This is a list of selected February 15 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
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Tomoyuki Yamashita
Flag of Canada
Wreckage of the USS Maine
DEW Line radar station
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Candlemas (Eastern Christianity); | refimprove sections |
| 1493 – Christopher Columbus wrote an open letter describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World, which was widely distributed upon his return to Portugal. | refimprove section |
| 1954 – The Canadian and American governments agreed to jointly build the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), a line of radar stations running across the high Arctic. | refimprove section |
| 1971 – The British pound sterling and the Irish pound were decimalised on what is called Decimal Day. | refimprove section, lead too short |
| 1994 – Less than four years after declaring its independence from the Soviet Union, Tatarstan officially agreed to become a federal subject of Russia. | refimprove section, unreferenced section |
Eligible
- 1900 – Second Boer War: British cavalry under Major-General John French defeated Boer forces to end a 124-day siege of Kimberley, present-day South Africa.
- 1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux began excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves in the West Bank, the location of the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
- 1965 – Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign.
- 1976 – The current Constitution of Cuba, providing for a system of government and law based on those of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, was adopted by a national referendum.
- 1979 – Don Dunstan resigned as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation.
- 1995 – Kevin Mitnick, the most wanted computer hacker in the United States at the time, was arrested and charged with computer fraud and wire fraud.
- 1996 – A Long March 3B rocket carrying the communications satellite Intelsat 708 crashed immediately after launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, destroying a nearby town and killing an unknown number of inhabitants.
- 1999 – Abdullah Öcalan, one of the founding members of the militant organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party, was arrested by Turkish security forces in Nairobi, Kenya.
- 2003 – In one of the largest anti-war rallies in history, millions around the world in approximately 800 cities took part in protests against the impending invasion of Iraq.
February 15: National Flag of Canada Day; Statehood Day in Serbia (1804)
[[File:|133px|Chelyabinsk meteor (video)]]
Chelyabinsk meteor (video)
- 1823 – James McBrien made the first official discovery of gold in Australia at Fish River in New South Wales.
- 1898 – The United States Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260 people and precipitating the Spanish–American War.
- 1942 – Second World War: Japanese forces led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita captured Singapore, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
- 1989 – The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan after a nine-year conflict.
- 2013 – A previously undetected meteor exploded in mid-air (pictured) over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, with the resulting shock wave injuring more than 1,500 people.
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