February 28 1940

Alfonso XIII De Borbon Dies

Alsonso XIII King of Spain, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was Proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886 - 1931. His mother, Queen Maria Christina, was appointed regent during his minority. In 1902, on attaining his 16th year, the king assumed control of the state. 

February 27 1900

British Labour Party Forms

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist political party in the United Kingdom.

Labour surpassed the liberal party in general elections during the 1920's forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940-1945, after which it formed a majority government under Clement Attlee. Labour was also in Government from 1964-1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974-1979. first under Wilson and then under James Callaghan.

February 26 1916

Germans Sink French Transport Ship Provence II

Known in peacetime as La Provence, the ship was refitted for troops transport during World War I. It was designed to carry 1,960 persons, and was transporting troops from France to Salonika when it was sunk by the German submarine U-35, south of Cape Matapan. The ship listed so quickly that many of the lifeboats could not be used. there where 742 survivors. Close to a thousand where killed in the sinking.

February 25 1643

Ahmed II Sultan of Turkey was Born

Ahmed II Khan Ghazi was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1691 - 1695. Ahmed was born at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, the son of Sultan Ibrahim I (1640 - 1648) by Valide Sultan Khadija Muazzez, and succeeded his brother Suleiman II in 1691.
Ahmed's best known act was to confirm Mustafa Koprulu as grand vizier. Only a few weeks after his accession the Ottoman Empire sustained a crushing defeat at the Battle of Slankamen from the Austrians under Margrave Louis William of Baden and was driven from Hungary. Durning the four years of his reign disaster followed on disaster, and in 1695 Ahmed II died at Edirne Palace, warn out by disease and sorrow.

February 24 1525

Imperial Forces Defeat French in Battle of Pavia

The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521-26. A Spanish-Imperial army under the command of Charles De Lannoy (and working in conjunction with the garrison of Pavia, commanded by Antonio De Leyva) attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I in the great hunting preserve of Mirabello outside the city walls. In the four-hour battle, the French army was split and defeated in detail. The French suffered massive casualties, including many of the chief nobles of France; Francis himself, captured by the Spanish troops, was imprisoned by his captor. The outcome of the battle cemented Spanish Habsburg ascendancy in Italy.

February 23 1886

Tchaikovsky's Symphony "Manfred" Premieres

The Manfred Symphony in B minor, Op. 58, is a programmatic symphony composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchikovsky's symphonies he completed that is not numbered (the symphony in E flat is a conjectural work left unfinished by the composer) and was written between the Fourth and Fifth symphonies.
Like the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky wrote Manfred Symphony at the behest of nationalist compoers Mily Balakirev, who provided a program written by critic Vladimir Stasov. Stasov had sent the program to Balakirev in 1868, hoping Balakirev would write a symphony based on it. Balakirev did not feel compatible of carrying put this project and sent the program to french composer Hector Berlioz, Whose programmatic works had genuinely impressed him. Berloiz refused, claiming old age and ill health, and returned the program to Balakirev. Balakirev kept the program until he reestablished contact with Tchaikovsky in the early 1800's.
The Manfred Symphony is the only programmatic symphonic work by Tchaikovsky in more than one movement. he initially considered the work one of his best, and in typical reversal of opinion later considered destroying all but the opening movement. the The symphony was greeted with reviews, some finding much to laud in it , and others feeling that its programmatic aspects only weakened it. Manfred remained rarely preformed for many years, probably due to its length and complexity. It has been recorded with increasing frequency but is still seldom heard in the concert hall

February 22 1349

Jews are Expelled from Zurich Switzerland

The Jews of Switzerland, being almost exclusively engaged in money-lending, where tolerated because of there wealth and were prosecuted for the same reason. Whenever the Christian inhabitants were heavily indebted to the Jews a pretext was sought to get rid of the latter, and all kinds of crimes were ascribed to them, including ritual murder the poisoning of wells, and the desecration of the host. The first Swiss persecution of the Jews took place at Bern in 1294, when they were accused of having cruelly murdered a boy named Rudolf (Ruff). They were accordingly expelled from the city, although they where soon readmitted. Then cam the plague of the year 1349, when the Black Death raged throughout Switzerland.

February 21 1431

Trial Against Joan of Arc begins

The trial of Joan of Arc, which took place before an English-backed church in Rouen, France in the first half of the the year 1431, in the minds of many people. one of the most significant and moving trials ever conducted in human history. It culminated in the execution of the person known to history as Joan of Arc, the young French peasant girl who was defendant in the case. The trial verdict would later be reversed on appeal by the Inquisitor-General, thereby completely exonerating her. She is now a French national heroine and Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. 

February 20 1808 Charles-Auguste de Bériot

Charles Auguste de Bériot (20 February 1802 – 8 April 1870) was a Belgian violinist and composer.

Born in Leuven, where there is now a street named in his honour, he moved to France in 1810, where he studied violin with Jean-Francois Tiby, a pupil of Giovanni Battista Viotti. He was later encouraged by Viotti himself and briefly worked withBaillot but did not embrace all their teachings and was also influenced by Paganini. He served as chamber violinist to KingCharles X of France and to King William I of the Netherlands and toured with great success to London, Paris and the great music centres of Europe. In addition to playing the violin, he was a virtuosic pianist who toured through much of China despite the emperor's objections. 

Bériot lived together with the opera singer Maria Malibran and had a child with her in 1833 (Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, a piano professor who taught Maurice Ravel, Ricardo Viñes, Enrique Granados and others). They were married in 1836 when Malibran obtained an annulment of her previous marriage. Felix Mendelssohn wrote an aria accompanied by a solo violin especially for the couple. However, Malibran died the same year from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse.

After Malibran's death, de Bériot lived in Brussels, playing little in public. In 1841, however, he went on tour in Germany, where he met and married Marie Huber, daughter of a magistrate of Vienna.^[1] She was an orphan who had been adopted by Prince von Dietrichstein, the natural father of Sigismond Thalberg. Marie and de Bériot met in a café in his hometown, Leuven. They met through mutual friends and both played the piano quite well.

In 1842, Baillot died in Leuven at the age of 68, and his position as instructor at the Paris Conservatoire was offered to de Bériot. He rejected the offer, however, and in 1843 became chief violin instructor at the Brussels Conservatory where he established the Franco-Belgian school of violin playing. On account of failing eyesight he retired in 1852, and in 1858 became totally blind. Paralysis of the left arm ended his career in 1866. His most illustrious disciples were Hubert Léonard, Henri Vieuxtemps and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.

Bériot wrote a great amount of violin music including ten concertos, now rarely heard, although his pedagogical compositions are still of use for violin students. His son Charles-Wilfrid was a pianist who taught Granados, Ravel and Viñes.

A Summary of De Bériot's Repertoire: De Bériot's pioneering violin technique and Romantic composing style make his Concerti and Studies a vitally important stepping stone for the serious violin student wishing to enlarge his/her repertoire with the more famous Concerti by the Great Masters (Brahms, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky). His most popular Concerti are number 9 in A minor Op.104 and number 7 in G major Op.76. On Audio CD, Naxos have recorded and are planning to complete their recordings of all his Violin Concerti. They have also excellent renditions of Vieuxtemps' Concerti, which follow on perfectly in a technical and stylistic way from De Bériot's Concerti (logical since Vieuxtemps was De Bériot's pupil and thus continued the same Franco-Belgian style of violin playing). Schirmer still publish his Violin Method Op.102 (alas only part 1) and His "First 30 Concert Studies" Op.123. Also, Peters Edition still publish the famous encore piece for violin and orchestra (in a reduced format for violin and piano) "Scene de Ballet" Op.100.

February 19 0197

Lucius Septimius Severus' Arm Beats Clodius Albinus Lyon 

The Battle of Lugdunum, also called the battle of Lyon, was fought on 19 February 0197 at Lugdunum (Modern Lyon, France), between the armies of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus. Severus' victory finally established him as the sole Emperor of the Roman Empire.
This battle is said to be the largest, most hard fought and bloodiest of all clashes between Roman forces. The historian Cassius Dio places the number involved as 300,000 or 150,000 on either side of the battle. This figure has been disputed, as this is approximately three-quarters of the total number of soldiers present throughout the Roman Empire at that time. However, it is widely accepted that the total number of soldiers and support personnel involved exceeded 100,000 and could well have come close to the 150,000 figure Dio gives. 

February 18 1930

US Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh Discovers Pluto

Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4 1906 - January 4 1997) was an American astronomer. Although he is best known for his discovery in 1930 of the Dwarf Planet Pluto, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt, Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects.

February 17 1776

1st Volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of The Roman Empire" Published

British parliamentarian and soldier, Edward Gibbon's (1737-1794) conceived of his plan for Decline and Fall while "Musing amid the ruins of the Capitol" on a visit to Rome. For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of Antonies and the rise of Western Christianity. "The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of the authentic memorials, pose equal difficulties to the historian, who attempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration," he writes. despite these obstacles, Decline and Fall remains a model of historical exposition, and required reading for students of European history.

February 16 1641

English King Charles I accepts Triennial Act

The Triennial Act 1641 (Also known as the Dissolution Act) was an act passed by the English Long Parliament, during the reign of King Charles I. The act requires that parliament meet for at least a fifty-day session once every three years. It was intended to prevent kings from ruling without parliament, as Charles had done between 1629 and 1640. If the king failed to call parliament, the act required the Lord Chancellor to issue the writs, and failing that, the house of lords could assemble and issue writs for the election of the house of commons. clause 11 was unusual because it explicitly stated that this bill would receive the royal assent before the end of the parliamentary session. at that time, bills did not customarily gain royal assent until after the end of the session. Thus, if clause 11 where not present, the act may have not come into force until the next parliament. 

February 15 0399

Philosopher Socrates Sentenced to Death

According to Plato's Apology, Socrates' life as the "gadfly" of Athens began when his friend Chaerephone asked the oracle at Delphi if anyone was wiser then Socrates; the responded that none where wiser. Socrates believed that what the Oracle had said was a paradox, because he believed he possessed no wisdom whatsoever. He proceeded to test the riddle by approaching men considered wide by the people of Athens-Statesmen, Poets, and artisans- in order to refute the oracle's pronouncement. Questioning them, however, Socrates concluded that, while each man though he knew a great deal and was wise, in fact they knew very little and where not wise at all. Socrates realized that the oracle was correct, in that well so-called wise men though themselves wise and yet where not, he himself knew he was not wise at all, which paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance. Socrates' paradoxical wisdom made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. Socrates defended his role as a gadfly until the end: at his trial, when Socrates was asked to propose his own punishment, he suggested a wage paid by the government and free dinners for the rest of his life instead, to finance the time he spends as Athens' benefactor. He was, nevertheless, found guilt of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of "not believing in the God's of state", and subsequently sentenced to death by drinking a mixture containing poison hemlock.

February 14 1076

Pope Gregory VII Excommunicates Henry IV

In the 11th century Pope Gregory VII excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV. Their disagreement was about who had the right to appoint church officials. When he excommunicated Henry IV, Pope Gregory also told Henry's vassals (noblemen who rented the Emperor's lands) that they did not need to give there support to the Emperor anymore. Once the Pope had told them that they did not owe anything to Henry, the German vassals staged a revolution. Henry was forced to give in and he had to go to Pope Gregory to apologize. The Pope left Henry standing for three days in the snow before he would see him. When things returned to normal, however, Henry went to rome and he threw the Pope out. Gregory was forced into exile, and he died in Salerno in 1085.

February 13 1692

MacDonald Clan Murdered on Orders of King William III

38 unarmed MacDonalds from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe where murdered in the massacre of Glencoe when an initiative to suppress Jacobitism was entangled in the long running feud between Clan MacDonald and Clan Campbell. The slaughter of the host MacDonalds at the hands of their Campbell guests was a major affront to Scottish Law and Highland Tradition.

February 12 1848

Ballet "Faust" Premieres, Milan

First presented by the Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala on February 12, 1848 in Milan, Italy.

The first part of Faust is not divided into acts, but is structured as a sequence of scenes in a variety of settings. After a dedicatory poem and a prelude in the theater, the actual plot begins with a prologue in Heaven, where the Lord Challenges Mephistopheles, the Devil, that Mephistopheles cannot lead astray the Lord's favorite striving scholar Dr Faust. we then see Faust in his study, attempting and failing to gain knowledge of nature and the universe by magic means. The dejected Faust contemplates suicide, but id held back by the sounds pf the beginning Easter Celebrations. He joins his assistant Wagner for an easter walk in the countryside, among the celebrating people, and is followed home by a poodle. Back in the study, the poodle transforms itself into Mephistopheles, who offers Faust a contract: he will do Faust's bidding on earth, and Faust will do the same for him in hell (if, as Faust adds in an important side clause, Mephistopheles can get him to be satisfied and to want a moment to last forever) Faust signs in blood, and Mephistopheles first takes him to Auerbach's tavern in Leipzigm where the devil plays some tricks on some drunken revellers. Having then been transformed into a young man by a which, Faust encounters Margaret (Gretchen) and she excites his desire. through a scheme involving Jewelry and Gretchen's neighbor Martha, Mephistopheles brings about Faust's Gretchen's liaison. After a period of separation, Faust seduces Gretchen, who accidentally kills her mother with a sleeping potion Faust had given her. Gretchen is Pregnant, and her torment is further increased when Faust, and Mephistopheles kills her enraged brother in a sword fight. Mephistopheles seeks to distract Faust by taking him to the witches' sabbath of walpurgis Night, but Faust insists on rescuing Gretchen from the death sentence she has been given after going insane and drowning her newborn child. In the dungeon, Faust in vain tries to persuade Gretchen to follow him to freedom. at the end of the drama, as Faust and Mephistopheles flee the dungeon, a voice from heaven announced Gretchen's salvation.

February 11 1707

Surajmal Jat was born

Surajmal was born February 11 1707 in Bhatatpur, India. He was the eldest son of Jat Emperor of Bharatpur, Maharaja Badan Singh, and his wife Rani Devki of the Jat Family from Kama.

Surajmal was the Eldest of 30 sons of Maharaja Badan Singh, of which only 20 survived. out of his surviving sons Surahmal and his brother Pratap Singh were popular and competent for the throne of Bhrarpur. to avoid any future family feud Badan Singh constructed two seperate forts and palaces, at Kumher for Surajmal and at Weir for Pratap Singh. Due to his health conditions Bafan Singh handed over the state of weir to Pratap Singh around 1738-40 and declared Surajmal as successor for the rest of state and handed over the administration to him. due to untimely death of his son Pratap Sing on 2 November 1745 and severity of his eye problem he decided to retire from active royal affairs. He had virtually exercised the sole management of the affairs of the state of Bharatpur for over twenty years before and after the death of Badan Singh. On November 1745 Surajmal became the ruler of Jat Empire.

February 10 1840

Queen Victoria Marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg

Queen Victoria was the Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20th June 1837 until her death. From May 1 1876 she used the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the Daughter of Prince Edward, duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issues. She ascended to the Throne when the United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the Sovereign held relatively few direct political powers. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments. Publicly, she became a national icon, and was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their 9 children and 26 of their 42 grandchildren married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "The Grandmother of Europe" After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. as a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the later half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees where times of public celebration.

February 9th 1744

Battle at Toulon

The naval battle of Toulon or Battle of Cape Sicie took place on 9 February 1744 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Toulon, France. A combined Franco-Spanish fleet fought off Britain's Mediterranean fleet. The French fleet, officially at peace with Great Britain, only joined the fighting late, when it was clear that the greatly outnumbered Spanish fleet had gained the advantage over its foe. with the French intervention, the British fleet was forced to withdraw.

In Britain the battle was regarded as a national disgrace; the Franco-Spanish fleet successfully ended the British blockade and inflicted considerably more damage to the British then they received, causing the British to withdraw to Minorca in a need of heavy repairs. The retreat of Admiral Mathews' fleet left the Mediterranean Sea temporarily under Spanish control, allowing the opposite navy to deliver troops and supplies to the Spanish army in Italy, decisively swinging the war there in their favor.

Georges Feydeays' "Le Dindon" Premieres in Paris

February 8th 1896

In Sauce for the Goose (Le Dindon), Geroges Feydeau takes us to the heights of farcical frivolity. Regarded as one of Great French Playwrights of "La Belle Époque" and the greatest of farce-writers, Feydeau combines rapid-fire dialogue with vaudevillian antics in this outrageous comedy about love, lust, and marriage.

Michail Romanov Becomes Czar of Russia

February 7th 1613

Makhail I Fyodorovich Romanov (12 July 1596 - 13 July 1645) Was the first Russian Czar of the house of Romanov. Born of Feodor Nikitich Romanov and Xenia. His reign marked the end of the "Time of Troubles"

Makhail was unanimously elected Czar of Russia by a national assembly on 7 February 1613, but the delegates of the council did not discover the young Tsar and his mother at the Ipatiev Monastery near Kostroma until 24 March. Initially, Xenia protested, believing and stating that her son was too young and tender for so difficult an office, and in such a troublesome time. the weeping boyars solemnly declared that if he persisted in his refusal, they would hold him responsible to god for the destruction of Russia. Makhail eventually consented to accept the throne.

Cardinal Mazarin fled Paris February 6th 1648

The Fronde of Parliament took place between 1648 and 1649. Three of the major causes leading up to the first fronde were 1) the Parliament of Paris tried to limit the power of King Louis XIV. 2) the nobility was threatened by the king and wanted more of a voice in the government. 3) the people were unhappy with the tax burdens they had dealt with under Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin. The fronde began when Anne of Austria (Louis XIV's mother) and Cardinal Mazarin (Anne's advisor) introduced a new proposal to raise money for the financial backing of the Thirty Years' War. This plan would require the government officials to give up four years' salary. Parliament and the high courts rejected the plan and drafted another plan limiting the royal authority. In retaliation Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin ordered the arrest of the leaders of parliament who had opposed them. The populous protested by barricading the streets of Paris until Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin were forced to release the government officials they had arrested. Meanwhile the Thirty Years' War ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the royal troops were now available to suppress the fronde. Louis XIV, Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin secretly fled the city as the royal army occupied the streets of Paris. A compromise was finally reached between parliament and the royal family in March of 1649.

February 5th, 1556 -

Kings Henri I and Philip II sign the Treaty of Vaucelles

The Italian War of 1551 (1551–1559), sometimes known as the Habsburg-Valois War, began when Henry II of France, who had succeeded Francis I to the throne, declared war against Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. An early offensive into Lorraine was successful, with Henry capturing the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, but the French invasion of Tuscany in 1553, in support of Siena attacked by an imperial‐Tuscany army, was defeated at the Battle of Marciano by Gian Giacomo Medici. Siena fell in 1555 and eventually became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscanyfounded by Cosimo I de' Medici.

The Treaty of Vaucelles was signed on February 5, 1556 between Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France. Based on the terms of the treaty, the territory of Franche-Comté was relinquished to Philip. However, the treaty was broken shortly afterwards.

First Trans-Africa Flight: London to Cape Town,

February 4th 1920 - March 20 1920

On March march 20th 1920, Pierre Van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand touched down at Youngsfield, Wynberg in De Havilland DH9 - the first trans-Africa flight from london to cape town. several other British teams had set out to pioneer this new air rout, but each had crashed and abandoned there effort. Van Ryneveld and Brand crashed two planes en route - one in a force landing in southern Egypt, the other during take-off in Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Jan Smuts was determined that the South Africans should succeed and each time ordered a replacement aircraft to be sent to them. The pilots, who where knighted for their achievement, spent 109 hours and 30 minutes in the air, though the journey took 45 days.

A Start of Something "New"

Today I decided I would start my own blog as one of those "History Today" as well as remembering things though out the ages, from important events to simply remembering a time long past as well as many things in the middle.

as a simple start off to this journey I will start with one event that happened on this day in, 1451, the Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire, whom was born March 30th 1432 and died May 3rd, 1481.

At the age of 21, Mehmed conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire. Continuing his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian Reunification, and in Europe, as far as Belgrade. Besides Turkish, he spoke French, Latin, Greek, Serbian, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew.

Mehmed is also regarded as a national Hero in Turkey, his name is given to the famous Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.