On this day: February 14

Events on February 14

• 1655 Arauco War: The Mapuche carried out a series of coordinated attacks against Spanish settlements and forts in colonial Chile, beginning a ten-year period of warfare. Wikipedia
• 1779 Native Hawaiians killed the English explorer Captain James Cook as he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the island of Hawaii. Wikipedia
• 1779 American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Kettle Creek, a militia of Patriots decisively defeated and scattered a Loyalist militia that was on its way to British-controlled Augusta, Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1804 Serb chieftains elected Đorđe Petrović as their leader and began an uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1849 In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken. Wikipedia
• 1852 The Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, was founded in London. Wikipedia
• 1859 Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1895 Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, once described as the second-most quoted English-language play after Hamlet, premiered in London. Wikipedia
• 1914 The animated film Gertie the Dinosaur was released, later greatly influencing future animators such as the Fleischer brothers and Walt Disney. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Britain, France and Russia made the Declaration of Sainte-Adresse, stating that they would refuse to sign any peace treaty with the Central Powers that failed to ensure the political and economic independence of Belgium. Wikipedia
• 1919 The Battle of Bereza Kartuska, the first serious armed conflict of the Polish–Soviet War, took place near present-day Biaroza, Belarus. Wikipedia
• 1924 The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was renamed as International Business Machines (IBM), later growing into one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization. Wikipedia
• 1938 The Singapore Naval Base, the cornerstone of the Singapore strategy, a British naval defence policy, was opened. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's 5th Panzer Army launched a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia. Wikipedia
• 1961 Lawrencium, the radioactive synthetic element with atomic number 103, was first synthesized at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. Wikipedia
• 1979 Adolph Dubs, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped by unknown agents and killed during a gun battle between Afghan police and the perpetrators. Wikipedia
• 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, a novel considered to be blasphemous by some Muslims. Wikipedia
• 1990 Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashed near Hindustan Airport during its approach to the airport, which resulted in 92 out of the 146 people on board being killed. Wikipedia
• 1990 The NASA space probe Voyager 1 took Pale Blue Dot, a photograph of Earth from a record distance of 40.5 astronomical units (6.06 billion km; 3.76 billion mi). Wikipedia
• 1992 Sri Temasek, the official residence of the prime minister of Singapore, was declared a national monument. Wikipedia
• 2005 The online video platform YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Wikipedia
• 2005 In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri's motorcade drives through the city. Wikipedia
• 2007 The first of several bombings in Zahedan, Iran, killed 18 members of the Revolutionary Guards. Wikipedia
• 2008 A gunman opened fire into a crowded lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, killing five people and injuring twenty-one others. Wikipedia
• 2011 Arab Spring: On the Day of Rage, Bahraini youths began an uprising against the government in 55 marches across 25 locations. Wikipedia
• 2018 An lone gunman shot and killed seventeen people and injured seventeen others in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Wikipedia

Born on February 14

• 1404 Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (died 1472) Wikipedia
• 1483 Babur, Mughal emperor (died 1530) Wikipedia
• 1869 Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959) Wikipedia
• 1882 John Barrymore, American actor (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1895 Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1898 Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1917 Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1942 Michael Bloomberg, American businessman and politician, 108th Mayor of New York City Wikipedia
• 1944 Alan Parker, English director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1945 Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein Wikipedia
• 1951 Kevin Keegan, English footballer and manager (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1952 Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1967 Mark Rutte, Dutch businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Wikipedia
• 1970 Simon Pegg, English actor, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1978 Danai Gurira, American-Zimbabwean actress Wikipedia
• 1983 Bacary Sagna, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer Wikipedia
• 1987 Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Ángel Di María, Argentinian footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Christian Eriksen, Danish footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Lucas Hernandez, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Breel Embolo, Swiss footballer Wikipedia

Died on February 14

• 269 Saint Valentine, Roman saint Wikipedia
• 869 Cyril, Greek missionary bishop and saint (born 827) Wikipedia
• 1400 Richard II, king of England (born 1367) Wikipedia
• 1779 James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (born 1728) Wikipedia
• 1891 William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1943 David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1975 P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (born 1881) Wikipedia
• 1975 Julian Huxley, English biologist and eugenicist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1987 Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2004 Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (born 1970) Wikipedia
• 2005 Rafic Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Lebanon (born 1944; assassinated) Wikipedia
• 2018 Morgan Tsvangirai, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (born 1952) Wikipedia
• 2018 Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician and diplomat, Prime Minister and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (born 1939) Wikipedia
• 2021 Carlos Menem, Argentine former president, lawyer, and statesman (born 1930) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eleuchadius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Manchan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Valentine (see also Valentine's Day) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vicente Vilar David Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Statehood Day (Arizona, United States) Wikipedia
• Statehood Day (Oregon, United States) Wikipedia
• Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Armenian Apostolic Church) Wikipedia
• Parents' Worship Day (parts of India) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 14” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 14” — 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 14” 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 14 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.