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The abolition of noble ranks in Hungary was a significant step towards establishing a socialist state.
February 14 in History
68 events
748 – 2020
Today in history
February 14 spans 68 recorded events across recorded history, from 748 to 2020. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1947 — The act abolishing all noble ranks and related styles comes into force in Hungary
More major events on February 14
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 2005 YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos. Source
- 2000 The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid. Source
- 1852 Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London. Source
748
Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
747–750 overthrow of the Umayyad caliphate
763
The death of Ibrahim ibn Abdallah marks the end of the Alid revolt of 762–763.
Leader of revolt against Abbasid Caliphate (716–763)
842
Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
King of West Francia from 843 to 877 and Carolingian Emperor from 875 to 877
1014
Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.
Head of the Catholic Church from 1012 to 1024
1130
The troubled 1130 papal election exposes a rift within the College of Cardinals.
1349
Strasbourg massacre: Several thousand Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg after being accused of causing the Black Death.
1349 public execution of Jews in Strasbourg, France
1530
Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.
Spanish and Portuguese colonizers of the Age of Discovery
1556
Having been declared a heretic and laicized by Pope Paul IV on 4 December 1555, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is publicly defrocked at Christ Church Cathedral.
Belief that is strongly at variance with customs
1556
Coronation of Akbar as ruler of the Mughal Empire.
Mughal emperor from 1556 to 1605
1613
Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate at Whitehall Palace, London.
1613 wedding in London, England
1655
The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
Indigenous people of South America
1778
The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
1779
American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
1775–1783 conflict in North America
1779
James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
1779 killing in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
1797
French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St.
Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
1804
Karađorđe leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
19th-century Serbian revolutionary leader and dynasty founder
1831
Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
Ethiopian governor (1830–1832)
1835
The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
Governing body in Latter Day Saint religious movement
1849
In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
President of the United States from 1845 to 1849
1852
Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.
Children's hospital in London, England
1855
Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
U.S. state
1876
Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
Inventor of the telephone (1847–1922)
1879
The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
Territorial conflict between Chile and allied Peru and Bolivia (1879–84)
1899
1900
The British Army begins the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
Land warfare force of the United Kingdom
1903
The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
Executive government department (1903–1913)
1918
1920
The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
Voter education and advocacy organization
1924
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
American multinational technology company
1929
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.
1929 gang shooting in Chicago
1939
1942
World War II: Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
1942 battle of the Japanese invasion of Singapore during WWII
1943
1943
World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a counter-attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
Series of battles in Tunisia during the Second World War
1944
World War II: In the action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian Regia Marina submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
British-German submarine fight in the Pacific
1945
World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
Aerial bombing attacks in 1945
1945
World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by a United States Army Air Forces squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet Red Army's Vistula–Oder Offensive.
Aerial attacks by the Allies on German-occupied Prague during WWII
1945
World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans
City in Bosnia and Herzegovina
1945
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.
1949
The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.
Unicameral legislature of Israel
1949
The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada.
The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
1954
First Indochina War - small French garrison at Đắk Đoa is overrun by the Viet Minh after a week's siege.
1946–1954 French colonial war in Indochina
1961
Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
List of history of chemical elements
1979
In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
Capital and the largest city of Afghanistan
1983
United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses.
Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
1989
Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
American chemical company
1989
Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
Country in West Asia
1990
Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes in Bangalore, India.
1990 aviation accident in India
1990
The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later becomes famous as Pale Blue Dot.
NASA space probe launched in 1977
1998
An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil.
One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.
2000
The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
American space probe to asteroid (1996–2001)
2003
Iraq disarmament crisis: UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix reports to the United Nations Security Council that disarmament inspectors have found no weapons of mass destruction in Ba'athist Iraq.
Early 2000s diplomatic crisis
2004
In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 28 people, and wounding 193 others.
Capital and most populous city of Russia
2005
In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri's motorcade drives through the city.
Capital and largest city of Lebanon
2005
Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos, all in the Philippines.
Pan-Islamist militant organization
2005
YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
Video-sharing platform
2008
Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.
Mass shooting in Illinois, U.S.
2011
As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a 'Day of Rage'.
2010s protests and revolutions in the Arab world
2018
Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
President of South Africa from 2009 to 2018
2018
A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 17 injuries.
2018 mass shooting in Florida, U.S.
2019
Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.
Terrorist attack in India
2020
At least 22 people are killed in an attack on a village in Northwest Region, Cameroon.
2020 attack in Cameroon