Hitler gains German citizenship through a Brunswick state post (1932), and German forces capture Tallinn in February 1918 (1918). Born on this day: George Harrison, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Lesya Ukrainka. Died: Hosni Mubarak, Christopher Wren and Tennessee Williams.
31 events, 64 births and 77 deaths on this date.
Stateless since 1925, Hitler was made a Brunswick official by a fellow Nazi, giving him German citizenship. That status allowed him to stand in the 1932 presidential election.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 deGerman troops took Tallinn, the Estonian capital, during the First World War, which effectively completed their occupation of Estonia. The move gave Germany control of nearly the whole territory.
The Pope cut Elizabeth off from the Catholic Church, a sharp rebuke to a queen who had just set England's church apart from Rome. It made the religious divide between England and Rome formal, a tension that shaped the rest of her reign.
Unidentified painter · Public domain
George Frideric Handel's opera Nero opened in Hamburg, an early stage production by the young composer who later became famous in London. It shows how his career in Italian opera began in the German city before he moved on.
Attributed to Balthasar Denner · Public domain
After losing his first chosen heir, Lucius Aelius, the Roman emperor Hadrian turned to Antoninus Pius instead. The move settled who would rule the empire after him, and Antoninus went on to reign for over two decades.
Member states met in Budapest and agreed to end the Soviet-led military alliance, which had been formed in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO. The decision effectively closed the military chapter of the Cold War in Eastern Europe.
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George Harrison was the Beatles' lead guitarist, known as the band's quiet member. He also wrote songs such as Something and Here Comes the Sun, and went on to a solo career.
David Hume Kennerly · Public domain
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a leading French Impressionist painter, known for warm, light-filled scenes of everyday life and his tender depictions of women. He was also the father of the filmmaker Jean Renoir.
Unknown Unknown Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt · Public domain
Ukrainian poet, playwright and translator who wrote in a period when her language was restricted under Russian imperial rule. She is remembered for poems such as On the Wings of Songs and for the play Forest Song.
Johann Krzanowski · Public domain
Mubarak ruled Egypt for nearly thirty years, from 1981 until mass protests forced him from office in 2011. A former air force commander, he was remembered for both stability and a repressive, corrupt government.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Wren was the English architect behind St Paul's Cathedral in London, and he was given charge of rebuilding dozens of City churches after the Great Fire of 1666. He was also an astronomer and mathematician, and a founder of the Royal Society.
Godfrey Kneller · Public domain
Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, two of the most celebrated American plays of the twentieth century. He also saw many of his works turned into films, and he is remembered as one of the country's great dramatists.
Orlando Fernandez, World Telegram staff photographer · Public domain
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