What happened on 16 February?

5 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1959 Castro's rule of Cuba Half a century from the overthrow of Batista: the missile crisis, the embargo, literacy and health campaigns, and the loss of the Soviet subsidy.
2. 1936 The Popular Front wins Spain's last election A coalition of republicans, socialists and communists wins narrowly over the right — and Spain's polarisation becomes arithmetic: two blocs, each convinced the other means to destr
3. 2005 Kyoto Protocol enters into force The first binding international treaty to cut greenhouse-gas emissions takes effect, though without the United States.
4. 1957 The Seventh Seal released Ingmar Bergman's medieval allegory; the chess match with Death.
5. 1742 Lord Wilmington's premiership Spencer Compton succeeds Walpole as a figurehead first lord and dies in office sixteen months later.