On this day: 8 February
Events, births and deaths on 8 February. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Sam Nujoma
- Deaths · Gyalo Thondup
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Amelia Bence
- Deaths · Violette Verdy
- Deaths · Nida Fazli
100 years ago1926
- Births · Neal Cassady
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1045 · Deaths · Fujiwara no Sadayori
Events · 25
- 1250(Julian date)Battle of Mansurah — 1250 battle that took place in the Nile River Delta during the Seventh Crusade
- 1575(Julian date)Leiden University — public university in the Netherlands
- 1879Sydney Riot of 1879 — 1879 riot in Australia over cricket
- 1904Russo-Japanese War — conflict between the Russian and Japanese empires from 1904 to 1905
- 1904Battle of Port peturth — 1904 naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War
- 1937
- 1942Battle of Singapore — 1942 World War II battle
- 1945Operation Veritable — 1945 battle of World War II
- 1946Provisional People's Committee of North Korea — A provisional government that existed in North Korea from February 8, 1946 to February 20, 1947.
- 1948Korean People’s Army — combined military forces of North Korea
- 1950Ministerium für Staatssicherheit — official state security service of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (1950–1990)
- 1962Charonne Métro Station massacre — 1962 massacre in France
- 1963Ramadan Revolution — 1963 Ba'athist military coup in Iraq
- 1965Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 — aviation accident
- 1971Operation Lam Son 719 — 1971 Vietnam War military offensive in Laos by the US-backed ARVN
- 19841984 Winter Olympics — 14th edition of Winter Olympics, in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
- 1986Hinton train collision — 1986 railway accident which took place near the town of Hinton, Alberta, Canada
- 1989Independent Air Flight 1851 — aviation accident
- 19921992 Winter Olympics — 16th edition of Winter Olympics, in Albertville, France
- 19931993 Tehran mid-air collision — Mid-air collision
- 20022002 Winter Olympics — 19th edition of Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
- 20102010 Salang avalanches — Avalanche
- 20142014 Medina hotel fire — deadly fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia
- 20162016 Mong Kok civil unrest — clashes broke out between police and local pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong
- 2020Nakhon Ratchasima shootings — 2020 mass shooting by a soldier in Thailand
Births · 60
- 412(Julian date)Proclus — 5th-century Greek Neoplatonist philosopher
- 1291Afonso IV of Portugal — King of Portugal
- 1404(Julian date)Konstantinos XI Palaiologos — last Byzantine emperor, from 1449 to 1453
- 1552(Julian date)Agrippa d'Aubigné — French military officer, historian, writer and poet (1552-1630)
- 1577(Julian date)Robert Burton — English scholar (1577–1640)
- 1591Guercino — painter of the Italian 17th century (1591–1666)
- 1700Daniel Bernoulli — Swiss mathematician and physicist (1700-1782)
- 1720Sakuramachi — emperor of Japan (1720-1750)
- 1741André Grétry — composer from present-day Belgium (1741–1813)
- 1762Gia Long — founder and 1st emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam (r. 1802-04)
- 1805Louis Auguste Blanqui — French socialist and political activist (1805-1881)
- 1819John Ruskin — English writer and art critic (1819–1900)
- 1820William Tecumseh Sherman — United States Army general (1820–1891)
- 1825Henry Walter Bates — English naturalist and explorer (1825–1892)
- 1828Jules Verne — French writer (1828–1905)
- 1834Dmitri Mendeleev — Russian chemist (1834–1907)
- 1850Kate Chopin — American author (1850–1904)
- 1874Sunjong of the Korean Empire — The 2nd emperor of the Korean Empire. (1874–1926)
- 1876Paula Modersohn-Becker — German expressionist painter (1876–1907)
- 1878Martin Buber — German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian (1878–1965)
- 1880Franz Marc — German artist (1880–1916)
- 1883Joseph Schumpeter — Austrian political economist (1883–1950)
- 1888Edith Evans — British actress (1888–1976)
- 1894King Vidor — American film director, film producer, and screenwriter (1894-1982)
- 1895Khorloogiin Choibalsan — Mongolian general and political leader from the 1930s to 1952
Deaths · 60
- 1204(Julian date)Alexios IV Angelos — Byzantine emperor; (1192-1204)
- 1250Robert I, Count of Artois — French noble
- 1265(Julian date)Hulegu Khan — Western Asian Mongol ruler (c. 1217–1265)
- 1296(Julian date)Przemysł II — King of Poland, Duke of Greater Poland (1257-1296)
- 1314Helen of Anjou — Serbian queen
- 1537(Julian date)Gerolamo Emiliani — Italian humanitarian and saint
- 1587Mary, Queen of Scots — Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567 (1542–1587)
- 1676Alexei I of Russia — Tsar of Russia (1645–1676)
- 1709Giuseppe Torelli — Italian violist, violinist, teacher and composer (1658–1709)
- 1725Peter the Great — Tsar/Emperor of Russia from 1682 to 1725
- 1749Jan van Huysum — Dutch painter and draughtsman (1682–1749)
- 1772Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha — German princess (1719–1772); Princess of Wales as wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales; mother of George III
- 1849France Prešeren — Slovene national poet, a Carniolan Romantic poet of Slovene descent (1800–1849)
- 1849François Habeneck — French violinist and conductor (1781-1849)
- 1856Agostino Bassi — Italian entomologist (1773-1856)
- 1884Cetshwayo kaMpande — King of the Zulu Kingdom (1826–1884)
- 1894Robert Michael Ballantyne — Scottish author of juvenile fiction (1825-1894)
- 1910Hans Jæger — Norwegian anarchist (1854-1910)
- 1921Peter Kropotkin — Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
- 1922Kabayama Sukenori — Japanese general (1837-1922)
- 1928Theodor Curtius — German chemist (1857–1928)
- 1935Eemil Nestor Setälä — Finnish politician and linguist (1864–1935)
- 1936Charles Curtis — vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933
- 1945Italo Santelli — Italian fencer (1866–1945)
- 1957John von Neumann — Hungarian and American mathematician and physicist (1903–1957)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.