Events Pre-1600 484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica. 1303 – The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence. 1386 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda. 1525 – A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia. 1527 – Coronation of Ferdinand I as the king of Bohemia in Prague. 1538 – Treaty of Nagyvárad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zápolya of Hungary and Croatia. 1582 – With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar. 1597 – The last battle of the Cudgel War takes place on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia.Nuijasota – Ilmajoki (in Finnish)
1601–1900 1607 – L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance. 1711 – Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, is premièred. 1739 – Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah. 1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review. 1809 – London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving its owner, Irish writer and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, destitute. 1809 – Britain invades and captures the French colony of Martinique. 1812 – Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Frederick William III of Prussia against Russia is signed. 1813 – Sinking of HMS Peacock by USS Hornet on the Demerara River, Guyana. 1821 – Final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with Plan of Iguala. 1822 – The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated. 1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War. 1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West. 1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne. 1854 – A Penny Red with perforations becomes the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution. 1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory. 1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate. 1875 – The hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries. 1876 – The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway. 1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty. 1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence; the war ends along with the Spanish–American War in 1898.
1901–present 1916 – The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients. 1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States. 1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence. 1920 – Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier. 1920 – The Nazi Party (NSDAP) is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany.Some 2000 people attended the meeting at the Hofbrauhaus; Hitler offered the program point-by-point, to an approving crowd. 1942 – Seven hundred ninety-one Romanian Jewish refugees and crew members are killed after the MV Struma is torpedoed by the Soviet Navy. 1942 – Voice of America makes its first broadcast. 1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm leads to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasts into the early hours of February 25. 1943 – World War II: First large-scale protest march resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany. 1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree. 1946 – Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina. 1949 – The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 1966 – Ghanaian coup d'état by National Liberation Council overthrows Kwame Nkrumah's Government 1967 – Cultural Revolution: Zhang Chunqiao announces the dissolution of the Shanghai People's Commune, replacing its local government with a revolutionary committee. 1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngô Quang Trưởng recapture the citadel of Hué. 1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days earlier. P. K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman. 1976 – The 1976 constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed. 1978 – The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later. 1981 – The 6.7 Gulf of Corinth earthquake affects Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people are killed, 400 are injured, and damage totals $812 million. 1983 – A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II. 1984 – A child and an adult man are killed and 12 others are injured in the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles. 1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section. 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war. 1996 – Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force. 1999 – China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed. 2000 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Egypt for a three-day stay as part of the Great Jubilee, marking the first papal visit in modern Egyptian history 2004 – The 6.3 Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed, 926 are injured, and up to 15,000 are displaced. 2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup. 2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea. 2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years. 2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its final mission, STS-133. 2015 – A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured. 2016 – Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashes, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport. 2020 – Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace the Pakatan Harapan government, which triggered the 2020-2022 Malaysian political crisis. 2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Births Pre-1600 1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (died 1156) 1304 – Ibn Battuta, Moroccan explorer 1360 – Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy 1413 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (died 1465) 1463 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (died 1494) 1494 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (died 1570) 1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1558) 1536 – Pope Clement VIII (died 1605) 1545 – John of Austria (died 1578) 1553 – Cherubino Alberti, Italian engraver and painter (died 1615) 1557 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1619) 1593 – Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and courtier (died 1625) 1595 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (died 1640)
1601–1900 1604 – Arcangela Tarabotti, Venetian nun and feminist (died 1652) 1619 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (died 1690) 1622 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (died 1665) 1709 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French engineer (died 1782) 1721 – John McKinly, Irish-American physician and politician, 1st Governor of Delaware (died 1796) 1723 – John Burgoyne, English general and politician (died 1792) 1736 – Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (died 1806) 1743 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and explorer (died 1820) 1762 – Charles Frederick Horn, German-English composer and educator (died 1830) 1767 – Rama II of Siam (died 1824) 1774 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (died 1850) 1786 – Martin W. Bates, American lawyer and politician (died 1869) 1786 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, author, and academic (died 1859) 1788 – Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian-German painter (died 1857) 1797 – Samuel Lover, Irish composer, writer and painter (died 1868) 1827 – Lydia Becker, English-French activist (died 1890) 1829 – Friedrich Spielhagen, German novelist, literary theorist and translator 1830 – Karolina Světlá, Czech female author 1831 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1899) 1835 – Julius Vogel, English-New Zealand journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1899) 1836 – Winslow Homer, American painter and illustrator (died 1910) 1837 – Rosalía de Castro, Spanish poet (died 1885) 1842 – Arrigo Boito, Italian journalist, author, and composer (died 1918) 1848 – Andrew Inglis Clark, Australian engineer, lawyer, and politician (died 1907) 1852 – George Moore, Irish author, poet, and playwright (died 1933) 1857 – Emma Ann Browne, British-born Australian philanthropist (died 1941) 1868 – Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (died 1949) 1869 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (died 1946) 1874 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 1955) 1877 – Rudolph Ganz, Swiss pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1972) 1877 – Ettie Rout, Australian-New Zealand educator and activist (died 1936) 1881 – Moulay Abd al-Aziz bin Hassan, Sultan of Morocco (died 1943) 1885 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (died 1966) 1885 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish author, poet, and painter (died 1939) 1890 – Marjorie Main, American actress (died 1975) 1895 – Şehzade Osman Fuad, Ottoman prince (died 1973) 1896 – Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (died 1991) 1898 – Kurt Tank, German pilot and engineer (died 1983) 1900 – Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer and physical therapist, leading pioneer of dance therapy (died 1981)
1901–present 1903 – Vladimir Bartol, Italian-Slovene author and playwright (died 1967) 1908 – Telford Taylor, American general, lawyer, and historian (died 1998) 1909 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (died 1971) 1914 – Ralph Erskine, English-Swedish architect, designed The Ark and Byker Wall (died 2005)