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HISTORY & TIMELINE
15 February

A journey through
15 February in history

The fifteenth day of February has seen a French army proclaim a republic in Rome, the first general-purpose electronic computer dedicated in Philadelphia and a meteor explode over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. This timeline follows 15 February from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first.

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JUMP THROUGH TIME
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1798
The French army enters Rome on 15 February 1798, painted by Hippolyte Lecomte.The French army enters Rome on 15 February 1798, painted by Hippolyte Lecomte.Image: Hippolyte Lecomte · Public domain
politics · Europe

A French army proclaims a republic in Rome

After a French general was killed in a riot in Rome in December 1797, the French Directory sent troops under General Louis-Alexandre Berthier to occupy the city. On 15 February 1798 a Roman Republic was proclaimed, governed by seven consuls on the model of revolutionary France, and Pope Pius VI, who refused to recognise it, was taken from Rome and later died a prisoner in France. The republic collapsed in 1799 when French armies were driven out of Italy.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Roman Republic (1798-99) ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1898
Workers on the wreck of the Maine in Havana harbour, from a stereoview of 1898.Workers on the wreck of the Maine in Havana harbour, from a stereoview of 1898.Image: Strohmeyer & Wyman / Underwood & Underwood · Public domain
world · Americas

The battleship Maine blows up in Havana harbour

In 1895 Cubans rose again against Spanish rule, and Spain’s harsh efforts to crush the rebellion were reported in lurid detail by American newspapers. In January 1898 the US Navy sent the battleship Maine to Havana to protect American citizens and interests. At about 9.40 on the evening of 15 February 1898 an explosion tore the ship apart, and 266 of the 354 men aboard were killed. A US naval inquiry blamed a mine, and the cry ‘Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain!’ helped push the United States into war with Spain that April. The cause has never been settled: a US Navy study in 1976 concluded that a fire in a coal bunker had most likely set off the ship’s own ammunition.

Source: Naval History and Heritage Command: sinking of USS Maine ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1946
Surviving panels of ENIAC on display at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering.Surviving panels of ENIAC on display at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering.Image: The original uploader was TexasDex at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0
science · Americas

ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, is dedicated

During the Second World War the US Army needed faster ways to calculate artillery firing tables. At the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert built ENIAC, a machine with about 18,000 vacuum tubes that filled a large room and could be reprogrammed for different problems. The army showed it to the press on 14 February 1946, and on 15 February it was formally dedicated at the university, when an army general pressed a button to set it running. It could do thousands of additions a second, far faster than any machine before it. Much of the programming was done by a team of women mathematicians, whose work was long overlooked.

Source: Penn Engineering: ENIAC ↗
1961
The memorial to the victims of Sabena Flight 548 at Berg, Kampenhout, Belgium, in March 2021.The memorial to the victims of Sabena Flight 548 at Berg, Kampenhout, Belgium, in March 2021.Image: Paul Hermans · CC BY-SA 4.0
sport · Europe

The US figure skating team is lost in a plane crash

In February 1961 the United States team set out for the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague on Sabena Flight 548 from New York to Brussels. On 15 February the plane crashed while approaching Brussels airport, at Berg near Kampenhout, and all 72 people on board and one person on the ground were killed. Among them were 18 members of the US team, including the 16-year-old national champion Laurence Owen, and several coaches and family members. The championships were cancelled, and the US Figure Skating Memorial Fund, set up in the team’s memory, still supports young skaters.

Source: US Figure Skating: Memorial Fund ↗
1971
A presentation pack of the new decimal coins issued for Decimal Day, Monday 15 February 1971.A presentation pack of the new decimal coins issued for Decimal Day, Monday 15 February 1971.Image: Mandtplatt · CC BY-SA 4.0
world · Europe

Britain and Ireland switch to decimal money

For centuries British money was counted in pounds, shillings and pence: twelve pence to the shilling and twenty shillings, or 240 pence, to the pound. After a government committee recommended change, the Chancellor, James Callaghan, announced in 1966 that the pound would be divided into 100 new pence. The Royal Mint built a new works at Llantrisant in Wales to strike thousands of millions of new coins, and some were issued early to get people used to them. On Decimal Day, 15 February 1971, the United Kingdom and Ireland switched over, and old and new coins circulated side by side for a while.

Source: The Royal Mint: the story of decimalisation ↗
1989
The last Soviet column crosses the bridge into the Soviet Union on 15 February 1989, under a banner reading 'Glory to the soldiers of the fatherland!'The last Soviet column crosses the bridge into the Soviet Union on 15 February 1989, under a banner reading ‘Glory to the soldiers of the fatherland!’Image: A. Solomonov / А. Соломонов · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Asia

The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan

Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in December 1979 to prop up its communist government. For almost ten years they fought mujahideen guerrillas armed by the United States, Pakistan and others, in a war that killed about 15,000 Soviet soldiers and vast numbers of Afghans and drove millions into exile. Mikhail Gorbachev called the war a ‘bleeding wound’, and under the Geneva Accords of April 1988 Soviet troops began to pull out. On 15 February 1989 their commander, General Boris Gromov, was the last to cross the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya into Soviet Uzbekistan. The war did not end: fighting in Afghanistan went on between the government and the mujahideen, and then among the victors.

Source: National Security Archive: the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, 1989 ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2003
A float in the peace demonstration in Rome on 15 February 2003.A float in the peace demonstration in Rome on 15 February 2003.Image: Gacio · Public domain
world · Global

Millions march around the world against war in Iraq

In early 2003 the United States and Britain were preparing to invade Iraq, arguing that Saddam Hussein’s government held weapons of mass destruction. Opponents of war organised coordinated marches for the same weekend in hundreds of cities. On 15 February 2003 millions of people took to the streets across the world, in what was recorded as the largest protest of its kind in history. Around three million were reported in Rome, and between one and two million in London, the biggest demonstration Britain had ever seen. The invasion went ahead in March.

Source: Imperial War Museums: photographs from the day the world said no to war ↗
2013
The trail left by the meteor over Chelyabinsk on the morning of 15 February 2013.The trail left by the meteor over Chelyabinsk on the morning of 15 February 2013.Image: Nikita Plekhanov · CC BY-SA 3.0
science · Asia

A meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk

On the morning of 15 February 2013 a small asteroid, about 20 metres across, entered the atmosphere at great speed over the Ural region of Russia. Brighter than the Sun for a moment, it blew apart high above the city of Chelyabinsk. The blast released energy equal to about 500 kilotons of TNT. Its shock wave shattered windows across the city, and some 1,500 people needed medical help, mostly for cuts from flying glass. It was the largest such airburst since the Tunguska event of 1908 and, recorded by countless dashboard cameras, it made space agencies take the threat of small asteroids more seriously.

Source: European Space Agency: Russia asteroid impact, ESA update and assessment ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 15 February, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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