World/nation trivia: The week of Feb. 23-March 1

Feb. 23:

1836, the siege of the Alamo by Mexican troops began in San Antonio, Texas.

1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags. (The second flag-raising was captured in an iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press.)

1980, American Eric Heiden completed his sweep of the five men’s speed skating events at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, by winning the men’s 10,000-meter race in world record time; Heiden was the first athlete to win five gold medals in a single Winter Olympics.

2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on a residential Georgia street; a white father and son had armed themselves and pursued him after seeing him running through their neighborhood. (Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted of murder, aggravated assault and other charges and were sentenced to life in prison.)

Feb. 24:

1868, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson by a vote of 126-47 following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate by a single vote.

1942, the SS Struma, a charter ship attempting to carry nearly 800 Jewish refugees from Romania to British-mandated Palestine, was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea; all but one of the refugees died.

1991, the United States began ground operations in the Gulf War by entering Iraqi-held Kuwait.

2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launching airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions.

Feb. 25:

1870, Republican Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as U.S. senator, becoming the first African American member of either house of Congress.

1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

1964, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.

2020, U.S. health officials warned that the coronavirus was certain to spread more widely in the U.S.; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to be prepared. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, speaking in India, said the virus was “very well under control” in the United States.

Feb. 26:

1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba, sailing back to France in a bid to regain power.

1987, the Tower Commission, which had probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack eight years later.)

2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, during an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he acted in self-defense. (Zimmerman was later acquitted of second-degree murder.)

Feb. 27:

1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.

1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children; the occupation would last for over two months.

1991, Operation Desert Storm came to a conclusion as President George H.W. Bush declared in a White House address that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.

2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering nuclear forces put on high alert while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country.

Feb. 28:

1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded as the ship was sailing on the Potomac River, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others; President John Tyler, who also was aboard the ship, was uninjured.

1953, Francis H.C. Crick announced that he and fellow scientist James D. Watson had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.

1993, a gun battle erupted at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate. (Benedict was succeeded the following month by Pope Francis.)

March 1:

1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, making Yellowstone the nation’s first national park.

1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home in East Amwell Township, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the child were found two months later.)

1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps; since its establishment, over 240,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers.

1974, seven people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman; former Attorney General John Mitchell; and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. (These four defendants were convicted in January 1975, though Mardian’s conviction was later reversed.)

– Associated Press