Facts

1805: Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the combined forces of the Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz.

1823: US President James Monroe in a speech to Congress demands that European influence be reduced in the Western Hemisphere. His speech will go down in history as the Monroe Doctrine. In the same speech he acknowledges that a sovereign Greek territory has already been created and proposes to the American Congress the sending of an American ambassador to Greece.

1824: The Governors of Kountouriotis occupy Tripolitsa, seat of the Anti-Governmenters of Kolokotronis during the civil conflicts during the Greek Revolution.

1971: Six states of the Persian Gulf unite and establish the state of the United Arab Emirates. These are Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ayman and Umm al-Quwain, which until then were linked to Great Britain by bilateral protection treaties concluded in the period 1820-92. A seventh emirate, Ras al-Khaimah, joined to the new state on February 10, 1972.

1979: Nikos Galis makes his debut in Greek basketball with the Aris team and scores 30 points in his team’s match against Heraklis.

2010: The messaging and calling app Viber, developed in Israel by ex-Army Intelligence chief Talmon Marko, goes live.

Births

1859: Georges Serra, French post-impressionist painter, who with his innovative methods created the school of neo-impressionism. (D. 29/3/1891)

1922: Iakovos Kampanellis, Greek playwright. (Than. 29/3/2011)

1923: Maria Kallas, Greek-American lyrical artist. (D. 16/9/1977)

Deaths

1944: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet, writer and publisher, the “father” of Futurism. (Born 22/12/1876)

1991: Porphyrios the Kausokalyvite, known as Evangelos Bairaktaris, Greek hieromonk, who was declared holy. (Born 7/2/1906)

2020: Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French politician, president of France during 1974-1981. (Born 2/2/1926)