First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 28th

Oscar Wilde, Quote

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

~ Oscar Wilde

Wikipedia (Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) an Irish essayist, novelist, playwright and poet.)

This Day in History

February 28th, 202 BC

China: the world's most populous country, covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, second-largest country by land area (China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; Great Wall China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic)

China:
202 BC - Coronation ceremony of of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule overe China.

Wikipedia  Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.

February 28th, 1525

Hernán Cortés Collage

The Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by Hernán Cortés forces.

Wikipedia  Painting: Hernán Cortés Collage; In the early 16th century, the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II ruled from the city of Tenochitilan, situated in the location of present day Mexico City. His armies were feared by neighbouring states who paid tribute to the Aztecs and had hundreds of thousands of their citizens sacrificed in elaborate religious rituals to the Aztec gods. In scuttling the fleet, Cortés moved swiftly to squash mutineers. To make sure such a mutiny did not happen again, he decided to scuttle his ships, on the pretext that they were no longer seaworthy.

February 28th, 1638

Battle of Benevento was fought near Benevento, in present-day Southern Italy, on February 26, 1266, between the troops of Charles of Anjou and Manfred of Sicily - Manfred's defeat and death resulted in the capture of the Kingdom of Sicily by Charles

Scotland:
1638 - The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

Wikipedia  Photo: Edinburgh credit Allan Baxter, Getty Images ● Edinburgh-Castle, credit Rainer Jenss, National Geographic ● Scotland’s northwest coast, Hebrides Islands, credit Jim Richardson, National Geographic ● Water and rock. Motion and tranquility. Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland, credit Tatana Vacovska, National Geographic ● Scottish Sheep, credit Marc Lanciaux, National Geographic ● Rocks lead out to Milarrochy Bay in Loch Lomond, the largest lake in Great Britain, credit James Barrett, Alamy.

February 28th, 1827

Early Railway Train Signals and Communication

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

Wikipedia  Photo: Early Railway Train Signals and Communication

February 28th, 1838

Canada satellite image; The creation of Upper and Lower Canada (1791)

Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec.

Wikipedia  Canada satellite image, @copy; Geology.com ● The creation of Upper and Lower Canada (1791)

February 28th, 1883

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930

The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

Wikipedia  Photo: Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill - acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies.) A Vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian.

February 28th, 1900

The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog or Tweede Boereoorlog) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State

Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.

Wikipedia  Photo: Second Boer War; (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog or Tweede Boereoorlog) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State.

February 28th, 1942

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1942 - Battle of Sunda Strait; The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
Post World War II:
1947 - 228_massacre; In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of estimated 30,000 civilians.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.

February 28th, 1953

Human Genome - DNA Replication, credit © The National Human Genome Research Institute, SMC.edu

James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (publication - April 2).

Wikipedia  Image: Human genome DNA Replication, credit © The National Human Genome Research Institute, SMC.edu.

February 28th, 1991

Iraq War: The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait

Gulf War - Iraq War:
1991 - The first Gulf War ends.

Wikipedia  Photo: USAF F-15Es, F-16s, and a USAF F-15 flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells; Iraqi Army T-72 main battle tanks. The T-72 tank was a common Iraqi battle tank used in the Gulf War; F-15Es parked during Operation Desert Shield; The oil fires caused were a result of the scorched earth policy of Iraqi military forces retreating from Kuwait; Aerial view of destroyed Iraqi T-72 tank, BMP-1 and Type 63 armored personnel carriers and trucks on Highway 8 in March 1991.

February 28th, 1997

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
1997 - An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people.
1997 - Ardabil earthquake (1997); in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
2001 - Nisqually Earthquake; a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.

February 28th, 1997

The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators

North Hollywood shootout: takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.

Wikipedia  Photo: The North Hollywood shootout: was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997.

February 28th, 2002

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2002 - Gujarat violence; Naroda Patiya massacre, 97 people are killed - Gulbarg Society massacre, 69 people are killed.
2005 - Al Hillah bombing; A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)