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February 14: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – February 14 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 14th Feb 1014: Pope Benedict VIII on crowned Henry II as the Roman-German Emperor.
2. 14th Feb 1076: Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was on this day excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII.
3. 14th Feb 1540: Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without any resistance and executes rebels.
4. 14th Feb 1630: The Dutch Fleet consisting of 69 ships on this day reached Pernambuco in Brazil.
5. 14th Feb 1663: Canada was on this day made the Royal Province of France.
6. 14th Feb 1670: Jews were chased out of Vienna by the Roman Catholic Emperor Leopold I.
18th Century – What Happened on February 14 – The 1700s
7. 14th Feb 1743: Henry Pelham became the First Lord of Treasury on this day.
8. 14th Feb 1747: Astronomer James Bradley on this day presented before the Royal Society London his discovery of the wobbling motion of Earth on its axis.
9. 14th Feb 1766: The treaty of Batticaloa was signed between King Keerthisiri Rajasighe of Kandy and Dutch governor Flack on this day.
10. 14th Feb 1778: The United States Flag was on this day formally and officially recognized when it was given a nine-gun salute as a foreign national vessel when the ship USS Ranger, flying the US flag arrived in France.
11. 14th Feb 1794: James Davenport of Philadelphia was on this day granted a patent for the first textile machinery.
12. 14th Feb 1797: Near St. Vincent in Portugal the British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jarvis defeated a larger Spanish fleet.
19th Century – February 14 This Day That Year – The 1800s
13. 14th Feb 1803: Moses Coats patented the “apple parer” in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
14. 14th Feb 1803: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on this day declared that any act of the Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void.
15. 14th Feb 1849: The eleventh President of America James Knox Polk was the first US serving president to have his photograph taken by Mathew Brady.
16. 14th Feb 1855: With the completion of the connection between New Orleans and Marshall in Texas, Texas on this day got connected with the rest of the United States.
17. 14th Feb 1859: Oregon on this day was admitted as the 33rd state of the Union.
18. 14th Feb 1862: The first ironclad warship of the US “Galena” was on this day launched into service at sea at Connecticut.
19. 14th Feb 1867: The first insurance policy was issued on this day by the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company.
20. 14th Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Grey go head to head in court applying for a patent for a telephone. The Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of Alexander Graham Bell.
21. 14th Feb 1883: The first labor union legislation was passed on this day. New Jersey legalizes labor unions.
22. 14th Feb 1899: The mechanical voting machine on this day was legalized in the U.S.A. by President McKinley.
23. 14th Feb 1899: The US Congress started using the voting machine from this day.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day February 14th – The 1900s
24. 14th Feb 1900: In response to International pressure Russia frees Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
25. 14th Feb 1903: This day marks the formation of the US Department of Commerce and Labor.
26. 14th Feb 1912: The first US submarines with diesel engines were commissioned on this day.
27. 14th Feb 1914: The High Council of Labor was formed today at Hague in the Netherlands.
28. 14th Feb 1918: The U.S.S.R. on this day adopted the Gregorian calendar.
29. 14th Feb 1920: The League of Women Voters was on this day formed during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago.
30. 14th Feb 1921: The 5-cent nickel coin of Canada was on this day authorized.
31. 14th Feb 1924: Thomas Watson on this day founded the IBM Corporation.
32. 14th Feb 1929: Sir Alexander Fleming on this day discovered Penicillin. He had left a plate of Staphylococcus bacteria uncovered. He noticed that a mold that had fallen on the culture killed many of the bacteria.
33. 14th Feb 1929: In what is known as the Valentine’s Day massacre, gangster Al Capone got seven gangsters of the rival gang shot in Chicago.
34. 14th Feb 1931: The government of General Damasco Berenguer in Spain fell on this day.
35. 14th Feb 1933: Governor William A Comstock declared an eight-day bank holiday as a temporary moratorium in the light of a financial crisis, to protect the interest of the small depositors.
36. 14th Feb 1936: The National Negro Congress was organized on this day.
37. 14th Feb 1937: The United Mine Workers of America gave an ultimatum today demanding 30 hours work week and 15 cents hike in pay failing which they would go on strike from April 1.
38. 14th Feb 1939: Germany on this day commissioned the battleship Bismarck, which was the biggest battleship ever built up to date.
39. 14th Feb 1940: The British merchant vessel fleet was armed on this day.
40. 14th Feb 1941: On this day the one millionth vehicle traverses the New York mid-town tunnel.
41. 14th Feb 1941: The German Afrika Korps lands in Tripoli in Libya on this day.
42. 14th Feb 1942: Today marks the opening of the Mass tunnel in Rotterdam.
43. 14th Feb 1942: During World War II, four major T.V. channels in the United States started anti-fascist broadcasts. The purpose of this broadcast was to promote allied Armies of war and the branches of the military, particularly the Army, Navy, and the Airforce.
44. 14th Feb 1942: Japanese parachutists on this day landed near the oil center Palembang in Sumatra.
45. 14th Feb 1943: Germany launches offensive through de Faid-pass in Tunisia.
46. 14th Feb 1943: During World War II Rostov was recaptured on this day by the Soviets.
47. 14th Feb 1943: During World War II, America suffered one of the worst defeats at the hands of the Germans in the battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in North Africa. Over 1,000 Allied soldiers were killed and many were taken prisoners.
48. 14th Feb 1944: There was an anti-Japanese revolt in Java.
49. 14th Feb 1945: The bombing of Dresden by the Allied forces continued for the second day today.
50. 14th Feb 1945: Peru, Prague, Chile, and Ecuador join the United Nations on this day.
51. 14th Feb 1945: Prague was on this day bombed by the Allied forces probably due to an error in orientation by the pilots.
52. 14TH Jan 1948: The National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) holds its first race today for modified stock cars on a 3.2-mile course at Dayton Beach.
53. 14th Feb 1949: A plan for building 30,000 houses was presented by the Dutch Drees government.
54. 14th Feb 1950: U.S.S.R. and China on this day signed a treaty of peace.
55. 14th Feb 1951: Schools that had closed owing to teachers’ strikes since Jan 23rd opened on this day as the picketing by teachers had stopped. An agreement was made with Governor Luther W Youngdahl to intervene with Minnesota legislators and get higher financial assistance to the School board.
56. 14th Feb 1952: The 6th Olympic Winter Games opened today in Oslo in Norway.
57. 14th Feb 1954: Senator John Kennedy on this day appeared in the “Meet the Press” program.
58. 14th Feb 1956: The 20th Congress of the CPSU opened today in Moscow.
59. 14th Feb 1956: Indonesia on this day withdrew from the Neth Indonesian Union.
60. 14th Feb 1957: The Senate in Georgia unanimously approved the bill by Senator Leon Butt which barred black people from playing baseball with white people.
61. 14th Feb 1959: In a huge drug haul, $3.6 million worth of heroin was seized in New York City.
62. 14th Feb 1960: In the Pakistan elections Marshal Ayub Khan was on this day elected as President.
63. 14th Feb 1962: The US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted the tour of the White House on TV.
64. 14th Feb 1963: US launches its communication satellite Syncom I.
65. 14th Feb 1966: Australian currency on this day was decimalized and decimal currency postage stamps were also introduced.
66. 14th Feb 1967: A proposal was drawn up today for a nuclear-free zone for Latin America.
67. 14th Feb 1968: The Pennsylvania Railroad and New York City Central merged on this day at Pennsylvania Central.
68. 14th Feb 1971: President Nixon installed a secret taping system in the Whitehouse.
69. 14th Feb 1971: The Teheran agreement was signed on this day after the oil companies accepted a 55% tax rate an increase in posted prices and further successive increases.
70. 14th Feb 1972: Russia today launched Luna 20 into orbit and soft landing on the Moon.
71. 14th Feb 1974: Soviet authorities on this day charged Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn with treason after he was expelled from the country and revoked his Russian citizenship as well.
72. 14th Feb 1975: There was a bomb explosion in the annex of the Metro railway station of Amsterdam.
73. 14th Feb 1976: The US on this day performed a nuclear test at its Nevada test site.
74. 14th Feb 1978: Texas Instruments patents its first “micro on a chip” today.
75. 14th Feb 1979: Adolph Dubs, the American ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslims. He was later killed in a gunfight between his abductors and the police.
76. 14th Feb 1980: The 13th Winter Olympics opens today in Lake Placid, New York City.
77. 14th Feb 1980: To study the solar flares Solar Maximum Mission Observatory was launched by the US on this day.
78. 14th Feb 1981: There was a fire in a nightclub in Dublin. 48 people perished in the fire.
79. 14th Feb 1983: The United American Bank at Knoxville in Tennessee collapsed today. Later its president was convicted for fraud.
80. 14th Feb 1986: CNN reporter Jeremy Levin who was held hostage was on this day released in Beirut.
81. 14th Feb 1988: Alfredo Stroessner was on this day re-elected as President of Paraguay.
82. 14th Feb 1989: The African National Congress opened its office in Amsterdam today.
83. 14th Feb 1989: Muslims on this day were ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini to kill Salmaan Rushdie who authored “Satanic Verses”.
84. 14th Feb 1989: Union Carbide on this day agreed to pay the victims of the Bhopal disaster $470 million in damages.
85. 14th Feb 1989: The first satellite sky phone opened today.
86. 14th Feb 1989: The first satellite of the 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System was placed in orbit today.
87. 14th Feb 1990: Perrier recalls 160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen were found in some of the bottles.
88. 14th Feb 1990: The photograph of the entire solar system was taken by space probe Voyager I.
89. 14th Feb 1993: There was a fire in the Linxi department store in Tangshan, China. 79 people were killed in the fire.
21st Century – February 14 This Day In History – The 2000s
90. 14th Feb 2000: A series of Tornados swept through Georgia. Five tornados in all had swept through different counties. The most powerful one had torn 200 mobile homes in Camilla. Most people were sleeping at the time the tornado occurred.
91. 14th Feb 2002: A fishing vessel Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel in North Ireland. It killed three members of the same family who were on board.
92. 14th Feb 2004: The roof of the Transvaal water park collapsed in a suburb of Moscow. Over 25 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded.
93. 14th Feb 2005: Lebanon fell into chaos when its former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated today.
94. 14th Feb 2005: A series of bombings carried out by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants hit the Philippines’ Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City killing seven and wounding 151 people.
95. 14th Feb 2006: Iran on this day said it had resumed enrichment of uranium. Russia and France immediately called on Iran to halt its work.
96. 14th Feb 2006: Members of the Parliament in the UK on this day voted to ban smoking from all pubs and private members clubs in the UK. This is to take effect from the summer of 2007.
97. 14th Feb 2008: A gunman opened fire in the lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois University. In the shootout, 18 people were injured and six including the gunman were dead.
98. 14th Feb 2011: Colombian President Juan Manual on this day stated that Colombia was working with China to build a new canal as an alternative to the Panama Canal. This is expected to promote trade between South America and Asia and would improve wealth and opportunities in his country.
99. 14th Feb 2012: The police in Mexico announced the capture of Jaime Herrera, with an accomplice in Culiacan. He is thought to be a high-ranking member of a drug portal.
100. 14th Feb 2014: Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned on this day after less than one year in office.
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