On this day: February 22

Events on February 22

• 1495 King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne. Wikipedia
• 1632 Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Wikipedia
• 1847 Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops. Wikipedia
• 1856 The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. Wikipedia
• 1872 The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee. Wikipedia
• 1889 President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states. Wikipedia
• 1904 The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany. Wikipedia
• 1958 Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic. Wikipedia
• 1973 Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices. Wikipedia
• 1974 The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh. Wikipedia
• 1974 Samuel Byck attempted to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate U.S. president Richard Nixon, but he was stopped by police. Wikipedia
• 1974 Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but commits suicide after being wounded by police. Wikipedia
• 1979 Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1980 Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3. Wikipedia
• 1986 Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 2002 Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush. Wikipedia
• 2005 The 6.4 Mw Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured. Wikipedia
• 2006 At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war. Wikipedia
• 2011 Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people marched in protest in Manama against the deaths of seven people killed by police and army forces during previous protests. Wikipedia
• 2012 A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others. Wikipedia
• 2014 President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion. Wikipedia
• 2018 A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt. Wikipedia
• 2019 A group broke into the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain, and stole several mobile telephones and digital storage devices. Wikipedia

Born on February 22

• 1403 Charles VII of France (died 1461) Wikipedia
• 1514 Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (died 1576) Wikipedia
• 1732 George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (died 1799) Wikipedia
• 1788 Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (died 1860) Wikipedia
• 1840 August Bebel, German theorist and politician (died 1913) Wikipedia
• 1857 Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1857 Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1864 Jules Renard, French author and playwright (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1892 Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1900 Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1914 Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1921 Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1932 Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1936 J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1943 Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1944 Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1949 Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1962 Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1974 James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1975 Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1984 Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer Wikipedia
• 1987 Sergio Romero, Argentine footballer Wikipedia

Died on February 22

• 606 Sabinian, Pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 970 García I, King of Pamplona Wikipedia
• 1371 David II, King of Scotland (born 1324) Wikipedia
• 1512 Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (born 1454) Wikipedia
• 1770 Christopher Seider, first American killed in the American Revolution (born 1758) Wikipedia
• 1875 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (born 1796) Wikipedia
• 1875 Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1913 Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1913 Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1939 Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1942 Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (born 1881) Wikipedia
• 1943 Sophie Scholl, German activist (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 1958 Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1987 Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance: Founder's Day or "B.-P. day" (World Organization of the Scout Movement) Wikipedia
• Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance: World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Baradates Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Émilie d'Oultremont Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Margaret of Cortona Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Papias of Hierapolis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Crime Victims Day (Europe) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979. Wikipedia
• Founding Day (Saudi Arabia) Wikipedia
• Washington's Birthday, federal holiday in the United States. A holiday on February 22 as well as the third Monday in February. Wikipedia
• National Cat Day (Japan) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 22” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.