This Day in History
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11th February 1945
YALTA CONFERENCE ENDS
On February 11, 1945, a week of intensive bargaining by the leaders of the three major Allied powers ends in Yalta, a Soviet resort town on the Black Sea. It was the second conference of the "Big Three" Allied leaders--U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin--and the war had progressed mightily since their last meeting, which had taken place in Tehran in late 1943. -
12th February 1912
Last emperor of China abdicates
On February 12, 1912, Hsýan-T'ung, the last emperor of China, is forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. The former emperor, only six years old, was allowed to keep up his residence in Beijing's Forbidden City, and he took the name of Henry Pu Yi.
Pu Yi was enthroned as emperor in 1908 after his uncle, the Kuang-hsý emperor, died. He reigned under a regency and underwent training to prepare him for his coming rule. However, in October 1911, his dynasty fell to Sun Yat-sen's revolution, and four months later he abdicated. The new Chinese government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the imperial palace until 1924, when he was forced into exile. -
13th February 1861
First Medal of Honor action
Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin
The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict.
Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches.
Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom's forces riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom's forces on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.
Although Irwin's bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the nation's highest military honor. -
14th Februart 1929
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Al Capone
Three men dressed as police officers enter gangster Bugs Moran's headquarters on North Clark Street in Chicago, line seven of Moran's henchmen against a wall, and shoot them to death. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, as it is now called, was the culmination of a gang war between arch rivals Al Capone and Bugs Moran. -
15th February 1942
Singapore Falls
Singapore falls to the Japanses. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill describes the defeat as "the worst diaster and largest capitulation in British history". 15th February 1989
Soviet Pullout
Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, 9 years after they swept into the country to prop up the pro-communist regime. -
16th February 1945
Bataan recaptured
On this day, the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March. -
17th February 1979
China invades Vietnam
In response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, China launches an invasion of Vietnam.
Tensions between Vietnam and China increased dramatically after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Attempting to expand its influence, Vietnam established a military presence in Laos; strengthened its ties with China's rival, the Soviet Union; and toppled the Cambodian regime of Pol Pot in 1979. Just over a month later, Chinese forces invaded, but were repulsed in nine days of bloody and bitter fighting.
Tensions between China and Vietnam remained high throughout the next decade, and much of Vietnam's scarce resources were allocated to protecting its border with China and its interests in Cambodia. -
18th February 1929
First Academy Awards announced
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founded in 1927, announces the winners of the first Academy Awards. The names were published on the back page of the academy's newsletter, and Variety also published the names, on page 7, a few days later.
Awards were handed out at a banquet in May, which was broadcast live on radio. Although the first awards were for films made in 1927-1928, they weren't announced until February 1929. Wings won the Best Picture award; Janice Gaynor won Best Actress and Emil Jannings won Best Actor. Frank Borzage and Lewis Milestone both won Best Director awards.
The winners received gold statuettes, designed by art director Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley. However, the awards weren't nicknamed "Oscars" until 1931, when a secretary at the academy noted the statue's resemblance to her Uncle Oscar, and a journalist printed her remark. -
19th 19th February 1473
Copernicus is born
Nicolaus Copernicus is born in Torun, a city in north-central Poland on the Vistula River. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. -
20th February 1962
First American orbits Earth
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Hershel Glenn Jr. is successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut. -
21th February 1972
Nixon in China
President Richard M. Nixon arrives in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, on the first presidential visit to the world's most populous nation. Given that the U.S. federal government had formally opposed China's communist government since it took power in 1949, Nixon was also the first president to visit a nation not recognized by the United States. In Beijing, President Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. -
22th February 1997
First Cloned Animal
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh say they have successfully produced the world's first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep. Dolly which was cloned from an adult cell, lives till 2003. -
23th February 1945
( World War II ) Marines raise the flag on Mt. Suribachi
On this day, during the battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island of Iwo Jima and a key strategic point. An Associated Press photographer captured a restaging of the flag raising, and the resulting photograph became a defining image of the war. -
24th February 1991
Gulf War ground offensive begins
After six weeks of intensive bombing against Iraq and its armed forces, U.S.-led coalition forces launch a ground invasion of Kuwait and Iraq. -
25th February 1986
Marcos flees the Philippines
In the face of mass demonstrations against his rule, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and his entourage are airlifted from the presidential palace in Manila by U.S. helicopters.
Elected in 1966, Marcos declared martial law in 1972 in response to leftist violence. In the next year, he assumed dictatorial powers. Backed by the United States, his regime was marked by misuse of foreign support, repression, and political murders.
In 1986, Marcos defrauded the electorate in a presidential election, declaring himself the victor over Corazon Aquino, the wife of an assassinated rival. Aquino also declared herself the rightful winner, and the public rallied behind her. Deserted by his former supporters, Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled to Hawaii in exile, where they faced investigation on embezzlement charges. He died in 1989. -
26th February 1993
New York's World Trade Center bombed
At 12:18 p.m., a terrorist bomb explodes in a parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, leaving a crater 60 feet wide and causing the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors in the vicinity of the blast.
Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of the skyscrapers, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. The World Trade Center itself suffered more than $500 million in damage. After the attack, authorities evacuated 50,000 people from the buildings, hundreds of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation. The evacuation lasted the whole afternoon. -
27th February 1964
Leaning tower needs help
On February 27, 1964, the Italian government announces that it is accepting suggestions on how to save the renowned Leaning Tower of Pisa from collapse. The top of the 180-foot tower was hanging 17 feet south of the base, and studies showed that the tilt was increasing by a fraction every year.
Experts warned that the medieval building--one of Italy's top tourist attractions--was in serious danger of toppling in an earthquake or storm. Proposals to save the Leaning Tower arrived in Pisa from all over the world, but it was not until 1999 that successful restorative work began. -
28th February 1991
Gulf War ceasefire
US President George Bush announces a ceasefire in Washington after Iraq accepts all 12 resolutions made by the United Nations. -
1st March 1954
Nuclear Test
The US conducts a hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, producing the biggest-ever man-made explosion. -
2nd March 1986
British-Aussie Ties Cut
Queen Elizaberth II signs the Australia Bill severing Britain's ties with Australia, a colony since 1788. -
3rd March 1945
(World War II) Finland declares war on Germany
On this day, Finland, under increasing pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, finally declares war on its former partner, Germany. -
4th March 1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Inaugurated
On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States.
In his famous inaugural address, delivered outside the east wing of the U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt outlined his "New Deal"--an expansion of the federal government as an instrument of employment opportunity and welfare--and told Americans that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Although it was a rainy day in Washington, and gusts of rain blew over Roosevelt as he spoke, he delivered a speech that radiated optimism and competence, and a broad majority of Americans united behind their new president and his radical economic proposals to lead the nation out of the Great Depression. -
5th March 1946
Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech
In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." Churchill's speech is considered one of the opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold War. 5th March 1953
Joseph Stalin dies
On this day, Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union since 1924, dies in Moscow. -
6th March 1475
Michelangelo Born
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance artists, is born in the small village of Caprese on March 6, 1475. The son of a government administrator, he grew up in Florence, a center of the early Renaissance movement, and became an artist's apprentice at age 13.
Michelangelo worked until his death in 1564 at the age of 88. In addition to his major artistic works, he produced numerous other sculptures, frescoes, architectural designs, and drawings, many of which are unfinished and some of which are lost. He was also an accomplished poet, and some 300 of his poems are preserved.
In his lifetime, he was celebrated as Europe's greatest living artist, and today he is held up as one of the greatest artists of all time, as exalted in the visual arts as William Shakespeare is in literature or Ludwig van Beethoven is in music.
Creation of Adam -
7th March 1916
The Beginning Of BMW
The manufacturing firms of Karl Rapp and Gustav Otto merged to form the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (Bavarian Aircraft Works). The company would later become the Bayerische Motor-Werke (Bavarian Motor Works or BMW).
As the original name suggests, BMW began as a manufacturer of aircaft engines. In 1923, BMW built its first motorcycle, the BMW R12. In 1929, BMW built its first car, the Dixi, in a factory in Eisenach, Germany.
The outbreak of World War II saw BMW, like its U.S. counterparts, switch production to war manufacturing. BMW facilities were destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. After the peace, a three-year ban was imposed on BMW by the Allies for its part in the war.
The BMW R24 motorcycle became, with its release in 1948, the company's first post-war product. BMW completed its first postwar car, the 501, in 1951. BMW is still one of the world's leading automobile manufacturers. The company is noted for its innovations in the field of ABS, Anti-Lock Breaking Systems.