23rd Feb:
1573 – Irish rebellion is crushed effectively with surrender
of James Fitzmaurice; pacification of Perth ends fighting in Scotland between
Regent and supporters of Mary Queen of Scots.
1574 – Fifth War of Religion breaks out in France.
1660 – Sweden’s King Charles IX executes leaders of
pro-Polish party for treason.
1766 – Duchy of Lorraine is incorporated into France.
1820 – Cato Street
conspiracy to murder British cabinet minister is discovered.
1836 – Siege of the
Alamo begins in US state of Texas against Mexican attackers.
1854 – Britain agrees
to leave territory north of Orange River in South Africa, allowing for
establishment of constitution for Orange Free State.
1901 – Britain and
Germany agree on boundary between German
east Africa and nyasaland.
1933 – Japan begins occupation of China north of the Great
Wall.
1934 – nicaraguan rebel leader Cesar Augusto Sandino,
invited to meet with army leader and later dictator Anastasio Somoza, is
abducted and murdered.
1938 – First oil discovery in Kuwait.
1942 – Japanese submarine shells oil refinery near Santa
Barbara, California.
1945 – US Marines
plant flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, but it will be another three weeks
until all Japanese defenders on the island are defeated.
1964 – Britain recognises President Abdul Amari Karume’s
regime in Zanzibar.
1970 – Republic of Guyana, formerly British Guinea, formally
ends association with Britain but remains within Commonwealth.
1975 – US decision to end arms embargo against Pakistan
draws wrath of India, which cancels planned March meeting in Washington, DC.
1990 – Prince Sihanouk returns to Cambodia after 11 years in
exile.
1991 – Military junta seizes power in Thailand after a
bloodless coup.
1993 – Rallying behind red flags and portraits of Lenin,
more than 10,000 pro-Communists march to the Kremlin to denounce Russian
President Boris Yeltsin and urge the military to rise up against him.
1994 – Bosnia’s
Muslim-led government and Croat forces sign a truce.
1995 – Speaking to
Canada’s Parliament, US President Bill Clinton voices support for a united Canada.
1996 – Two sons-in-law of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are
killed by clan members after returning to the country after having tried to defect.
1997 – Ali Abu Kamal, a Palestinian, fires a gun into a
crowd on the observation deck of new York
City’s empire State Building, killing
one person and injuring six, then shoots himself to death.
1998 – Leftist
guerrillas set off a mine in India, killing five soldiers sent to guard polling
stations and raising the death toll related to parliamentary elections to 29.
1999 – The first peace talks between Kosovo Albanians and
Yugoslavia end in Rambouillet, France, without much progress toward a
settlement. nATO suspends its threat of
bombing till the talks resume March 15.
2000 - Preston King, a black man who refused induction into
the Army in the 1960s because the all-white draft board wouldn’t address him as
“Mr.,” returns to the United States for the first time in 39 years after
receiving a presidential pardon.
2001 - Thousands of
people flee brutal ethnic clashes on the Indonesian part of Borneo island as
fighting between native Dayak people and immigrants from Madura island escalates,
claiming at least 165 lives.
2002 - Colombia’s President Andres Pastrana returns to the
very spot in former rebel territory where he began a tortuous peace process
three years ago and blames the guerrillas for sabotaging the talks to end Colombia’s
38-year war.
2003 - Opposition
legislators walk out in protest after Bangladesh’s Parliament passes a law
pardoning soldiers involved in a three-month anti-crime campaign in which 44
people died on January 11.
2004 - At least 66 people die in weekend clashes among
Colombian troops, leftist rebels of the United Self-Defense Forces or AUC, and
right-wing paramilitary forces. The two-day toll is extremely high even by standards in
Colombia, which has been engulfed in a 40-year insurgency.
2005 - Indonesia’s government and separatist rebels make
headway in talks aimed at ending nearly 30 years of fighting in the oil and gas-rich province of Aceh with both sides agreeing to outside involvement and the insurgents scrapping, at least publicly, a desire for independence.
2006 - The
snow-covered roof of a large Moscow market collapses, killing at least 66 people and forcing rescuers to clear away concrete slabs and metal beams to reach possible survivors trapped in the wreckage.
2007 - Forty-six countries sign a declaration in Oslo
pushing for a global ban on cluster bombs, a move activists hailed as a major step forward despite opposition from major powers the US, Russia, Israel and China.
2008 - A B-2 stealth bomber plunges to the ground shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam, the first time the aircraft has crashed, but both pilots eject safely.
2009 - The first Guantanamo detainee released since
President Barrack Obama took
office returns to Britain, saying his seven years in captivity were a nightmare.
2010 - Darfur’s most powerful rebel group and the Sudanese government sign a truce after a year of internationally sponsored negotiations, raising hopes the bloody seven-year conflict could draw to a close.
2011 - The scope of
Moammar Gadaffi’s control whittles away as major Libyan cities and towns closer to the capital fall to the rebellion against his rule. In the east, now all but broken away, the opposition vowed to “liberate” Tripoli, where the Libyan leader is holed up.
2012 - Un-appointed investigators in Geneva say a list for
possible crimes against humanity prosecution reaches as high as Syrian President Bashar Assad
