February 29

On This Day In History
	1992: Voting begun on Bosnian independence Beginning this day in 1992, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina held a referendum on independence that won almost unanimous support, and on March 3 independence was proclaimed, prompting shelling by Serbian forces.
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–98).
Biography Of The Day
	Balthus In the midst of 20th-century avant-gardism, French painter Balthus, born this day in 1908, hewed to the figurative and, inspired by painters such as Nicolas Poussin, painted still lifes, landscapes, and portraits.
The Street, oil on canvas by Balthus, 1933; in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
More Events On This Day In History
1920	1920 A new, democratic constitution was adopted by the National Assembly elected by Czech and Slovak leaders, furthering the consolidation of the two states into Czechoslovakia.
	1904 Jimmy Dorsey, whose orchestra was one of the most popular big bands of the swing era in the United States, was born.
1768	1768 The Confederation of Bar was organized to defend the privileges of the Roman Catholic Church and the independence of Poland against Russian encroachment.
1736	1736 Ann Lee ("Mother Ann"), the religious leader who brought the Shaker sect from England to the American colonies, was born in Manchester, England.
1704	1704 The town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was razed in the bloodiest battle of Queen Anne's War.

February 28

On This Day In History
	1986: Olof Palme assassinated Olof Palme, the internationally prominent prime minister of Sweden (1969–76, 1982–86) whose strong pacifist beliefs included opposition to the Vietnam War, was assassinated this day in Stockholm in 1986.
Olof Palme, 1985
Biography Of The Day
	Frank O. Gehry American architect and designer Frank O. Gehry—renowned worldwide for his original, sculptural, and often audacious work, including the curvaceous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain—was born in Toronto this day in 1929.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank Gehry, completed 1997
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1942	1942 During World War II, Japanese troops landed on the island of Java, which they occupied until 1945.
	1922 Egypt was declared an independent country.
1906	1906 American gangster Bugsy Siegel was born in Brooklyn, New York.
	1901 American chemist Linus Pauling, who received two Nobel Prizes, one for Chemistry in 1954 and another for Peace in 1962 (for efforts to control the spread of nuclear weaponry), was born.
	1827 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first steam-operated railway in the United States to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers.

February 27

On This Day In History
	1991: U.S. victory declared in Persian Gulf War On this day in 1991, U.S. President George Bush ordered a cease-fire effective at midnight and declared victory in the Persian Gulf War, a conflict triggered by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990.
Remains of an Iraqi convoy near Kuwait city, Kuwait, during the Persian Gulf War
Biography Of The Day
	Constantine I Thought to have been born this day after AD 280, Constantine I, the first Roman emperor to profess Christianity, sparked the empire's evolution into a Christian state and catalyzed a distinctively Christian culture.
Marble colossal head 2.41 metres (7.9 feet) high of Constantine the Great
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1973	1973 Two hundred members of the American Indian Movement forcefully took the reservation hamlet of Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
	1967 Saint Kitts and Nevis (with Anguilla) became an independent state associated with the United Kingdom.
1933	1933 In Berlin the Reichstag (parliament) building caught fire, a key event in the establishment of Nazi dictatorship.
1884	1884 Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, signed a treaty in London that disavowed British authority over the Transvaal.
	1807 American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Massachusetts (now in Maine).
1776	1776 At the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolinian revolutionaries defeated loyalists during the American Revolution.

February 26

On This Day In History
	1815: Napoleon's escape from Elba Forced to abdicate as French emperor in 1814, Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba this day in 1815 and, gathering support en route, retook power on his return to Paris on March 20, ushering in the Hundred Days.
Napoleon in His Study by Jacques-Louis David, 1812; in the National Gallery of Art
Biography Of The Day
	Johnny Cash Born this day in 1932, singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, known to his fans as the "Man in Black" and a member of the Country Music and Rock and Roll halls of fame, broadened the scope of American country and western music.
Johnny Cash
More Events On This Day In History
1993	1993 The World Trade Center in New York City was bombed in an act of terrorism, Islamic radicals being later convicted for the crime.
	1951 American novelist James Jones published From Here to Eternity, about the U.S. Army in Hawaii before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
	1919 The U.S. Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in northwestern Arizona.
1885	1885 The Berlin West Africa Conference concluded, the major European countries having staked claims to their colonial expansions in Central Africa.
	1802 Victor Hugo, a poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers, was born.

February 25

On This Day In History
	1986: Ousting of Marcos in Philippines On this day in 1986, Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, under pressure from the United States, fled his country for Hawaii after a fraudulent electoral victory over Corazon Aquino, who replaced him as president.
Corazon Aquino
Biography Of The Day
	Pierre-Auguste Renoir French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, born this day in 1841, was initially associated with Impressionism, but in the 1880s his early works of sparkling colour and light gave way to a more disciplined, formal technique.
Le Moulin de la galette, oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876
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	1990 In Nicaragua, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of the U.S.-financed National Opposition Union achieved an upset victory over the incumbent president, Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
	1964 American boxer Muhammad Ali, known at the time as Cassius Clay, became the world heavyweight champion by knocking out Sonny Liston in seven rounds.
	1956 The Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union came to a close after First Secretary Nikita S. Khrushchev delivered a secret speech denouncing the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
1948	1948 The communists seized control of the government of Czechoslovakia.
1570	1570 As pope, Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England from the Roman Catholic Church.

February 24

On This Day In History
	1868: U.S. President Andrew Johnson impeached On this day in 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 126–47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson, whose lenient Reconstruction policies regarding the South after the Civil War angered Radical Republicans in Congress.
Andrew Johnson
Biography Of The Day
	Charles V Born this day in 1500, Charles V, who reigned as Holy Roman emperor, king of Spain, and archduke of Austria, long struggled to preserve a Spanish and Habsburg empire that reached across Europe to Spanish America.
Charles V, oil on canvas by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), c. 1548; in the Alte Pinakothek
More Events On This Day In History
1991	1991 U.S. ground operations began in the Persian Gulf War, more than a month after an air war was launched against Iraq to free Iraqi-occupied Kuwait.
	1976 The regime of Fidel Castro adopted the constitution of Cuba, which mandated the operation of only one political party—the Communist Party of Cuba.
1942	1942 The Voice of America made its first broadcast, in German, to counter the propaganda of Nazi leaders.
1848	1848 The antimonarchal Revolutions of 1848 reached France, the one nation where the insurgency was successful.
1821	1821 Agustín de Iturbide made an appeal for an independent Mexico in the Iguala Plan.
1803	1803 In Marbury v. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, thus establishing the doctrine of judicial review.
	1739 The Battle of Karnal pitted the invading forces of Nadir Shah of Iran against Muhammad Shah, Mughal emperor of India.
1525	1525 The forces of the Habsburg emperor Charles V annihilated the army of Francis I of France at the Battle of Pavia.

February 23

On This Day In History
	1836: Alamo besieged by Santa Anna's Mexican army This day in 1836, during the Texas war for independence, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna began a siege of the Alamo, which was captured after 13 days and which became for Texans a symbol of heroic resistance.
The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas
Biography Of The Day
	W.E.B. Du Bois Born this day in 1868, W.E.B. Du Bois was the most important African American protest leader during the first half of the 20th century, helping to create the NAACP in 1909 and editing The Crisis, its magazine, for 24 years.
W.E.B. Du Bois
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	1945 Six U.S. servicemen raised the American flag over Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.
1945	1905 The first Rotary Club was founded by Chicago attorney Paul P. Harris.
	1870 Mississippi was readmitted to the United States following the American Civil War.
1822	1822 Boston was granted a charter to become a city.
	1685 English composer George Frideric Handel, a leading figure of late Baroque music, was born.

February 22

On This Day In History
	1997: Cloning of Dolly On this day in 1997, a team of British scientists working under the direction of Ian Wilmut at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh announced the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first clone of an adult mammal.
Ian Wilmut with Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal
Biography Of The Day
	George Washington Called the "Father of His Country," George Washington, general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and first president of the United States (1789–97), was born this day in 1732
George Washington, oil painting by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1796; in the White House
More Events On This Day In History
	1980 During the 1980 Winter Olympics, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the U.S. ice hockey team defeated the favoured Soviet team in one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Olympic Games.
	1932 The Purple Heart, a U.S. military decoration originally instituted by George Washington in 1782 to honour bravery in battle, was revived as an award for those wounded or killed in action against an enemy.
	1847 U.S. General Zachary Taylor led troops against a Mexican force commanded by General Antonio López de Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista.
1680	1680 Catherine Deshayes, Madame Monvoisin—known as "La Voisin"—was executed in Paris for her involvement in the Affair of the Poisons.
	896 Arnulf was crowned Holy Roman emperor by Pope Formosus, who declared the previous emperor, Lambert, deposed.

February 21

On This Day In History
	1965: Malcolm X assassinated Malcolm X, who articulated concepts of racial pride and black nationalism in the United States, was assassinated this day in 1965 and became an ideological hero after the posthumous release of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Malcolm X
Biography Of The Day
	Robert Mugabe Robert Mugabe, born this day in 1924, was the first prime minister (1980–87) of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), its president from 1987, and a black nationalist of Marxist persuasion who established one-party rule.
Robert Mugabe
More Events On This Day In History
	1972 U.S. President Richard M. Nixon paid a state visit to the People's Republic of China, ending a 21-year estrangement between the communist country and the United States.
1925	1925 The American weekly magazine The New Yorker began publication under Harold W. Ross.
	1921 Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi) overthrew the Qajar dynasty in Iran.
	1916 The Battle of Verdun, one of the most devastating engagements of World War I, began.
	1907 W.H. Auden, one of the foremost English-language poets of his era, was born.
	1885 The Washington Monument was dedicated on the grounds of the Mall in Washington, D.C.
	1876 Abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi was born in Romania.
1836	1836 French opera and ballet composer Léo Delibes was born in Saint-Germain-du-Val.

February 20

On This Day In History
	1962: John Glenn's orbit of Earth John H. Glenn, Jr., the oldest of seven astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury spaceflight training (and later a U.S. senator), became on this day in 1962 the first American to orbit Earth, doing so three times.
Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., entering Friendship 7 to begin
Biography Of The Day
	Honoré Daumier French artist Honoré Daumier, born this day or February 26 in 1808, was renowned for his cartoons and drawings satirizing French society, and his paintings helped introduce Impressionist techniques into modern art.
The Third-Class Carriage, oil on canvas by Honoré Daumier
More Events On This Day In History
	1986 The Soviet Union launched the core module of the space station Mir.
1976	1976 The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization held its final exercise in Manila (and formally ended on June 30, 1977).
1943	1943 The volcano Parícutin in Michoacán, Mexico, erupted, eventually burying two villages.
1929	1929 The U.S. Congress formally accepted the deeds of cession of eastern Samoa, forming American Samoa.
1909	1909 Italian author Filippo Tommaso Marinetti coined the term Futurism in the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro.

February 19

On This Day In History
	1945: Iwo Jima invaded by U.S. Marines On this day in 1945, during the final phases of World War II, U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima so as to wrest control of the strategically important island from the Japanese, who put up fierce resistance in the ensuing battle.
U.S. Marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945.
Biography Of The Day
	Nicolaus Copernicus Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, born this day in 1473, reintroduced the heliocentric system, proposing that the Earth, like the other planets, revolves around the Sun and that it turns once daily on its axis.
Copernicus, coloured engraving, 17th century
More Events On This Day In History
	1997 Deng Xiaoping, who introduced economic reforms to China in 1978, died in Beijing.
	1942 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order allowing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
1881	1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to include the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in its state constitution.
	1878 American inventor Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.