Modified by dr_latino999 at 11:53 AM 3/25/2007

 

February 13:

Mary II of England

* 1689 - Glorious Revolution: Instead of James Francis Edward Stuart the Prince of Wales acceding to the throne, his sister Mary (pictured) and her husband William were proclaimed co-rulers of England.
* 1880 - Thomas Edison observed the Edison Effect, which later formed the basis of John Ambrose Fleming's vacuum tube diodes.
* 1945 - The RAF Bomber Command began the strategic bombing of Dresden in Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed tens of thousands of civilians.
* 1984 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
* 2004 - Researchers at Harvard University discovered BPM 37093, the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star.

 

February 15: Candlemas in Eastern Christianity; Flag Day in Canada; National Day in Serbia; Fat Thursday (2007).

Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan

* 1898 - The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260 people and precipitating the Spanish-American War.
* 1942 - World War II: General Tomoyuki Yamashita led the Japanese forces to capture the so called "impregnable fortress" of Singapore.
* 1971 - The British pound sterling and the Irish pound were decimalised on what is called Decimal Day.
* 1989 - The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan (pictured).
* 2003 - Millions around the world took part in protests against the impending invasion of Iraq.