On this day: February 1

Events on February 1

• 1327 Fourteen-year-old Edward III was crowned King of England, but with the country ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. Wikipedia
• 1329 The Teutonic Knights successfully besieged the hillfort of Medvėgalis in Samogitia, Lithuania, and baptised the defenders in the Catholic rite. Wikipedia
• 1411 The First Peace of Thorn was signed, ending the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. Wikipedia
• 1662 Sino-Dutch conflicts: After besieging Fort Zeelandia for nine months, Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong secured the Dutch East India Company's surrender and the end of their rule in Taiwan. Wikipedia
• 1793 French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Wikipedia
• 1814 More than 1,200 people died in the most destructive recorded eruption of Mayon in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1835 Slavery is abolished in Mauritius. Wikipedia
• 1864 Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war. Wikipedia
• 1865 President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Wikipedia
• 1884 The first fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary, a 352-page volume that covered words from A to ant, was published. Wikipedia
• 1896 Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy, eventually becoming one of the most frequently performed operas internationally. Wikipedia
• 1942 Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States federal government, began broadcasting to Germany during World War II. Wikipedia
• 1946 Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General. Wikipedia
• 1950 The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 1957 Invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, the first working prototype of the Wankel rotary engine ran for the first time at the research and development department of NSU Motorenwerke AG. Wikipedia
• 1960 Civil rights movement: Four African-American students staged the first of more than five months of sit-ins at an F. W. Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, to protest the company's policy of racial segregation. Wikipedia
• 1972 Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, was granted city status. Wikipedia
• 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile and soon led the Iranian Revolution to overthrow the Pahlavi dynasty. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Timor-Leste Defence Force was established from the erstwhile anti-Indonesian independence movement Falintil. Wikipedia
• 2003 All seven crew members aboard Space Shuttle Columbia were killed when the orbiter disintegrated over Texas during reentry. Wikipedia
• 2004 During the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, Janet Jackson's breast was exposed by Justin Timberlake in what was later referred to as a "wardrobe malfunction", resulting in an immediate crackdown and widespread debate on perceived indecency in U.S. broadcasting. Wikipedia
• 2005 King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d'état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers. Wikipedia
• 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first female prime minister of Iceland. Wikipedia
• 2012 Following an Egyptian Premier League match in Port Said, Al Masry fans rioted and violently attacked Al Ahly supporters, resulting in 74 deaths. Wikipedia
• 2013 The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public. Wikipedia
• 2021 The Burmese military staged a coup d'état that deposed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking nationwide protests and a civil war. Wikipedia

Born on February 1

• 1761 Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (died 1836) Wikipedia
• 1874 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1929) Wikipedia
• 1884 Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1894 John Ford, American director and producer (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1901 Clark Gable, American actor (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1902 Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1905 Emilio Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1915 Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1918 Muriel Spark, Scottish novelist (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1931 Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1942 Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1965 Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1968 Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1969 Gabriel Batistuta, Argentinian footballer Wikipedia
• 1971 Michael C. Hall, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1972 Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist Wikipedia
• 1979 Juan, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer Wikipedia
• 1987 Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist, wrestler and actress Wikipedia
• 1994 Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter and actor Wikipedia
• 1994 Julia Garner, American actress Wikipedia
• 1997 Jihyo, South Korean singer Wikipedia

Died on February 1

• 772 Pope Stephen III (born 720) Wikipedia
• 1328 Charles IV of France (born 1294) Wikipedia
• 1691 Pope Alexander VIII (born 1610) Wikipedia
• 1851 Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1944 Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1957 Friedrich Paulus, German general (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1958 Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1966 Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1976 Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1986 Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia crew Wikipedia
• 2012 Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2014 Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2025 Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany (born 1943) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius) Wikipedia
• Air Force Day (Nicaragua) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Candelaria of San José Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Brigid of Ireland (Saint Brigid's Day) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Verdiana Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico) Wikipedia
• Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia) Wikipedia
• Foundation Day (of the Ryukyu Kingdom, celebrated in Okinawa Prefecture) Wikipedia
• Heroes Day (Rwanda) Wikipedia
• Saint Brigid's Day/Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere) Wikipedia
• Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary) Wikipedia
• National Freedom Day (United States) Wikipedia
• The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada) Wikipedia
• World Hijab Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 1” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 1” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 1” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for February 1 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.