/year

February 15 in history

254 sourced entries recorded on February 15, from 399 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 399 BCEThe Greek philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by Athenian authorities, condemned for impiety and the corruption of youth. He refuses to flee into exile and dies by drinking hemlock.source
  • 342The original Hagia Sophia is dedicated in Constantinople.source
  • 438The Codex Theodosianus, a collection of edicts of Roman law, is published.source
  • 590Hormizd IV is deposed and assassinated by Persian nobles. Having ruled since 579, he is succeeded by his son Khosrau II as king of the Persian Empire.source
  • 1002At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles and secondi milites (the minor nobles), Arduin of Ivrea (grandson of former King Berengar II) is restored to his domains and crowned as King of Italy in the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore. Arduin is supported by Arnulf II, archbishop of Milan.source
  • 1124the Venetians and the Franks began the siege of the seaport of Tyre, now in Lebanon, ruled by Toghtekin, the atabeg of Damascus. The Christian army was led by the Patriarch of Antioch, the doge of Venice, Count Pons of Tripoli and William de Bury, the king's constable.source
  • 1214John, King of England ("Lackland") lands with an invasion force (accompanied by mercenaries) at La Rochelle; many barons of England refuse to join him in the campaign. John sends his half-brother William Longespée ("Long Sword") to Flanders, with money to assemble a mercenary army there. John pushes the French forces northeast from Poitou towards Paris, while Emperor Otto IV marches southwest from Flanders. King Philip II of France (Augustus) decides to defend his territories by leaving a third of his army under his son, Prince Louis to confront John in the Loire Valley – while Philip heads for Flanders to raid the region. On July 2, John's forces are confronted by a French relief force while they besiege the castle of Roche-au-Moine. John retreats to La Rochelle, but his rearguard suffers immensely by the French army.source
  • 1214John, King of England lands with an invasion force at La Rochelle in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. He sends his half-brother William Longespée to Flanders, with money to assemble a mercenary army there. John pushes the French forces northeast from Poitou towards Paris, while Emperor Otto IV marches southwest from Flanders.source
  • 1258Hulagu Khan enters Baghdad, where many quarters of the city are ruined by fire. The House of Wisdom (or Great Library) is destroyed, numerous precious book collections are thrown into the Tigris River. Before the siege, about 400,000 manuscripts are rescued by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian polymath and theologian, who takes them to Maragheh observatory (located in East Azerbaijan Province). The sack of Baghdad brings an end to the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) and the Islamic Golden Age. Many professors, physicians, scientists, clerics, artists and lecturers are also massacred.source
  • 1309King Denis of Portugal grants the Magna Charta Privilegioum, charter for Portugal's first university, now the University of Coimbra. Joseph M. M. Hermans and Marc Nelissen, Charters of Foundation and Early Documents of the Universities of the Coimbra Group (Leuven University Press, 2005) p. 38.source
  • 1315John of Argyll reports to King Edward II of England that he and his army have recovered the Isle of Man and expelled the Scottish occupiers.source
  • 1320Pope John XXII grants a mandate to the Archbishop of York, William Melton, to order restitution of confiscated Knights Templar property in England to the Knights Hospitaller.source
  • 1362King Haakon VI of Norway, son of King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden, proclaims himself king of Sweden in opposition to his father. However, later in the year, father and son are reconciled and rule Sweden together.source
  • 1364Joint kings Magnus Eriksson and Haakon Magnusson of Sweden are both deposed by noblemen, who instead elect Magnus's nephew Albrekt of Mecklenburg the new king of Sweden.source
  • 1386Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania is baptized by the Roman Catholic Bishop Bodzanta of Gniezno at Wawel Cathedral, Kraków after converting to Christianity, and takes the name Wladyslaw II.source
  • 1395The English Parliament adjourns after a 19-day session.source
  • 1409The Galle Trilingual Inscription, with inscriptions in three languages (Chinese, Tamil and Persian) is installed by the Chinese admiral Zheng He at Galle in Sri Lanka, where he has stopped while on his way home during the second of his treasure voyages.source
  • 1412The Alcañiz Concord is reached in the Spanish Aragonese city of Alcañiz to have a group of nine delegates choose an undisputed King of Aragon.source
  • 1417In Korea, Grand Prince Yangnyeong of the Joseon Kingdom and heir to the throne, causes a scandal that ends any possibility of becoming the next King. Yangnyeong courts the wife of another official and attempts to bring here into the royal palace in Seoul, ending in his banishment from the royal household and being replaced on June 3, 1418.source
  • 1433Pope Eugene IV withdraws his papal bull of 1431 that had ordered the Council of Basel to be dissolved, and declares "that the said council from its very beginning was and is a legitimate council and it should continue as if no dissolution was made."source
  • 1438Pope Eugene issues the bull "Exposcit debitum", declaring the council at Ferrara an ecumenical council, and commanding the prelates at Basel to appear at Ferrara within a month or face excommunication.source
  • 1444Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, the Grand Duke of Bosnia, signs a treaty with the King Alfonso of Naples, agreeing to become his vassal in exchange for help against the Republic of Venice.source
  • 1476After turning down an offer of peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, Bohemia's King Matthias Corvinus leads troops across the Hungarian border and captures the fortress of Šabac.source
  • 1488The Frari Triptych is completed by Giovanni Bellini, and he marks the date by placing a label on the back of the canvas.source
  • 1490The Scottish Parliament passes an Act to restore lands forfeited by the losers in the war between the supporters of the late King James III against his son, the reigning King James IV, and nullifying transfers of land made to new owners after the forfeitures.source
  • 1493Columbus begins writing his first account of his voyage to the New World, titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered", an account later printed and sold throughout Europe. His reference to the Ganges river in India confirms that he thought he had reached Asia.source
  • 1506Iye Roy Mackay, Chief of Scotland's Clan Mackay, records his 1504 grant of six lands in what is now the County Sutherland, and starts a feud with Euphemia II, Countess of Ross.source
  • 1510Peace treaty concluded between Pope Julius II and the Republic of Venice.source
  • 1523Construction of Fort Kastela by Portuguese invaders, on what is now the island of Ternate in Indonesia, is completed as Portugal claims the Spice Islands (now the Maluku Islands).source
  • 1526Spanish author Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, commonly called "Oviedo", publishes the chronicle La Natural Hystoria De Las Indias (The Natural History of the Indies)source
  • 1542Antoine Escalin des Aimars of France completes the negotiation with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman for the Franco-Ottoman alliance.source
  • 15427/10 March: the Parliament of Ireland meets in Limerick and re-enacts the Crown of Ireland Act, declaring King Henry VIII of England and his heirs to be Kings of Ireland, for the benefit of Munster and Connacht.source
  • 1546Martin Luther delivers his final sermon, three days before his death about "obdurate Jews, whom it was a matter of great urgency to expel from all German territory,"source
  • 1573On orders of the Croatian Viceroy Juraj Drašković, Matija Gubec, the defeated leader of the Croatian–Slovene Peasant Revolt is publicly tortured with the placement of a red-hot iron crown on his head, dragged through the streets of Zagreb, and then dismembered.source
  • 1624Yi Gwal's Rebellion ends as the rebels murder Yi Gwal at the town of Mukbang-ri.source
  • 1627The administrative rural parish of Iisalmi (Idensalmi) is established in Savonia, by order of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.source
  • 1637Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor upon the death of his father, Ferdinand II, although his formal coronation does not take place until later in the year.source
  • 1641the Long Parliament passes the Triennial Act 1640 (16 Cha. 1. c. 1).source
  • 1642Royalist Endymion Porter is voted to be a "dangerous counsellor" by the English parliament.source
  • 1645English Civil War: The New Model Army is officially founded.source
  • 1645English Civil War: New Model Army officially founded.source
  • 1665Molière's comedy Dom Juan is first presented, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris, in its original prose version with the playwright playing Sganarelle; it is withdrawn after 15 performances following attacks on its morality.source
  • 1665Molière's comedy Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, based on the Spanish legend of the womanizer Don Juan Tenorio and Tirso de Molina's Spanish play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, premieres in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.source
  • 1677Four members of the English House of Lords embarrass King Charles II at the opening of the latest session of the "Cavalier Parliament" by proclaiming that the session is not legitimate because it had not met in more than a year. The Duke of Buckingham, backed by Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Salisbury and Baron Wharton, makes an unsuccessful motion to end the session. When the four Lords refuse to apologize, they are arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.source
  • 1684February 15 (February 5 O.S.) – The Great Frost in Britain, during which the River Thames was frozen in London and the sea as far as 2 mi out from land and which started the previous December, ends as the Thames begins to thaw. William Maitland later writes that the Frost, which started in December 1683, "congealed the river Thames to that degree that another city, as it were, was erected thereon; where by the great number of streets and shops, with their rich furniture, it represented a great fair, with a variety of carriages, and diversions of all sorts." During the freeze, there had been great loss of beast and of wildlife, especially birds, and similar reports from across Northern Europe. The Chipperfield's Circus dynasty began during the freeze, with James Chipperfield introducing performing animals to the country at the Frost Fair on the Thames in London.source
  • 1686After the Valdesi in the Duchy of Savoy decline to obey the edict to convert to Catholicism, Duke Victor Amadeus dispatches a force of 9,000 French and Piedmontese soldiers to enforce the edict.source
  • 1696A plot to ambush and assassinate King William III of England in order to restore King James and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the king cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between Turnham Green and Brentford. The king's guard is alerted by the Earl of Portland, William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by Sir Thomas Prendergast.source
  • 1696a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.source
  • 1707As part of the process of the unification of Scotland and England as Great Britain, Scotland selects 16 members to sit in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster.source
  • 1723King Louis XV of France attains his majority on his 13th birthday, bringing an end to the regency of his cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.source
  • 1723King Louis XV attains his majority on his 13th birthday, bringing an end to the 7½-year Régence of his cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.source
  • 1742First Silesian War, part of War of the Austrian Succession: Troops of the Kingdom of Prussia, Saxony and France, under the command of Prince Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau, capture the Moravian town of Iglau (now Jihlava). At this point, the Saxons and French declare that their obligations to Prussia have ceased.source
  • 1750After Spain and Portugal agree that the Uruguay River will be the boundary line between the two kingdoms' territory in South America, the Spanish Governor orders the Jesuits to vacate seven Indian missions along the river (San Angel, San Nicolas, San Luis, San Lorenzo, San Miguel, San Juan and San Borja).source
  • 1760The British Royal Navy ship HMS Royal Katherine runs aground off Bolt Head in England, with the loss of 699 lives.source
  • 1760HMS Royal Katherine runs aground off Bolt Head, South Devon, with the loss of 699 lives.source
  • 1762Invasion of Martinique (1762): French forces on Martinique surrender to the British. The island is subsequently returned to France, as part of the Peace of Paris.source
  • 1763The Treaty of Hubertusburg puts an end to the Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria, and their allies France and Russia.source
  • 1763The Seven Years' War between Austria and Prussia and their allies is ended by the Treaty of Hubertusburg.source
  • 1763The end of the Seven Years' War.source
  • 1764The settlement of St. Louis is established.source
  • 1766Protesting against the Stamp Act 1765, members of the New York City Sons of Liberty travel to Pennsylvania and set fire to a British supply of tax stamps before the stamps can be taken to distributors in the province of Maryland.source
  • 1775Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 250th pope.source
  • 1782at a convention held in Dungannon, delegates from a number of Ulster Volunteer corps pledge support for resolutions advocating legislative independence for Ireland.source
  • 1796French Revolutionary Wars: The Invasion of Ceylon (1795) ends when Johan van Angelbeek, the Batavian governor of Ceylon, surrenders Colombo peacefully to British forces.source
  • 1798U.S. Representative Roger Griswold (Fed-CT) beats Congressman Matthew Lyon (Dem-Rep-VT) with a cane, after the House declines to censure Lyon for earlier spitting in Griswold's face; the House declines to discipline either man.source
  • 1799the rebel guerilla leader Michael Dwyer escapes from a gun battle with British troops at Miley Connell's cottage, Dernamuck, in the Glen of Imaal, County Wicklow. (today called the Dwyer–McAllister Cottage)source
  • 1800"Meal mob" riot over bread prices in Glasgow.source
  • 1804New Jersey becomes the last of the northern United States to abolish slavery.source
  • 1805The Harmony Society is officially formed as a Christian community in Harmony, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1805Harmony Society formally established in the U.S. at Harmony, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1806Invasion of Naples: Joseph Bonaparte enters Naples.source
  • 1808Laying of the foundation stone for Nelson's Pillar in Dublin.source
  • 1814War of the Sixth Coalition – Battle of Garris: An Allied army led by the Duke of Wellington is victorious against the French under Jean Isidore Harispe.source
  • 1815War of 1812 – The United States Senate ratifies the Treaty of Ghent.source
  • 1815The Active completes loading of flax and timber to take back to Port Jacksonsource
  • 1819The United States House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment, barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote in a controversy that leads to the Missouri Compromise).source
  • 1823Surveyor James McBrien at the Fish River near Bathurst discovers gold. It is the first known report of gold, though it is not made public, the Australian gold rushes do not begin until 1851.source
  • 1823February 15 (approx.) – The first officially recognised gold is found in Australia, by surveyor James McBrien at Fish River, near Bathurst, New South Wales, predating the Australian gold rushes.source
  • 1850February 8–17 – Battle at Fort Utah: The Nauvoo Legion kills Timpanogos hostile to the Mormon settlement at Fort Utah on the orders of Brigham Young.source
  • 185115 February (O.S. 3 February) – Nicholas I issues a decree authorising surveys for the construction of the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway.source
  • 1851In Boston, Massachusetts, members of the anti-slavery Boston Vigilance Committee rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from a courtroom, following his arrest by U.S. marshals.source
  • 1852The Helsinki Cathedral (known as St. Nicholas' Church at time) is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.source
  • 1853City of Dublin Steam Packet Company PS Queen Victoria, inward bound from Liverpool, sinks in a snowstorm at night below Baily Lighthouse on Howth Head with the loss of more than 80 lives.source
  • 1853PS Queen Victoria sinks in a snowstorm at night entering Dublin Bay with the loss of more than 80 lives.source
  • 1855The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the Western North Carolina Railroad, to build a rail line from Salisbury to the western part of the state.source
  • 1862February 11–16 – Battle of Fort Donelson – General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee, capturing it on the last day.source
  • 1864Heineken Brewery is founded in the Netherlands.source
  • 1867Johann Strauss II's waltz The Blue Danube (An der schönen blauen Donau) is first performed, at a concert of the Vienna Men's Choral Association. Later this year, Strauss will adapt it into its popular purely orchestral version for the Exposition Universelle in Paris.source
  • 1874The Hospital of San Carlos (Chile) is founded.source
  • 1875The Ireland national rugby union team plays its first international match, a 7–0 defeat by England.source
  • 1879Women's rights: President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.source
  • 1882The Dunedin departs from Port Chalmers carrying the first shipment of frozen meat bound for Britain.source
  • 1883Tokyo Electrical Lightning Grid, predecessor of Tokyo Electrical Power (TEPCO), one of the largest electrical grids in Asia and the world, is founded in Japan.source
  • 1889The first issue of the Filipino liberal newspaper La Solidaridad is published in Spain.source
  • 1891Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) sports club is founded in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • 1893February 11–19 – White Star Line cargo liner SS Naronic sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.source
  • 1894In Korea, peasant unrest erupts in the Donghak Peasant Revolution, a massive revolt by followers of the Donghak movement. Both China and Japan send military forces, claiming to come to the ruling Joseon dynasty government's aid.source
  • 1898Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba, for reasons never fully established, killing 266 men. The event precipitates the United States' declaration of war on Spain, two months later.source
  • 1898USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor, Cuba, killing 266 men. Popular opinion blames Spain and helps precipitate the Spanish–American War.source
  • 1900Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.source
  • 1900The Siege of Kimberley is relieved by a cavalry division under General John French.source
  • 1901Giuseppe Zanardelli forms a new government with Giovanni Giolitti as Interior minister, that would last until 3 November 1903. Giolitti, who was considered to be the true leader of the cabinet, would dominate Italian politics until World War I, a period known as the Giolittian Era in which Italy experienced an industrial expansion, the rise of organised labour and the emergence of an active Catholic political movement.source
  • 1902The Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened.source
  • 1907Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907source
  • 1912The Mkuze Game Reserve is proclaimed a protected area.source
  • 1913February 9–19 — Ten Tragic Dayssource
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1922The inaugural session of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) is held in The Hague.source
  • 1922February 10–17 – Modern Art Week in São Paulo marks the start of Modernism in Brazil.source
  • 1924Grupo Sonido 13, directed by Julián Carrillo, holds the first concert of microtonal music in Mexico City.source
  • 1924began the "Lenin Enrolment" into the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)source
  • 1926C.D. Águila, a Salvadoran football club, was established.source
  • 1928February 11 – 19 – The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal, in women's figure skating.source
  • 1932Clara, Lu & Em, generally regarded as the first daytime network soap opera, debuts in its morning time slot over the Blue Network of NBC Radio in the United States, having originally been a late evening program.source
  • 1933In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead fatally wounds the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Zangara is executed on March 20 by the electric chair.source
  • 1934February 12–15 – Austrian Civil War: The Fatherland Front consolidates its power in a series of clashes across the country.source
  • 1935The discovery and clinical development of Prontosil, the first broadly effective antibiotic, is published in a series of articles by Gerhard Domagk and others in Germany's pre-eminent medical journal, Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift.source
  • 1936February 10–19 – Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Amba Aradam – Italian forces gain a decisive tactical victory, effectively neutralizing the army of the Ethiopian Empire.source
  • 1937An explosion kills 13 men at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi, Victoria.source
  • 1940Paul Creston's Saxophone Sonata is officially premiered at the Carnegie Chamber Hall by saxophonist Cecil Leeson, who had commissioned it from the composer.source
  • 1941February 15-16 - a fire in the city of Santander (Cantabria) in 1941, which destroyed most of the medieval town.source
  • 1942WWII: Fall of Singapore: Commonwealth forces under General Arthur Percival surrender to the Japanese 25th Army. About 80,000 British, Indian, Australian, and local troops become prisoners of war, joining the 50,000 soldiers taken in the Malayan campaign.source
  • 1944Bushfires in the Western District, Gippsland and Yallourn regions of Victoria kill 51 people.source
  • 1946The Gouzenko Affair: Canada announces the discovery of a ring of Canadian communist spies based at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, passing atomic bomb secrets to Russia.source
  • 1949The Romanian Aeronautical Command is reorganised as the Aviation Command of the Army of the Socialist Republic of Romania, with regiments and aerodrome servicing battalions based on the model of the Soviet Air Forces.source
  • 1950Juho Kusti Paasikivi is re-elected president of Finland.source
  • 1951The start of the 151 day "1951 Waterfront dispute".source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1952The State Funeral of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions and the last Emperor of India, takes place. George VI's coffin is brought in procession through London to Paddington Station where a royal train brings the King to Windsor, where his funeral and burial take place at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1957Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.source
  • 1960The reorganization of Forestry Administration Division to Forestry Bureau.source
  • 1961United States President John F. Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations' pacification of the Congo.source
  • 1961The total solar eclipse of February 15, 1961, visible in the southern part of Europe, occurs.source
  • 1961Sabena Flight 548 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.source
  • 1962Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland.source
  • 1963The first TV station was launched on Channel 5. Regular television transmissions only started from 2 April.source
  • 1965The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.source
  • 1966President of South Korea Park Chung-hee visited Taiwan.source
  • 1967Rasmus Sørnes, inventor, clockmaker and radio technician (b.1893).source
  • 1968February 6–18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.source
  • 1971Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency (see also decimalisation).source
  • 1971Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland both switch to decimal currency.source
  • 1972President of Ecuador José María Velasco Ibarra is deposed for the fourth time.source
  • 1978Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within 2 years.source
  • 1979A suspected gas explosion in a Warsaw bank kills 49 people.source
  • 1980In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.source
  • 1982February 11-19: the 1982 Amílcar Cabral Cup took place in Praiasource
  • 1982The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.source
  • 1984February 8–19 – The 1984 Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.source
  • 1986The Beechcraft Starship makes its maiden flight.source
  • 19891989 Sri Lankan parliamentary election: Sri Lanka holds their 9th parliamentary elections, with the ruling United National Party winning with a total of 125 seats.source
  • 1990In Cartagena, Colombia, a summit is held between President of the United States George H. W. Bush, President of Bolivia Jaime Paz Zamora, President of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas, and President of Peru Alan García. The leaders pledge additional cooperation in fighting international drug trafficking.source
  • 1990The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British Dependent Territory, in 1982.source
  • 1991The Visegrád Group, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is established by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.source
  • 1993Abortion in Poland: Lech Walesa signs into law one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in Eastern Europe, banning abortion for any reason other than rape, incest, genetic deformity, or if the mother's life is in danger. Polish women seeking elective abortions must hereafter travel to the Czech Republic.source
  • 1996Begum Khaleda Zia is re-elected as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The country's second democratic election is marred by low voter turnout, due to several boycotts and pre-election violence, which has resulted in at least thirteen deaths.source
  • 1996The UK government publishes the Scott Report.source
  • 1997The Toa Payoh Hospital and Changi Hospital are closed and merged into New Changi Hospital.source
  • 2002Members of the breakaway faction of CPN-UML rejoins the party, while some under the leadership of CP Mainali forms Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) declining to rejoin.source
  • 2003Millions of people worldwide take part in massive anti-war protests in anticipation of the United States and its allies invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime.source
  • 2003Journalist Deepak Thapa is reportedly confined to his village by local Maoist leaders in Accham district due to his reporting.source
  • 2008Naziha Salim, 81, Iraqi painter, complications from a stroke.source
  • 2010Two trains collide in Halle, Belgium, killing 19 and injuring 171 people.source
  • 2011The First Libyan Civil War starts.source
  • 2013A meteor explodes over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,489–1,492 people and damaging over 4,300 buildings. It is the most powerful meteor to strike Earth's atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event. The incident, along with a coincidental flyby of a larger asteroid, prompts international concern regarding the vulnerability of the planet to meteor strikes.source
  • 2015February 14–15 – A lone gunman leaves 2 people dead in a terrorist attack in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • 2017The tropical cyclone Dineo struck the coast of Mozambique. At least seven people were killed across the country, and an estimated 20,000 homes were destroyed and approximately 130,000 people were directly affected. Dineo was the first tropical cyclone to hit Mozambique since Cyclone Jokwe in 2008.source
  • 2021February 13–February 17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.source
  • 2022Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is arrested in Tegucigalpa after the U.S. requested his extradition on charges of drug trafficking.source
  • 2025Foreign minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected as Chairperson of the African Union Commission.source

Births

  • 1377King Ladislaus of Naples (died 1414)source
  • 1458Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (died 1490)source
  • 1472Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (died 1503)source
  • 1487Henry of the Palatinate, bishop of Utrecht (died 1552)source
  • 1506Juliana of Stolberg, German countess (died 1580)source
  • 1519Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, first Spanish Governor of Florida (died 1574)source
  • 1549Barnim X, Duke of Pomerania (1569–1603) (died 1603)source
  • 1557Alfonso Fontanelli, Italian composer (died 1622)source
  • 1564Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (died 1642)source
  • 1571Michael Praetorius, German composer and writer on music (died 1621)source
  • 1612Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French military officer, founder of Montreal in New France (died 1676)source
  • 1662James Renwick, Scottish minister and Covenanter martyr (died 1688)source
  • 1710King Louis XV, Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre 1715–1774 (died 1774)source
  • 1723John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (died 1794)source
  • 1734William Stacy, American Revolutionary War officer (died 1802)source
  • 1739Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect (died 1813)source
  • 1748Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher (died 1832)source
  • 1748Jeremy Bentham, philosopher and writer (died 1832)source
  • 1751Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, German painter (died 1829)source
  • 1776Jean-Pierre Boyer, President of Haiti (died 1850)source
  • 1789Martin Chester Deming, American businessman and politician (died 1851)source
  • 1803John Sutter, German-American pioneer (died 1880)source
  • 1809Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (died 1884)source
  • 1811Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentinian politician, writer and father of education (died 1888)source
  • 1815Constantin von Tischendorf, German Biblical scholar (died 1874)source
  • 1820Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist (died 1906)source
  • 1823Li Hongzhang, Chinese politician, general and diplomat (died 1901)source
  • 1845Elihu Root, American statesman, diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1937)source
  • 1858John Joseph Montgomery, American glider pioneer (died 1911)source
  • 1861Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician and philosopher (died 1947)source
  • 1874Sir Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (died 1922)source
  • 1882John Barrymore, American actor (died 1942)source
  • 1894Osvaldo Aranha, politician and diplomat (died 1960)source
  • 1962Srettha Thavisin, Thai businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Thailandsource
  • 1995Megan Thee Stallion, American rapper and YouTube personalitysource
  • 1998George Russell, British racing driversource

Deaths

  • 381Faustinus of Brescia, Roman Catholic bishop and saintsource
  • 670King Oswiu of Northumbria dies during a pilgrimage to Rome in the company of bishop Wilfrid. He is succeeded by his son Ecgfrith, while his youngest son Ælfwine becomes king of Deira. Oswiu is buried at Whitby Abbey, alongside Edwin of Northumbria.source
  • 670Oswiu, king of Northumbriasource
  • 706Tiberios III, Byzantine emperorsource
  • 706Leontios, Byzantine emperorsource
  • 706Emperor Justinian II presides over the public humiliation of his predecessors, Leontios and Tiberios III, and their chief associates in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, after which they are executed. Patriarch Kallinikos I is also deposed, blinded and exiled to Rome, and succeeded by Kyros.source
  • 815Ibn Tabataba, Zaydi anti-caliphsource
  • 956Su Yugui, Chinese chancellor (born 895)source
  • 980Berthold, German nobleman (approximate date)source
  • 1145Pope Lucius II dies at Rome after having been hit by a stone missile during the fighting against Senatorial forces led by Giordano Pierleoni. He is succeeded after an 11-month pontificate by Eugene III who becomes the 167th pope of the Catholic Church. Eugene is forced into exile by Arnold of Brescia.source
  • 1145Lucius II, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 1152King Conrad III dies after a 14-year reign at Bamberg. He is succeeded by his 29-year-old nephew Frederick I (Barbarossa), duke of Swabia, who is crowned as King of the Germans at Aachen several days later, on March 9. Frederick becomes sole ruler of Germany and receives the royal insignia, despite the fact that Conrad has a 6-year-old son, Frederick IV, who becomes duke of Swabia.source
  • 1152Conrad III, king of Italy and Germanysource
  • 1245Baldwin de Redvers, English nobleman (born 1217)source
  • 1288Henry III (the Illustrious), German noblemansource
  • 1382William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (born c. 1339)source
  • 1468The Earl of Desmond, Thomas FitzGerald, until recently the Kingdom of England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, is beheaded on orders of his successor, John Tiptoft, shortly after being arrested on accusations of treason against the Crown, then quickly tried and convicted in a show trial.source
  • 1491Ashikaga Yoshimi, brother of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (born 1439)source
  • 1495Feidhlimidh mac Tomás Óg Mág Samhradháin.source
  • 1600José de Acosta, Spanish Jesuit missionary and naturalist (born 1540)source
  • 1620James Archer, Irish Jesuit; played a controversial role in the Nine Years' War (born 1550)source
  • 1620James Archer, Jesuit (born 1550)source
  • 1621Michael Praetorius, German composer (born 1571)source
  • 1637Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1578)source
  • 1641Sara Copia Sullam, Italian poet and writer (born 1592)source
  • 1643Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, Landgravine of Hesse-kassel (born 1587)source
  • 1659John Arrowsmith, English theologian and academic (born 1602)source
  • 1682Gu Yanwu, Chinese philologist and geographer (born 1613)source
  • 1705Jean-Baptiste de Gennes (born 1656)source
  • 1721Tørres Christensen, merchant, ship owner, land owner (born 1664).source
  • 1731Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado, Spanish Dominican lay sister and mystic (born 1643)source
  • 1738Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (born 1684)source
  • 1781Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author, philosopher (born 1729)source
  • 1790Juan Albano Pereira Márquez, godfather and tutor of Bernardo O'Higgins (born 1728)source
  • 1792John Witherspoon, Scottish American signer of the Declaration of Independence (born 1723)source
  • 1796John Caesar Australian bushranger of African descent (born 1763)source
  • 1844Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1757)source
  • 1857Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (born 1804)source
  • 1866Juan Gregorio de las Heras, military leader (born 1780)source
  • 1869Ghalib, Indian poet (born 1797)source
  • 1894French anarchist Martial Bourdin dies of an accidental detonation of his own bomb, next to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England.source
  • 1904Mark Hanna, United States Senator from Ohio (born 1837)source
  • 1905Lew Wallace, American writer (Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ) (born 1827)source
  • 1928H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1852)source
  • 1933Pat Sullivan, Australian-born American director, producer of animated films (born 1885)source
  • 1970Dimitrios Loundras, gymnast (born 1885)source
  • 1988Richard Feynman, 69, American theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate in Physics, kidney failure.source