Today In History [14th February, 2015]

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

February 14
Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is St. Valentine's Day, the feast day of two Christian martyrs named Valentine: one a priest and physician, the other the Bishop of Terni. Both are purported to have been beheaded on this day. The custom of sending handmade 'valentines' to one's beloved became popular during the 17th century and was first commercialized in the United States in the 1840s.


1349           2,000 Jews are burned at the stake in Strasbourg, Germany.
1400           The deposed Richard II is murdered in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire.
1549           Maximilian II, brother of the Emperor Charles V, is recognized as the future king of Bohemia.
1779           American Loyalists are defeated by Patriots at Kettle Creek, Ga.
1797           The Spanish fleet is destroyed by the British under Admiral Jervis (with Nelson in support) at the battle of Cape St. Vincent, off Portugal.
1848           James Polk becomes the first U.S. President to be photographed in office by Matthew Brady.
1859           Oregon is admitted as the thirty-third state.
1870           Esther Morris becomes the world's first female justice of the peace.
1876           Rival inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both apply for patents for the telephone.
1900           General Roberts invades South Africa's Orange Free State with 20,000 British troops.
1904           The "Missouri Kid" is captured in Kansas.
1912           Arizona becomes the 48th state in the Union.
1915           Kaiser Wilhelm II invites the U.S. Ambassador to Berlin in order to confer on the war.
1918           Warsaw demonstrators protest the transfer of Polish territory to the Ukraine.
1920           The League of Women Voters is formed in Chicago in celebration of the imminent ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
1924           Thomas Watson founds International Business Machines Corp.
1929           Chicago gang war between Al Capone and George "Bugs" Moran culminates with several Moran confederates being gunned down in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
1939           Germany launches the battleship Bismark.
1940           Britain announces that all merchant ships will be armed.
1942           Japanese paratroopers attack Sumatra. Aidan MacCarthy's RAF unit flew to Palembang, in eastern Sumatra, where 30 Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed A-28 Hudson bombers were waiting.
1945           800 Allied aircraft firebomb the German city of Dresden. Smaller followup bombing raids last until April with a total death toll of between 35,000 to 130,000 civillians.
1945           The siege of Budapest ends as the Soviets take the city. Only 785 German and Hungarian soldiers managed to escape.
1949           The United States charges the Soviet Union with interning up to 14 million in labor camps.
1955           A Jewish couple loses their fight to adopt Catholic twins as the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to rule on state law.
1957           The Georgia state senate outlaws interracial athletics.
1965           Malcolm X's home is firebombed. No injuries are reported.
1971           Moscow publicizes a new five-year plan geared to expanding consumer production.
1973           The United States and Hanoi set up a group to channel reconstruction aid directly to Hanoi.
1979           Armed guerrillas attack the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
1985           Vietnamese troops surround the main Khmer Rouge base at Phnom Malai.
1989           Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini charges that Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, is blasphemous and issues an edict (fatwa) calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Born on February 14
1760           Richard Allen, first black ordained by a Methodist-Episcopal church.
1817           Frederick Douglass, slave, and later, activist and author.
1819           Christopher Latham Sholes, inventor of the first practical typewriter.
1845           Quinton Hogg, English philanthropist.
1859           George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor of the Ferris Wheel.
1894           Jack Benny, comedian, radio and television performer…and violinist.
1894           Mary Lucinda Cardwell Dawson, founded the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) and was appointed to President John F. Kennedy's National Committee on Music