15 FEBRUARY

1872 - The "GOMBURZA" Filipino priest-martyrs are tried by the colonial Spanish military tribunal at the Fort Santiago on charges of instigating the Cavite Mutiny; Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who have advocated the secularization of the clergy in the Philippines, will be found guilty and sentenced to death.

399 B.C. - Greek philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death (by drinking the poison hemlock) on false charges of the "neglect of the gods" and "corruption of the youth;" known for his philosophical method of what is now referred to as the Socratic dialogue, he responds to the judges with: “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.”

1942 - British Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival surrenders Singapore to Japan during World War II in what is dubbed as the worst ever military defeat of Great Britain; an estimated 130,000 soldiers are held captive, majority of whom will not survive, in the fall of Singapore that has formed an important British military base and stronghold of the Allied Forces.

1989 - The Soviet Union withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, nine years after then-Premier Leonid Brezhnev sent military support to help propel the communist Afghan government; the withdrawal comes amidst the raging civil war staged by the United States-backed mujaheddin and in three years, the Afghan communist government of President Najibullah will fall and the extremist Sunni Islamic Taliban will eventually  rule the South Central Asian country for several years.