On this day: February 8

Events on February 8

• 421 Honorius declared Constantius III to be his co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1238 The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. Wikipedia
• 1250 Seventh Crusade: The Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt defeated and captured King Louis IX of France at the Battle of Fariskur. Wikipedia
• 1575 William of Orange founded Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands. 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
• 1693 The William III and Mary II of England charter the College of William & Mary, establishing what is now the second-oldest university in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1807 Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau. 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 Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. Wikipedia
• 1904 Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war. Wikipedia
• 1910 William D. Boyce established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States. Wikipedia
• 1924 Gee Jon became the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japan invades Singapore. Wikipedia
• 1948 The closing ceremony of the first Olympics held after World War II was held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Wikipedia
• 1950 The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established. Wikipedia
• 1960 The official groundbreaking of the Walk of Fame took place in Hollywood, Los Angeles, in California. Wikipedia
• 1963 The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party. Wikipedia
• 1965 After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1968 Law enforcement officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina, fired into a crowd of college students who were protesting segregation, killing three and injuring twenty-seven others. 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
• 1979 Denis Sassou Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the Republic of the Congo after Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced from power. Wikipedia
• 1981 Rhodesian Bush War: Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army cadres in Gwelo attacked Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army troops, killing over 60 of them and starting the 1981 Entumbane uprising. Wikipedia
• 1983 The Irish-bred race horse Shergar was stolen by gunmen, who demanded a £2 million ransom. Wikipedia
• 2020 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. Wikipedia

Born on February 8

• 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
• 1903 Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1921 Lana Turner, American actress (died 1995) 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
• 1696 Ivan V of Russia (born 1666) 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
• 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
• 2025 Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia (born 1929) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 8” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 8” — 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 8” 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 8 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.