Events Pre-1600 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan idols in the Roman Empire. 607 – Pope Boniface III is consecrated in Rome. 1594 – Having already been elected to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, having succeeded his father John III of Sweden in 1592. 1600 – The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.
1601–1900 1649 – The Second Battle of Guararapes takes place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil. 1674 – England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England. 1714 – Great Northern War: The battle of Napue between Sweden and Russia is fought in Isokyrö, Ostrobothnia. 1726 – The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia. 1807 – Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama, and confined to Fort Stoddert. 1819 – British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands. 1836 – King William IV signs Letters Patent establishing the province of South Australia. 1846 – In Austin, Texas, the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States. 1847 – The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party. 1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph. 1884 – More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
1901–present 1913 – Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country. 1915 – World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli. 1937 – Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Ethiopian nationalists of Eritrean origin attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. 1942 – World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack the northern Australian city of Darwin, killing 243 people. 1942 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese Americans to internment camps. 1943 – World War II: Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins. 1945 – World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima: About 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima. 1948 – The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta. 1949 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University. 1954 – Transfer of Crimea: The Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. 1959 – The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960. 1960 – China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket. 1963 – The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread. 1965 – Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm, all Catholics, attempt a coup against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyễn Khánh. 1976 – Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417. 1978 – Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat. 1985 – William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital. 1985 – A Boeing 727 operating as Iberia Flight 610 crashes Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148; it is the deadliest accident to occur in Iberia's history and the deadliest to occur in Basque County. 1985 – China Airlines Flight 006 experiences an aircraft upset over the Pacific Ocean, injuring 24. 1986 – Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka. 1988 – A Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operating as AVAir Flight 3378 crashes in Cary, North Carolina, killing 12. - Copy at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University. 1989 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 066 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four. 2002 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system. 2003 – An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275. 2006 – A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners. 2011 – The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore. 2012 – Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. 2020 – Nine people are killed in two domestic terrorist shootings in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. 2021 – Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. 2026 – The 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea officially opens in Pyongyang and lasts for 7 days. (from February 19th to February 25th, 2026)
Births
Pre-1600 1461 – Domenico Grimani, Italian cardinal (died 1523) 1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Prussian mathematician and astronomer (died 1543) 1497 – Matthäus Schwarz, German fashion writer (died 1574) 1519 – Froben Christoph of Zimmern, German author of the Zimmern Chronicle (died 1566) 1526 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist and academic (died 1609) 1532 – Jean-Antoine de Baïf, French poet (died 1589) 1552 – Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal (died 1630) 1594 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (died 1612)
1601–1900 1611 – Andries de Graeff, Dutch politician (died 1678) 1630 – Shivaji, Indian warrior-king and the founder of Maratha Empire (died 1680) 1660 – Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (died 1742) 1717 – David Garrick, English actor, playwright, and producer (died 1779) 1743 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (died 1805) 1798 – Allan MacNab, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Premier of Canada West (died 1862) 1800 – Émilie Gamelin, Canadian nun and social worker, founded the Sisters of Providence (died 1851) 1804 – Carl von Rokitansky, German physician, pathologist, and philosopher (died 1878) 1821 – August Schleicher, German linguist and academic (died 1868) 1833 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1906) 1838 – Lydia Thompson, British burlesque performer (died 1908) 1841 – Elfrida Andrée, Swedish organist, composer, and conductor (died 1929) 1855 – Nishinoumi Kajirō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 16th Yokozuna (died 1908) 1859 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1927) 1865 – Sven Hedin, Swedish geographer and explorer (died 1952) 1869 – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian-Russian poet and author (died 1923) 1872 – Johan Pitka, Estonian admiral (died 1944) 1876 – Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian-French sculptor, painter, and photographer (died 1957) 1877 – Gabriele Münter, German painter (died 1962) 1878 – Harriet Bosse, Swedish–Norwegian actress (died 1961) 1880 – Álvaro Obregón, Mexican general and politician, 39th President of Mexico (died 1928) 1886 – José Abad Santos, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (died 1942) 1888 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian lawyer and poet (died 1928) 1893 – Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director (died 1964) 1895 – Louis Calhern, American actor (died 1956) 1896 – André Breton, French poet and author (died 1966) 1897 – Alma Rubens, American actress (died 1931) 1899 – Lucio Fontana, Argentinian-Italian painter and sculptor (died 1968)
1901–present 1902 – Kay Boyle, American novelist, short story writer, and educator (died 1992) 1904 – Havank, Dutch journalist and author (died 1964) 1911 – Merle Oberon, Indian-American actress (died 1979) 1912 – Saul Chaplin, American composer (died 1997) 1912 – Dorothy Janis, American actress (died 2010) 1913 – Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza (died 2007) 1913 – Frank Tashlin, American animator and screenwriter (died 1972) 1914 – Thelma Kench, New Zealand Olympic sprinter (died 1985) 1915 – Dick Emery, English actor and comedian (died 1983) 1915 – John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (died 2014) 1916 – Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster (died 1997) 1917 – Carson McCullers, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist (died 1967) 1918 – Fay McKenzie, American actress (died 2019) 1920 – C. Z. Guest, American actress, fashion designer, and author (died 2003) 1920 – Jaan Kross, Estonian author and poet (died 2007) 1920 – George Rose, English actor and singer (died 1988) 1922 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2015) 1924 – David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player and theoretician (died 2006) 1924 – Lee Marvin, American actor (died 1987) 1926 – György Kurtág, Hungarian composer and academic 1927 – Philippe Boiry, French journalist (died 2014) 1929 – Jacques Deray, French director and screenwriter (died 2003) 1930 – John Frankenheimer, American director and producer (died 2002) 1930 – K. Viswanath, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2023) 1932 – Joseph P. Kerwin, American captain, physician, and astronaut 1935 – Chung-Yun Hse, Taiwanese-American wood scientist (died 2021) 1935 – Dave Niehaus, American sportscaster (died 2010) 1935 – Russ Nixon, American MLB catcher and coach (died 2016) 1936 – Sam Myers, American singer-songwriter (died 2006) 1936 – Frederick Seidel, American poet 1937 – Terry Carr, American author and educator (died 1987) 1937 – Norm O'Neill, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (died 2008) 1938 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (died 1989) 1939 – Erin Pizzey, English activist and author, founded Refuge 1940 – Saparmyrat Nyýazow, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (died 2006) 1940 – Smokey Robinson, American singer-songwriter and producer 1940 – Bobby Rogers, American singer-songwriter (died 2013) 1941 – David Gross, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1941 – Jenny Tonge, Baroness Tonge, English politician 1942 – Cyrus Chothia, English biochemist and emeritus scientist at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (died 2019) 1942 – Paul Krause, American football player and politician 1942 – Will Provine, American biologist, historian, and academic (died 2015) 1942 – Howard Stringer, Welsh businessman 1943 – Lou Christie, American singer-songwriter (died 2025) 1943 – Homer Hickam, American author and engineer 1943 – Tim Hunt, English biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate 1944 – Les Hinton, English-American journalist and businessman 1945 – Yuri Antonov, Uzbek-Russian singer-songwriter 1946 – Paul Dean, Canadian guitarist 1946 – Peter Hudson, Australian footballer and coach