Events

• 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.
• 1387 - King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
• 1538 - Treaty of Nagyvarad between Ferdinand I and John Zápolya.
• 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
• 1607 - L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, premieres.
• 1711 - The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
• 1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
• 1803 - The Supreme Court of the United States, in Marbury v. Madison, establishes the principle of judicial review.
• 1804 - London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
• 1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
• 1831 - The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
• 1839 - William Otis receives a patent for the steam shovel.
• 1848 - King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
• 1863 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
• 1868 - The first parade to have floats is staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
• 1875 - The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives.
• 1881 - China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
• 1893 - The American University is chartered by an act of the Congress of the United States of America.
• 1895 - Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the second war for Cuban independence, which ended with the Spanish-American War in 1898.
• 1899 - Western Washington University is established.
• 1909 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
• 1917 - World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.
• 1918 - Estonian Declaration of Independence.
• 1920 - The Nazi Party is founded.
• 1925 - A thermite (magnesium) bomb is used for the first time to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam clogging the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, New York.
• 1938 - A nylon-bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product (DuPont) to
• 1942 - The "Battle of Los Angeles" takes place, lasting until the next day.
• 1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
• 1970 - National Public Radio is founded in the United States.
• 1971 - The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, was killed 3 days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar appointed as the new chairman.
• 1976 - Cuba : national Constitution proclaimed.
• 1981 - Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
• 1981 - An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.
• 1983 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
• 1989 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
• 1989 - United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
• 1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
• 1996 - The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1999 - The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him.
• 1999 - A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People's Republic of China, killing 61.
• 2006 - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
• 2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.

Births