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17 February| 17 February 1598 | Russia [political events] | Boris Godunov, brother-in-law of the late tsar Fyodor I, is elected tsar of Russia by the Zemsky Sobor (council of Boyars); to strengthen his position he forces the head of the rival Romanov family into a monastery. | | 17 February 1673 | France [births and deaths] | Molière (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), French comic dramatist, whose best-known works include Le Tartuffe, ou l'imposteur/Tartuffe, or the Impostor (1664) and L'Avare/The Miser (1668), dies in Paris, France (51). | | 17 February 1766 | England [births and deaths] | Thomas Malthus, English economist and demographer who theorized that population growth, unless checked, would always outstrip the food supply, born near Guildford, England (–1834). | | 17 February 1863 | Switzerland [charities] | The International Red Cross is founded in Geneva, Switzerland. | | 17 February 1867 | Austrian Empire, Hungary [administration] | The Hungarian diet (national assembly) is opened and the constitution of 1848 restored. Government by Ausgleich (‘compromise’) begins, allowing for a dual monarchy under which the Magyars gain autonomy in Hungary while Austria continues to govern the rest of the Habsburg territories, with unitary foreign and war policies. | | 17 February 1934 | Belgium [political events] | King Albert I of Belgium is killed in a climbing accident. He is succeeded by his son, Leopold III. | | 17 February 1958 | UK [companies and organizations] | The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is founded at a public meeting in London, England. Speakers at the meeting include the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the author J B Priestley, the politician Michael Foot, the historian A J P Taylor, and the chairman Canon John Collins. | | 17 February 2003 | England [motor vehicles] | The imposition of a £5-a-day charge on drivers bringing their cars into the centre of London, England, takes effect. The levy is intended to reduce congestion in the capital and improve the flow of traffic. |
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