Subj : This Day in History To : All From : Northern Realms Date : Wed Feb 25 2026 08:07:58 This Day in History ------------------- 2016 - Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston. 2015 - At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan. 2009 - Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashed during landing at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, primarily due to a faulty radio altimeter, resulting in the death of nine passengers and crew including all three pilots. 2009 - Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials. 1999 - Alitalia Flight 1553 crashes at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa, Italy, killing four. 1994 - American-Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein commits a mass shooting at the Cave of the Patriarchs mausoleum, leaving 29 dead and over 100 injured before he was disarmed and beaten to death by survivors. 1991 - Disbandment of the Warsaw Pact at a meeting of its members in Budapest. 1986 - People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president. 1980 - The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Desi Bouterse. 1956 - In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounces Stalin. 1951 - The first Pan American Games are officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Peron. 1948 - In a coup d'etat led by Klement Gottwald, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia takes control of government in Prague to end the Third Czechoslovak Republic. 1947 - Soviet NKVD forces in Hungary abduct Bela Kovacs--secretary-general of the majority Independent Smallholders' Party--and deport him to the USSR in defiance of Parliament. His arrest is an important turning point in the Communist takeover of Hungary. 1947 - The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council, the Prussian government having already been abolished by the Preussenschlag of 1932. 1941 - The outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands organises a general strike in German-occupied Amsterdam to protest against Nazi persecution of Dutch Jews. 1939 - As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London. 1933 - Launch of the USS Ranger at Newport News, Virginia. It is the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the US Navy. 1932 - Adolf Hitler, having been stateless for seven years, obtains German citizenship when he is appointed a Brunswick state official by Dietrich Klagges, a fellow Nazi. As a result, Hitler is able to run for Reichsprasident in the 1932 election. 1921 - Georgian capital Tbilisi falls to the invading Russian forces after heavy fighting and the Russians declare the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. 1918 - World War I: German forces capture Tallinn to virtually complete the occupation of Estonia. 1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Verdun, a German unit captures Fort Douaumont, keystone of the French defences, without a fight. 1912 - Marie-Adelaide, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. 1875 - Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty China begins his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi's regency. 1870 - Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. 1843 - Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet affair. 1836 - Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for his revolver firearm. 1705 - George Frideric Handel's opera Nero premiered in Hamburg. 628 - Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. 138 - Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. --- up 1 day, 20 hours, 48 minutes * Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23) .