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 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.
On February 15, 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a Bill allowing women attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
On February 15, 1898, at 9:40 p.m., the US Navy had one of its darkest and yet most memorable days when the armored cruiser USS Maine ACR-1 blew up and sank while docked in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
On February 15, 1961, the sporting world was rocked by one of the worst disasters in sports history, the crash of Sabena Flight 548 in Belgium, killing all 72 people on board, including the entire US Figure Skating team, both competitors and coaches and even some family members.
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.
On February 15, 2013, Russians were stunned by a meteor exploding 76,000 feet above Chelyabinsk Oblast!
On February 15, 2018, the nation mourned as the United States was rocked by another mass shooting at a school, this time a public high school in Florida.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
