Reichstag fire: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

The Reichstag Fire, which occurred on February 27, 1933, was a pivotal event in Nazi Germany’s rise to power. The German parliament building (Reichstag) in Berlin was set ablaze, and the Nazis quickly blamed a Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, who was arrested at the scene. While van der Lubbe claimed sole responsibility, many historians suspect the Nazis themselves orchestrated the fire to create a pretext for crushing political opposition. Exploiting the chaos, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended civil liberties, allowing mass arrests of communists and other political adversaries. This decree, along with subsequent intimidation and propaganda, enabled the Nazis to consolidate power, paving the way for Hitler’s dictatorship. The fire remains one of history’s most controversial events, symbolizing the Nazi regime’s ruthless tactics in dismantling democracy.

First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.

The First Boer War, also known as the First Anglo-Boer War, took place from 1880 to 1881 in South Africa. It was fought between the British Empire and the Transvaal Republic (also known as the South African Republic), which was populated mainly by Boer settlers of Dutch descent.

Causes:

British Expansionism: The British were expanding their control over Southern Africa, and tensions arose as they encroached upon Boer territories.
Discontent among Boers: Boer settlers were dissatisfied with British rule and policies, such as taxation and attempts to limit their autonomy.
Conflicts over Land and Resources: There were disputes over land ownership and control of valuable resources like gold and diamonds.

Key Events:

Annexation of the Transvaal: In 1877, the British annexed the Transvaal, angering the Boers and sparking resistance.
Battle of Majuba Hill (1881): This was the decisive battle of the war. The Boers, led by Commandant-General Piet Joubert, achieved a surprising victory over the British forces commanded by Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley. The British suffered heavy casualties, and Colley himself was killed.
Peace Treaty: Following the Battle of Majuba Hill, negotiations led to the signing of the Pretoria Convention in 1881. Under the terms of the treaty, the British recognized the independence of the Transvaal, albeit with certain conditions.

Outcomes:

Independence of the Transvaal: The Transvaal regained its independence, albeit with British suzerainty.
Prelude to Further Conflict: While the First Boer War ended with a Boer victory, it didn’t resolve the underlying tensions between the British Empire and the Boer republics. This set the stage for the Second Boer War (1899-1902), which was much larger and more destructive.

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a civil rights organization that was founded in 1968 by a group of Native American activists in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AIM was formed in response to the social and political injustices faced by Native Americans, including discrimination, poverty, and the loss of their traditional lands and ways of life.

The goals of the American Indian Movement were to promote and protect the rights of Native Americans, to preserve their cultures and traditions, and to bring attention to the issues facing Native American communities. The organization used a variety of tactics, including protests, demonstrations, and legal actions, to achieve its goals.

AIM played a prominent role in a number of high-profile events and incidents during the 1970s, including the occupation of Alcatraz Island, the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. These actions brought national attention to the struggles of Native Americans and helped to increase awareness of their rights and issues.

Today, the American Indian Movement continues to advocate for Native American rights and works to preserve and promote Native American cultures and traditions.

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.

Henry IV is crowned King of France.

First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.

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The British Labour Party is founded.

In 1899, a Doncaster member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Thomas R. Steels, proposed in his union branch that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to bring together all left-wing organisations and form them into a single body that would sponsor Parliamentary candidates. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, and the proposed conference was held at the Memorial Hall on Farringdon Street on 26 and 27 February 1900. The meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates.

After a debate, the 129 delegates passed Hardie’s motion to establish “a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour.” This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to co-ordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and represent the working-class population. It had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 “Khaki election” came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively; total expenses for the election only came to £33. Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful; Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.

Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, a dispute between strikers and a railway company that ended with the union being ordered to pay £23,000 damages for a strike. The judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. The apparent acquiescence of the Conservative Government of Arthur Balfour to industrial and business interests intensified support for the LRC against a government that appeared to have little concern for the industrial proletariat and its problems.

Labour Party Plaque from Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street
In the 1906 election, the LRC won 29 seats—helped by a secret 1903 pact between Ramsay MacDonald and Liberal Chief Whip Herbert Gladstone that aimed to avoid splitting the opposition vote between Labour and Liberal candidates in the interest of removing the Conservatives from office.

In their first meeting after the election the group’s Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name “The Labour Party” formally. Keir Hardie, who had taken a leading role in getting the party established, was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, although only by one vote over David Shackleton after several ballots. In the party’s early years the Independent Labour Party provided much of its activist base as the party did not have individual membership until 1918 but operated as a conglomerate of affiliated bodies. The Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement.

The People’s History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, which holds the collection of the Labour Party, with material ranging from 1900 to the present day.

Henry IV is crowned as King of France.

On the 27th of February 1594, Henry, King of Navarre was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Chartres . He was the first monarch of the Bourbon Dynasty to rule France.
Henry III was the last monarch of the Valois dynasty. With him an era ended and another begun. In spite of having named Henry of Navarre his heir, many Catholics protested, as well as other rival claimants who believed that they could easily oust the new king from his throne. Hence, why it took him nearly five years to be crowned and even then, there was still some resistance.

After Henry IV was crowned King of France, he implemented a new series of policies that extended religious toleration. His mother, Jeanne III of Navarre, had been hailed as a Protestant savior. For this and other reasons, Henry became the champion of the Huguenot. Yet, Henry IV also proved to be pragmatic, playing on both sides when it suited as those before him had done.

Despite being supported by England, the English Queen felt betrayed once Henry IV sought to make an alliance with her Catholic enemies. Henry IV pretended to return to the Catholic church, while still seeming to favor the Huguenots. This back-and-forth put him at odds with his once strongest supporters. There were several assassination attempts, most of which failed.
His military bravado helped him avoid terrible disasters and thwarted Spain and the Holy Roman Empire’s attempts to take over all of France; but it didn’t do anything to lessen the hostilities of his divided kingdoms. While in Paris, he was killed by a Catholic fanatic, Francois Ravalliac. His companion was also attacked but managed to survived. Francois was apprehended and subjected to torture. He was asked to name his Catholic co-conspirators but Francois Ravalliac revealed there were none. It was just him. Francois had been a schoolmaster who’d fallen on hard times and blamed his lost fortunes to Henry IV’s policies and the Huguenots.

Henry IV was buried at the St. Denis Basilica and was succeeded by his son, Louis XIII of France. His wife, Marie de Medici, served as his regent and as soon as she was in power, she did her best to ensure that her son would become her docile, little puppet, who’d feel lost without her. While Henry IV’s reputation as a womanizer, brave soldier, peacemaker, and able King was something that his son could never live up to, the youth nevertheless idolized his father and when he came of age, he set aside his timidity and took matters into his own hands, dismissing his mother’s favorites -and his mother as well- and relying on his new friends and Cardinal Richelieu. Marie de Medici tried to make a comeback, and do as her distant relative, the indomitable Catherine de Medici, another Queen mother, had done before her but failed. She died in exile in the Spanish Netherlands.

Henry IV’s youth was anything but easy. He had been raised to be the perfect Protestant, yet was forced to go to the French court where he had to give up his beliefs and hear Mass, something he didn’t like but had to do to ensure his legacy and survival. While Jeanne III of Navarre and the Queen Mother and King’s governor were often at odds with each other, the two often formed alliances, to prevent Spain from having too much power in French affairs. Jeanne III didn’t live long enough to see the situation between Protestants and Catholics get out of hand, sparking the St. Bartholomew Massacre but her son did. After Charles IX of France died and his brother became King, Henry became one of the most influential figures in France. His struggle for the crown cost a lot of lives and while his view of his predecessors was shaped due to his years of captivity in the French court, where he was an honorable guest, he expressed sympathy for one of the most reviled women in his party and France, Catherine de Medici. Of her, he said “I ask you, what could she have done, poor woman, left at her husband’s death with five small children and two families in France -ours and the Guises- who hoped to get the Crown for themselves? Wasn’t it necessary for her to play some strange games, to deceive everybody, in order to protect her sons who reigned only because of her cunning? You may say she did harm to France -the marvel is she didn’t do worse!”

The French monarchy changed very little during Henry’s time. The crown continued to gain more power, something his son would continue through his Cardinal. Besides his religious policies and military enterprises, he also re-funded universities, started building projects that fortified out of date fortresses, and planned to construct new -and grander palaces- on the capital. He was also a patron of the arts who employed many artists. Many of them painted him as this god-like figure, who’s also affable and approachable, while others worked on adding more to Catholic religious houses.

Henry has gone down in history as one of the best kings that France has ever had, earning the sobriquets “le grand”, “le boi roi Henri”, and “le vert galant” for his many mistresses.
There are some however, who think he could have done better and established a more Republican government, the way it had been done in some Protestant realms and that several leaders favored. To this, Desmond Seward, in his biography on the Bourbon Kings, he says the following:
“Henri has been criticized for not giving France a new system of government and for restoring the traditional structure, the Ancient Regime which went down in 1789. But this is to ask that he should have been a man before his time. His education and outlook were those of the later Renaissance, not of the Enlightenment, and the Renaissance always looked to the past.”

Sources: Game of Queens by Sarah Gristwood, The Bourbon Kings of France by Desmond Seward, Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France by Leonie Frieda and The Rival Queens: Catherine de’ Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone.
Images: Top, from left to right -Henry IV of France portrait located at Versailles and Henry IV’s assassination. Bottom, from left to right – the royal coins depicting Henry IV and his consort, Marie de Medici and his coat of arms, and Henry IV.

The Battle of Tarqui takes place.