1958January 1958 January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. January 4 Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles. Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit, and burns up. January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.
December 12627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh. 1388 – Maria of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice. 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the US Constitution. 1862 – American Civil War: sinks on the Yazoo River. 1866 – Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 361 miners and rescuers. 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.
1927January 1927 January 1 – The British Broadcasting Company becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation, when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. January 7 The first transatlantic telephone call is made via radio from New York City, United States, to London, United Kingdom. The Harlem Globetrotters exhibition basketball team play their first ever road game in Hinckley, Illinois. January 9 – The Laurier Palace Theatre fire at a movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
1938January 1938 January 1 – State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo. January 27 – The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam. February 1938 February 4 Adolf Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military.
February 121096 – Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roë under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular. 1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna. 1429 – English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
January 8307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying. 871 – Æthelred I and Alfred the Great lead a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings. 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco. 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.
March 11222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire. 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague. 1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.
February 181229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy. 1268 – The Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov. 1332 – Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces. 1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
FebruaryFebruary is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the leap day. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (the other four being April, June, September, and November) and the only one to have fewer than 30 days. February is the third and last month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
October 27312 – Constantine is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. 1275 – Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam. 1524 – French troops lay siege to Pavia. 1553 – Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva. 1644 – Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War. 1682 – Philadelphia is founded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1775 – King George III expands on his Proclamation of Rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies in his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament.
