February 8 in History

Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, de

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.

February 8 spans 41 recorded events across recorded history, from 421 to 2023. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · February 8 — Wikipedia

Historical Events 41 events 421 – 2023

More major events on February 8

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

1807 Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau. Source
1937 Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria. Source
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. Source

Did you know

In 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. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal, except as punishment for a crime. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

The amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18, 1865. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

In 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 had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.

Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Roman emperor in 421

Constantius III was briefly Western Roman emperor in 421, having earned the throne through his capability as a general under Honorius. By 411 he had achieved the rank of magister militum, and in the same year he suppressed the revolt of the usurper Constantine III. Constantius went on to lead campaigns against various barbarian groups in Hispania and Gaul, recovering much of both for the Western Roman Empire. He married Honorius's sister Galla Placidia in 417, a sign of his ascendant status, and was proclaimed co-emperor by Honorius on 8 February 421. Constantius reigned for seven months before dying on 2 September 421.

Wikipedia source

421

The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

Empire in Eurasia from 1206–1368

The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the medieval empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to Eastern Europe, extending northward into Siberia and east and southward into the Indian subcontinent, mounting invasions of Southeast Asia, and conquering the Iranian Plateau; and reaching westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.

Wikipedia source

1238

Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.

Religious crusade in Egypt from 1248 to 1254

The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking Egypt, the main Islamic power in the Near East. The Crusade was conducted in response to setbacks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, beginning with the loss of the Holy City in 1244, and was preached by Innocent IV in conjunction with a crusade against emperor Frederick II, Baltic rebellions and Mongol incursions. After initial success, the crusade ended in defeat, with most of the army – including the king – captured by the Egyptians.

Wikipedia source

1250

The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War, was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir, John V Palaiologos. It pitted on the one hand Andronikos III's chief minister, John VI Kantakouzenos, and on the other a regency headed by the Empress-Dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV Kalekas, and the megas doux Alexios Apokaukos. The war polarized Byzantine society along class lines, with the aristocracy backing Kantakouzenos and the lower and middle classes supporting the regency. To a lesser extent, the conflict acquired religious overtones; Byzantium was embroiled in the Hesychast controversy, and adherence to the mystical doctrine of Hesychasm was often equated with support for Kantakouzenos.

Wikipedia source

1347

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.

Wikipedia source

1587

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.

English army officer (1565–1601)

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex was an English army officer who was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

Wikipedia source

1601

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.

University in Williamsburg, Virginia, US

The College of William & Mary (W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. William & Mary is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

Wikipedia source

1693

Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.

French general and emperor (1769–1821)

Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and the Middle East during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As a statesman, he implemented numerous legal and administrative reforms in France and Europe.

Wikipedia source

1807

An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.

Military unit

The Army of the Andes was a military force created by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) and assembled by General José de San Martín as part of his campaign to liberate Chile from the Spanish Empire. In 1817, it crossed the Andes Mountains from the Argentine province of Cuyo and succeeded in its objective by driving the Spanish out of Chile.

Wikipedia source

1817

Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.

Vice President of the United States from 1837 to 1841

Richard Mentor Johnson was an American lawyer, military officer, and politician who served as the ninth vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841 under President Martin Van Buren. He is the only vice president elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. He began and ended his political career in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Wikipedia source

1837

Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

Scottish-Canadian engineer and inventor (1827–1915)

Sir Sandford Fleming was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he immigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, and use of the 24-hour clock as key elements to communicating the accurate time, all of which influenced the creation of Coordinated Universal Time. He designed Canada's first postage stamp, produced a great deal of work in the fields of land surveying and map making, engineered much of the Intercolonial Railway and the first several hundred kilometers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada and founder of the Canadian Institute.

Wikipedia source

1879

England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.

Men's national cricket team

The England men's cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club since 1903. England and Wales, as founding nations, are a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) status. Until the 1990s, Scottish and Irish players also played for England as those countries were not yet ICC members in their own right.

Wikipedia source

1879

The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.

The Japanese in Hawaii are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii's population. They now number about 16.7% of the islands' population, according to the 2000 U.S. census. The U.S. Census categorizes mixed-race individuals separately, so the proportion of people with some Japanese ancestry is likely much larger.

Wikipedia source

1885

The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S.

President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.

The Dawes Act of 1887 regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the President of the United States to subdivide Native American tribal communal landholdings into allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals. This would convert traditional systems of land tenure into a government-imposed system of private property by forcing Native Americans to "assume a capitalist and proprietary relationship with property" that did not previously exist in their cultures. Before private property could be dispensed, the government had to determine which Indians were eligible for allotments, which propelled an official search for a federal definition of "Indian-ness".

Wikipedia source

1887

Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.

Japanese nation state from 1868 to 1947

The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the period of Japanese history spanning 79 years, starting with the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868, and ending with ratification of the Constitution of Japan on 3 May 1947. From August 1910 to September 1945, it included mainland Japan, Okinawa, the Kurils, Karafuto, Korea, and Taiwan. The South Seas Mandate and concessions were de jure not internal parts of the empire but dependent territories. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis powers, the formalized surrender was issued on 2 September 1945, in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies, and the empire's territory subsequently shrunk to cover only mainland Japan. However, Okinawa was later returned to Japan in 1972.

Wikipedia source

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.

The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force. Elements of the Royal Netherlands Navy and Government Navy were also stationed in the Netherlands East Indies.

Wikipedia source

1904

The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D.

Boyce.

Boy Scouts of America, doing business as Scouting America, is the largest Scouting organization and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Since its founding in 1910, about 130 million Americans have participated in its programs, which are served by more than 400,000 adult volunteers. It is a founding member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

Wikipedia source

1910

The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.

In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty in 27 states, throughout the country at the federal level, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in the other 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is constitutionally permitted only for murder, with permissibility for use for crimes against the state not having been legally decided. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, only 21 of them have authority to execute death sentences, with the other 6 subject to moratoriums.

Wikipedia source

1924

Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.

1936–1939 civil war in Spain

The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalist rebels. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic included socialists, anarchists, communists, and separatists, supported by the Soviet Union. The opposing Nationalists were an alliance of fascist Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, and traditionalists, supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Initially led by a military junta, until General Francisco Franco was appointed supreme leader on 1 October 1936 of what he called the Spanish State. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war was variously viewed as class struggle, religious struggle, or struggle between republican democracy and dictatorship, revolution and counterrevolution, or between fascism and communism. The Nationalists won the war in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.

Wikipedia source

1937

World War II: Japan invades Singapore.

Global conflict (1939–1945)

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

Wikipedia source

1942

World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.

Combined military forces of the United Kingdom

His Majesty's Armed Forces, also known colloquially as the British Armed Forces, are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.

Wikipedia source

1945

World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.

Soviet fighter pilot during World War II and POW of Nazi Germany

Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was a Soviet fighter pilot known for his escape from a Nazi concentration camp on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea.

Wikipedia source

1945

The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.

1945–1946 provisional government

The People's Republic of Korea (Korean: 조선인민공화국) was a short-lived provisional government that was organized at the time of the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It was proclaimed on 6 September 1945, as Korea was being divided into two occupation zones, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States occupying the south. Based on a network of people's committees, it presented a program of democratization of society and the economy.

Wikipedia source

1946

The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.

East German intelligence agency and secret police

The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the Stasi, was the intelligence service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive police organisations in the world, infiltrating almost every aspect of life in East Germany, using torture, intimidation, and a vast network of informants to crush dissent.

Wikipedia source

1950

Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022

Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.

Wikipedia source

1960

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.

1962 massacre in Paris, France

The massacre at the Charonne metro station of 8 February 1962 was an incident that took place around and in the Charonne metro station in Paris, during a demonstration against the Secret Armed Organization (OAS) and the Algerian War, which resulted in the death of nine people crushed in the doorway of the metro station.

Wikipedia source

1962

The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.

Head of government

The prime minister of the Republic of Iraq is the foremost executive of the Iraqi government and the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The premier is responsible for the general policy of the state and directs the Council of Ministers, with the power to dismiss and name any senior executive, including ministers and generals. In addition to the MoD armed forces, the premier has direct authority over all of those intelligence and security agencies under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Commander in Chief, such as the CTS and the INIS.

Wikipedia source

1963

Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.

1965 aviation accident in New York, US

Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 was an American domestic passenger flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Atlanta, Georgia, with scheduled stopovers at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Greenville, South Carolina. On the night of February 8, 1965, the aircraft serving the flight, a Douglas DC-7, crashed near Jones Beach State Park, New York, just after taking off from JFK Airport. All 79 passengers and five crew aboard died.

Wikipedia source

1965

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.

1954–1968 U.S. social movement

The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans. The movement had origins in the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, and modern roots in the 1940s and in Mohandas Gandhi's nonviolent movement in India. After years of nonviolent protests and civil disobedience campaigns, the civil rights movement achieved many of its legislative goals in the 1960s, during which it secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Wikipedia source

1968

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.

Defunct South Vietnamese ground forces

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forces of the Vietnamese National Army, established on 8 December 1950, representing Vietnam to fight in the First Indochina War against the communist Viet Minh rebels. At the ARVN's peak, an estimated 1 in 9 citizens of South Vietnam were enlisted, composed of Regular Forces and the more voluntary Regional Forces and the Popular Force militias. It is estimated to have suffered 1,394,000 casualties during the Vietnam War.

Wikipedia source

1971

The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.

Third crewed mission to Skylab

Skylab 4 was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew aboard the first American space station.

Wikipedia source

1974

A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.

Dust storm throughout Victoria, Australia

The 1983 Melbourne dust storm was a meteorological phenomenon that occurred during the afternoon of 8 February 1983, throughout much of Victoria, Australia and affected the state capital, Melbourne. Red soil, dust and sand from Central and Southeastern Australia was swept up in high winds and carried southeast through Victoria. The dust storm was one of the most dramatic consequences of the 1982/83 drought, at the time the worst in Australian history and is, in hindsight, viewed as a precursor to the Ash Wednesday bushfires which were to occur eight days later.

Wikipedia source

1983

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.

Inter-city passenger rail operator in Canada

Via Rail Canada Inc., operating as Via Rail, is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada.

Wikipedia source

1986

Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board.

1989 aviation accident in Portugal

On 8 February 1989, Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707 on an American charter flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, struck Pico Alto while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores for a scheduled stopover. The aircraft was destroyed, with the loss of all 144 people on board, resulting in the deadliest plane crash in Portugal's history. All of the passengers on board were Italian and all of the crew were Americans. The crash is also known as "The disaster of the Azores".

Wikipedia source

1989

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.

Airline in Iran

Iran Airtour is a privately owned Iranian airline that was launched in 1973. Its main base is Mashhad Airport.

Wikipedia source

1993

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.

Mountain range near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan

The Hindu Kush is an 800-kilometre-long (500 mi) mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the western section of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region (HKH); to the north, near its northeastern end, the Hindu Kush buttresses the Pamir Mountains to the north near the point where the borders of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet, after which it runs southwest through Pakistan and into Afghanistan near their border.

Wikipedia source

2010

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

Nor'easter in 2013

From February 8–10, 2013, a severe and powerful blizzard, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Nemo by The Weather Channel and other media, or more commonly the Blizzard of 2013, primarily affecting the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada, causing heavy snowfall up to 1–2 feet and hurricane-force winds. The blizzard developed from the combination of two areas of low pressure, before rapidly strengthening once it neared New England as a nor'easter. The storm crossed the Atlantic Ocean, affecting Ireland and the United Kingdom before dissipating. The nor'easter's effects in the United States received a Category 3 rank on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, classifying it as a "Major" Winter Storm.

Wikipedia source

2013

A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

Deadly fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia

The 2014 Medina hotel fire was a hotel fire that occurred in a hotel in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The fire killed at least 15 people and another 130 were injured.

Wikipedia source

2014

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.

Between 8 and 9 February 2020, a mass shooting occurred near and in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, colloquially known as Korat. A Sergeant Major of the Royal Thai Army killed 29 people and wounded 58 others before he was eventually shot and killed.

Wikipedia source

2020

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.

On February 8, 2023, bus driver Pierre Ny St-Amand deliberately crashed Société de transport de Laval (STL) bus into a daycare in Laval, Quebec, Canada, killing two children and injuring six others. St-Amand was quickly subdued by bystanders and arrested. Trauma support was provided to affected families and residents. Quebec Premier François Legault and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the area to pay respects in the days following the incident.

Wikipedia source

2023

February 8 in History

1865 — Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U

More major events on February 8

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