This day in .....

1 February 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1865 Reconstruction amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, effective on January 1, 1863, declared that the enslaved in Confederate-controlled areas (and thus almost all slaves) were free. When they escaped to Union lines or federal forces (including now-former slaves) advanced south, emancipation occurred without any compensation to the former owners. Texas was the last Confederate slave state, where enforcement of the proclamation was declared on June 19, 1865. In the slave-owning areas controlled by Union forces on January 1, 1863, state action was used to abolish slavery. The exceptions were Kentucky and Delaware, and to a limited extent New Jersey, where chattel slavery and indentured servitude were finally ended by the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.

In contrast to the other Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment has rarely been cited in case law, but it has been used to strike down peonage and some race-based discrimination as "badges and incidents of slavery". The Thirteenth Amendment has also been invoked to empower Congress to make laws against modern forms of slavery, such as sex trafficking.

From its inception in 1776, the United States was divided into states that allowed slavery and states that prohibited it. Slavery was implicitly recognized in the original Constitution in provisions such as the Three-fifths Compromise (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3), which provided that three-fifths of each state's enslaved population ("other persons") was to be added to its free population for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives, its number of Electoral votes, and direct taxes among the states. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) provided that slaves held under the laws of one state who escaped to another state did not become free, but remained slaves.

Though three million Confederate slaves were eventually freed as a result of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, their postwar status was uncertain. To ensure that abolition was beyond legal challenge, an amendment to the Constitution to that effect was drafted. On April 8, 1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery. After one unsuccessful vote and extensive legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln administration, the House followed suit on January 31, 1865. The measure was swiftly ratified by nearly all Northern states, along with a sufficient number of border states up to the assassination of President Lincoln. However, the approval came via his successor, President Andrew Johnson, who encouraged the "reconstructed" Southern states of Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia to agree, which brought the count to 27 states, leading to its adoption before the end of 1865.

Though the Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States, some black Americans, particularly in the South, were subjected to other forms of involuntary labor, such as under the Black Codes. They were also victims of white supremacist violence, selective enforcement of statutes, and other disabilities. Many such abuses were given cover by the Amendment's penal labor exception.

Read More

 

2 February 1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.

Transylvanian peasant revolt

1437–38 revolt in Hungary

The Transylvanian peasant revolt (Hungarian: erdélyi parasztfelkelés), also known as the peasant revolt of Bábolna or Bobâlna revolt (Romanian: Răscoala de la Bobâlna), was a popular revolt in the eastern territories of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1437. The revolt broke out after George Lépes, bishop of Transylvania, had failed to collect the tithe for years because of a temporary debasement of the coinage, but then demanded the arrears in one sum when coins of higher value were again issued. Most commoners were unable to pay the demanded sum, but the bishop did not renounce his claim and applied interdict and other ecclesiastic penalties to enforce the payment.

The Transylvanian peasants had already been outraged because of the increase of existing seigneurial duties and taxes and the introduction of new taxes during the first decades of the century. The bishop also tried to collect the tithe from the petty noblemen and from Orthodox Vlachs who had settled in parcels abandoned by Catholic peasants. In the spring of 1437, Hungarian and Vlach commoners, poor townspeople from Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca in Romania)^{[note 1]} and petty noblemen started to assemble on the flat summit of Mount Bábolna near Alparét (Bobâlna) where they set up a fortified camp. The bishop and his brother, Roland Lépes, the deputy of the voivode (or royal governor) of Transylvania, gathered their troops to fight against the rebels. The voivode, the two counts of the Székelys and many Transylvanian noblemen also hurried to the mountain to assist them against the rebels.

The rebels sent envoys to the voivode to inform him about their grievances, but the envoys were captured and executed. The voivode invaded the rebels' camp, but the peasants resisted and made a successful counter-attack, killing many noblemen during the battle. To prevent the rebels from continuing the war, the bishop and the leaders of the noblemen started negotiations with the rebels' envoys. Their compromise was recorded in the Kolozsmonostor Abbey on 6 July. The agreement reduced the tithe by half, abolished the ninth (a seigneurial tax), guaranteed the peasants' right to free movement and authorized them to hold an annual assembly to secure the execution of the agreement.

The noblemen, the counts of the Székelys and the delegates of the Saxon seats concluded a "brotherly union" against their enemies at Kápolna (Căpâlna). The rebellious peasants left their camp and moved towards Dés (Dej). After a battle near the town, the parties concluded a new agreement on 6 October which increased the rent payable by the peasants to the landowners. Shortly thereafter, the peasants invaded the Kolozsmonostor Abbey and took possession of Kolozsvár and Nagyenyed (Aiud). The united armies of the voivode of Transylvania, the counts of the Székelys and the Saxon seats forced the rebels to surrender in January 1438. The leaders of the revolt were executed and other rioters were mutilated at the assembly of the representatives of the Three Nations of Transylvania in February.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

3 February 1637 – Tulip Mania collapses within the Dutch Republic

Tulip mania

17th-century economic bubble in the Netherlands

"Tulip fever" redirects here. For the film, see Tulip Fever.

Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history.^[2] In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a then-unknown socio-economic phenomenon than a significant economic crisis. It had no critical influence on the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, which was one of the world's leading economic and financial powers in the 17th century, with the highest per capita income in the world from about 1600 to about 1720.^[3][4] The term tulip mania is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values.^[5][6]

Forward markets appeared in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Among the most notable was one centred on the tulip market.^[7][8] At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled artisan. Research is difficult because of the limited economic data from the 1630s, much of which come from biased and speculative sources.^[9][10] Some modern economists have proposed rational explanations, rather than a speculative mania, for the rise and fall in prices. For example, other flowers, such as the hyacinth, also had high initial prices at the time of their introduction, which then fell as the plants were propagated. The high prices may also have been driven by expectations of a parliamentary decree that contracts could be voided for a small cost, thus lowering the risk to buyers.

The 1637 event gained popular attention in 1841 with the publication of the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, written by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, who wrote that at one point 5 hectares (12 acres) of land were offered for a Semper Augustus bulb.^[11] Mackay claimed that many investors were ruined by the fall in prices, and Dutch commerce suffered a severe shock. Although Mackay's book is a classic^{[citation needed]}, his account is contested.^[12] Many modern scholars believe that the mania was not as destructive as he described.^{[13][14][15][16]}

1. ^ Nusteling 1985, pp. 114, 252, 254, 258
2. ^ Shiller 2005, p. 85 More extensive discussion of status as the earliest bubble on pp. 247–48.
3. ^ Kaletsky, Anatole: Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis. (PublicAffairs, 2010), pp. 109–10. Anatole Kaletsky: "The bursting of the tulip bubble in 1637 did not end Dutch economic hegemony. Far from it. Tulipmania was followed by a century of Dutch leadership in almost every branch of global commerce, finance, and manufacturing."
4. ^ Gieseking, Jen Jack; Mangold, William; et al.: The People, Place, and Space Reader. (Routledge, 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-66497-4), p. 151. As Witold Rybczynski (1987) notes, the 17th-century Dutch Republic "had few natural resources—no mines, no forests—and what little land there was needed constant protection from the sea. But this "low" country surprisingly quickly established itself as a major power. In a short time it became the most advanced shipbuilding nation in the world and developed large naval, fishing, and merchant fleets.
5. ^ French 2006, p. 3
6. ^ Fowler, Mark; Felton, Bruce (August 1, 2004). The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual: Noteworthy Achievements, Events, Feats & Blunders of Every Conceivable Kind. Galahad. ISBN 978-0-88365-861-1.
7. ^ Chew, Donald H. (2008). Corporate Risk Management. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14362-2.
8. ^ Pavaskar, Madhoo (2016). Commodity Derivatives Trading: Theory and Regulation. Notion Press. ISBN 978-1-945926-22-8.
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kuper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ A pamphlet about the Dutch tulipomania Archived May 27, 2012, at archive.today Wageningen Digital Library, July 14, 2006. Retrieved on August 13, 2008.
11. ^ "Mackay, Charles (1856) [1841]. "3. The Tulipomania". Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. G. Routledge & Co. pp. 85–.
12. ^ Logan, P.M. (Spring 2003). "The Popularity of Popular Delusions: Charles Mackay and Victorian Popular Culture". Cultural Critique. 54 (54): 213–241. doi:10.1353/cul.2003.0035. JSTOR 1354664.
13. ^ Goldgar, Anne (February 12, 2018), "Tulip mania: the classic story of a Dutch financial bubble is mostly wrong", The Conversation, Boston, MA, archived from the original on February 7, 2021, retrieved February 13, 2018
14. ^ Thompson 2007, p. 99
15. ^ Kindleberger & Aliber 2005, p. 115
16. ^ Quinn, William; Turner, John D. (2020). "1. The Bubble Triangle". Boom and bust: a global history of financial bubbles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-37313-5. Probably the most famous absentee from our study is the Dutch Tulipmania of 1636–7, which witnessed the rapid price appreciation of rare tulip bulbs in late 1636, followed by a 90 per cent depreciation in bulb prices in February 1637. This is excluded for the simple reason that the price reversal was exclusively confined to a thinly traded commodity, with no associated promotion boom and negligible economic impact. In other words, the Tulipmania was too unremarkable to merit inclusion. Although the wild fluctuations in price are striking, they are not unusual for markets in rare and unusual goods, particularly those predominantly used to signal status. In the case of the Tulipmania these fluctuations were compounded by legal ambiguity over the status of futures contracts, suggesting that the price movements may have had a somewhat mundane explanation.

Read More

 

4 February 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

Codex Sinaiticus

4th-century handwritten Bible copy in Greek

New Testament manuscript

The Codex Sinaiticus (/sɪˈnaɪtɪkəs/;^[1] Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical books, and the Greek New Testament, with both the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas included. It is designated by the siglum א‎ [Aleph] or 01 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 2 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts.^[2] It is written in uncial letters on parchment. It is one of the four great uncial codices (these being manuscripts which originally contained the whole of both the Old and New Testaments). Along with Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible, and contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.^[3] It is a historical treasure,^[4] and using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to the mid-fourth century.^{[5]: 77–78}

Biblical scholarship considers Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the most important Greek texts of the New Testament, along with Codex Vaticanus. Until German Biblical scholar (and manuscript hunter) Constantin von Tischendorf's discovery of Codex Sinaiticus in 1844, the Greek text of Codex Vaticanus was unrivalled.^[6]: 26 Since its discovery, study of Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be useful to scholars for critical studies of the biblical text.

Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the codex are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is held today in the British Library in London, where it is on public display.^{[7][2]: 107–108}

1. ^ "The Codex Sinaiticus…the world's oldest surviving bible". bbc.co.uk. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
2. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference Aland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ "Codex Sinaiticus - Home". www.codexsinaiticus.org. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
4. ^ Saad El Din, Mursi; Taher, Ayman; Romano, Luciano (1998). Sinai: The Site & the History. New York: New York University. p. 101. ISBN 0-8147-2203-2.
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Metzger-Palaeo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1875). Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts. London: George Bell & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4097-0826-1.
7. ^ "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 16 March 2013.

Read More

 

5 February 1971 – Astronauts land on the Moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

Apollo 14

Third crewed Moon landing

Apollo 14 (January 31 – February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the "H missions", landings at specific sites of scientific interest on the Moon for two-day stays with two lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks).

The mission was originally scheduled for 1970, but was postponed because of the investigation following the failure of Apollo 13 to reach the Moon's surface, and the need for modifications to the spacecraft as a result. Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on Sunday, January 31, 1971, at 4:03:02 p.m. EST. En route to the lunar landing, the crew overcame malfunctions that might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and possibly, the premature end of the Apollo program.

Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation – originally the target of Apollo 13. During the two walks on the surface, they collected 94.35 pounds (42.80 kg) of Moon rocks and deployed several scientific experiments. To the dismay of some geologists, Shepard and Mitchell did not reach the rim of Cone crater as had been planned, though they came close. In Apollo 14's most famous event, Shepard hit two golf balls he had brought with him with a makeshift club.

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command and Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees, that were widely distributed in the following years. After liftoff from the lunar surface and a successful docking, the spacecraft was flown back to Earth where the three astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.

1. ^ Orloff, Richard W. (September 2004) [First published 2000]. "Table of Contents". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 0-16-050631-X. LCCN 00061677. NASA SP-2000-4029. Archived from the original on September 6, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
2. ^ ^{a b} Orloff & Harland 2006, p. 396.
3. ^ "Apollo 14 Command and Service Module (CSM)". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
4. ^ "Apollo 14 Lunar Module /ALSEP". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved November 20, 2019.

Read More

 

6 February 1778 – New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

Articles of Confederation

First constitution of the United States of America (1781–1789)

The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first frame of government during the American Revolution. It was debated by the Second Continental Congress inside present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia between July 1776 and November 1777, was finalized by the Congress on November 15, 1777, and came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 colonial states.

A central and guiding principle of the Articles was the establishment and preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the original 13 states. The Articles consciously established a weak confederal government, affording it only those powers the former colonies recognized as belonging to the British Crown and Parliament during the colonial era. The document provided clearly written rules for how the states' league of friendship, known as the Perpetual Union, was to be organized.

While waiting for all states to ratify the Articles, the Congress observed them as it conducted business during the American Revolution, directing the Revolutionary War effort, conducting diplomacy with foreign states, addressing territorial issues, and dealing with Native American relations. Little changed procedurally once the Articles of Confederation went into effect, since their ratification mostly codified laws already in existence and procedures the Continental Congress had already been following. The body was renamed the Congress of the Confederation, but most Americans continued to call it the Continental Congress, since its organization remained the same.

As the Confederation Congress attempted to govern the continually growing 13 colonial states, its delegates discovered that the limitations on the central government, such as in assembling delegates, raising funds, and regulating commerce,^[1] limited its ability to do so. As the government's weaknesses became apparent, especially after the Shays's Rebellion, several prominent political thinkers in the fledgling union began asking for changes to the Articles that would strengthen the powers afforded the central government.

In September 1786, some states met to address interstate protectionist trade barriers between them. Shortly thereafter, as more states became interested in meeting to revise the Articles, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. This became the Constitutional Convention. Delegates quickly agreed that the defects of the frame of government could not be remedied by altering the Articles, and so went beyond their mandate by replacing it with a new constitution. On March 4, 1789, the government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive (the president), courts, and taxing powers.

1. ^ "Identifying Defects in the Constitution | To Form a More Perfect Union | Articles and Essays | Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774–1789 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.

Read More

 

7 February 2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.

Black Saturday bushfires

Deadly bushfires in Victoria State, Australia, in 2009

The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria. Saturday, 7 February 2009 was one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire,^[10] with 173 fatalities.^[11] Many people were left homeless and family-less as a result.

As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on Saturday 7 February; the day has become widely referred to in Australia as Black Saturday.

Then Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard described Black Saturday as "a tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and beyond words … one of the darkest days in Australia’s peacetime history."^[12]

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires.

1. ^ Collins, Pádraig (12 February 2009). "Rudd criticised over bush fire compensation". The Irish Times. Ireland. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
2. ^ "About Black Saturday – Country Fire Authority". 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
3. ^ "What has Australia learned from Black Saturday?". 16 April 2019. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
4. ^ "2009 Victorian Bushfires". 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Australian Medical Journal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference VBRC-Vol.01-ch.5-p.075 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. ^ Rennie, Reko (1 April 2009). "Marysville fire deliberately lit: police". The Age. Melbourne. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
8. ^ "Lightning starts new bushfires in Grampians". Australia: ABC News. 8 February 2009. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
9. ^ "Police track arsonists responsible for Victoria bushfires". The Australian. 10 February 2009. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
10. ^ Huxley, John (11 February 2009). "Horrific, but not the worst we've suffered". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
11. ^ 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission – Final Report (PDF) (Report). Government Printer for the State of Victoria. July 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
12. ^ "Black Saturday bushfires". Lawson Crescent Acton Peninsula, Canberra: National Museum of Australia. 7 February 2023. Archived from the original on 6 January 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2024. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, 2009: A tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and beyond words … one of the darkest days in Australia's peacetime history.

Read More

 

8 February 1950 – The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.

Stasi

East German intelligence agency and secret police

For other uses, see Stasis.

The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, pronounced [minɪsˈteːʁiʊm fyːɐ̯ ˈʃtaːtsˌzɪçɐhaɪ̯t]; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (pronounced [ˈʃtaːziː] ^ⓘ, an abbreviation of Staatssicherheit), was the state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990.

The function of the Stasi in East Germany (the GDR) resembled that of the KGB in the Soviet Union,⁠ in that it served to maintain state authority and the position of the ruling party, in this case the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). This was accomplished primarily through the use of a network of civilian informants who contributed to the arrest of approximately 250,000 people in East Germany.^[3] It also had a large elite paramilitary force, the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment, that served as its armed wing. Known as "the shield and the sword of the party", the Stasi locked up opponents of the regime. Officers tortured prisoners by isolating them, depriving them of sleep and using psychological tricks such as threatening to arrest relatives.^[4]

The Stasi also conducted espionage and other clandestine operations outside the GDR through its subordinate foreign-intelligence service, the Office of Reconnaissance, or Head Office A (German: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung or HVA). Its operatives also maintained contacts in West Germany and throughout the western world; and are alleged to have occasionally cooperated with West German far-right terrorist groups, such as the Hepp-Kexel-Group.^[5]

The Stasi had its headquarters in East Berlin, with an extensive complex in Berlin-Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. Erich Mielke, the Stasi's longest-serving chief, controlled the organisation from 1957 to 1989 — 32 of the 40 years of the GDR's existence. The HVA, under the leadership of Markus Wolf from 1952 to 1986, gained a reputation as one of the most effective intelligence agencies of the Cold War.^{[6][need quotation to verify][7]}

After the German reunification of 1989–1991, some former Stasi officials were prosecuted for their crimes,^[8] and the surveillance files that the Stasi had maintained on millions of East Germans were declassified so that all citizens could inspect their personal files on request. The Stasi Records Agency maintained the files until June 2021, when they became part of the German Federal Archives.

1. ^ Vilasi, Antonella Colonna (9 March 2015). The History of the Stasi. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781504937054.
2. ^ Hinsey, Ellen (2010). "Eternal Return: Berlin Journal, 1989–2009". New England Review. 31 (1): 124–134. JSTOR 25699473.
3. ^ Germans campaign for memorial to victims of communism Archived 10 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 31 January 2018
4. ^ Chambers, Madeline (4 November 2009). "No remorse from Stasi as Berlin marks fall of Wall". Reuters. Retrieved 15 November 2024. Known as "the shield and the sword of the party," the Stasi locked up opponents of the regime. Officers tortured prisoners by isolating them, depriving them of sleep and using psychological tricks such as threatening to arrest relatives.
5. ^ Blumenau, Bernhard (2018). "Unholy Alliance: The Connection between the East German Stasi and the Right-Wing Terrorist Odfried Hepp". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 43: 47–68. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2018.1471969. hdl:10023/19035.
6. ^ Blumenau, Bernhard (2 September 2014). The United Nations and Terrorism: Germany, Multilateralism, and Antiterrorism Efforts in the 1970s. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 29–32. ISBN 978-1-137-39196-4.
7. ^ Volodarsky, Boris Borisovich (30 June 2023). The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko: To Kill a Mockingbird. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: White Owl. ISBN 9781399060196. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023. Suddenly, the East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MFS), better known as the Stasi, came to light, and specifically its Chief Directorate 'A' (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, HVA) under Markus 'Misha' Wolf. It was one of the most effective spy agencies of the Cold War.
8. ^ Willis, Jim (24 January 2013). Daily Life behind the Iron Curtain. The Greenwood Press Daily Life through History Series. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313397639. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023. The Stasi destruction of many records, plus the German statute of limitations on crimes, plus the desire by some politicians to leave the divisive past behind have resulted in few prosecutions of former Stasi officials and the actual imprisonment of even fewer.

Read More

 

9 February 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.

Davis Cup

Men's tennis international team competition

For the album by Walter Davis Jr., see Davis Cup (album). For a list of individual Davis Cups by year, see List of Davis Cup champions.

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries,^[a] making it the world's largest annual team sporting competition.^[2] It is described by the organisers as the "World Cup of Tennis" and the winners are referred to as the world champions.^[3] The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States. By 2023 155 nations entered teams into the competition.^[4]

The most successful country over the history of the competition is the United States (winning 32 titles and finishing as runners-up 29 times). The most recent champions are Italy, who beat Netherlands to win their third title (and second consecutive one) in 2024.

The women's equivalent of the Davis Cup is the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly known as the Federation Cup (1963–1995) and Fed Cup (1995–2020). Australia, Italy, Russia, the Czech Republic and the United States are the only countries to have won both Davis Cup and Federation/Fed/Billie Jean King Cup titles in the same year.

The Davis Cup allowed only amateurs and national registered professional players (from 1968) to compete until 1973, five years after the start of the Open Era.^[5]

1. ^ "Davis Cup – Rankings". daviscup.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
2. ^ "Davis Cup History". ITF. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
3. ^ "Andy Murray wins Davis Cup for Great Britain". BBC Sport. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
4. ^ "Davis Cup Format". daviscup.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016. In 2023, 155 nations entered Davis Cup by Rakuten
5. ^ "40 Years Ago: Look Out, Cleveland". tennis.com. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2019.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

10 February 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1967 amendment enumerating presidential succession

"Twenty-fifth Amendment" redirects here. For other uses, see Twenty-fifth Amendment (disambiguation).

The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution addresses issues related to presidential succession and disability.

It clarifies that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office by impeachment. It also establishes the procedure for filling a vacancy in the office of the vice president. Additionally, the amendment provides for the temporary transfer of the president's powers and duties to the vice president, either on the president's initiative alone or on the initiative of the vice president together with a majority of the president's cabinet. In either case, the vice president becomes the acting president until the president's powers and duties are restored.

The amendment was submitted to the states on July 6, 1965, by the 89th Congress, and was adopted on February 10, 1967, the day the requisite number of states (38) ratified it.^[1]

1. ^ Mount, Steve. "Ratification of Constitutional Amendments". ussconstitution.net. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.

Read More

 

11 February 1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.

Vehementer Nos

1906 papal encyclical by Pope Pius X

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Vehementer Nos

Vehementer Nos was a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius X on 11 February 1906. He denounced the French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State enacted two months earlier. He condemned its unilateral abrogation of the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon I and Pope Pius VII that had granted the Catholic Church a distinctive status and established a working relationship between the French government and the Holy See.^[1] The title of the document is taken from its opening words in Latin, which mean "We with vehemence".

1. ^ "The Law of 1905", Musée Protestantisme

Read More

 

12 February 1963 – Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

Gateway Arch

U.S. National Historic Landmark in St. Louis, Missouri

The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-tall (192 m) monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch,^[5] it is the world's tallest arch^[4] and Missouri's tallest accessible structure. Some sources consider it the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere.^[6] Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States^[5] and officially dedicated to "the American people", the Arch, commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the West", is a National Historic Landmark in Gateway Arch National Park and has become a popular tourist destination,^[4] as well as an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis.

The Arch was designed by the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947, and construction began on February 12, 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965,^[7][8] at an overall cost of $13 million^[9] (equivalent to $95.9 million in 2023).^[2] The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.^[10] It is located at the 1764 site of the founding of St. Louis on the west bank of the Mississippi River.^[11][12][13]

1. ^ "Gateway Arch". GreatBuildings.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
2. ^ ^{a b} Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. May 28, 1987. Archived from the original on February 20, 2013.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Cite error: The named reference nhlsum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ ^{a b} "St. Louis Arch" (PDF). Modern Steel Construction. 3 (4). American Institute of Steel Construction: 12–14. 1963. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
6. ^ Lohraff, Kevin (2009). Hiking Missouri (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7360-7588-6.
7. ^ "Gateway Arch Facts". Gateway Arch Riverfront. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
8. ^ Ledden, Nicholas (October 6, 2010). "Gateway Arch to celebrate its 45th". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
9. ^ "Arch Frequently Asked Questions". July 25, 2006. Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
10. ^ "Arch Timeline". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 17, 2005. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
11. ^ Cite error: The named reference csmonitor was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Soroka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. ^ Wick, Temple (April 25, 1965). "Curving Gateway Arch: Memorial To Pioneers". St. Petersburg Times. p. 9B. Retrieved December 16, 2010.

Read More

 

13 February 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

Galileo Galilei

Florentine physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)

"Galileo" redirects here. For other uses, see Galileo (disambiguation) and Galileo Galilei (disambiguation).

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei (/ˌɡælɪˈleɪoʊ ˌɡælɪˈleɪ/, US also /ˌɡælɪˈliːoʊ -/; Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛːi]) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian^[a] astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. He was born in the city of Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence.^[8] Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy,^[9] modern-era classical physics,^[10] the scientific method,^[11] and modern science.^[12]

Galileo studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile motion and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties of the pendulum and "hydrostatic balances". He was one of the earliest Renaissance developers of the thermoscope^[13] and the inventor of various military compasses. With an improved telescope he built, he observed the stars of the Milky Way, the phases of Venus, the four largest satellites of Jupiter, Saturn's rings, lunar craters and sunspots. He also built an early microscope.

Galileo's championing of Copernican heliocentrism was met with opposition from within the Catholic Church and from some astronomers. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that his opinions contradicted accepted Biblical interpretations.^[14][15][16]

Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack and ridicule Pope Urban VIII, thus alienating both the Pope and the Jesuits, who had both strongly supported Galileo up until this point.^[14] He was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.^[17][18] During this time, he wrote Two New Sciences (1638), primarily concerning kinematics and the strength of materials.^[19]

1. ^ Science: The Definitive Visual Guide. DK. 2009. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-7566-6490-9.
2. ^ Drake 1978, p. 1.
3. ^ Pliny the Younger, Letters 9.23.
4. ^ Dante, 5th Epistle.
5. ^ Boccaccio, Decameron II, 9
6. ^ Catherine of Siena, Letter 310
7. ^ Galileo Galilei, Lettera di Galileo Galilei agl'Illustrissimi e Potentiss. Signori Ordini Generali delle confederate Provincie Belgiche, 1636, in Opere di Galileo Galilei, Società tipografica de' classici italiani, 1811, p. 268
8. ^ Modinos, A. (2013). From Aristotle to Schrödinger: The Curiosity of Physics, Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics (Illustrated ed.). Springer. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-319-00750-2.
9. ^ Singer, C. (1941). A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century. Clarendon. p. 217.
10. ^ Whitehouse, D. (2009). Renaissance Genius: Galileo Galilei & His Legacy to Modern Science. Sterling. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-4027-6977-1.
11. ^ Thomas Hobbes: Critical Assessments, Volume 1. Preston King. 1993. p. 59
12. ^ Disraeli, I. (1835). Curiosities of Literature. W. Pearson & Co. p. 371.
13. ^ Valleriani, Matteo (2010). Galileo Engineer. Dordrecht Heidelberg; London; New York: Springer. p. 160. ISBN 978-90-481-8644-0.
14. ^ ^{a b} Hannam 2009, pp. 329–344.
15. ^ Sharratt 1994, pp. 127–131.
16. ^ Finocchiaro 2010, p. 74.
17. ^ Finocchiaro 1997, p. 47.
18. ^ Hilliam 2005, p. 96.
19. ^ Carney, J. E. (2000). Renaissance and Reformation, 1500–1620.^{[page needed]}

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

14 February 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.

Death of James Cook

1779 killing in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii

This article is about the event. For paintings of the event, see Death of Cook.

On 14 February 1779, British explorer Captain James Cook was violently killed as he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island of Hawaii, after the native Hawaiians had stolen a longboat from Cook's expedition. As Cook and his men attempted to take the chief to his ship, they were confronted by a crowd of Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay seeking to rescue their hostage. The ensuing battle killed Cook and several Royal Marines, as well as several Hawaiians. Kalaniʻōpuʻu survived the exchange.

Cook and his expedition were the first Europeans to arrive in Hawaii. They were eventually followed by mass migrations of Europeans and Americans to the islands^[1] that gave rise to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the indigenous monarchy of the islands, by pro-American elements beginning in 1893.

1. ^ Akana, Alan Robert (March 2014). The Volcano Is Our Home. Balboa Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4525-8753-0.

Read More

 

15 February 1965 – The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.

Flag of Canada

This article is about the national flag of Canada. For other Canadian flags, see Flags of Canada.

The National Flag of Canada (French: Drapeau national du Canada),^[1] often referred to simply as the Canadian flag, consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of 1∶2∶1, in which is featured one stylized, red, 11-pointed maple leaf charged in the centre.^[2] It is the first flag to have been adopted by both houses of Parliament and officially proclaimed by the Canadian monarch as the country's official national flag.^[3] The flag has become the predominant and most recognizable national symbol of Canada.

In 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson formed a committee to resolve the ongoing issue of the lack of an official Canadian flag, sparking a debate about a flag change to replace the Union Flag. Out of three choices, the maple leaf design by Mount Allison University historian George Stanley,^[4] based on the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada, was selected. The flag officially appeared on February 15, 1965; the date is now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

Before 1965, the Canadian Red Ensign had been in unofficial use since the 1860s and was later officially approved by a 1945 Order in Council for use "wherever place or occasion may make it desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag".^[5][6] Also, the Royal Union Flag remains an official flag in Canada, to symbolize Canada's allegiance to the monarch and membership in the Commonwealth of Nations.^[7] There is no law dictating how the national flag is to be treated, but there are conventions and protocols to guide how it is to be displayed and its place in the order of precedence of flags, which gives it primacy over the aforementioned and most other flags.

Many different flags created by Canadian officials, government bodies, and military forces contain the maple leaf motif in some fashion, either by having the Canadian flag charged in the canton or by including maple leaves in the design. The Canadian flag also appears on the government's wordmark.

1. ^ "National flag of Canada". Government of Canada. September 11, 2017.
2. ^ Matheson 1980, p. 177
3. ^ "The history of the National Flag of Canada". Government of Canada. August 28, 2017.
4. ^ Richard Foot (February 13, 2014). "The Stanley Flag". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017.
5. ^ Stacey, C. P., ed. (1972). "19. Order in Council on the Red Ensign, 1945". Historical documents of Canada. Vol. 5. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-7705-0861-8.
6. ^ "First "Canadian flags"". Department of Canadian Heritage. September 24, 2007. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008.
7. ^ Ken Reynolds (April 21, 1965). "Royal Union Flag (Union Jack)". The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Read More

 

16 February 1985 – Hezbollah is founded.

Hezbollah

Lebanese political party and militant group

For other uses, see Hezbollah (disambiguation).

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hezbollah (/ˌhɛzbəˈlɑː/ HEZ-bə-LAH;^[52] Arabic: حزب الله, romanized: Ḥizbu 'llāh, pronounced [ħizbuˈɫːaːh], lit. 'Party of God')^[b] is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group.^[53][24] Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council,^[54] and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016.^[55]

Hezbollah was founded in 1982 by Lebanese clerics in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.^[18] Inspired by the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's model of Islamic governance, Hezbollah established strong ties with Iran. The group was initially supported by 1,500 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instructors, who helped unify various Lebanese Shia factions under Hezbollah's leadership.^[56] Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto outlined its key objectives, which include expelling Western influence from the region, destroying Israel, pledging allegiance to Iran's supreme leader, and establishing an Islamic government influenced by Iran's political ideology. However, the manifesto also emphasized Lebanese self-determination.^[57] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hezbollah fought against Israeli forces and the South Lebanon Army (SLA), eventually leading to Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.^[58] Hezbollah also played a prominent role in the 2006 Lebanon War and later became involved in the Syrian civil war, where it fought alongside the Syrian government against rebel forces.^[59]

In 2009, Hezbollah updated their manifesto to oppose political sectarianism, appeal to non-Islamic movements, and promote a national unity government. The updated manifesto has the same basic approach to foreign policy, emphasizing the hegemonic strategies of the US and Israel's role in the region as a forward base for colonizing the region.^[60][61]

Since the 1990s, Hezbollah has grown into a significant political force in Lebanon. The group operates a vast social services network, including schools and hospitals, and runs a satellite TV station, Al-Manar. Politically, Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc holds 15 seats in the Lebanese Parliament, making it a powerful player in Lebanon's government.^[62] However, the group's influence has led to growing domestic criticism. Following the 2020 Beirut port explosion, Hezbollah was accused of obstructing efforts to hold those responsible accountable, contributing to a decline in public trust. A 2024 Arab Barometer survey found that 55% of Lebanese have "no trust at all" in Hezbollah, although it remains popular among the Shia population.^[63]

Despite calls for disarmament under United Nations Security Council resolutions, Hezbollah has expanded its military capabilities. Its armed wing is now considered stronger than the Lebanese Armed Forces,^[64] making it one of the most powerful non-state actors in the world. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared in 2021 that the group had 100,000 fighters.^[65] Hezbollah has been involved in several high-profile attacks; it is believed to be responsible for the bombing of the US embassy and the American and French barracks bombings in Beirut in 1983, the assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005,^[66][67] as well as later attacks, including bombings and hijackings.^[68][69] While Hezbollah has been regarded as a resistance movement by some scholars,^[70][71][72] the entire organization, or its military wing alone, has been designated as a terrorist group by over 21 countries,^[73][74] including most Western countries.^[75]

Since October 2023, Hezbollah has been at war with Israel. During this war, Nasrallah was assassinated after 32 years of leading the group, along with other key members of Hezbollah leadership. The conflict has led to an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and is currently in a ceasefire.

1. ^ "Fadlallah Hits Back at March 14 over Karam Release, Marouni Slams 'Treason Accusations'". Naharnet. 18 April 2013.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Philip Smyth (February 2015). The Shiite Jihad in Syria and Its Regional Effects (PDF) (Report). The Washington Institute for Near East Studies. pp. 7–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Dalacoura, Katerina (2012). "Islamist Terrorism and National Liberation: Hamas and Hizbullah". Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 66–96. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511977367.004. ISBN 978-0-511-97736-7. LCCN 2010047275. S2CID 150958046.
4. ^ Stepanova, Ekaterina (2008). Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects (PDF). Oxford University Press. p. 113. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2016.
5. ^ Joshua L. Gleis; Benedetta Berti (2012). Hezbollah and Hamas: A Comparative Study. JHU Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-0671-8.
6. ^ "Hezbollah, the Lebanese Sectarian State, and Sectarianism". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
7. ^ Bassel F, Salloukh (2015). "The Sectarian Image Reversed: The Role of Geopolitics in Hezbollah's Domestic Politics". Middle East Political Pcience.
8. ^ Schenker, David (7 October 2015). "Putin and the Shiite 'Axis of Resistance'". The Hill. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2016. Assad, backed by Hezbollah and Iran, began his campaign to eradicate Sunni regime opponents...this new axis — which targets Syrian Sunnis instead of Israel — is deeply polarizing.
9. ^ Sullivan, Marisa (April 2014), Hezbollah in Syria (PDF), Institute for the Study of War, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 November 2019, retrieved 26 June 2015, "Opposition is greatest with Lebanon's Sunni community, which view Hezbollah as choosing sides in sectarian conflict, killing fellow Muslims, and losing sight of its resistance to Israel."
10. ^ "Saudi clerics attack Shi'ites, Hezbollah". Reuters. 1 June 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
11. ^ "Hezbollah and the Lebanese Popular Movement".
12. ^ Salamey, Imad; Pearson, Frederic (2007). "Hezbollah: A Proletarian Party with an Islamic Manifesto – A Sociopolitical Analysis of Islamist Populism in Lebanon and the Middle East". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 18 (3): 416–438. doi:10.1080/09592310701674358. ISSN 0959-2318. S2CID 143896155.
13. ^ Elie Alagha, Joseph (2011). Hizbullah's Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 15, 20. ISBN 978-90-8555-037-2.
    Shehata, Samer (2012). Islamist Politics in the Middle East: Movements and Change. Routledge. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-415-78361-3.
14. ^ Husseinia, Rola El (2010). "Hezbollah and the Axis of Refusal: Hamas, Iran and Syria". Third World Quarterly. 31 (5): 803–815. doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.502695. S2CID 219628295.
15. ^ Levitt, Matthew (2013). Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God. Hurst Publishers. p. 356. ISBN 978-1-84904-333-5. Hezbollah's anti-Western militancy began with attacks against Western targets in Lebanon, then expanded to attacks abroad intended to exact revenge for actions threatening its or Iran's interests, or to press foreign governments to release captured operatives.
16. ^ Hanhimäki, Jussi M.; Blumenau, Bernhard (2013). An International History of Terrorism: Western and Non-Western Experiences. Routledge. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-415-63540-0. Based upon these beliefs, Hezbollah became vehemently anti-West and anti-Israel.
17. ^ Siegel, Larry J. (2012). Criminology: Theories, Patterns & Typology. Cengage Learning. p. 396. ISBN 978-1-133-04964-7. Hezbollah is anti-West and anti-Israel and has engaged in a series of terrorist actions including kidnappings, car bombings, and airline hijackings.
18. ^ ^{a b} "Who Are Hezbollah?". BBC News. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
19. ^ ^{[3][15][16][17][18]}
20. ^ Carvajal, Doreen (14 December 2004). "French Court Orders a Ban on Hezbollah-Run TV Channel". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
21. ^ Saad-Ghorayeb 2002, pp. 168–86.
22. ^ "Hezbollah chief in new attack on same-sex relations". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 29 July 2023.
23. ^ "Interior Ministry releases numbers of votes for new MPs". The Daily Star. 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
24. ^ ^{a b} "What Is Hezbollah?". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
25. ^ "Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Nasrallah says group has never been stronger". Reuters. 18 October 2021.
26. ^ Agencies, The New Arab Staff & (18 October 2021). "Hassan Nasrallah says Hezbollah has 100,000 fighters". english.alaraby.co.uk/.
27. ^ "Lebanon Hezbollah chief says movement has 100,000 fighters". France 24. 18 October 2021.
28. ^ "Report: Hezbollah opens base in Cuba". Ynet news. 9 January 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
29. ^ "Hezbollah is the Long Arm of Iran – Factsheet 5". 20 September 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
30. ^ Pardo, Ramon Pacheco (February 2011). "Beyond Iran" (PDF). The Majalla. 1561: 12–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
31. ^ "New Experience of Hezbollah with Russian Military". 2 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018.
32. ^ Rosenfeld, Jesse (11 January 2016). "Russia is Arming Hezbollah, Say Two of the Group's Field Commanders". The Daily Beast.
33. ^ Kendall-Taylor, Andrea; Fontaine, Richard (23 April 2024). "The Axis of Upheaval". Foreign Affairs. Vol. 103, no. 3. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
34. ^ "Why Assad's alliance with Iran and Hezbollah will endure". 8 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
35. ^ "Iran and Venezuela: Axis of Anti-Americanism". United Against Nuclear Iran. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
36. ^ ^{a b} "Iraq admits Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian RG fight alongside Iraqi security forces". 9 November 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
37. ^ "Hezbollah Fights Alongside LAF Demonstrating its Continuing Control over Lebanon". The Tower. 21 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
38. ^ "Yemeni FM slams Hezbollah's Houthi support: report". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
39. ^ "Lebanon's Hezbollah denies sending weapons to Yemen". Reuters. 20 November 2017.
40. ^ "Wagner Group 'tasked to deliver Russian weapons to Hezbollah' – US intelligence". 4 November 2023.
41. ^ "Hezbollah – International terrorist organization". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 22 July 2013.
42. ^ Levitt, Matthew (2013). Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God. Georgetown University Press. p. 23.
43. ^ "Clashes on border with Syria allow Lebanese army to cripple Hezbollah". Al-Arab. February 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
44. ^ Alabi, Rizik (6 February 2025). "Syrian Army Advances Into Lebanese Territory, Clashes With Hezbollah". The Media Line. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
45. ^ Francis, Xavier (21 May 2020). "Israel Impressed How Turkish Army Crushed Hezbollah In Idlib, Syria". Latest Asian, Middle-East, EurAsian, Indian News.
46. ^ "Israel learned from Hezbollah's defeat at the hands of Turkey". The Jerusalem Post.
47. ^ "Turkish strike in Syria kills nine Hezbollah members, according to source". Haaretz.
48. ^ ^{a b} Nimrod Raphaeli (11 February 2009). "The Iranian Roots of Hizbullah". MEMRI. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009.
49. ^ Addis, Casey L. (May 2011). Hezbollah: Background and Issues for Congress. DIANE Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-4379-4177-7. Echoing the ideology of Iranian Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Hezbollah's 1985 statement identified the United States and the Soviet Union as Islam's principal enemies and called for the "obliteration" of Israel.
50. ^ "Beware Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' | People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)". Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
51. ^ "Hezbollah fighters train Iraqi Shiite militants near Mosul". longwarjournal.org – FDD's Long War Journal. 5 November 2016.
52. ^ Cite error: The named reference HarperCollins-2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
53. ^ "Hezbollah | Meaning, History, & Ideology | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
54. ^ Levitt, Matthew (2013). Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God. Hurst Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-84904-333-5. ... the Jihad Council coordinates 'resistance activity'.
    Ghattas Saab, Antoine (15 May 2014). "Hezbollah cutting costs as Iranian aid dries up". The Daily Star. Retrieved 1 June 2014. ... Hezbollah's military wing ... Known as the 'Jihad Council'
55. ^ "Hezbollah: Not a terror group but a midsized army". Haaretz. August 2016. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022.
56. ^ Adam Shatz (29 April 2004). "In Search of Hezbollah". The New York Review of Books. 51 (7). Archived from the original on 22 August 2006.
57. ^ Itamar Rabinovich (2008). Israel in the Middle East. UPNE. ISBN 978-0-87451-962-4.
58. ^ Lopez, German (24 September 2024). "Israel's Strikes on Lebanon". The New York Times.
59. ^ Barnard, Anne (3 January 2014). "Mystery in Hezbollah Operatives Life and Death". The New York Times.
60. ^ Cite error: The named reference Berti was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
61. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
62. ^ Deeb, Lara (31 July 2006). "Hizballah: A Primer". Archived from the original on 19 October 2011.
63. ^ Stroul, Dana (23 September 2024). "Israel and Hezbollah Are Escalating Toward Catastrophe". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
64. ^ Barnard, Anne (20 May 2013). "Hezbollah's Role in Syria War Shakes the Lebanese". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
65. ^ El Deeb, Sarah (18 October 2021). "Hezbollah leader declares his group has 100,000 fighters". Associated Press News. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
66. ^ "Lebanon: UN-backed tribunal sentences Hezbollah militant in Hariri assassination | UN News". news.un.org. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
67. ^ "Rafik Hariri killing: Hezbollah duo convicted of 2005 bombing on appeal". 10 March 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
68. ^ Laverty, Rory; Lamothe, Dan (21 September 2024). "For Americans scarred by Beirut bombings, a measure of delayed justice". The Washington Post. Hezbollah was founded in 1982, as violence against U.S. troops in Lebanon spiked. In addition to its roles in the major bombings of 1983, the militant group was involved in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984 that killed 23 people, the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 and the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed 19 U.S. airmen, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
69. ^ Lopez, German (24 September 2024). "Israel's Strikes on Lebanon". The New York Times. Hezbollah first gained international notoriety in 1983, when it blew up the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, and later American and French barracks there.
70. ^ Farida 2019, p. 1-2.
71. ^ Daher 2019, p. 8.
72. ^ Al-Aloosy 2020, p. 43, 74.
73. ^ Kanter, James; Rudoren, Jodi (22 July 2013). "European Union Adds Military Wing of Hezbollah to List of Terrorist Organizations". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
74. ^ "Swiss parliament votes to ban Hezbollah". Reuters. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024 – via Deccan Herald.
75. ^ Roche, MaryClare; Robbins, Michael (12 July 2024). "What the Lebanese People Really Think of Hezbollah". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 28 September 2024.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

17 February 1600 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno has a wooden vise put on his tongue to prevent him continuing to speak

Giordano Bruno

Italian Dominican friar, philosopher and mathematician (1548–1600)

This article is about the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno. For other uses, see Giordano Bruno (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Bruno Giordano.

Giordano Bruno (/dʒɔːrˈdɑːnoʊ ˈbruːnoʊ/ jor-DAH-noh BROO-noh, Italian: [dʒorˈdaːno ˈbruːno]; Latin: Iordanus Brunus Nolanus; born Filippo Bruno; January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, poet, alchemist, astrologer, cosmological theorist, and esotericist.^[1][2] He is known for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended to include the then-novel Copernican model. He practiced Hermeticism and gave a mystical stance to exploring the universe. He proposed that the stars were distant suns surrounded by their own planets (exoplanets), and he raised the possibility that these planets might foster life of their own, a cosmological position known as cosmic pluralism. He also insisted that the universe is infinite and could have no center.

Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition on charges of denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Bruno's pantheism was not taken lightly by the church,^[3] nor was his teaching of metempsychosis regarding the reincarnation of the soul. The Inquisition found him guilty, and he was burned at the stake in Rome's Campo de' Fiori in 1600. After his death, he gained considerable fame, being particularly celebrated by 19th- and early 20th-century commentators who regarded him as a martyr for science. Some historians are of the opinion his heresy trial was not a response to his cosmological views but rather a response to his religious and afterlife views,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} while others find the main reason for Bruno's death was indeed his cosmological views.^[9][10][11] Bruno's case is still considered a landmark in the history of free thought and the emerging sciences.^[12][13]

In addition to cosmology, Bruno also wrote extensively on the art of memory, a loosely organized group of mnemonic techniques and principles. Historian Frances Yates argues that Bruno was deeply influenced by the presocratic Empedocles, Neoplatonism, Renaissance Hermeticism, and Book of Genesis-like legends surrounding the Hellenistic conception of Hermes Trismegistus.^[14] Other studies of Bruno have focused on his qualitative approach to mathematics and his application of the spatial concepts of geometry to language.^[15][16]

1. ^ Gatti 2002, p. 1.
2. ^ Pogge, Richard W. "The Folly of Giordano Bruno". Ohio State University Department of Astronomy. Updated February 24, 2014. http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Essays/Bruno.html
3. ^ Birx 1997; Collinge 2012, p. 188.
4. ^ Yates 1964, p. 450.
5. ^ Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750–1900, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 10, "[Bruno's] sources... seem to have been more numerous than his followers, at least until the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bruno as a supposed 'martyr for science.' It is true that he was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600, but the church authorities guilty of this action were almost certainly more distressed at his denial of Christ's divinity and alleged diabolism than at his cosmological doctrines."
6. ^ Adam Frank (2009). The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, University of California Press, p. 24, "Though Bruno may have been a brilliant thinker whose work stands as a bridge between ancient and modern thought, his persecution cannot be seen solely in light of the war between science and religion."
7. ^ White 2002, p. 7: "This was perhaps the most dangerous notion of all... If other worlds existed with intelligent beings living there, did they too have their visitations? The idea was quite unthinkable."
8. ^ Shackelford, Joel (2009). "Myth 7 That Giordano Bruno was the first martyr of modern science". In Numbers, Ronald L. (ed.). Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 66. "Yet the fact remains that cosmological matters, notably the plurality of worlds, were an identifiable concern all along and appear in the summary document: Bruno was repeatedly questioned on these matters, and he apparently refused to recant them at the end.14 So, Bruno probably was burned alive for resolutely maintaining a series of heresies, among which his teaching of the plurality of worlds was prominent but by no means singular."
9. ^ Gatti, Hilary (26 October 2012). "Why Giordano Bruno's "Tranquil Universal Philosophy" Finished in a Fire". In Lavery, Jonathan; Groarke, Louis; Sweet, William (eds.). Ideas under Fire: Historical Studies of Philosophy and Science in Adversity. Fairleigh Dickinson. pp. 116–118. ISBN 978-1-61147-543-2. One of the first and most notable developments consisted in a growing awareness that earlier commentators had indeed been right to consider Bruno's trial as being closely linked to that of Galileo (...) Jean Seidengart underlined the particular emphasis to be found throughout the trial on Bruno's doctrine of a plurality of worlds." and "Bruno, however, by admitting so candidly his distance from the Catholic theology, was indirectly questioning such a system of law, which imposed on his conscience views different from his own. (...) he was doing it in the name of a principle of religious pluralism which derived directly from his cosmology.
10. ^ Martínez, Alberto A. (2018). Burned Alive: Giordano Bruno, Galileo and the Inquisition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-1780238968.
11. ^ Koyré, Alexandre (1980). Estudios galileanos (in Spanish). México D.F.: Siglo XXI Editores. pp. 159–169. ISBN 978-9682310355.
12. ^ Gatti 2002, pp. 18–19: For Bruno was claiming for the philosopher a principle of free thought and inquiry which implied an entirely new concept of authority: that of the individual intellect in its serious and continuing pursuit of an autonomous inquiry… It is impossible to understand the issue involved and to evaluate justly the stand made by Bruno with his life without appreciating the question of free thought and liberty of expression. His insistence on placing this issue at the center of both his work and of his defense is why Bruno remains so much a figure of the modern world. If there is, as many have argued, an intrinsic link between science and liberty of inquiry, then Bruno was among those who guaranteed the future of the newly emerging sciences, as well as claiming in wider terms a general principle of free thought and expression."
13. ^ Aquilecchia, Montano & Bertrando 2007: "In Rome, Bruno was imprisoned for seven years and subjected to a difficult trial that analyzed, minutely, all his philosophical ideas. Bruno, who in Venice had been willing to recant some theses, became increasingly resolute and declared on 21 December 1599 that he 'did not wish to repent of having too little to repent, and in fact did not know what to repent.' Declared an unrepentant heretic and excommunicated, he was burned alive in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome on Ash Wednesday, 17 February 1600. On the stake, along with Bruno, burned the hopes of many, including philosophers and scientists of good faith like Galileo, who thought they could reconcile religious faith and scientific research, while belonging to an ecclesiastical organization declaring itself to be the custodian of absolute truth and maintaining a cultural militancy requiring continual commitment and suspicion."
14. ^ The primary work on the relationship between Bruno and Hermeticism is Yates 1964; for an alternative assessment, placing more emphasis on the Kabbalah, and less on Hermeticism, see DeLeón-Jones 1997; for a return to emphasis on Bruno's role in the development of Science, and criticism of Yates' emphasis on magical and Hermetic themes, see Gatti 2002.
15. ^ Alessandro G. Farinella and Carole Preston, "Giordano Bruno: Neoplatonism and the Wheel of Memory in the 'De Umbris Idearum'", in Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2, (Summer, 2002), pp. 596–624
16. ^ Saiber 2005.

Read More

 

18 February 1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1885 novel by Mark Twain

For other uses, see Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (disambiguation).

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.

Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The book is noted for "changing the course of children's literature" in the United States for the "deeply felt portrayal of boyhood".^{[2][better source needed]} It is also known for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist over 20 years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.

Perennially popular with readers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has also been the continued object of study by literary critics since its publication. The book was widely criticized upon release because of its extensive use of coarse language and racial epithets. Throughout the 20th century, and despite arguments that the protagonist and the tenor of the book are anti-racist,^[3][4] criticism of the book continued due to both its perceived use of racial stereotypes and its frequent use of the racial slur "nigger".

1. ^ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's comrade)…. 1885.
2. ^ "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Summary & Characters". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
3. ^ Twain, Mark (October 1885). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's comrade).... ... - Full View – HathiTrust Digital Library – HathiTrust Digital Library. C. L. Webster.
4. ^ Jacob O'Leary, "Critical Annotation of "Minstrel Shackles and Nineteenth Century 'Liberality' in Huckleberry Finn" (Fredrick Woodard and Donnarae MacCann)," Wiki Service, University of Iowa, last modified February 11, 2012, accessed April 12, 2012 Archived March 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

Read More

 

19 February 1942 – World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack the northern Australian city of Darwin, killing 243 people.

Bombing of Darwin

1942 Japanese attack on Australia in WWII

This article is about the first and largest air raid on 19 February 1942. For the major raid of May 1943, see Raid on Darwin (2 May 1943). For other air raids on Darwin, see Air raids on Australia, 1942–43.

The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin,^[4] on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia.^[5] On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin Harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.

Darwin was lightly defended relative to the size of the attack, and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties. More than half of Darwin's civilian population left the area permanently, before or immediately after the attack.^[6][7]

The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–1943. The event happened just four days after the Fall of Singapore, when a combined Commonwealth force surrendered to the Japanese, the largest surrender in British history.

1. ^ ^{a b c} Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ "Northern Territory Library | Summary of Roll of Honour". Ntlexhibit.nt.gov.au. 19 February 1942. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
3. ^ Takezo Uchikado and Katsuyoshi Tsuru were killed when their Val dive bomber crashed near Darwin. Hajime Toyoshima was taken prisoner when his Zero crashed on Bathurst Island. The Zero of Yoshio Egawa and the Val dive bomber of Takeshi Yamada and Kinji Funazaki, ditched upon returning to the carriers.
4. ^ "Bombing of Darwin: 70 years on – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 8 February 2016.
5. ^ "Bombing of Darwin". City of Darwin. 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
6. ^ "The bombing of Darwin – Fact sheet 195 – National Archives of Australia". Naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grose_2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Read More

 

20 February 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art museum in New York City

Not to be confused with the Museum of Modern Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met,^[a] is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million visitors in 2023, it is the most-visited museum in the United States and the fifth-most visited art museum in the world.^[6]

In 2000, its permanent collection had over two million works;^[1] it currently lists a total of 1.5 million works.^[7] The collection is divided into 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. The first portion of the approximately 2-million-square-foot (190,000 m²) building was built in 1880. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870, the museum was established by a group of American people, including philanthropists, artists, and businessmen, with the goal of creating a national institution that would inspire and educate the public.^[8] The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art ranging from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt, through classical antiquity to the contemporary world. It includes paintings, sculptures, and graphic works from many European Old Masters, as well as an extensive collection of American, modern, and contemporary art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and decorative arts and textiles, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

1. ^ ^{a b} "Metropolitan Museum Launches New and Expanded Web Site" Archived November 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, press release, The Met, January 25, 2000.
2. ^ "Today in Met History: April 13". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
3. ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art | About". www.artinfo.com. 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Met History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ The New York Times, March 24, 2024
6. ^ The New York Times, March 12, 2024, "Audience Snapshot; Four Years After Shutdown, a Mixed Recovery"
7. ^ "General Information". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
8. ^ "History of the Museum". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved December 7, 2024.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

21 February 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.

NASCAR

American automobile racing company

"Nascar racing" redirects here. For the 1994–2003 Papyrus video game series, see NASCAR Racing. For other NASCAR video game titles, see List of NASCAR video games.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing.^[1] It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in the world and is one of the largest spectator sports leagues in America. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948,^[2] and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018.^[3] The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.^[4] Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.

NASCAR, and stock car racing as a whole, traces its roots back to moonshine runners during Prohibition, who grew to compete against each other in a show of pride. This happened notably in North Carolina. In 1935, Bill France Sr. established races in Daytona Beach, with the hope that people would come to watch races and that racers would race for him, as other organizers tended to fleece the winners of their payouts. This was a success, and the series was founded in 1948. Races were held in several divisions, which eventually morphed into what is the "ladder:" the Cup Series at the top, the Xfinity Series second, and the Truck Series third, with smaller series spread out below. Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota compete in each series.

The vast majority of NASCAR drivers are American, but drivers from Canada, Mexico, Europe, and other places have competed. All Cup Series races are held across America. There are 36 points-paying races in a season, along with the pre-season Clash and mid-season All-Star race. NASCAR runs races primarily on ovals, including superspeedways, short tracks, and dirt tracks, but also road courses and street circuits.

Richard Petty holds the Cup Series wins record with 200. He is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for the championship record, with seven each. Entering the 2025 season, Joey Logano is the defending Cup Series champion.

1. ^ "History of Stock Car Racing". Stock Car Racing Collection at Belk Library. Appalachian State University. 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
2. ^ "History of NASCAR". NASCAR Media Group. August 17, 2010. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
3. ^ "Jim France assumes role of interim NASCAR Chairman, CEO | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. August 6, 2018. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
4. ^ "Racing FAQ, NASCAR Trivia and TECH Questions". Jayski LLC; owned and served by ESPN. February 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 4, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2009.

Read More

 

21 February 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.

NASCAR

American automobile racing company

"Nascar racing" redirects here. For the 1994–2003 Papyrus video game series, see NASCAR Racing. For other NASCAR video game titles, see List of NASCAR video games.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing.^[1] It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in the world and is one of the largest spectator sports leagues in America. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948,^[2] and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018.^[3] The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.^[4] Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.

NASCAR, and stock car racing as a whole, traces its roots back to moonshine runners during Prohibition, who grew to compete against each other in a show of pride. This happened notably in North Carolina. In 1935, Bill France Sr. established races in Daytona Beach, with the hope that people would come to watch races and that racers would race for him, as other organizers tended to fleece the winners of their payouts. This was a success, and the series was founded in 1948. Races were held in several divisions, which eventually morphed into what is the "ladder:" the Cup Series at the top, the Xfinity Series second, and the Truck Series third, with smaller series spread out below. Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota compete in each series.

The vast majority of NASCAR drivers are American, but drivers from Canada, Mexico, Europe, and other places have competed. All Cup Series races are held across America. There are 36 points-paying races in a season, along with the pre-season Clash and mid-season All-Star race. NASCAR runs races primarily on ovals, including superspeedways, short tracks, and dirt tracks, but also road courses and street circuits.

Richard Petty holds the Cup Series wins record with 200. He is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for the championship record, with seven each. Entering the 2025 season, Joey Logano is the defending Cup Series champion.

1. ^ "History of Stock Car Racing". Stock Car Racing Collection at Belk Library. Appalachian State University. 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
2. ^ "History of NASCAR". NASCAR Media Group. August 17, 2010. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
3. ^ "Jim France assumes role of interim NASCAR Chairman, CEO | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. August 6, 2018. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
4. ^ "Racing FAQ, NASCAR Trivia and TECH Questions". Jayski LLC; owned and served by ESPN. February 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 4, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2009.

Read More

 

22 February 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

Lee Petty

American racing driver (1914–2000)

NASCAR driver

Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000)^[2] was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He is the patriarch of the Petty racing family. He was one of the early pioneers of NASCAR and one of its first stars. He was NASCAR's first three-time Cup champion. He is the father of Richard Petty, who went on to become one of the most successful stock car racing drivers in history. He is also the grandfather of Kyle Petty and great grandfather of Adam Petty.^[3]

1. ^ Lee Petty Archived March 24, 2019, at the Wayback Machine at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
2. ^ White, Ben (2009). NASCAR Racers. Motorbooks. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-7603-3577-2. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
3. ^ McGee, Ryan (October 26, 2023). "Top-5s: 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Five greatest pre-Modern Era drivers". NASCAR. ESPN. Retrieved October 27, 2023.

Read More

 

23 February 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State, South Africa is declared.

Orange Free State

1854–1902 Boer republic in Southern Africa

This article is about the former Boer republic. For the former province of South Africa, see Orange Free State (province). For the current province of South Africa, see Free State (province).

The Orange Free State (Dutch: Oranje Vrijstaat [oːˈrɑɲə ˈvrɛistaːt]; Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat [uˈraɲə ˈfrəistɑːt]) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.^[2]

Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a British Resident based in Bloemfontein.^[3] Bloemfontein and the southern parts of the Sovereignty had previously been settled by Griqua and by Trekboere from the Cape Colony.

The Voortrekker Republic of Natalia, founded in 1837, administered the northern part of the territory through a landdrost based at Winburg. This northern area was later in federation with the Republic of Potchefstroom which eventually formed part of the South African Republic (Transvaal).^[3]

Following the granting of sovereignty to the Transvaal Republic, the British sought to drop their defensive and administrative responsibilities between the Orange and Vaal rivers, while local European residents wanted the British to remain. This led to the British recognising the independence of the Orange River Sovereignty and the country officially became independent as the Orange Free State on 23 February 1854, with the signing of the Orange River Convention. The new republic incorporated the Orange River Sovereignty and continued the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic.^[3]

The Orange Free State was annexed as the Orange River Colony in 1900. It ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Boer War. Following a period of direct rule by the British, it attained self-government in 1907 and joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 as the Orange Free State Province, along with the Cape Province, Natal, and the Transvaal.^[3] In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa.^[2]

The Republic's name derives partly from the Orange River, which was named by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, whose name in turn derived from its partial origins in the Principality of Orange in French Provence.^[4] The official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch.^[3]

1. ^ Sketch of the Orange Free State of South Africa. Bloemfontein: Orange Free State. Commission at the International Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876. 1876. p. 10. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Free State". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 November 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Cite error: The named reference eb1911-cite was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ "Introduction to the Orange River basin". Department of Water and Sanitation, South Africa. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.

Read More

 

24 February 1527 – Coronation of Ferdinand I as the king of Bohemia in Prague.

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor from 1556 to 1564

Not to be confused with Ferdinand I of Austria.

"Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria" redirects here. For the later ruler, see Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria.

Ferdinand I (10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.^[1][2] Before his accession as emperor, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the House of Habsburg in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Also, he often served as Charles' representative in the Holy Roman Empire and developed encouraging relationships with German princes. In addition, Ferdinand also developed valuable relationships with the German banking house of Jakob Fugger and the Catalan bank, Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana.

The key events during his reign were the conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which in the 1520s began a great advance into Central Europe, and the Protestant Reformation, which resulted in several wars of religion. Although not a military leader, Ferdinand was a capable organizer with institutional imagination who focused on building a centralized government for Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia instead of striving for universal monarchy.^[3][4] He reintroduced major innovations of his grandfather Maximilian I such as the Hofrat (court council) with a chancellery and a treasury attached to it (this time, the structure would last until the reform of Maria Theresa) and added innovations of his own such as the Raitkammer (collections office) and the Hofkriegsrat, conceived to counter the threat from the Ottoman Empire, while also successfully subduing the most radical of his rebellious Austrian subjects and turning the political class in Bohemia and Hungary into Habsburg partners.^[5][6] While he was able to introduce uniform models of administration, the governments of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary remained distinct though.^[7][8] His approach to Imperial problems, including governance, human relations and religious matters was generally flexible, moderate and tolerant.^[9][10][11] Ferdinand's motto was Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus: "Let justice be done, though the world perish".^[12]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

1. ^ "Ferdinand I | Holy Roman emperor". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
2. ^ Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabora Kraljevine Hrvatske 1527, Karlovačka Županija, 1997, Karslovac
3. ^ Pánek, Jaroslav; Tůma, Oldřich (15 April 2019). A History of the Czech Lands. Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-80-246-2227-9. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
4. ^ Fichtner, Paula Sutter (2017). The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848: Attributes of Empire. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-137-10642-1. Retrieved 13 December 2021.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. ^ Berenger, Jean; Simpson, C. A. (2014). A History of the Habsburg Empire 1273–1700. Routledge. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-317-89569-5. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
6. ^ Fichtner 2017, pp. 18, 19.
7. ^ Evans, R. J. W. (2006). Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Central Europe c. 1683–1867. OUP Oxford. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-19-928144-2. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
8. ^ Fichtner 2017, p. 19.
9. ^ Thomas, Alfred (2007). A Blessed Shore: England and Bohemia from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Cornell University Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-8014-4568-2. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
10. ^ Fichtner, Paula S. (1982). Ferdinand I of Austria: The Politics of Dynasticism in the Age of the Reformation. East European Monographs. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-914710-95-0. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
11. ^ Ingrao, Charles W. (1994). State and Society in Early Modern Austria. Purdue University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-55753-047-9. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
12. ^ Stone, Jon R. (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations: The Illiterati's Guide to Latin Maxims, Mottoes, Proverbs and Sayings (in Latin). Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0415969093.

Read More

 

25 February 1951 – The first Pan American Games are officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Perón.

Pan American Games

Multi-sport event of the Americas

The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, every four years, the year before Summer Olympics. It is the second-oldest continental games in the world. The only Winter Pan American Games were held in 1990. In 2021, the Junior Pan American Games was held for the first time specifically for young athletes.^[1][2][3][4] The Pan American Sports Organization is the governing body of the Pan American Games movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.^[5]

The most recent event was the XIX Pan American Games, held in Santiago from 20 October to 5 November 2023.^[6] The XX Pan American Games will be held in 2027. Since the XV Pan American Games in 2007, host cities are contracted to manage both the Pan American and Parapan American Games,^[5] in which athletes with physical disabilities compete with one another. The Parapan American Games are held immediately following the Pan American Games.

The Pan American Games Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees recognized by PASO, and organizing committees for each specific Pan American Games. As the decision-making body, PASO is responsible for choosing the host city for each Pan American Games. The host city is responsible for organizing and funding a celebration of the Games consistent with the Olympic Charter and rules. The Pan-Am Games program, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games, is determined by PASO. The celebration of the Games encompasses many rituals and symbols, such as the flag and torch, and the opening and closing ceremonies. Over 5,000 athletes compete at the Pan American Games in 36 sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively.^[7]

1. ^ "Monterrey busca sede para Juegos Panamericanos Jr" (in Spanish). Radio Centro Deportes. 17 January 2019. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
2. ^ "México muestra interés para Panamericanos Junior 2021" (in Spanish). Mexican Olympic Committee. 17 January 2019. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
3. ^ "Panam Sports organizará Panamericanos Júnior y sopesa Panamericanos de Playa". La Vanguardia. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
4. ^ "PANAM SPORTS BEGINS IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN". Pan American Sports Organization. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
5. ^ ^{a b} "Parapan American Games". Americas Paralympic committee. Archived from the original on 30 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
6. ^ "Panamupdates". Panamupdates. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference regulation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Read More

 

26 February 1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.

Galileo affair

17th century conflict between Galileo Galilei and the Roman Catholic Church

The Galileo affair (Italian: il processo a Galileo Galilei) began around 1610,^[1] and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for holding as true the doctrine of heliocentrism, the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the centre of the universe.

In 1610, Galileo published his Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger), describing the observations that he had made with his new, much stronger telescope, amongst them, the Galilean moons of Jupiter. With these observations and additional observations that followed, such as the phases of Venus, he promoted the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543. Galileo's opinions were met with opposition within the Catholic Church, and in 1616 the Inquisition declared heliocentrism to be "formally heretical". Galileo went on to propose a theory of tides in 1616, and of comets in 1619; he argued that the tides were evidence for the motion of the Earth.

In 1632, Galileo published his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which defended heliocentrism, and was immensely popular. Responding to mounting controversy over theology, astronomy and philosophy, the Roman Inquisition tried Galileo in 1633, found him "vehemently suspect of heresy", and sentenced him to house arrest where he remained until his death in 1642.^[2] At that point, heliocentric books were banned and Galileo was ordered to abstain from holding, teaching or defending heliocentric ideas after the trial.^[3]

The affair was complex since very early on Pope Urban VIII had been a patron to Galileo and had given him permission to publish on the Copernican theory as long as he treated it as a hypothesis, but after the publication in 1632, the patronage was broken off due to numerous reasons.^[4] Historians of science have corrected numerous false interpretations of the affair.^[2][5][6]

1. ^ Blackwell (1991, p. 2). Blackwell (1991, p. 50) dates the start of the Galileo affair to 1610. Finocchiaro (1989, p. 1) puts it a few years later, in 1613.
2. ^ ^{a b} Finocchiaro, Maurice A. (2014). "Introduction". The Trial of Galileo : Essential Documents. Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-1-62466-132-7. ..one of the most common myths widely held about the trial of Galileo, including several elements: that he "saw" the earth's motion (an observation still impossible to make even in the twenty-first century); that he was "imprisoned" by the Inquisition (whereas he was actually held under house arrest); and that his crime was to have discovered the truth. And since to condemn someone for this reason can result only from ignorance, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness, this is also the myth that alleges the incompatibility between science and religion.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference h218 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ "Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini) (1568–1644)". The Galileo Project. Rice University. Upon Barberini's ascendance of the papal throne, in 1623, Galileo came to Rome and had six interviews with the new Pope. It was at these meetings that Galileo was given permission to write about the Copernican theory, as long as he treated it as a hypothesis. After the publication of Galileo' s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, in 1632, the patronage relationship was broken. It appears that the Pope never forgave Galileo for putting the argument of God's omnipotence (the argument he himself had put to Galileo in 1623) in the mouth of Simplicio, the staunch Aristotelian whose arguments had been systematically destroyed in the previous 400-odd pages. At any rate, the Pope resisted all efforts to have Galileo pardoned.
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Speller2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ McMullin (2008)

Read More

 

27 February 1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

Reichstag fire

1933 arson attack in Berlin, Germany

The Reichstag fire (German: Reichstagsbrand, pronounced [ˈʁaɪçstaːksˌbʁant] ^ⓘ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was the culprit; the Nazis attributed the fire to a group of Communist agitators, used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists.^[1] This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

The first report of the fire came shortly after 9:00 p.m., when a Berlin fire station received an alarm call. By the time police and firefighters arrived, the structure was engulfed in flames. The police conducted a thorough search inside the building and found Van der Lubbe, who was arrested.

After the Fire Decree was issued, the police – now controlled by Hitler's Nazi Party – made mass arrests of communists, including all of the communist Reichstag delegates. This severely crippled communist participation in the 5 March elections. After the 5 March elections, the absence of the communists allowed the Nazi Party to expand their plurality in the Reichstag, greatly assisting the Nazi seizure of total power. On 9 March 1933 the Prussian state police arrested Bulgarians Georgi Dimitrov, Vasil Tanev, and Blagoy Popov, who were known Comintern operatives (though the police did not know it then, Dimitrov was head of all Comintern operations in Western Europe). Ernst Torgler, head of the Communist Party, had surrendered to police on 28 February.

Van der Lubbe and the four communists were the defendants in a trial that started in September 1933. It ended in the acquittal of the four communists and the conviction of Van der Lubbe, who was then executed.

The responsibility for the Reichstag fire remains a topic of debate and research, as while Van der Lubbe was found guilty, it is unclear whether he acted alone.^[2][3] While most historians accept that the Reichstag was set ablaze by Van der Lubbe, some view that the fire was a part of a Nazi plot to take power, a view which historian Richard J. Evans labels a conspiracy theory.^[4][5]

In 2008, Germany posthumously pardoned Van der Lubbe under a law introduced in 1998 to lift unjust verdicts dating from the Nazi era.

1. ^ Holborn, Hajo (1972). Republic to Reich: The Making of the Nazi Revolution; Ten Essays. Pantheon Books. p. 182. ISBN 978-0394471228.
2. ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (10 June 2013). "The Reichstag Fire". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Washington, DC: Author. OCLC 57926366. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
3. ^ DW Staff (27 February 2008). "75 Years Ago, Reichstag Fire Sped Hitler's Power Grab". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
4. ^ Evans, Richard J. (8 May 2014). "The conspiracists". London Review of Books. Vol. 36, no. 9. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
5. ^ Evans, Richard J. (2020). The Hitler Conspiracies The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination (Ebook ed.). Penguin Books Limited. pp. 59, 64, 65, 66, 75, 77, 78. ISBN 9780241413470.

Read More

 

28 February 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Cuauhtémoc

Eleventh and final Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan

For other uses, see Cuauhtémoc (disambiguation).

Cuauhtémoc (Nahuatl pronunciation: [kʷaːʍˈtemoːk] ^ⓘ, Spanish pronunciation: [kwawˈtemok] ^ⓘ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor.^[1] The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", and is commonly rendered in English as "Descending Eagle", as in the moment when an eagle folds its wings and plummets down to strike its prey; the name thus implies aggressiveness and determination.

Cuauhtémoc took power in 1520 as successor of Cuitláhuac and was a cousin of the late emperor Moctezuma II. His young wife, who was later known as Isabel Moctezuma, was one of Moctezuma's daughters. He ascended to the throne when he was around 25 years old, while Tenochtitlan was being besieged by the Spanish and devastated by an epidemic of smallpox brought to the Americas by Spanish conquerors. After the killings in the Great Temple, there were probably few Aztec captains available to take the position.

1. ^ "Aztec Political Structure". Tarlton Law Library. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2020.

Read More

 

1 March 1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.

Napoleon

Emperor of the French (r. 1804–1814, 1815)

"Napoleon Bonaparte" redirects here. For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation) and Napoleon Bonaparte (disambiguation).

Battles of Napoleon

1000km
620miles

Rochefort

18

Waterloo

17

Elba

16

Dizier

15

Leipzig

14

Berezina

13

Borodino

12

Wagram

11

Somosierra

10

Friedland

9

Jena

8

Austerlitz

7

Marengo

6

Cairo

5

Malta

4

Arcole

3

Paris

2

Toulon

1

  

Rescale the fullscreen map to see Saint Helena.

Napoleon Bonaparte^[b] (born Napoleone Buonaparte;^[1][c] 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813.

Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789, and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies in the War of the First Coalition, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power. In November 1799, Napoleon engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the Directory, and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, which secured France's victory in the War of the Second Coalition, and in 1803 sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States. In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power.

The breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens led to the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806, marched his Grande Armée into Eastern Europe, and defeated the Russians in 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. Seeking to extend his trade embargo against Britain, Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain in 1808, provoking the Peninsular War. In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition, in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the Battle of Wagram. In summer 1812, he launched an invasion of Russia, briefly occupying Moscow before conducting a catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power. Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on a brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51.

Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history and Napoleonic tactics are still studied at military schools worldwide. His legacy endures through the modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the Napoleonic Code. He established a system of public education,^[2] abolished the vestiges of feudalism,^[3] emancipated Jews and other religious minorities,^[4] abolished the Spanish Inquisition,^[5] enacted the principle of equality before the law for an emerging middle class,^[6] and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities.^[7] His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation states. However, he is controversial due to his role in wars which devastated Europe, his looting of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies except for Haiti, banned the entry of blacks and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility,^[8][9][10] and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.^[11]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

1. ^ Dwyer (2008a), p. xv.
2. ^ Grab (2003), p. 56.
3. ^ Broers, M.; Hicks, P.; Guimera, A. (10 October 2012). The Napoleonic Empire and the New European Political Culture. Springer. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-137-27139-6. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
4. ^ Conner (2004), pp. 38–40.
5. ^ Pérez, Joseph (2005). The Spanish Inquisition: A History. Yale University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-300-11982-4. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
6. ^ Fremont-Barnes & Fisher (2004), p. 336.
7. ^ Grab (2017), pp. 204–211.
8. ^ Dwyer (2015a), pp. 574–76, 582–84.
9. ^ Conner (2004), pp. 32–34, 50–51.
10. ^ Bell (2015), p. 52.
11. ^ Repa, Jan (2 December 2005). "Furore over Austerlitz ceremony". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.

Read More

 

2 March 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.

Texas Declaration of Independence

1836 proclamation of Texan independence from Mexico

The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and was formally signed the next day after mistakes were noted in the text.

Read More

 

3 March 1923 – US magazine Time publishes its first issue

Time (magazine)

American news magazine and website

"TIME" redirects here. For time as a measure, see Time. For other uses, see Time (disambiguation). Not to be confused with The Times.

Time (stylized in all caps as TIME) is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week.^[2][3] It was first published in New York City on March 3, 1923, and for many years it was run by its influential co-founder, Henry Luce.

A European edition (Time Europe, formerly known as Time Atlantic) is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa, and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (Time Asia) is based in Hong Kong.^[4] The South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney.

Since 2018, Time has been owned by Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, who acquired it from Meredith Corporation. Benioff currently publishes the magazine through the company Time USA, LLC.

1. ^ "Consumer Magazines". Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
2. ^ "Covers from 2020". Time. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
3. ^ "On This Day: Time magazine publishes for first time". UPI. March 3, 2023. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
4. ^ "Time Asia (Hong Kong) Limited – Buying Office, Service Company, Distributor from Hong Kong". HKTDC. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2020.

Read More

 

4 March 1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.

Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

1795 amendment restricting ability to sue states in federal courts

The Eleventh Amendment (Amendment XI) is an amendment to the United States Constitution which was passed by Congress on March 4, 1794, and ratified by the states on February 7, 1795. The Eleventh Amendment restricts the ability of individuals to bring suit against states of which they are not citizens in federal court.

The Eleventh Amendment was adopted to overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793). In that case, the Court held that states did not enjoy sovereign immunity from suits made by citizens of other states in federal court. Although the Eleventh Amendment established that federal courts do not have the authority to hear cases brought by private parties against a state of which they are not citizens, the Supreme Court has ruled the amendment applies to all federal suits against states brought by private parties. The Supreme Court has also held that Congress can abrogate state sovereign immunity when using its authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Other recent cases (Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey) have identified further exceptions to the general sovereign immunity of states when Congress acts pursuant to its Article I powers, which have alternatively been referred to as "waivers in the plan of the Convention". The Supreme Court has also held that federal courts can enjoin state officials from violating federal law.

Read More

 

5 March 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

1543 book by Copernicus describing his heliocentric theory of the universe

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (English translation: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book, first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire, offered an alternative model of the universe to Ptolemy's geocentric system, which had been widely accepted since ancient times.

Read More

 

6 March 1323 – Treaty of Paris of 1323 is signed

Treaty of Paris (1323)

Agreement resolving disputes between the counties of Zeeland and Flanders

For other treaties of Paris, see Treaty of Paris (disambiguation).

The Treaty of Paris was signed on March 6, 1323. It established clarity over the following: Count Louis I of Flanders relinquished Flemish claims over the County of Zeeland and acknowledged the Count of Holland, William I, as the Count of Zeeland. William, in turn, agreed to renounce all claims on Flanders.^[1]

1. ^ Edmundson, George (1911). "Flanders" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 478–480, see page 480. Under Louis of Never.....&....a treaty signed on the 6th of March 1323, by which West Zeeland was assigned to the count of Holland, the rest to the count of Flanders....

Read More

 

7 March 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the "telephone".

Alexander Graham Bell

Canadian-American inventor of telephone (1847–1922)

This article is about the inventor of the telephone. For the song about him, see The Sweet.

Alexander Graham Bell (/ˈɡreɪ.əm/; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922)^[4] was a Scottish-born^{[N 1]} Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.^[7]

Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.^[8] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices, which eventually culminated in his being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876.^{[N 2]} Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.^{[9][N 3]}

Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society^[11] and its magazine while serving as its second president from 1898 to 1903.

Beyond his work in engineering, Bell had a deep interest in the emerging science of heredity.^[12] His work in this area has been called "the soundest, and most useful study of human heredity proposed in nineteenth-century America... Bell's most notable contribution to basic science, as distinct from invention."^[13]

1. ^ Boileau, John (2004). Fastest in the World: The Saga of Canada's Revolutionary Hydrofoils. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Formac Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-88780-621-6.
2. ^ [Is the following a quote from the source referenced?:] While Bell worked in many scientific, technical, professional and social capacities throughout his life he would remain fondest of his earliest vocation. To the end of his days, when discussing himself, Bell would always add with pride "I am a teacher of the deaf".^[1]
3. ^ "Particle Physics Resurrects Alexander Graham Bell's Voice". IEEE Spectrum. April 30, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
4. ^ "The Bell Family". Bell Homestead National Historic Site. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
5. ^ Gray 2006, p. 228.
6. ^ Reville, F. Douglas (1920). History of the County of Brant: Illustrated With Fifty Half-Tones Taken From Miniatures And Photographs (PDF). Brantford, Ontario: Brantford Historical Society & Hurley Printing. p. 319. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
7. ^ Bruce 1990, p. 291.
8. ^ Bruce, Robert V. (1990). Bell: Alexander Bell and the Conquest of Solitude. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 419. ISBN 978-0-8014-9691-2.
9. ^ MacLeod, Elizabeth (1999). Alexander Graham Bell: An Inventive Life. Toronto, Ontario: Kids Can Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-55074-456-9.
10. ^ Bell, Mabel (October 1922). "Dr. Bell's Appreciation of the Telephone Service". Bell Telephone Quarterly. 1 (3): 65. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
11. ^ Howley, Andrew (May 26, 2011). "NGS Celebrates 23rd Founders Day". NGS. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016. Though he wasn't one of the original 33 founders, Bell had a major influence on the Society.
12. ^ Stansfield, W. D. (January 1, 2005). "The Bell Family Legacies". Journal of Heredity. 96 (1): 1–3. doi:10.1093/jhered/esi007. ISSN 0022-1503. PMID 15618310.
13. ^ Cite error: The named reference bruce1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=N> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=N}} template (see the help page).

Read More

 

8 March 1950 – The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 "Bus" begins production.

Volkswagen Type 2

Volkswagen panel van

"VW Van" redirects here. For the song by Jake Owen, see American Love.

"Splitscreen" (all one word) redirects here. For other uses, see split screen.

Motor vehicle

The Volkswagen Transporter, initially the Type 2,^[2] is a range of light commercial vehicles, built as vans, pickups, and cab-and-chassis variants, introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as their second mass-production light motor vehicle series, and inspired by an idea and request from then-Netherlands-VW-importer Ben Pon.

Known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus^{[citation needed]} – or informally as the Volkswagen Station Wagon^[3] (US), Bus^[3] (also US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), it was initially given the factory designation 'Type 2', as it followed – and was for decades based on – the original 'Volkswagen' ("People's Car"), which became the VW factory's 'Type 1' after the post-war reboot, and mostly known, in many languages, as the "Beetle".^[4]

The Volkswagen Transporter has been built in many variants. It may be best known for its panel vans, but it was also built as a small bus or minivan, with choices of up to 23 windows and either hinged or sliding side doors. From the first generation, both regular and crew-cab, as well as long- and short-bed pickups, were made, and multiple firms sprang up to manufacture varying designs of camper vans, based on VW's Transporter models, to this day.

For the first 40 years, all VW Type 2 variants were forward control, with a VW-Beetle-derived flat-four engine in the rear, and all riding on the same (initial thirty years – T1 and T2), or similar (T3),^[5] 2.40 m (94 in) wheelbase as the Type 1 Beetle. As a result, all forward-control Type 2 pickups were either of standard-cab, long-bed or crew-cab, short-bed configuration, and because of the relatively high bed floor (above the rear, flat engine), most pickups came with drop sides in addition to the tailgate. In 1979, the third-generation Type 2 introduced an all-new, more square and boxy body, and in the 1980s also introduced a raised four-wheel-drive bus variant.

From the introduction of the fourth-generation Transporter in 1990, the vehicle layout changed to a more common front-engined one – no longer forward-control – and also changed from rear- to front-wheel drive, with four-wheel–drive remaining optional. From then on, the platform no longer shared technological legacy with the Beetle, and Volkswagen just called them 'Transporter', and no longer 'Type 2'. The new models, though growing a bit in length, got a significantly longer wheelbase that pushed the wheels closer to the truck's corners, noticeably reducing its front and rear overhangs, and extended-wheelbase models were also introduced.

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Walters, p.46 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Volkswagen definitively dropped the 'Type 2' designation for the Transporters after the third of six generations.
3. ^ ^{a b} Murilee Martin (15 April 2019). "1966: Early Volkswagen Bus makes a great restaurant". Autoweek. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
4. ^ "History of the Volkswagen bus". Brinse.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
5. ^ The Transporter T3 of the 1980s, introduced in 1979, had a marginally longer wheelbase, but continued the same pattern for another decade.

Read More

 

9 March 1776 – The Wealth of Nations by Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith is published

The Wealth of Nations

1776 work on economics by Adam Smith

This article is about the book by Adam Smith. For data on the monetary wealth of countries, see List of countries by total wealth.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. Published in 1776, the book offers one of the first accounts of what builds nations' wealth. It has become a fundamental work in classical economics, and has been described as "the first formulation of a comprehensive system of political economy".^[1] Reflecting upon economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Smith addresses topics such as the division of labour, productivity, and free markets.^[2][3]

1. ^ "The Wealth of Nations | Summary, Themes, Significance, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 3 August 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
2. ^ O'Rourke, P. J. (2006). On The Wealth of Nations. Books That Changed the World. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 978-0871139498.
3. ^ Smith, Matthew (2023). "Adam Smith on Growth and Economic Development". History of Economics Review. 86 (1): 2–15. doi:10.1080/10370196.2023.2243741.

Read More

 

10 March 1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.

Rings of Uranus

The rings of Uranus consists of 13 planetary rings. They are intermediate in complexity between the more extensive set around Saturn and the simpler systems around Jupiter and Neptune. The rings of Uranus were discovered on March 10, 1977, by James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Jessica Mink. William Herschel had also reported observing rings in 1789; modern astronomers are divided on whether he could have seen them, as they are very dark and faint.^[1]

By 1977, nine distinct rings were identified. Two additional rings were discovered in 1986 in images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, and two outer rings were found in 2003–2005 in Hubble Space Telescope photos. In the order of increasing distance from the planet the 13 known rings are designated 1986U2R/ζ, 6, 5, 4, α, β, η, γ, δ, λ, ε, ν and μ. Their radii range from about 38,000 km for the 1986U2R/ζ ring to about 98,000 km for the μ ring. Additional faint dust bands and incomplete arcs may exist between the main rings. The rings are extremely dark—the Bond albedo of the rings' particles does not exceed 2%. They are probably composed of water ice with the addition of some dark radiation-processed organics.

The majority of Uranus' rings are opaque and only a few kilometres wide. The ring system contains little dust overall; it consists mostly of large bodies 20 cm to 20 m in diameter. Some rings are optically thin: the broad and faint 1986U2R/ζ, μ and ν rings are made of small dust particles, while the narrow and faint λ ring also contains larger bodies. The relative lack of dust in the ring system may be due to aerodynamic drag from the extended Uranian exosphere.

The rings of Uranus are thought to be relatively young, and not more than 600 million years old. The Uranian ring system probably originated from the collisional fragmentation of several moons that once existed around the planet. After colliding, the moons probably broke up into many particles, which survived as narrow and optically dense rings only in strictly confined zones of maximum stability.

The mechanism that confines the narrow rings is not well understood. Initially it was assumed that every narrow ring had a pair of nearby shepherd moons corralling it into shape. In 1986 Voyager 2 discovered only one such shepherd pair (Cordelia and Ophelia) around the brightest ring (ε), though the faint ν would later be discovered shepherded between Portia and Rosalind.^[2]

1. ^ Rincon, Paul (Apr 18, 2007). "Uranus rings 'were seen in 1700s'". BBC News. Retrieved 23 January 2012.(re study by Stuart Eves)
2. ^ Filacchione, G.; Ciarniello, M. (2021). "Uranus and Neptune - Rings" (PDF). In Alderton, D.; Elias, S. A. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Geology (2nd ed.). Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.11942-6. hdl:20.500.12386/30481. ISBN 978-0-08-102909-1.

Read More

 

11 March 1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time

The Daily Courant

First British daily newspaper

Not to be confused with The Daily Currant, the global satirical newspaper.

The Daily Courant, initially published on  [O.S. 11 March] 1702, was the first British daily newspaper. It was produced by Elizabeth Mallet at her premises next to the King's Arms tavern at Fleet Bridge in London.^[1] The newspaper consisted of a single page, with advertisements on the reverse side.^[2] Mallet advertised that she intended to publish only foreign news and would not add any comments of her own, supposing her readers to have "sense enough to make reflections for themselves".^[3]

A 'courant', in this context, is derived from the Scottish dialect of the English language and refers to a newspaper or newsletter.^[4]

After only forty days Mallet sold The Daily Courant to Samuel Buckley, who moved it to premises in the area of Little Britain in London, at "the sign of the Dolphin". Buckley later became the publisher of The Spectator.^[5] The Daily Courant lasted until 1735, when it was merged with the Daily Gazetteer.^[6]

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ODNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Williams (2009), p. 54
3. ^ Pagan, Anna M. "What's The News; The Age Of Addison". Ourcivilisation.com. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
4. ^ "Definition of 'courant'". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
5. ^ Andrews (2000), p. 100
6. ^ Andrews (2000), p. 101

Read More