1869
Mirza “”Galib”” Asad Ullah Beg Khan, famous Urdu poet and writer, passed away.
1915
In Singapore on this day in 1915, Indian soldiers launch the first large-scale mutiny of World War I.
Some 800 soldiers in the Indian army’s 5th Light Infantry Brigade broke out of their barracks on the afternoon of February 15 and killed several British officers before moving on to other areas of the city. By the time the revolt was quashed, several days later, by British, French and Russian troops, the mutineers had killed 39 Europeans—both soldiers and civilians. British soldiers executed 37 of the mutiny’s ringleaders by gunfire.
1936
Nabin Chandra Bardoloi, freedom fighter, passed away. He was known for his patriotism and zeal for constructive work and was a forceful and emotional orator and debater and an eminent writer in Assamese litrature. He was also a musician and composed good number of patriotic poems and songs.
1942
Singapore, the “Gibraltar of the East” and a strategic British stronghold, falls to Japanese forces.
An island city and the capital of the Straits Settlement of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore had been a British colony since the 19th century. In July 1941, when Japanese troops occupied French Indochina, the Japanese telegraphed their intentions to transfer Singapore from the British to its own burgeoning empire. Sure enough, on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, 24,000 Japanese troops were transported from Indochina to the Malay Peninsula, and Japanese fighter pilots attacked Singapore, killing 61 civilians from the air.
1945
Indian troops capture Pagan at Burma. (World War II)
1948
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, famous Hindi poet, political agitator, critic and freedom fighter, passed away near Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, in an automobile accident.
Some of her famous poems are – Koyal, Ye Kadamb ka ped, Jhansi Ki Rani, Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Vasant, Mera Naya Bachpan, Paani aur Dhoop, Thukra Do Ya Pyar Karo etc.
1950
The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, the two largest communist nations in the world, announce the signing of a mutual defense and assistance treaty. (Cold War)
1965
Canada adopted new maple leaf flag.
1976
The Division of Publication & Information was established in I.C.M.R. Headquarters.
1976
The Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) was established at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.
1992
Kesri Publications started the first Indian newspaper in `Brail’ lipi.