On this day: February 8

Events on February 8

• 1238 The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. Wikipedia
• 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I. Wikipedia
• 1807 Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau. Wikipedia
• 1817 An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain. Wikipedia
• 1837 Richard Mentor Johnson became the only person ever to be elected Vice President of the United States by the Senate. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1879 Angered by a controversial umpiring decision, cricket spectators rioted and attacked the England team during a match in Sydney, Australia. Wikipedia
• 1879 England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney. Wikipedia
• 1887 The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments. Wikipedia
• 1904 Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war. Wikipedia
• 1924 The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada. Wikipedia
• 1937 Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japan invades Singapore. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1950 The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1960 The official groundbreaking of the Walk of Fame took place in Hollywood, Los Angeles, in California. Wikipedia
• 1965 Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board. Wikipedia
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 2014 A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured. Wikipedia

Born on February 8

• 120 Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (died ~175) Wikipedia
• 1405 Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (died 1453) Wikipedia
• 1700 Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1782) Wikipedia
• 1819 John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1820 William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1828 Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1905) Wikipedia
• 1834 Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1878 Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1880 Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1883 Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1897 Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1914 Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1925 Jack Lemmon, American actor (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1931 James Dean, American actor (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1932 John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor Wikipedia
• 1941 Nick Nolte, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1955 John Grisham, American lawyer and author Wikipedia
• 1959 Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina Wikipedia
• 1960 Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1966 Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1968 Gary Coleman, American actor (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1995 Joshua Kimmich, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on February 8

• 1265 Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (born 1217) Wikipedia
• 1676 Alexis of Russia (born 1629) Wikipedia
• 1725 Peter the Great, Russian emperor (born 1672) Wikipedia
• 1849 France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (born 1800) Wikipedia
• 1921 Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist (born 1842) Wikipedia
• 1936 Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1957 John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1957 Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1975 Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born1886) Wikipedia
• 1979 Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1998 Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1999 Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2007 Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (born 1967) Wikipedia
• 2017 Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (born 1933) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Cuthmann of Steyning Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elffled of Whitby Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elisabetta Martinez Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gerolamo Emiliani Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Josephine Bakhita Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Juventius of Pavia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mengold of Huy Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Stephen of Muret Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions; most celebrate on February 15) Wikipedia
• Prešeren Day (Slovenia) Wikipedia
• Propose Day (India) Wikipedia
• Military Foundation Day (North Korea) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 8” 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.