YouTube Launches: The Birth of Viral Video
Three former PayPal employees — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim — registered the YouTube.com domain, launching a platform that would demolish the barriers to video distribution worldwide. Within eighteen months Google acquired it for $1.65 billion, and today YouTube hosts over 800 million videos, reshaping entertainment, journalism, education, and political discourse.
February 14, 2005
21 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on February 14
Gunmen stormed the village of Ngarbuh in Cameroon’s Northwest Region, killing at least 22 civilians, including 14 children. This massacre intensified the ongoin…
A Roman priest kept marrying couples after the emperor banned marriage. Claudius II needed soldiers, decided love made men weak, and outlawed weddings empire-wi…
Abu Muslim Khorasani took Merv with an army that wasn't Arab. Persian converts, freed slaves, non-tribal soldiers — everyone the Umayyads had spent a century ta…
Two brothers stood in Strasbourg and swore loyalty oaths to each other's armies — but here's the thing: Charles spoke German to Louis's troops, and Louis spoke …
Lithuania appears in writing for the first time in 1009 — a single line in a German monastery's records. A missionary named Bruno was killed "on the border of R…
Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry of Bavaria as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, formalizing the Ottonian dynasty’s control over the papacy. This alliance solidified …
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.