Browsing: February 15

A Brief History On February 15, 1972, in what is surely one of the most frustrating political events in history, the President of Ecuador, José María Velasco Ibarra, was ousted by a military coup, incredibly, the fourth time such a coup took place out of the five times Ibarra was president! Digging Deeper A lawyer born in 1893, Ibarra became involved in politics in the 1930s, eventually rising to the presidency of Ecuador in 1934, a post he regained in 1944, 1952, 1960, and 1968.  His unceremonious oustings occurred in 1935, 1947, 1961, and 1972.  In 1956, Ibarra left power…

A Brief History On February 15, 1949, even Indiana Jones would have been envious of the work of Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux who began digging at the Qumran Caves where they later found the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish documents that date back as far as the 3rd Century BC. Digging Deeper Some other contenders for the title of “Greatest Archaeological Find” include: The Rosetta Stone, found in 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, finally allowed researchers to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics. King Tut’s Tomb, found in 1922, totaled over 5,000 objects from Ancient Egypt, the…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 15th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 15, 1113, the reigning Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Paschal II, issued a Papal Bull titled “Pie Postulatio Voluntatis,” recognizing the Order of Hospitallers, a military order of Catholic knights that had existed in the Holy Land since about 1099. On February 15, 1862, Confederate States of America army forces under the command of Brigadier General John B. Floyd…

A Brief History On February 15, 1996, the Chinese space program took a tragic turn when a Long March 3B rocket malfunctioned and crashed into a Chinese village, killing between 6 and 100 people on the ground. Digging Deeper The rocket was carrying an Intelsat 708 communications satellite into space, but veered off course shortly after lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.  While the highly publicized American Space Shuttle disasters come to mind when discussing fatal space incidents, there have been many failures of space launches that have resulted in the expensive loss of equipment and in some…

A Brief History On February 15, 1862, Confederate States of America army forces under the command of Brigadier General John B. Floyd launched a surprise attack from the besieged Fort Donelson in Western Tennessee in an effort to break out from the Union encirclement of the fort.  The besieging force, the US Army of the Tennessee under the command of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, prevented the Confederate attempt to break out their besieged forces and in turn forced a surrender of the fort, taking over 12,000 Rebels prisoner.  With the War going badly for the Union, President Lincoln and…