14th of February: At 10:30 am on Saint Valentine’s Day, seven men were murdered in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago’s North Side. The incident was the result of a struggle to control organized crime in the city during Prohibition between the Irish North Siders and their Italian Chicago outfit rivals led by Al Capone. (1929)

15th of February: President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt, but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak would not be so lucky. Cermak died on March 29. (1933)

16th of February: On his trip to Washington, Abraham Lincoln makes a pit stop in Westfield to thank 11-year-old Grace Bedell in person for her advice to grow a beard to earn more votes. (1861)

17th of February: The first ship passes through the Suez Canal, named the S S Dido. The ship was owned by a Scottish merchant shipping company Anchor line. (1867)

18th of February: Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent, is arrested on suspicion of spying for the Soviet Union. He is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. (2001)

19th of February: With 30,000 Marines, the US 5th Fleet starts an invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese, and the famous photograph of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi was taken 4 days later. (1945)

20th of February: After receiving letters from Mongol ruler Kublai Khan threatening to use force against the Japanese emperor in 1266, the Japanese Imperial Court orders all temples and shrines to pray for victory in the imminent second Mongol invasion. (1280)

21st of February: Malcolm X, a civil rights activist, is assassinated by Nation of Islam members in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. (1965)

22nd of February: Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" earns him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (2009)

23rd of February: At Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first mass vaccination against polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine takes place. (1954)

24th of February: Scientists believe they've uncovered an ancient crystal called zircon that dates back 4.4 billion years, making it the earliest confirmed piece of the planet’s crust.

25th of February: After being stateless for seven years, Hitler gains German citizenship when Dietrich Klagges, a fellow Nazi, appoints him as a Brunswick state official. As a result, in the 1932 election, Hitler was able to run for Reichspräsident. (1932)

26th of February: Napoleon Bonaparte and his supporters set off from Elba on a 100-day campaign to retake France. (1815)

27th of February: The Reichstag, Germany's legislative building, is destroyed by fire, which was possibly started by the Nazis, who accuse and execute Dutch Communist Martin van der Lubbe. (1933)

28th of February: The first boatload of gold rush prospectors from the east coast arrives in San Francisco. (1849)