📜 This Day in History

February 28

• 202 BCRebel leader Liu Bang declared himself Emperor Gaozu of Han after overthrowing the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty of China.
• 1897Ranavalona III, the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by French military forces.
• 1947Nationalist soldiers fired on protesters in Taipei, triggering widespread uprisings and violent suppression in the White Terror.
• 1974The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Liberal Party, under Jeremy Thorpe, achieved their highest ever number of votes.
• 2001A high-speed train crash occurred near Selby in North Yorkshire, England, killing 10 and injuring 82.
• 2026The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.

Born on this day

• 1533Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (died 1592)
• 1901Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994)
• 1929Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect and designer (died 2025)
• 1953Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate