- 1152 English cleric and writer Geoffrey of Monmouth consecrated as Bishop of St Asaph at Lambeth
- 1296 Pope Boniface VIII decree Clericis Iaicos
- 1387 King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda
- 1389 Battle of Falköping: Danes defeat King Albert of Sweden
Intercursus Magnus
1496 England's Henry VII ends commercial dispute with Flanders by signing the Intercursus Magnus with Duke Philip IV of Burgundy. Other signatories include Venice, Florence, the Netherlands, and the Hanseatic League.
Battle of Pavia
1525 Battle of Pavia: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's troops defeat the French, killing or wounding 5,000 and capturing French King Francis I
- 1527 Ferdinand of Austria crowned as king of Bohemia
- 1530 First imperial coronation by a pope, Charles V crowned by Clement VII
- 1538 Treaty of Nagyvarad/Peace of Grosswardein signed between Ferdinand I of Austria and John Zápolya of Hungary.
- 1541 Santiago, Chile founded by Pedro de Valvidia (or 2/12)
- 1552 Privileges of Hanseatic League in England are abrogated
1582 Pope Gregory XIII announces the New Style calendar, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar
- 1597 Flemish painter Frederick of Valckenborch becomes porter of Frankfurt-on-Main
- 1600 Last sighting of Dutch trading ship De Hoop by its sister ship De Liefde near the Mariana islands, it's never seen again
- 1607 Claudio Monteverdi's opera "L'Orfeo" premieres in Mantua, the oldest opera still regularly performed
- 1739 Battle of Karnal: Army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah
- 1779 George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes (Ind) from British
- 1793 French troops conquer Breda
1797 Colonel William Tate and his force of 1,000-1,500 soldiers surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain (according to legend, to Welsh women in tall black hats, mistaken for elite guards regiment)
- 1803 US Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury v Madison)
- 1804 London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute
- 1807 17 die and 15 are wounded in a crush to witness the execution of Holloway, Heggerty, and Elizabeth Godfrey in England
Plan of Iguala
1821 Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero agree to the Plan of Iguala, stating that Mexico will become a constitutional monarchy, Roman Catholicism the official religion, and both Peninsulares and Creoles will enjoy equal political and social rights
- 1826 The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War
- 1835 Siwinowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun) is the first Native American Indian language monthly magazine
- 1839 Steam shovel patented by William Otis, Philadelphia
- 1848 King Louis-Philippe abdicates, 2nd French republic declared
- 1855 US Court of Claims forms for cases against government
- 1857 First perforated US postage stamps are delivered to the government
- 1857 LA Vineyard Society organized
- 1863 Arizona Territory created
- 1863 Forrest's raid on Brentwood, Tennessee
- 1864 -Feb 25] Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA (Buzzard's Roost)
- 1868 Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, is the first US parade with floats
House Impeaches Johnson
1868 US House of Representatives votes 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson
- 1875 The SS Gothenburg 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
- 1881 China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
- 1888 Louisville, Kentucky, becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot (i.e. secret ballot on standard voting forms)
- 1891 French troops under Captain Archinard occupy Diena West Sudan in Africa
- 1893 The American University is chartered by an act of the Congress of the United States of America
- 1894 Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras
- 1895 Cuban war for independence begins
- 1899 Western Washington University is established
- 1902 Battle at Yzer Spruit: Boer General De la Rey beats British
- 1905 Simplon railroad tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland achieves breakthrough after 7-1/2 years of construction
- 1906 Tomas Estrada Palma defeats Jose Gomez in the election for president of Cuba, but Gomez and his followers refuse to accept results and sponsor an uprising
- 1908 In 'Muller v Oregon', the US Supreme Court favors an Oregon law limiting maximum hours a woman may work and denies that it curtails 'liberty of contract'
- 1911 Japan and the US conclude a treaty that continues restrictions on Japanese laborers
- 1914 Frank Craven's "Too Many Cooks" premieres in NYC
- 1917 Red Sox sell Smokey Joe Wood, his arm dead at 26, to Cleveland for $15,000
Event of Interest
1917 US Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page alerts President Woodrow Wilson of German plan to get Mexican help in WWI (Zimmermann telegram)
- 1918 Estonia declares independence from Russia
Event of Interest
1920 Adolf Hitler make his first official speech as head of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany
- 1920 Peace treaty gives Estonia independence
- 1921 First transcontinental flight in 24 hours flying time arrives in Florida
- 1923 "Flying Scotsman" locomotive of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), built at Doncaster Railway Works, goes into service [1]
- 1923 Mass arrests in US of mafia associates
- 1924 Greek parliament proclaims republic
- 1925 Thermite explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington, NY
- 1927 John Golden Theater (Theatre Masque) opens at 252 W 45th St NYC
Sports History
1932 Malcolm Campbell sets world land speed record speed of 253.96 mph driving his famous Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach, Florida
- 1933 Final demonstration of German communist party in Berlin
- 1933 League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
- 1937 1st US group hospital-medical cooperative authorized, Washington, D.C.
- 1938 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles
- 1939 Roy Harris' 3rd Symphony premieres in Boston
- 1940 Frances Langford records "When You Wish Upon a Star"
- 1941 43 Geuzen resistance fighter trial opens in the Hague
- 1941 Anti-Nazi meeting at Noordermarkt Amsterdam
1942 The "Battle of Los Angeles" takes place, a series of anti-aircraft engagements over the city in response to a rumored but false Japanese attack. It would last until the morning of the following day.
- 1942 Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German)
- 1943 Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of WW II
- 1945 Egypt and Syria declare war on Nazi Germany
- 1945 Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a declaration of war against Germany
- 1945 WWII: US troops defeat Japanese forces in Manila, ending the military occupoation
- 1946 General Juan Perón is first elected President of Argentina
- 1949 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
- 1949 V-2/WAC-Corporal rocket 1st object to reach 5x the speed of sound at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico
- 1950 Labour wins UK parliamentary election by 5 seats
- 1951 Ice Pairs Championship at Milan won by Ria Baran & Paul Falk of GER
- 1951 Ladies' Figure Skating Champion in Milan won by Jeanette Altwegg of Great Britain
- 1952 Canada wins 6th Olympic ice hockey title courtesy of a final round 3-3 tie with the US at the Oslo Winter Games; Canadian center Billy Gibson top scores with 19 points
- 1952 Norway goes 1-2 in the men’s ski jumping event at the Oslo Winter Olympics with Arnfinn Bergmann winning gold ahead of teammate Torbjørn Falkanger
- 1955 Pact of Baghdad signed between Iraq & Turkey
Music Concert
1956 Walter Piston's 5th Symphony, commissioned by the Juilliard School of Music for their 50th anniversary, premiere performance by the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Jean Morel
- 1960 Austria goes 1-2 in the men's slalom at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics; Ernst Hintersteer wins gold ahead of teammate Hias Leitner
- 1961 NASA Explorer S-45 mission; ionosphere beacon satellite fails to reach Earth orbit
- 1962 General mobilization in Indonesia over New Guinea
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1963 5th Daytona 500: Tiny Lund driving for Wood Bros Racing, wins on 4 pit stops as first 10 laps run under caution flag because of rain
- 1964 "My Heart Skips a Beat" single released by Buck Owens (Billboard No. 1 U.S. Hot Country Singles, 1964)
- 1965 East German president Ulbricht visits Egypt
- 1965 THe Beatles begin filming their second feature fim "Help!" on Providence Island in the Bahamas
- 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 Gary Unger begins NHL consecutive game record of 914 games
- 1968 US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam
- 1969 Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby to study planet's atmosphere
- 1969 Northern Ireland Stormont parliament elections are held; the Unionist party fragments into 'Official Unionist' and 'Unofficial Unionist'
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1969 The film "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," based on the novel by Muriel Spark, directed by Ronald Neame and starring Maggie Smith (Academy Award Best Actress), premieres in London
- 1970 29 Swiss Army officers die in avalanche (Reckingen, Switzerland)
- 1970 Dutch schlager singer Heintje Simons (14) wins his 7th gold record
- 1970 KVDO TV channel 3 in Salem, OR (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1971 Algeria nationalizes 51 percent of French oil concessions
- 1974 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes Women's Allround World Champion at Heerenveen, Netherlands, her third consecutive title and fourth in 5 years
- 1974 Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh
- 1976 Cuba adopts its constitution
Event of Interest
1977 US President Jimmy Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
- 1978 Kevin Porter, NJ, sets NBA record with 29 assists in a game
- 1979 Highest price ever paid for a pig is $42,500 in Stamford, Texas
- 1979 War between North & South Yemen begins
- 1980 Rangers score 5 power-play goals against Islanders
Olympic Gold
1980 US ice hockey team clinches gold medal with 4-2 win over Finland at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; comes after 4-3 "Miracle on Ice" victory against hot favorite Soviet Union
- 1980 XIII Winter Olympic Games close in Lake Placid, New York
- 1981 An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.
- 1981 Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower
- 1982 24th Grammy Awards: "Bette Davis Eyes", "Double Fantasy" win
- 1982 Boston Celtics begin an 18 NBA game winning streak
Sports History
1982 Wayne Gretzky scores NHL-record 78th goal of season en route to 92
- 1983 A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
- 1983 Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1100 mark for 1st time
- 1983 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1984 Iraq resumes air attacks on Iran
- 1985 Jim Kelly (Houston USFL) passes for pro football record 574 yds
- 1986 Texas Air buys Eastern Airlines for $676 million
1987 29th Grammy Awards: "Higher Love" by Steve Winwood; "Graceland" by Paul Simon; and Bruce Hornsby win
Radio History
1987 American radio and television personality Larry King suffers a heart attack
Sports History
1987 LA Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores his 36,000th NBA point in a 97-93 win over the Suns in Phoenix
Olympic Gold
1988 Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykanen wins his 3rd gold medal of the Calgary Winter Olympics as part of the winning large hill team; normal and large hill individual champion
- 1988 South African apartheid regime bans the UDF
- 1988 US Supreme Court votes 8-0 Jerry Falwell cannot collect for Hustler parody
- 1989 150 million year old fossil egg found in Utah with a fossilized dinosaur embryo inside, the oldest dinosaur egg yet found in the Northern Hemisphere
- 1989 Harold E Ballard sells CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats to David Braley
Sports History
1989 Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Durán wins 4th world title in different weight divisions when he beats Iran Barkley in a 12 round split decision in Atlantic City; 37-year-old Durán wins WBC middleweight title
Film & TV History
1989 Stalker Margaret Ray found in David Letterman's home, claims to be his wife
- 1989 US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die
- 1989 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1991 End of World League of American Football's (WLAF) 1st draft
- 1991 Gulf War: US-led forces begin Operation Desert Sabre, the ground invasion of southern Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait
- 1994 Scoreboard is unveiled at new Cleveland Indians' park (Jacobs Field)
- 1995 Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified
- 1996 Cuba downs 2 US planes
- 1996 Last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church
Event of Interest
1997 Deng Xiaoping the former paramount leader of China is cremated five days after he passed away
- 1997 Qatar inaugurates the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting facility and formally launches Qatar Liquefied Gas Co.
- 1997 South Africa announces it is constructing the largest modern-day blimp
1999 41st Grammy Awards: "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic)" and Lauryn Hill win
- 1999 A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou Airport, China, killing 61 people
- 1999 State of Arizona executes convicted murderer and bank robber, German national Karl LaGrand, despite international legal action by Germany to save him
- 2002 IXX Winter Olympic Games close in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Olympic Gold
2002 Joe Sakic and Jerome Iginla each score twice as Canada defeats the United States, 5-2 to win the men's ice hockey Olympic gold medal at Salt Lake City
Event of Interest
2006 President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue possible military coup.
Event of Interest
2008 Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba due to ill health after nearly fifty years in power
- 2010 Europe risks a double-dip recession after bad results emerge from France, Germany and Italy, it is reported today; the Eurozone only grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009
Cricket History
2010 Sachin Tendulkar scores the first double century in One Day International cricket
- 2011 Final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103)
- 2013 10 Chadian soldiers and 28 Muslim insurgents are killed in conflict in Adrar des Ifoghas, Mali
- 2013 55th Daytona 500: Jimmie Johnson wins 2nd Great American Race; Danica Patrick first female to start from pole position; also best-ever finish by a woman at Daytona (8th)
- 2013 Nicos Anastasiades wins the Cypriot presidential election
Election of Interest
2013 Raúl Castro is elected to a second term as the President of Cuba
- 2014 7 people are killed & 37 are injured after a bridge collapses in Vietnam
- 2014 A 4.4 billion-year-old crystal is discovered as the oldest known fragment of Earth's crust
Event of Interest
2014 Pope Francis creates a second Secretariat with the power to audit any Vatican agency at any time
- 2016 Oldest Muslim graves in Europe, from the 8th century, identified at a burial site in Nimes, France
- 2018 2016 world mass start speed skating champion Lee Seung-hoon of South Korea wins the event at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also Olympic 10,000m champion Vancouver (2010)
- 2018 After taking gold in the Olympic team sprint in Sochi (2014), Finnish cross country skier Iivo Niskanen wins the 50k classical event in Pyeongchang
- 2018 Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic becomes first female to win Olympic gold medals in 2 different sports at a single Winter Games (Pyeongchang); skiing super-G and snowboarding parallel giant slalom
- 2018 Japanese speed skater Nana Takagi wins her 2nd gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the women's mass start event; also member Japan's successful pursuit team
- 2018 Men's big air snowboarding event makes Olympic debut at Pyeongchang; Canada's Sébastien Toutant is inaugural gold medallist
- 2018 Swiss alpine skiers Luca Aerni, Denise Feierabend, Wendy Holdener, Daniel Yule & Ramon Zenhäusern win the inaugural Olympic team event at Pyeongchang
- 2018 UN Security Council passes resolution for 30 day ceasefire in Syria
- 2019 At least 133 people have died and 200 treated in hospital after drinking toxic bootleg alcohol in Golaghat district, north-eastern India
- 2019 Roman Catholic Church summit on paedophilia ends with Pope Francis promising more action and calling those guilty "tools of Satan"
Film & TV History
2020 Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and a criminal sexual act in landmark case that ignited #MeToo movement
Event of Interest
2020 Malaysia's 94-year old Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns only to be reinstated later in the day as interim Prime Minister
- 2020 Memorial service for NBA star Kobe Byrant held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles
- 2020 New York firefighter Daniel Foley, who found his brother's body in ruins of World Trade Center, dies of cancer bringing first responders death toll to 343
- 2020 Scientists identify the first animal that doesn't need oxygen to breathe: a tiny parasite living in salmon tissue, reported in the journal PNAS
- 2021 United Nations-backed COVAX initiative begins delivering vaccines to middle and low income countries with first AstraZeneca shipment to Ghana
Russia Invades Ukraine
2022 Russia launches a full-scale pre-dawn and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by land, air, and sea, with bombings in several cities. Moments later, Vladimir Putin announces the start of a three-day “special military operation” in Ukraine to "demilitarize" the country. [1]
- 2022 Zahir Zakir Jaffer sentenced to death in Islamabad, Pakistan for the rape, murder and beheading of Noor Muqaddam after she refused to marry him, highlighting violence towards women in the country [1]
- 2023 Puffin, publisher of author Roald Dhal, announces it will now print his books with their original unaltered text alongside those with offensive language removed, after widespread criticism and debate [1]
- 2024 Brian Ortega wins against Yair Rodríguez at UFC Fight Night 237, earning Performance of the Night
