On This Day — 27 February

2019

Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force

2015

Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend.

Boris Nemtsov

2013

A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured.

2013 Menznau shooting

2010

An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after.

2010 Chile earthquake

2008

Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later.

Jemaah Islamiyah

2007

Chinese stock bubble of 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest daily fall in ten years, following speculation about a crackdown on illegal share offerings and trading, and fears about accelerating inflation.

Chinese stock bubble of 2007

2004

A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers.

MV SuperFerry 14

2004

Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.

Shoko Asahara

2002

Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport causing minor injuries.

Ryanair

2002

Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims.

Godhra train burning

2001

Loganair Flight 670A crashes while attempting to make a water landing in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

Loganair Flight 670A

1991

Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".

Gulf War

1988

Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom.

Sumgait pogrom

1976

The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Western Sahara

1973

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.

American Indian Movement

1971

Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions.

Abortion clinic

1964

The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

Government of Italy

1963

The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

Dominican Republic

1962

Vietnam War: Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm.

Vietnam War

1961

The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.

Spanish Syndical Organization

1951

The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

1943

The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.

Smith Mine disaster

1943

The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest.

The Holocaust

1942

World War II: Operation Biting launches its overnight raid on the German coastal radar station at Bruneval to retrieve a Würzburg installation.

World War II

1942

World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies.

World War II

1940

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.

Martin Kamen

1939

United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. that the National Labor Relations Board has no authority to force an employer to rehire workers who engage in sit-down strikes.

United States labor law

1933

Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

Reichstag fire

1932

The Mäntsälä rebellion begins when members of the far-right Lapua Movement start shooting at the social democrats' event in Mäntsälä, Finland.

Mäntsälä rebellion

1921

The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

International Working Union of Socialist Parties

1916

Ocean liner SS Maloja strikes a mine near Dover and sinks with the loss of 155 lives.

SS Maloja (1906)

1902

Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.

Second Boer War

1900

Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé at the Battle of Paardeberg.

Second Boer War

1900

The British Labour Party is founded.

Labour Party (UK)

1900

Fußball-Club Bayern München is founded.

FC Bayern Munich

1898

King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.

George I of Greece

1881

First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.

First Boer War

1870

The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.

Flag of Japan

1864

American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

American Civil War

1860

Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that plays an important role in his election to the Presidency.

Abraham Lincoln

1859

United States representative Daniel Sickles, after learning of an affair between his wife and United States Attorney Philip Barton Key II, murders him in Washington, D.C.

United States House of Representatives

1844

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

Dominican Republic

1812

Argentine War of Independence: Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.

Argentine War of Independence

1812

Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.

Lord Byron

1809

Action of 27 February 1809: Captain Bernard Dubourdieu captures HMS Proserpine.

Action of 27 February 1809

1801

Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801

1782

American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.

House of Commons of Great Britain

1776

American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.

American Revolutionary War

1626

Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after leading the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.

Yuan Chonghuan

1617

Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.

Sweden

1594

Henry IV is crowned King of France.

Henry IV of France

1560

The Treaty of Berwick is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland, establishing the terms under which English armed forces were to be permitted in Scotland in order to expel occupying French troops.

Treaty of Berwick (1560)

907

Abaoji, chieftain of the Yila tribe, is named khagan of the Khitans.

Abaoji

425

The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.

University of Constantinople

380

Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity.

Edict of Thessalonica