The U.S. battleship "Maine" mysteriously blows up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, then a Spanish colony. More than 260 crew members on board are killed in the blast. War breaks out between the U.S. and Spain months later.

1989, the Soviet Union says the last of its troops have left Afghanistan, ending more than nine years of military intervention. A few years later, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, establishing a theocracy and providing a base for Osama Bin Laden. In 2001, Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network masterminds the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States.

1564, Galileo, the astronomer whose discoveries drew the wrath of the Catholic Church’s inquisition, is born in Pisa, Italy.

And 1820, “Brothers we must show your freedom, hope son we well.” Susan B. Anthony, the suffragist who fought for the right for women to vote in America, is born in Adams, Massachusetts.

Today in History. February 15th. Ross Simpson, the Associated Press.