Historical Events on 15 Feb

Historical Events on 15 Feb

1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1764 - The city of St. Louis, Missouri is established.
1805 - Harmony Society is officially formed.
1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits its first patient.
1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
1879 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
1891 - AIK is founded at Biblioteksgatan 8 in Stockholm by Isidor Behrens.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
1906 - The British Labour Party is organised.
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is founded.
1933 - In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
1942 - World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led militar
1944 - World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.
1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.
1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
1952 - King George VI is buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
1953 - Seventeen-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.
1961 - Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, with the entire US Figure Skating team, several coaches and family.
1965 - A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
1970 - A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.
1971 - Decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
1972 - Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
1976 - The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by the national referendum.
1980 - Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time.
1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
1991 - The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
1993 - Katie Elizabeth Hillyard was born, famous English young composer of the year 2007.England
1995 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems.
1996 - Mortar attack on the US Embassy in Athens, Greece.
1996 - At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.
1999 - Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party, widely recognized as terrorist organization), was arrested in Kenya.
2000 - Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York State vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.
2001 - First draft of the complete Human Genome is published in Nature
2002 - At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find uncremated bodies disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
2003 - Protests against the Iraq war occur in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people took part, making this the largest peace demonstration in the history of the world.
2005 - YouTube, the popular Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States.
590 - Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia