What happened on February 23 ?

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.

1660 - Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.

1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.

1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.

1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.

1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.

1854 - The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.

1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.

1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.

1874 - Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike", now more commonly called lawn tennis.

1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.

1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.

1898 - ÿmile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.

1900 - In South Africa the Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.

1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.

1905 - Chicago, Illinois attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

1909 - The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.

1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.

1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.

1934 - Léopold III becomes King of Belgium.

1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.

1941 - Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.

1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.

1945 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Pozna?, city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

1945 - World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.

1947 - International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.

1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

1955 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France.

1956 - In a cosmic event known as the great flare, the Earth was bombarded with a burst of protons and other nuclei from a solar flare.

1957 - The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.

1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.

1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

1975 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.

1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

1981 - 23-F, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

1983 - The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.

1983 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).

1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.

1991 - In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

1992 - The Socialist Labour Party is founded in Georgia.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.

1996 - William Bonin, first man to be executed by lethal injection in the state of california

1997 - A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.

1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.

1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.

1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah ÿcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

1999 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.

2005 - Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; Bush and Putin are in attendance.