1945: Dresden devastated
On 13 February 1945, hundreds of bombers launch a massive Allied air raid against the city of Dresden, Germany. Over a three-day period, 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiaries were dropped by 1,300 British and American aircraft, reducing much of the city to smoldering rubble and killing between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians.
Some Allied officials were against the decision to bomb Dresden as Germany was clearly on the verge of collapse, and Dresden was not a German war-production city. The planners of the attack claimed that by bombing Dresden they were disrupting important lines of communication that would have hindered the Soviet offensive in the east. However, many suspected that the raid was part of an ongoing effort to terrorize the German population and thereby force an early surrender.
Dresden had been famous for its historic buildings and artwork until it became the victim of the single most destructive air raid of the European war.
2001
In Glasgow, Stephen Kelly goes on trial for knowingly infecting a woman with the HIV virus in a case believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland. Kelly is found guilty.
1996
British boy band, Take That, announce they are splitting up.
1991
The Gulf War: American planes bomb Baghdad, killing hundreds of Iraqi civilians.
1984
Konstantin Chernenko becomes general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
1965
The Vietnam War: President Johnson decides to undertake the sustained bombing of North Vietnam, known as Operation Rolling Thunder.
1961
Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is declared dead.
1945
The Second World War: Soviet forces capture Budapest, Hungary.
1920
The League of Nations recognises the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1895
French inventors Louis and August Lumiere patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector.
1861
In America, the first Medal of Honor is award to Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin.
1815
The Cambridge Union Society is formed.
1692
Massacre of Glencoe: Roughly 78 Macdonalds in Scotland re killed for not pledging allegiance to King William of Orange
1689
Mary, the daughter of the deposed king, and William of Orange, her husband, are proclaimed joint sovereigns of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1542
The fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, Catherine Howard, is executed.