THE DAY IN HISTORY · FEBRUARY 15

February 15 in history

What happened on February 15: 4 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1942, 1945, 1989 and 1994, each linked to the map that shows it.

1942

Singapore surrenders — 80,000 troops, the “impregnable fortress,” the worst defeat in British military history.

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1945 — Bombing of Dresden

13–15 Feb 1945 — Air raids on Dresden create a firestorm that kills about 25,000 people. The ethics of area bombing remain contested.

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1989 — Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

15 Feb 1989 — General Boris Gromov, commander of the 40th Army, crossed the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya at Termez as the last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan. Gorbachev had called the war a “bleeding wound” in 1986. About 15,000 Soviet troops had died in it.

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1994 — Tatarstan–Russia power-sharing treaty

15 Feb 1994 — Two years earlier, about 61% had backed a “sovereign state” in a Tatarstan referendum. Instead of seceding, Tatarstan signed a treaty with Moscow and kept wide control over its oil, taxes and laws. Ten months later Moscow sent tanks into Chechnya.

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