February 28: The Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortes, in 1525.

Bust of Cuauhtemoc in the Plaza of the Constitution of Mexico City.

The "Eagle down" or "settled" is the meaning in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs during the Spanish Conquest. Actually, "Tlatoani" which means "speaking", "It" was the name given to the top leaders or rulers of the Aztec community.

Monumento to Cuauhtémoc on Avanida Reforma in Mexico,City. The inscription at the bottom of the statue translates as "In memory of Cuauhtémoc (spelled Quautemoc) and his warriors who battled heroically in defense of their country."

Hernán Cortés (Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca 1485-1547) was the first Spanish conqueror who came to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica to kill and murder native Indians. Enriched Spain, the transport of wealth interested pirates and even the Queen of England, Elizabeth I.

"The Martyrdom to Cuauhtémoc", a 19th-century painting by Leandro Izaguirre. 

This all happened during the reign of Charles I of Spain, and later Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. And, Cuauthémoc was the last ruler or "Tlatoani" of the called Aztec Empire. Hernan Cortes ordered to execute the king of Aztecs because of said conspiracy.

Hernan Cortes, the conqueror assassin!

These were the last words of Cuauthémoc, as Hernán Cortés, when he wrote to the king of Spain informing him of the death of the Aztec emperor: .. "came near me and said to me on his tongue and he had done all that was required of him to defend himself and his men to come to that state, now would make him what I wanted, and put his hand on a knife I had, telling me to give him stab and kill him "...

February 27: Sweden and Russia signed the Treaty of Stolbovo that ended the Ingrian War expelling Russia from the Baltic Sea in 1617.

Sweden concentrated on finding its appropriation of land known by the name "Ingermanland" in early sixteenth century. That allowed Sweden to complete a land bridge between Estonia and Finland, and bring the whole coast of the Gulf of Finland under Swedish occupation.

The Swedish reason was to establish a bridge between Estonia and Finland to unify the entire Gulf of Finland under the Swedish Viking power.

The Livonian War of the mid-sixteenth century was victorious for the Swedes and therefore occupied the territory of Ingermanland. Later it was returned to Russia by the Treaty of Teusina, also called "The Eternal Peace with Sweden" between the Russian and Swedish empires, respectively. But in 1610, war broke out again and both empires began hostilies which have been known as the "Ingriana War". The result was a Swedish victory, and the expulsion of the Russians.

After the war, Sweden achieved its objectives through Stolbovo Treaty, signed on February 27, 1617 between Russia and Sweden. The Province Ingermanland with the peoples of Ivangorod, Jama, Koorye and Nöteborg came under Swedish rule. The so-called countries Ingrians as slottslän returned to Sweden. In Norse, the Isthmus of Karelia, Kexholm län, Priozersk and Vyborg län. Sweden built stone fortresses in each of these centers to prevent further Russian incursions.

February 26: Adolph Hitler ordered the restoration of military aviation in Germany in 1935.Thus violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

Designed from the outset for offensive action the Luftwaffe was organised into "Luftflotte" or "Air-fleets", these were self contained airforces with their own bomber, dive-bomber and fighter components.

At the end of the First World War, the German military machine was destroyed and forbidden to Germany to rebuild, as agreed in the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919.

Commander-in-chief of The Luftwaffe Photograph

Germany was so humiliated by France that the United States refused to sign the Peace Treaty offended to Germany.

Luftwaffe Aircraft Camouflage and Markings

The Germans wanted to challenge the Versailles Treaty´s banning them back to raise armies. However, Germans in revenge and need to resurface, rejuvenated their creative and technological capabilities in order to build the most powerful air force in the beginning of World War II: The Luftwaffe.

German Armada

German pilots had to train in private aviation schools circles that trained future pilots of Luft Hansa, the company's civil aviation at the time. In order to train pilots for modern dogfights, Germany had to go to his future enemy, the Soviet Union, Which was also isolated from Europe by its communist ideology.

Secret Weapons of The Luftwaffe

They established a secret practices airport air combat in Lipetsk, since 1924, which operated Dutch, Russian and German ships, built at hiding. That AFB was known then as the 4th Squadron of the Soviet Red Army.

Göring was commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe until April 1945.

February 25: Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1570.

Pope Pius V gave the Queen of England excommunication through a Papal Bull, in response to the Queen´s decision to assume the leadership of the Church of England or Anglican Church, as it is known worldwide. The Pope considered the Queen´s decision a heresy, in spite of being already Protestant.

Queen Elizabeth refused to marry, and was therefore nicknamed the "Virgin Queen". She did not want to share power with a consort king in order to consolidate Anglicanism, economic and maritime progress.

                        "Reina Elizabeth I Francis Drake knighting"

England had broken away from the Catholic Church in Rome, during the Reformation period. Mary Tudor was the only child of Henry VIII his first wife Catherine of Aragon who survived to adulthood. When she acceded to the throne of England reestablished Catholicism and connection with the Pope in Rome.

Sir Francis Drake indicating the Spanish Armada to Elizabeth I

She was nicknamed “Bloody Mary” for her Heresy Acts that ordered executions of Protestants. However, when Elizabeth came to the throne, she thought that it was politically and perhaps morally preferable to uphold the reformed church and did so. Therefore, she assumed as the head of the English church through an act of Parliament.

Unidentified couple, possibly Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake

Elizabethan Pirates, also known as “Elizabeth Sea Dogs” who had the Queen´s permission to attack the Spanish ships. English pirates had a “letter of marquee and reprisal” which was a government licence authorizing a private person to attack and capture foreign vessels. The Elizabeth Era has been also named the Age of Exploration through famous Pirates who brought wealth and power to England.

Holy Catholic and apostolic Church, outside of which there is no salvation!

February 24: King Louis Philippe of France abdicates the throne in 1848. Louis Philipe was last King of France.

France was the first country to experience the Revolution of 1848. The parliamentary opposition begun pressing for modest reforms, which would allow more political and civil liberties in the French population. But the failure to implement reforms was fed up the Parisian crowds.

The French revolution: burning the royal carriages at the Chateau d’Eu, February 24, 1848. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [reproduction number, LC-USZC2-2370 (color film copy slide)].)

The monarchy of Louis Philippe was based on the support of the people, for that reason, he was called the "Citizen King". Without such support, the monarchy was pointless. Consequently, the most important effects of the revolution in France were: the completion of the monarchy and the formulation of the question: where emanates power?

1848 revolution in Paris

The so-called "July Monarchy" headed by Luis Felipe and his unpopular minister François Guizot, had notoriously underestimated the people's demands and ignored the initial insurgency.

'Liberty Leading the People, July 28th, 1830': a highly romantic depiction

Furthermore, both authorities despised National Guard, to the point that when the insurrection broke out on February 23, 1848, and members of the National Guard were on the side of the rebels.

Abdication of Louis Philippe, in favor of his grandson, the comte de Paris, dated 24 February 1848

Thus, the Revolution of 1848 confirmed the failure of the French monarchy to address the problems of a changing world that had been demanding justice, equality and freedom of movement emanating from the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.

King Louis Philippe abdicated to the trone of France and went to exile

February 23: Cuba leased the Guantanamo Bay in "Perpetuity" to the United States Government in 1903.

Map of Cuba showing location of Guantánamo Bay on the southeastern coast.

United States invasion to Cuba started with the so-called Spanish-American War in 1898 as a result of the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. The U.S. Navy fleet chose The Guantanamo Bay to settle while passing storm during a summer hurricane because of it is a good harbor.

The US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay is a territory with an area of ​​120 square kilometers leased in perpetuity in accordance with the Cuban-American Treaty of February 23, 1903. US Navy refer to the naval base with the name "GTMO" located in the southeastern part of the Cuban island. Guantanamo is the oldest naval base and the only US base in a country with no diplomatic relations, yet.
       

                       U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba

Since 1959, the Cuban government has been protesting against the US presence in Cuban Island alleging illegality and territorial occupation under international law, because the naval base was imposed by force, after the American invasion of Cuba.

                                          Guantanamo Bay prison

Since 2002 the Guantanamo Bay has been used as a military prison for unlawful fighters captured in the US military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

February 22: Start the French Revolution of 1848 leading to the emergence of the French Second Republic. Also known as the “February Revolution” (révolution de Février).

Louis-Philippe I, the last King of the French

We may distinguish at least four major problems that can explain the origin of the revolution that began in early 1848 in Paris. These four topics include: population growth, economic, social issues and political issues.

Hannah Raskin-Gross 1848 Revolution Poster

The improvement of sanitary conditions decreased infant mortality and increased life span of the adult population. According to Malthus, the difficulties were founded on an inexorable law of nature, which states that the population tends to outdo livelihoods. That is, the population grows faster than food production.

Painting of Battle at Soufflot barricades at Rue Soufflot Street on 24 June 1848

The second one, which explains the revolutionary events of 1848, is located in the economic crisis in the agricultural, textile, financial and metallurgical sectors, primarily, which then extends to almost all economies in Europe. The problem starts with the crop in the agricultural sector, reflected in food shortages, rising prices, hunger and social protest.

Lamartine in front of the Town Hall of Paris rejects the red flag on 25 February 1848

Thirdly, the French society was increasingly splitting as a result of the application of the liberal model that demanded extension of the right to vote and the capitalist model that was creating more social strata into poverty. The economic problems became social problems that would soon become a major political issue.

Hannah Raskin-Gross 1848 Revolution Poster

Additionally, widespread discontent fanned the embers of rebellion. King Louis d'Orleans Phelippe named François Guizot in the office of mayor in 1847. Guizot formulated a policy designed to encourage the capitalist bourgeoisie and banned political meetings to prevent conspiracies policy. An article in the newspaper Le National on 21 February 1848 invited the people to protest.
People got so angered over the outlawing of the political meetings and banquets that crowds of Parisians started flooding out into the streets at noon on 22 February 1848, and marched past Prime Minister François Guizot's residence.

Louis Napoleon captured 74.2 percent of votes cast in the first French direct presidential elections in 1848.

Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d'Orléans, had to abdicate the throne of France. The crowd did not accept any successor, and demanded the immediate republican democracy. Alphonse de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic who brought back the Tricolore as the flag of France.

Napoleon III Emperor of the French

The French Revolution of 1848 ended up with the rise of Louis Napoleon as the first President of the Second Republic and when he was blocked by the Constitution and Parliament from running for a second term, he organized a coup d´état in 1851, and then took the throne as Napoleon III on 2 December 1852. So started the Second French Empire.

February 21: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel published the Communist Manifesto in 1848, officially Manifesto of The Communist Party.

Cover of the Communist Manifesto's initial publication in 1848 in London by a group of German political refugees.

The Communist Manifesto has been one of the most widely read publications of political theory and sociology, it presents an analytical approach to the history of class struggle and the problems of capitalism of the nineteenth century. According to Marx and Engels, the history of mankind has been a continuous struggle of classes between the exploiters and the exploited.

First cover with the names of Karl Marx and Frederick Engel

The Manifesto introduces an approach to the historical class struggle as well as the present one. It also analyses the problems of the capitalist system and its mode of production. According to Marx and Engels’ theories about the nature of politics and society, they wrote: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”.

The Communist Manifesto has a Preamble: “A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.”

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The primary objective of communists and the revolutionary proletariat is the abolition of private property, for it is this that keeps them enslaved.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The abolition of private property, the appeal to the workers of the world to unite and a new means of production are taken to concentrate them in a socialist world that eventually will develop into communism.

Marx coined the phrase: "Workers of the world unite! " to overthrow the capitalist society to be replaced by socialism, and then finally to communism.

February 20: Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to finance the Nazi Party in 1933.

                         Adolf Hitler, Freemason Secret Hand Signal

The Secret Meeting of February 20, 1933 better known as "Geheimtreffen vom 20. Februar 1933" in German, was a clandestine meeting beteen Adolf Hitler and 25 industrial leaders at the official residence of Hermann Goering, President of the Reichstag, at the Presidential Palace with the aim of seeking financial support for the Nazi Party. The new German elections were scheduled for March 5, 1933 and aspired to win two-thirds of the German legislative body (Reichstag).

Life under nazism

German President World War I hero Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg on Jan. 30, 1933, called Hitler to the chancellorship to head a coalition government of Nazis, conservative German nationalists, and several prominent independents.

Hitler´s book written while he was in jail

In his book "Mein Kampf", Hitler attacked both the political left and the right in Germany. However, scholars from universities called it a reactionary far right.

Life under Nazism

In an interview Hitler was asked to stand up as "a bourgeois of the extreme right", said his opponents, and Hitler replied that Nazism was not exclusively for social class and not conducive neither to the left nor to the right, but preserving the "pure" elements of both sides: "From the camp of bourgeois tradition, it takes national resolve, and from the materialism of the Marxist dogma, living, creative Socialism".

A Culture of Fascism – Ideology as a Motive Force Behind German Support for the Nazi Regime. “

February 19: Today is the anniversary of the formal establishment of the Republic of Texas, in 1846 to be followed by it annexation to the United States.

Map of the Republic of Texas in green. The claimed area is in light green, while populated territory is in dark green.

The Republic of Texas was an independent and sovereign state since March 2, 1836 until February 19, 1846. The Texan colonists fought with US help to wean Texans territories of Mexico, in 1836. The new republic claimed boundaries that currently comprise the State of Texas, and the territories that now belong to the states of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming, based on the Treaties of Velasco between Texas and Mexico.

          Texan flag. Texas was known popularly as the Lone Star Republic

The Treaties of Velasco were a couple of signed documents in the town of Velasco, today Freeport, Texas, by the Mexican General Santa Ana López and interim president David G. Burnet from Texas.

          Texan independence ushered in the short-lived Republic of Texas. 

The Adams-Onis Treaty, defined the US border with Spain, since 1819. But the geographical boundaries of Texas with Mexico were never recognized by Mexico. Therefore, joining Texas to the United States, the problem of borders had to be defined after finishing a war. When states were unable border agreements, through diplomatic channels, they have to resort to use their military forces to define who owned what.