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Events

February 23 in History

Historical Events on February 23

303
Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
532
Byzantine emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople - the Hagia Sophia.
1455
Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
1554
Mapuche forces, under the leadership of Lautaro, score a victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Marihueñu in Chile.
1739
At York Castle, the outlaw Dick Turpin is identified by his former schoolteacher. Turpin had been using the name Richard Palmer.
1778
American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
1820
Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
1836
Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.
1847
Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1854
The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
1861
President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
1870
Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
1883
Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.
1885
Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.
1886
Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.
1887
The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
1898
Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1900
Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.
1903
Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
1905
Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
1909
The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1917
First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).
1927
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
1927
German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
1934
Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
1941
Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
1942
World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.
1943
A fire breaks out at Saint Joseph's Orphanage, County Cavan, Ireland, killing 35 children and one adult.
1943
Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.
1944
The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
1945
World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
1945
World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
1945
World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
1945
World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
1945
World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.
1954
The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
1966
In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.
1974
The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1980
Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1981
In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
1983
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
1987
Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
1991
In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
1998
In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.
1999
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
2007
A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
2008
A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
2010
Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.
2012
A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.
2017
The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.

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