February 3 in History

Historical Events on February 3

1509 The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.

1690 The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.

1781 American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.

1917 World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the latter announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1933 Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.

1944 World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

1961 The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.

1969 In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.

1989 After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.

All Events

Famous Birthdays on February 3

1809 Felix Mendelssohn

1830 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

1874 Gertrude Stein

1988 Gregory van der Wiel

All Births

Famous Deaths on February 3

1820 Gia Long

1924 Woodrow Wilson

1959 Buddy Holly

1961 Anna May Wong

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