led by Col. Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. The siege ended on March 6 with all the Texans killed. | ||
| 1846 Polish revolutionaries march on Cracow, but are defeated | ||
| 1847 Battle of Buena Vista Mexico; Zachary Taylor defeats Mexicans | ||
| 1848 John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, died. | ||
| 1854 Great-Britain & Orange Free state sign Convention of Bloemfontein | ||
| 1861 Pres-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Wash DC to take office | ||
| 1866 King Alexander Cuza of Romania was forced to abdicate and was succeeded by Charles, Prince of Hohenzollern as Carol I. | ||
| 1879 Agnes Arber, English biologist/philosopher (Mind & the Eye) was born | ||
| 1886 Aluminum manufacturing process developed | ||
| 1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die | ||
| 1898 In France, novelist Emile Zola was imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing the government of anti-semitism and wrongly jailing Captain Alfred Dreyfus. | 7 |
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| 1900 Battle at Hart's Hill, South-Africa (Boers vs British army) | ||
| 1903 Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA | ||
| 1905 The Rotary Club was founded by lawyer Paul Percy Harris in Chicago. | ||
| 1909 Russian tsar Nicolas II dissolves Finnish Diet | ||
| 1910 George Bernard Shaw's "Misalliance," premieres in London | ||
| 1915 Germany sinks US ships Carib & Evelyn & torpedoes Norwegian ship Regin | ||
| 1916 Congress authorizes McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin | ||
| 1916 French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun | ||
| 1917 February revolution begins in Russia | ||
| 1919 Benito Mussolini broke with the Socialist party and founded his own Fasci del Comattimento (Fascist) party in Italy. | ||
| 1923 German Republic day with laws against worker | ||
| 1934 Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium | ||
| 1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, NY | ||
| 1940 Russian troops conquer Lasi Island | ||
| 1940 Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio," released | ||
| 1942 In World War II, a Master Mutual Aid Agreement was signed between the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. | ||
| 1942 Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood, California | "Sir Galahad" (1862) |
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| 1943 Gen-Maj Bradley arrives in Dakar & Marrakesh | ||
| 1943 German troops pull back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia | ||
| 1944 Josef Stalin forced 1 million Chechens into exile and dissolved the republic accusing them of collaboration with Nazi Germany. | ||
| 1945 2nd Dutch govt of Gerbrandy forms in London | ||
| 1945 Canadian troops occupy Kalkar | ||
| 1945 Operation Grenade: Gen Simpsons 9th Army crosses Ruhr | ||
| 1945 The Japanese island of Iwo Jima fell to the Americans after severe fighting and the flag was raised on Mount Suribachi. | ||
| 1947 Gen Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170M in aid for European Jews | ||
| 1954 1st mass inoculation with Salk vaccine (Pittsburgh) | ||
| 1954 Syrian army drives out president Adib el-Shishakli | ||
| 1955 Edgar Faure forms French government | ||
| 1956 Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin | ||
| 1958 Arturo Frondizi elected president of Argentina | ||
| 1965 Constance Baker Motley elected Manhattan Borough president | ||
| 1966 Aldo Moro forms Italian government | ||
| 1966 In Syria, the military seized power in a coup and Dr. Nureddin el-Atassi was named head of state. | ||
| 1966 Premier Obote grabs power in Uganda | ||
| 1967 25th amendment (presidential succession) declared ratified | ||
| 1967 US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War |
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| 1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Dem People's Front for Liberation of Palestine | ||
| 1970 Guyana, formerly British Guiana, became an independent republic within the Commonwealth. | ||
| 1974 Patty Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by SLA | ||
| 1980 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-mil-gallon spill | ||
| 1981 Lt. Col. Antonio Tejero and a group of civil guards burst into the Spanish parliament firing shots in a failed coup attempt. | ||
| 1987 Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak posthumous as member | ||
| 1988 15th Winter Olympic games opens in Calgary, Alberta | ||
| 1991 Thailand's armed forces seized power in a bloodless coup and arrested Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhaven. | ||
| 1994 Bosnia's government and separatist Bosnian Croat forces agreed a comprehensive cease-fire under U.N. auspices. | ||
| 1994 The Russian parliament voted to pardon participants in an armed rebellion against President Boris Yeltsin in October 1993 and a Soviet coup attempt in 1991. | ||
| 1995 Antoine Nduwayo appointed Premier of Burundi | ||
| 1996 Kamel Hassan and his brother Saddam Kamel -- both married to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's daughters -- were murdered by relatives in a gunbattle only days after returning from Jordan. | ||
| 1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1 | Miniatur oil portrait of John Keats by Severn, 1819 |
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| 1997 Scientists in Scotland announced they succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly" | ||
| 1998 Tornadoes in Florida kills at least 31 | ||
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