# What happened on February 8 in history?

**Date:** February 8  
**Events recorded:** 41  
**Years spanned:** 421 – 2023  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/february/8/

---

## Featured Event

**2013** — A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2013_North_American_blizzard)

---

## Events on this date

- **421** — Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantius_III))
- **1238** — The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire))
- **1250** — Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Crusade))
- **1347** — The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_civil_war_of_1341%E2%80%931347))
- **1587** — Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots))
- **1601** — Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Devereux%2C_2nd_Earl_of_Essex))
- **1693** — The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_William_%26_Mary))
- **1807** — Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon))
- **1817** — An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_Andes))
- **1837** — Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mentor_Johnson))
- **1865** — Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified by Delaware on February 12, 1901, the 92nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware))
- **1879** — Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandford_Fleming))
- **1879** — England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_cricket_team))
- **1885** — The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_in_Hawaii))
- **1887** — The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act))
- **1904** — Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan))
- **1904** — The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army))
- **1910** — The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting_America))
- **1924** — The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States))
- **1937** — Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War))
- **1942** — World War II: Japan invades Singapore. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II))
- **1945** — World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Armed_Forces))
- **1945** — World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Devyataev))
- **1946** — The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Republic_of_Korea))
- **1950** — The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi))
- **1960** — Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II))
- **1962** — Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charonne_subway_massacre))
- **1963** — The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Iraq))
- **1965** — Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_663))
- **1968** — American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement))
- **1971** — South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_Republic_of_Vietnam))
- **1974** — The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_4))
- **1983** — A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Melbourne_dust_storm))
- **1986** — Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, making it one of the worst rail accidents in Canada. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Rail))
- **1989** — Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Air_Flight_1851))
- **1993** — An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Airtour))
- **2010** — Over 2 miles (3.2 km) of road are buried after a storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of avalanches, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 others. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Kush))
- **2013** — A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2013_North_American_blizzard))
- **2014** — A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Medina_hotel_fire))
- **2020** — A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhon_Ratchasima_shootings))
- **2023** — Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_daycare_bus_crash))

---

## Notable births on February 8

- **2001** — **I.N** — South Korean singer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.N))
- **1999** — **Alessia Russo** — English footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessia_Russo))
- **1998** — **Rui Hachimura** — Japanese basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rui_Hachimura))
- **1997** — **Kathryn Newton** — American actress ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Newton))
- **1996** — **Kenedy** — Brazilian footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenedy_(footballer)))
- **1996** — **Leighton Vander Esch** — American football player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leighton_Vander_Esch))
- **1995** — **Gabriel Deck** — Argentine basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Deck))
- **1995** — **Joshua Kimmich** — German footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Kimmich))
- **1994** — **Hakan Çalhanoğlu** — Turkish footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakan_%C3%87alhano%C4%9Flu))
- **1994** — **Nikki Yanofsky** — Canadian singer-songwriter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Yanofsky))

---

## Notable deaths on February 8

- **2025** — **Dick Jauron** — American football player and coach (born 1950) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Jauron))
- **2025** — **Sam Nujoma** — Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia (born 1929) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Nujoma))
- **2025** — **Gyalo Thondup** — Brother of the 14th Dalai Lama (born 1928) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyalo_Thondup))
- **2023** — **Arto Heiskanen** — Finnish professional hockey player (born 1963) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arto_Heiskanen))
- **2021** — **Marty Schottenheimer** — American football player and coach (born 1943) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Schottenheimer))
- **2021** — **Mary Wilson** — American singer (born 1944) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wilson_(singer)))
- **2020** — **Robert Conrad** — American actor (born 1935) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Conrad))
- **2017** — **Peter Mansfield** — English physicist, Nobel laureate (born 1933) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mansfield))
- **2017** — **Rina Matsuno** — Japanese idol singer (born 1998) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rina_Matsuno))
- **2017** — **Alan Simpson** — English scriptwriter (born 1929) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Simpson_(scriptwriter)))

---

## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/february/8/](https://thisday.info/events/february/8/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.