Human Saga

On February 29

No pivotal events are recorded on exactly February 29 in the Human Saga — here is the surrounding week in history.

This week in history (Feb 26 – Mar 3)

On 27 February 380 CE the emperors Theodosius I, Gratian and Valentinian II issued the Edict of Thessalonica (Cunctos populos), commanding all peoples of the empire to follow the Nicene faith professed by the bishops of Rome and Alexandria.

3 March 1861 (19 February O.S.)Emancipation of the serfs in RussiaSocial & demographic

On 3 March 1861 (19 February in the Russian Julian calendar) Tsar Alexander II issued the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing more than 23 million privately held serfs and inaugurating the most far-reaching reform of nineteenth-century Russia.

1 March 1872Yellowstone, the world's first national parkEnvironment & climate

On 1 March 1872 President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act establishing Yellowstone National Park in the territories of Wyoming and Montana, creating the first federally protected national park in the world.

1 March 1896Battle of Adwa: Ethiopia defeats ItalyMilitary & conflict

On 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa in northern Ethiopia, an Ethiopian army under Emperor Menelik II decisively defeated an invading Italian colonial force led by General Oreste Baratieri.

1 March 1954Castle Bravo Test and the Nuclearisation of the PacificScience, technology & invention

On 1 March 1954 the United States detonated Castle Bravo, a lithium-deuteride-fuelled thermonuclear device, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands as the opening shot of Operation Castle.

3 March 1918Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Russia's exit from the warPolitics & governance

On 3 March 1918 the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), formally ending Russia's participation in World War I.

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