Events Pre-1600 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau. 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of Bayezid I, becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia. 1500 – Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein and King John of Denmark attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno has a wooden vise put on his tongue to prevent him continuing to speak.
1601–1900 1616 – Nurhaci proclaims himself Khan of the Later Jin, precursor to the Qing Dynasty. 1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America. 1674 – An earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Ambon. It triggers a megatsunami which drowns over 2,300 people. 1676 – Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan. 1739 – The Battle of Vasai commences as the Marathas move to invade Portuguese-occupied territory. 1753 – In Sweden, February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. 1801 – United States presidential election: A tie in the Electoral College between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormant. 1819 – The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time. 1838 – In the Weenen massacre, hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus. 1854 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State. 1859 – Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captures the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam. 1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva found an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross. 1864 – American Civil War: The becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the . 1865 – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
1901–present 1905 – Russian Revolution of 1905: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia is assassinated in the Moscow Kremlin by Socialist Revolutionary Ivan Kalyayev.The American Monthly Review of Reviews (April 1905) p. 284 1913 – The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who subsequently become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century. 1919 – The Ukrainian People's Republic asks the Entente and the United States for help fighting the Bolsheviks. 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22. 1944 – World War II: Operation Hailstone begins: U.S. naval air, surface and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion. 1948 – The Al-Waziri coup briefly ousts the ruling Hamidaddin dynasty of Yemen; Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din is killed. 1949 – Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel. 1959 – Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution. 1959 – A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes near Gatwick Airport, killing 14; Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes survives the crash. 1964 – In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population. 1964 – Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place. 1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the crewed Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing. 1966 – Aeroflot Flight 065 crashes during take-off from Sheremetyevo International Airport, killing 21. 1969 – American aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair a leak in the SEALAB III underwater habitat. The SEALAB project was subsequently abandoned. 1970 – The family of Jeffrey R. MacDonald, United States Army captain, is found murdered in their home in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US. Eventually, MacDonald was charged with and convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters.Jeffrey MacDonald again seeks release from prison. A primer on the infamous NC crime. 1972 – Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T. 1974 – Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter. 1978 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants. 1979 – The Sino-Vietnamese War begins. 1980 – First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy. 1991 – Ryan International Airlines Flight 590 crashes during takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, killing both pilots, the aircraft's only occupants. 1992 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly. 1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN. 1996 – In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match. 1996 – NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros. 1996 – The 8.2 Biak earthquake shakes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving 166 people dead or missing and 423 injured. 2006 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126. 2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. 2011 – Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi's regime begin. 2011 – Arab Spring: In Bahrain, security forces launch a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama; the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday. 2015 – Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti. 2016 – Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.
Births
Pre-1600 624 – Wu Zetian, Chinese empress consort (died 705) 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian scholar and imam (died 1085) 1490 – Charles III, duke of Bourbon (died 1527) 1519 – Francis, French Grand Chamberlain (died 1563) 1524 – Charles de Lorraine, French cardinal (died 1574)
1601–1900 1646 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (died 1714) 1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (died 1713) 1723 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (died 1762) 1740 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Swiss physicist and meteorologist (died 1799) 1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German author and playwright (died 1831) 1754 – Nicolas Baudin, French cartographer and explorer (died 1803) 1758 – John Pinkerton, Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist and historian (died 1826) 1762 – John Cooke, English captain (died 1805) 1781 – René Laennec, French physician, invented the stethoscope (died 1826) 1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician and botanist (died 1866) 1799 – Carl Julian (von) Graba, German lawyer and ornithologist who visited and studied the Faroe Islands (died 1874) 1817 – Édouard Thilges, Luxembourgish jurist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (died 1904) 1820 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian violinist and composer (died 1881) 1821 – Lola Montez, Irish-American actress and dancer (died 1861) 1832 – Richard Henry Park, American sculptor (died 1902) 1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (died 1870) 1843 – Aaron Montgomery Ward, American businessman, founded Montgomery Ward (died 1913) 1848 – Louisa Lawson, Australian poet and publisher (died 1920) 1849 – Joseph Favre, Swiss chef (died 1903) 1854 – Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German businessman (died 1902) 1861 – Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, duchess of Albany (died 1922) 1862 – Mori Ōgai, Japanese general, author, and poet (died 1922) 1864 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak priest, botanist, and painter (died 1929) 1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet (died 1941) 1874 – Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (died 1956) 1877 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and author (died 1904) 1877 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (died 1932) 1879 – Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American educational reformer, social activist and author (died 1958) 1881 – Mary Carson Breckinridge, American nurse midwife, founded Frontier Nursing Service (died 1965) 1887 – Joseph Bech, Luxembourgish lawyer and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (died 1975) 1887 – Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer and critic (died 1947) 1888 – Ronald Knox, English Catholic priest (died 1957) 1888 – Otto Stern, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969) 1890 – Ronald Fisher, English-Australian statistician, biologist, and geneticist (died 1962) 1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (died 1965) 1893 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player and journalist (died 1965) 1899 – Jibanananda Das, Bangladeshi-Indian poet and author (died 1954) 1900 – Ruth Clifford, American actress (died 1998)
1901–present 1903 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-French author and translator (died 1951) 1903 – Joaquín Rodríguez Ortega, known as "Cagancho", Spanish bullfighter (died 1984) 1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (died 1980) 1905 – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (died 1977) 1906 – Mary Brian, American actress (died 2002) 1908 – Bo Yibo, Chinese general and politician, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 2007) 1910 – Marc Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2005) 1911 – Oskar Seidlin, German-American author, poet, and scholar (died 1984) 1912 – Andre Norton, American author (died 2005) 1914 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor (died 1990) 1916 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian rugby player and pilot (died 1940) 1916 – Don Tallon, Australian cricketer (died 1984) 1916 – Raf Vallone, Italian footballer and actor (died 2002) 1918 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (died 1999) 1918 – Jacqueline Ferrand, French mathematician (died 2014) 1919 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (died 2009) 1919 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress and singer (died 2001) 1919 – Joe Hunt, American tennis player (died 1945) 1920 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (died 2001) 1920 – Annie Glenn, American disability and communication disorder advocate (died 2020) 1920 – Curt Swan, American illustrator (died 1996) 1921 – Duane Gish, American biochemist and academic (died 2013) 1922 – Tommy Edwards, American R&B singer-songwriter (died 1969) 1923 – Buddy DeFranco, American clarinet player and bandleader (died 2014) 1924 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (died 2008) 1925 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (died 2003) 1925 – Hal Holbrook, American actor and director (died 2021)