February 16 in History

Historical Events on February 16

116

Emperor Trajan sends laureatae to the Roman Senate at Rome on account of his victories and being conqueror of Parthia.
1249

Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
1270

Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.
1630

Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
1646

Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the first English Civil War.
1699

First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
1742

Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
1804

First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.
1852

Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
1862

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
1866

Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
1874

Silver Dollar becomes legal US tender.
1881

The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
1899

Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
1918

The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
1923

Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
1930

The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
1933

The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
1934

The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
1936

Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.
1937

Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.
1940

World War II: Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. 299 British prisoners are freed.
1943

World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
1945

World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
1959

Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
1960

The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961

Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
1962

Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.
1968

In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
1978

The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
1983

The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.
1985

Hezbollah is founded.
1986

The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
1987

The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
1991

Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
1996

A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.
1998

China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground.
2005

The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
2005

The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-05 regular season and playoffs.
2006

The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
2013

A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.

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