Historical Events on Sunday, 22nd February

22/02/2022

Twosday, the name given to Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 2:22:22, occurs.

Twosday was an unofficial one-time secular observance held on Tuesday, February 22, 2022. The name is a portmanteau of two and Tuesday, deriving from the fact that the digits of the date form a numeral palindrome marked by exclusivity or prevalence of the digit 2—when written in different numerical date formats, such as: 22/02/2022, 22/2/22 and 2/22/22. It is also an ambigram. In countries that apply the ISO 8601 international standard for the calendar, there is an additional congruence as Tuesday is the second day of the week under this scheme.

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22/02/2018

A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.

On 22 February 2018, a Serbian-born man threw an explosive grenade inside the embassy of the United States in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. He then blew himself up outside the compound with another explosive. The attack occurred around midnight when the embassy was closed, and nobody was wounded. Russian authorities denied any involvement.

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22/02/2015

A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.

On 22 February 2015, a two-deck ferry traveling on the Padma River in the Manikganj District, Dhaka Division in Dhaka, Bangladesh, capsized. Up to 70 people were killed in the crash when it hit a trawler.

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22/02/2014

President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) from 2006 to 2010. Yanukovych was removed from the presidency during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, which followed months of protests against him. Since then, he has lived in exile in Russia.

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22/02/2012

A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.

The 2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster, also known as the Once Tragedy, occurred on 22 February 2012, when a train crashed at Once Station in the Balvanera neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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22/02/2011

New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, kills 185 people.

A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time. The Mw6.2 earthquake struck the Canterbury Region in the South Island, centred 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi) south-east of the central business district. It caused widespread damage across Christchurch and killed 185 people, making it New Zealand's fifth-deadliest disaster. Scientists classified it as an intraplate earthquake and a potential aftershock of the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake.

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Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.

The mainly Shia and some Sunni Bahraini opposition led anti-government protests in Bahrain in 2011. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the Arab Spring and protests in Tunisia and Egypt and escalated to daily clashes after the Bahraini government put the revolt down with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Peninsula Shield Force. The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of both non-violent civil disobedience and volatile riots in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the 60% Shia population. Towards the culmination of the protests, the demands metamorphosed into calls for the resignation of former Crown Prince Khalifa Bin Salman and establishing an Islamic republic similar to that of Iran.

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22/02/2006

At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.

UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be written as, for example, 2019-02-08T23:36:06+03:00.

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The Securitas depot robbery was the UK's largest heist. Almost £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

The 2006 Securitas depot robbery in Tonbridge, England, was the UK's largest cash heist. It began with a kidnapping on the evening of 21 February 2006 and ended in the early hours of 22 February, when seven criminals stole almost £53 million. The gang left behind another £154 million because they did not have the means to transport it.

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22/02/2005

The 6.4 Mw  Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.

An earthquake affected several villages in the Kerman province of Iran on February 22, 2005, at 05:55:23 local time. The shock measured 6.4 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Zarand is located 740 km southeast of Tehran. The maximum recorded peak ground acceleration was 0.51 g at Shirinrud dam. The United States' National Earthquake Information Center and Belgium's Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters both show that 612 died and 1,411 were injured in the event.

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22/02/2002

Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the western coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country after Brazil in both total area and population and is the seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda, that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda.

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22/02/1997

In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.

Roslin is a village in Midlothian, Scotland, 11 kilometres (7 mi) to the south of the capital city Edinburgh. It stands on high ground, near the northwest bank of the river North Esk.

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22/02/1995

The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.

The CORONA program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science and Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The CORONA satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union (USSR), China, and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending in May 1972.

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22/02/1994

Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.

Aldrich Hazen Ames was an American CIA counterintelligence officer who was convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Russia in 1994. He served a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in various federal prisons until his death in 2026 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. Ames was responsible for the arrest and eventual execution of numerous Soviet and Russian officials secretly working on behalf of the U.S. intelligence community, and had compromised more highly classified CIA assets than any other intelligence officer at the time of his arrest until the arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen seven years later in 2001. Both Ames and Hanssen were recruited by Victor Cherkashin, a high-ranking KGB officer.

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22/02/1986

Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.

The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of civil resistance against regime violence and electoral fraud. The nonviolent revolution led to the departure of Ferdinand Marcos, the end of his 20-year dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

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22/02/1983

The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

Broadway theatre, or Broadway, is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters, each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.

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22/02/1980

Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.

The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's ice hockey tournament. Although the Soviet Union was a four-time defending gold medalist and heavily favored, the United States achieved an upset victory, winning 4–3. The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Winter Olympic Games, and were the heavy favorite to win another gold in Lake Placid. Olympic rules at the time prohibited professional athletes from competing, but the Soviet government circumvented this by employing professional athletes in symbolic university or military positions, allowing them to focus full-time on sport. As a result, the Soviet team consisted of veteran players with significant experience in international play. By contrast, the United States team, led by head coach Herb Brooks, was composed mostly of amateur players; only four players had any experience beyond that level, and even then all four had only minimal, minor-league experience. In addition, the United States had the youngest team in the tournament and in U.S. national team history. In the group stage, both the Soviet and American teams were undefeated; the U.S. achieved several surprising results, including a 2–2 draw against Sweden, and a 7–3 upset victory over second-place favorite Czechoslovakia.

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22/02/1979

Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.

Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238 sq mi) with an officially estimated population of over 184,100 people as of mid 2023. The nation's capital and largest city is Castries.

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22/02/1974

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1969. It consists of 57 member states, 48 of which are Muslim-majority. The organisation claims to be "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and works to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony".

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Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but commits suicide after being wounded by police.

Samuel Joseph Byck was an American hijacker and attempted assassin. On February 22, 1974, he attempted to hijack a plane flying out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, intending to crash into the White House in the hopes of killing U.S. President Richard Nixon. Byck killed an airport policeman and the plane's copilot and wounded the pilot, but Byck was shot and wounded by another policeman before committing suicide.

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22/02/1973

Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

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22/02/1972

The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.

The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. Each continued to call itself simply "the IRA" and rejected the other's legitimacy.

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22/02/1959

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

Lee Arnold Petty was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He is the patriarch of the Petty racing family. He was one of the early pioneers of NASCAR and one of its first stars. He was NASCAR's first three-time Cup champion. He is the father of Richard Petty, who went on to become one of the most successful stock car racing drivers in history. He is also the grandfather of Kyle Petty and great grandfather of Adam Petty.

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22/02/1958

Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan and the Sahara to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital, largest city, and leading cultural centre, while Alexandria is the second-largest city and an important hub of industry and tourism. With over 107 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world, third-most populous country in Africa, and 15th-most populated in the world.

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22/02/1957

Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.

Ngô Đình Diệm was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam from 1955 until his capture and assassination during the CIA-backed 1963 coup d'état.

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22/02/1946

The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.

"The Sources of Soviet Conduct", commonly "X Article", is an article written by George F. Kennan and published under the pseudonym "X" in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. It introduced the term "containment" to widespread use and advocated the strategic use of that concept against the Soviet Union. It expanded on ideas expressed by Kennan in a confidential February 1946 telegram, formally identified by Kennan's State Department number, "511", but informally dubbed the "long telegram" for its size.

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22/02/1944

World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.

The bombing of Nijmegen on 22 February 1944 was a target-of-opportunity aerial bombing raid by the United States Army Air Forces on the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, then occupied by Nazi Germany. In terms of the number of victims, it was one of the largest bombardments of a Dutch city during World War II. Officially, nearly 800 people were killed due to carelessness in inaccurate bombing, but because people in hiding were not counted, the actual death toll was likely higher. A large part of the historic city centre was destroyed, including Saint Steven's Church. Saint Augustine's Church and Nijmegen railway station were heavily damaged as well.

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World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often referred by its shortened name as the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War, especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army. In February 1946, the Red Army was renamed the "Soviet Army". Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was split between the post-Soviet states, with its bulk becoming the Russian Ground Forces, commonly considered to be the successor of the Soviet Army.

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22/02/1943

World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.

The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one LMU Munich professor: Willi Graf, Kurt Huber, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Hans and Sophie Scholl. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime, beginning in Munich on 27 June 1942. Their activities ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on 18 February 1943.

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Yankee Clipper crashes while landing on the Tagus in Lisbon, killing 24.

The Yankee Clipper was an American Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat, best known for on 20 May 1939 beginning the first scheduled airmail service between the United States and Europe. It crashed on 22 February 1943 while attempting to land on the River Tagus in Lisbon, Portugal, killing 24 of the 39 people on board. Among the dead were writer and war correspondent Ben Robertson and singer Tamara Drasin.

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22/02/1942

World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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22/02/1921

After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.[citation needed]

Baron Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg, often referred to as Roman von Ungern-Sternberg or Baron Ungern, was a Russian military leader in the Russian Civil War and then an independent warlord who intervened in Mongolia against China.

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22/02/1909

The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.

A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of large guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most formidable warship types ever built, until they were surpassed by aircraft carriers beginning in the 1940s. The modern battleship traces its origin to the sailing ship of the line, which was developed into the steam ship of the line and soon thereafter the ironclad warship. After a period of extensive experimentation in the 1870s and 1880s, ironclad design was largely standardized by the British Royal Sovereign class, which are usually referred to as the first "pre-dreadnought battleships". These ships carried an armament that usually included four large guns and several medium-caliber guns that were to be used against enemy battleships, and numerous small guns for self-defense.

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22/02/1904

The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.

The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 km (375 mi) north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 844 km (524 mi) south-west of South Georgia Island. They have a total area of about 620 km2 (240 sq mi). The islands are claimed both by Britain and by Argentina. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty claims are held in abeyance.

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22/02/1899

Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.

The Philippine Revolutionary Army, later renamed Philippine Republican Army, was the army of the First Philippine Republic from its formation in March 1897 to its dissolution in November of 1899 in favor of guerrilla operations in the Philippine–American War.

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22/02/1889

President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

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22/02/1881

Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York.

Cleopatra's Needle in New York City is one of a pair of obelisks, together named Cleopatra's Needles, that were moved from the ruins of the Caesareum of Alexandria, Ancient Egypt, in the 19th century. The stele, dating from the 15th century B.C., was installed in Central Park, west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's main building in Manhattan, on February 22, 1881. It was secured in May 1877 by judge Elbert E. Farman, the United States Consul General at Cairo, as a gift from the Khedive for the United States remaining a friendly neutral as two European powers, France and Britain, maneuvered for political control of the Egyptian government. The transportation costs were largely paid by a railroad magnate, William Henry Vanderbilt, the eldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

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22/02/1879

In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.

Utica is a city in the state of New York, and the county seat of Oneida County. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, approximately 95 mi (153 km) west-northwest of Albany, 55 mi (89 km) east of Syracuse and 240 mi (386 km) northwest of New York City. Utica and the nearby city of Rome anchor the Utica–Rome metropolitan area comprising all of Oneida and Herkimer counties.

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22/02/1872

The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.

The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement. It is the oldest existing third party in the United States and the third-longest active party.

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22/02/1862

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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22/02/1856

The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.

The Republican Party, commonly known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is the major conservative and right-wing political party in the United States. It emerged as the main rival of the Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since then.

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22/02/1848

The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.

The French Revolution of 1848, also known as the February Revolution, was a period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. It sparked the wave of revolutions of 1848.

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22/02/1847

Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.

The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory because it refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna after he was captured by the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens who had moved from the United States to Texas after 1822 wanted to be annexed by the United States.

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22/02/1819

By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.

The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Spanish Cession, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 by which Spain ceded Florida to the United States; in return, the United States renounced its claims to Texas, fixing the boundary along the Sabine River.

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22/02/1797

The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.

The Battle of Fishguard was a military invasion of Great Britain by Revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition. The brief campaign, on 22–24 February 1797, is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign force and thus is often referred to as the "last invasion of mainland Britain".

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22/02/1770

British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider; the first American fatality of the American Revolution.

The North End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the city's oldest residential community, having been inhabited since it was colonized in the 1630s. It covers 0.36 square miles (0.93 km2), but the neighborhood has nearly one hundred establishments and a variety of tourist attractions. It is known for its Italian American population and Italian restaurants.

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22/02/1744

War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.

The War of the Austrian Succession, 1740 to 1748, was a conflict between the European great powers, fought primarily in Europe, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King George's War, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War, and the First and Second Silesian Wars.

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22/02/1651

St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.

St. Peter's flood refers to two separate storm tides that struck the coasts of Netherlands and Northern Germany in 1651. During the first storm tide, on 22 February, the East Frisian island of Juist was split in two. During the second disaster, on 4–5 March, the city of Amsterdam was flooded.

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22/02/1632

Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.

Ferdinando II de' Medici was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. Remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture and science, he actively participated in the Accademia del Cimento, the first official scientific society in Italy, formed by his younger brother, Leopoldo de' Medici. His 49-year rule was punctuated by the beginning of Tuscany's long economic decline, which was further exacerbated by his successor, Cosimo III de' Medici. He married Vittoria della Rovere, a first cousin, with whom he had two children who reached adulthood: the aforementioned Cosimo III, and Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro, a cardinal.

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22/02/1495

King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.

Charles VIII, called the Affable, was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491, when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne's regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in a conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government.

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22/02/1371

Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.

Robert II was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, he was named Robert Stewart. Upon the death of his uncle David II, Robert succeeded to the throne as the first monarch of the House of Stuart.

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22/02/1316

The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.

The Battle of Picotin was fought on 22 February 1316 between the Catalan forces of the infante Ferdinand of Majorca, claimant to the Principality of Achaea, and the forces loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut, comprising native levies from the barons loyal to the Princess as well as Burgundian knights. The battle ended in a crushing victory for Ferdinand, but he was later engaged and killed by the troops of Matilda's husband, Louis of Burgundy, at the Battle of Manolada.

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22/02/1288

The Franciscan Girolamo Maschi is elected pope, choosing the name Nicholas IV.

The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men, an order for nuns known as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis, a religious and secular group open to male and female members.

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22/02/1076

Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Pope Gregory VII, born Hildebrand of Sovana, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

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22/02/0896

Pope Formosus crowns Arnulf of Carinthia as Emperor in Rome. Arnulf suffers a stroke soon after and retreats from Italy.

Pope Formosus was the pope and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as Pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of West Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Because he sided with Arnulf of Carinthia against Lambert of Spoleto, Formosus's remains were exhumed and put on trial in the Cadaver Synod. Several of his immediate successors were primarily preoccupied by the controversial legacy of his pontificate, noting his desertion from the diocese in Portus to pursue personal ambition in Rome. Formosus was seen as failing to uphold the ideals of the Church, which is why Stephen VI judged him for moving into an elevated role while holding another. Due to these controversies, no other pope has ever taken on the papal name Formosus.

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