February 23

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2007 Calendar

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 311 days remaining, 312 in leap years.

[edit] Events

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
1574 - The 5th holy war against the Huguenots begins in France.
1660 - Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.
1732 - First performance of George Frideric Handel's Orlando, in London.
1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
1874 - Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called lawn tennis.
1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.
1898 - Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
1900 - Battle of Hart's Hill: In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
1905 - Chicago, Illinois attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
1909 - The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
1934 - Léopold III becomes King of Belgium.
1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.
1940 - The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
1945 - Early in the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
1945 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznan, city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
1945 - World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.
1947 - International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.
1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
1955 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France
1956 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".
1957 - The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.
1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1975 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1981 - 23-F, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
1983 - The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.
1983 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).
1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
1991 - Thailand: General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
1992 - The Socialist Labour Party is founded in Georgia.
1993 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.
1997 - A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
1998 - Netscape Communications Corporation announces the foundation of mozilla.org, to co-ordinate the development of the open source Mozilla web browser.
1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
1999 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.
1999 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
2005 - Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; Bush and Putin are in attendance.