1945 – The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph of these Marines raising the American flag was taken.
1455 – The Gutenberg Bible is published, Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible edition was the first book ever printed in movable type, heralding the age of the printed book in the West.
1540 – Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado begins his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest.
1574 – France began the 5th holy war against the Huguenots.
1660 – Charles XI became the king of Sweden.
1778 – Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge.
1792 – Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
1820 – Cato Street conspiracy uncovered, attempt to murder British Prime Minister Earl of Liverpool and Government Ministers
1836 – Alamo besieged for 13 days until March 6 by Mexican army under General Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
1839 – In Boston, MA, William F. Harnden organized the first express service between Boston and New York City. It was the first express service in the U.S.
1847 – Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico; Zachary Taylor leads mostly volunteer troops against larger Mexican Army force; Mexico retreats, both sides claim victory
1861 – U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
1861 – Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union.
1870 – The state of Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
1883 – Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1885 – John Lee survives three attempts to hang him in Exeter Prison, as the trap fails to open.
1886 – Charles M. Hall completed his invention of aluminum.
1896 – The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
1898 – In France, Emile Zola was imprisoned for his letter, “J’accuse,” which accused the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus.
1900 – The Battle of Hart’s Hill took place in South Africa between the Boers and the British army.
1903 – The US and Cuba sign an agreement by which Cuba releases Guantanamo and Bahia Hondo to the US for naval stations
1904 – The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
1915 – Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.
1917 – The February Revolution begins in Russia, The demonstrations and armed clashes ultimately resulted in the demise of the Russian Empire.
1919 – The Fascist Party was formed in Italy by Benito Mussolini.
1926 – President Calvin Coolidge opposes a large air force, believing it would be a menace to world peace.
1927 – The Federal Radio Commission began assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters. On July 1, 1934 the name was changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
1940 – Walt Disney’s animated movie “Pinocchio” was released.
1941 – Glenn T. Seaborg and his team chemically identify Plutonium
1942 – A Japanese submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, the first Axis bombs to hit American soil.
1945 – The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph of these Marines raising the American flag was taken.
1947 – Several hundred Nazi organizers are arrested in Frankfurt by U.S. and British forces.
1954 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh, PA.
1957 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NFL operations did fall within coverage of antitrust laws.
1958 – 5-time F1 World Drivers champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by Cuban rebels from Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement; released soon after Cuban GP
1960 – Whites join Negro students in a sit-in at a Winston-Salem, N.C. Woolworth store.
1963 – The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
1966 – The Bitar government in Syria was ended with a military coup.
1967 – American troops begin the largest offensive of the war, near the Cambodian border.
1970 – Guyana became a republic.
1972 – Black activist Angela Davis is released from jail where she was held for kidnapping , conspiracy and murder
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th.
1975 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran’s new parliament would have to decide the fate of the hostages taken on November 4, 1979, at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri
1991 – Military coup in Thailand, Premier Choonhaven arrested
1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.
1997 – Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the 86th-floor observation deck of New York City’s Empire State Building. He killed one person and wounded six more before killing himself.
1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders
1999 – In Ankara, Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan was charged with treason. The prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for the Kurdish rebel leader.
1999 – White supremacist John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.
2005 – The New York, NY, city medical examiner’s office announced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.
2005 – Vote of the controversial French law on colonialism, repealed start of 2006
2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million litres of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.
2012 – A series of bomb attacks across 12 Iraqi cities kills 60 and injures 200
2014 – A pro-Euromaidan rally is held in Simferopol, Ukraine, while in Kerch, protesters attempt to replace the Ukrainian flag from city hall with a Russian flag
2019 – Nigerian presidential election: President Muhammadu Buhari wins re-election defeating Atiku Abubakar, amid violence and a delay, on turnout of 35.6%
2019 – Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir declares a national emergency, dismisses the federal government and sacks all state governors
2020 – African American Ahmaud Arbery shot to death after being chased down by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. Video of the killing emerges in May, prompting arrests.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
