Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 18

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

February 18: Independence Day in The Gambia (1965), Chinese New Year's Day (2007), Last day of Maslenitsa in Russia (2007).

• 1861 - With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia (pictured) assumed the title King of Italy.
• 1861 - Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first (and only) President of the Confederate States of America.
• 1932 - The Empire of Japan established Manchukuo, a puppet state in northeastern China during the Sino-Japanese War.
• 1943 - Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister, delivered the Sportpalast speech to motivate the German people when the tide of World War II was turning against Germany.
• 2003 - An arsonist in Daegu, South Korea started a fire aboard a subway train, killing two hundred passengers.

Recent days: February 17 – February 16 – February 15