- 660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
- AD 55 – The death of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (see Deaths section), heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming of age, under mysterious circumstances, clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.[1]
- 244 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
- 1177 – John de Courcy‘s army defeats the native Dunleavey Clan in Ulster. The English establish themselves in Ulster.
- 1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.[2]
- 1626 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Catholicism to be the state religion of Ethiopia.
- 1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.[3]
- 1790 – The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for the abolition of slavery.
- 1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
- 1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
- 1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of “gerrymandering” for the first time.
- 1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.
- 1826 – University College London is founded as University of London.
- 1840 – Gaetano Donizetti‘s opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.
- 1843 – Giuseppe Verdi‘s opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
- 1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam.
- 1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is imprisoned and later exiled to Calcutta.
- 1858 – Bernadette Soubirous‘s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
- 1873 – King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates.
- 1889 – Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted; the first National Diet convenes in 1890.
- 1903 – Anton Bruckner‘s 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.
- 1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.
- 1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
- 1929 – Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
- 1937 – The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.
- 1938 – BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot“.
- 1939 – A Lockheed P-38 Lightning flies from California to New York in seven hours two minutes.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
- 1943 – World War II: General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
- 1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
- 1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
- 1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South, which will later become South Yemen, is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
- 1964 – Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
- 1971 – Cold War: Eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
- 1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
- 1978 – Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
- 1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
- 1981 – Around 100,000 US gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating eight workers.
- 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
- 1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing‘s world Heavyweight title.
- 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune’s orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period (since 1979) when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune’s orbit for another 228 years.
- 2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
- 2006 – U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas.
- 2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
- 2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.
- 2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy on 28 February 2013, as a result of his advanced age.
- 2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
- 2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.
- 2016 – A man shoots six people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.
- 2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.
- 2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia. All 71 people on board die.
-Source: wikipedia
