On This Day - What happened 23 February

On 23 February 1260, Guido Speziale, son of Giovanni Pisano, was elected to oversee the building of the tower.

George Washington was born February 22, 1732, at Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

On 23 February 1848, King Louis Philippe of France was forced to flee Paris, and a republic was proclaimed. By the time the revolution in Paris occurred, three states of Italy had constitutions—four if one considers Sicily to be a separate state.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to Alfred and Mary Silvina (née Burghardt) Du Bois.

On 23 February Franco was sent to the Canary Islands to serve as the islands' military commander, an appointment perceived by him as a destierro (banishment).

In the 1950 general elections, Roberts was the Conservative candidate for the safe Labor seat of Dartford. The local party selected her as its candidate because, though not a dynamic public speaker, Roberts was well-prepared and fearless in her answers. She attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate, but she lost to Norman Dodds.She lost again in the 1951 general elections.

There was an attempted military coup, known as 23-F, on 23 February 1981, when the Cortes were seized by members of the Guardia Civil in the parliamentary chamber. During the coup, the King, in the uniform of the Captain-General of the Spanish armed forces, gave a public television broadcast calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government. The broadcast is believed to have been a major factor in foiling the coup.

Hepburn co-starred with Robert Wagner in a made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves (1987).

On 23 February, fighting resulted in the capture of 500 Iraqi soldiers.

The Croat-Bosniak war ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the HVO Chief of Staff, general Ante Roso, and the ARBiH Chief of Staff, general Rasim Delić, on 23 February 1994 in Zagreb. The agreement went into effect on 25 February.

On February 23, 1998, al-Zawahiri issued a joint fatwa with Osama bin Laden under the title "World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders". Zawahiri, not bin Laden, is thought to have been the actual author of the fatwa.

Eminem released The Slim Shady LP in February 1999. Although it was one of the year's most popular albums (certified triple platinum by the end of the year), he was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage.

An elderly woman, Kwan Sui-Chu returned to Toronto from Hong Kong after being infected by Liu Jianlun at the Metropole Hotel. She died at home on March 5, after infecting her son Tse Chi Kwai, who spread the disease at Scarborough Grace Hospital and then he also died.

The Rock defeated Hogan at No Way Out before assigning himself to the Raw brand.

On 23 February 2009, at the ECOSOC event in New York, UNICEF announced that IKEA Social Initiative has become the agency's largest corporate partner, with total commitments of more than US$180 million.

On February 23, 2010, Facebook was granted a patent on certain aspects of its News Feed. The patent covers News Feeds in which links are provided so that one user can participate in the activity of another user. The sorting and display of stories in a user's News Feed is governed by the EdgeRank algorithm.

On 24 February 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi 5 smartphone.

On 23 February, it was confirmed by Buckingham Palace that Philip was "responding to treatment" for an infection.

Nicolas Fouquet, a French politician who became fabulously wealthy and later imprisoned for maladministration of state funds, was born in Paris.