This Day in History

1942 - As Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Austra...

241 B.C. - The Battle of Aegusa: Rome v. Carthage Also known as the Battle of the Aegates Islands. The First Punic War had raged for ove...

1862 - The Battle of Hampton Roads: U.S. Civil War.  The ironclads 'USS Monitor' (Union) and 'CSS Merrimack' (Confederate) h...

1917 (New Style Calendar) - The February Revolution began: Strikes and riots in St. Petersburg marked the start of this phase of the communi...

1530 - King Henry VIII's request for a divorce with Catherine of Aragon was turned down by Pope Clement The pope made a huge strategic...

1820 - The Missouri Compromise was signed by President James Monroe, providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state...

1946 - The 'Iron Curtain Speech': Winston Churchill delivered his famous speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. "...

1519 - Hernando Cortes landed in Mexico. Cortes landed with around 600 troops and 20 horses, and took on the most powerful nation in the N...

1918 - The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Germany, Austria and Russia signed an armistice ending Russian participation in World War I. Nice of t...

1296 - Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the 'Bull of Clericis Laicos.' Boniface’s decree stated no layperson (including kings) had th...

1781 - The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress. They remained the United States system of government until Ma...

A year that is evenly divisible by 100 is not a leap year unless it also is evenly divisible by 400. Explanation: The time required for Ea...

202 BC - The Han Dynasty was founded by Chinese Emperor Gaozu. The Han Dynasty was a high point in Chinese history, a time when China was ...

1933 - The Reichstag Fire: The Nazis blamed communists for setting fire to the nation's parliament building (the Reichstag), and used th...

1848 - Karl Marx and Frederich Engels published 'The Communist Manifesto.' The communist Bible was born...Lenin was the first to p...

**FYI: On the Julian Calendar (used in the European world from 45 B.C.-1500’s), February 25 was Leap Day.** ---------------- 1793 - The d...

1868 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. S...

1954 - The first mass inoculation of children against polio, with the Salk vaccine, began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. DO VACCINES WORK?? ...

1980 - In a stunning upset, the United States Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets 4-3. I try to not make too many sports references i...