Seven members of Parliament in the United Kingdom resigned from the Labour Party to form a new political party called The Independent Group.
A series of violent events (pictured) involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters began in Kyiv that culminated in the ousting of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych five days later.
Eight gunmen stole US$50,000,000 worth of diamonds from a Swiss-bound aircraft at Brussels Airport.
In a coup d'état, military rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.
WikiLeaks published the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by Chelsea Manning.
American FBI agent Robert Hanssen (pictured) was arrested for having spied for the KGB and GRU over a 22-year period.
Inter-ethnic violence between the Dayak and the Madurese broke out in Sampit, Indonesia, ultimately causing more than 500 deaths and the displacement of 100,000 Madurese from their homes.
NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first test flight on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (both pictured).
The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited the wreaths of late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel.
President Harry S. Truman signed the Rescission Act, annulling benefits payable to Filipino troops who fought for the U.S. during World War II.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, delivered a speech calling for a "total war" to motivate the German people as the tide of World War II turned against Germany.
The core members of the White Rose, an anti-Nazi resistance group, were arrested by the Gestapo.
Competition between two American merchants in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, turned into a range war when a member of one faction was murdered by the other.
Vasil Levski, a national hero of Bulgaria, was executed in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities for his efforts to establish an independent Bulgarian republic.
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumed the title King of Italy.
War of the Sixth Coalition: French troops led by Napoleon forced the Army of Bohemia to retreat after it advanced dangerously close to Paris.
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: A British expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa landed in Elmina in present-day Ghana.
Enslaved Malagasy captives on the Dutch East India Company slave ship Meermin began a mutiny that led to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepted an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of forty-four vessels escorted by six men-of-war, destroying or capturing twenty ships.
The Battle of Wesenberg took place between Novgorodian and Pskovian forces against the Livonian Order and its allies, ending with Russian forces retreating from Danish Estonia.
According to Hindu scriptures, Kali Yuga, the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, began.
Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Dena sub-range in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Resulting in 66 Deaths
At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.
Up to 295 people, 182 of which being rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran, when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
192 people die when an arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea.
FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.
The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited memorial wreaths of the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel. It remains the deadliest fireworks accident in the world.
A thousand armed soldiers raid Kalakuta Republic, the commune of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, leading to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.
First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.
Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
World War II: American and Brazilian troops kick off Operation Encore in Northern Italy, a successful limited action in the Northern Apennines that prepares for the western portion of the Allied Spring offensive.
World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
Second Sino-Japanese War: During the Nanking Massacre, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee", and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.
The Empire of Japan creates the independent state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) free from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
U-boat Campaign: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland.
The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
Édouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.
Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
The ballad opera called Flora, or Hob in the Well went down in history as the first opera of any kind to be produced in North America (Charleston, S.C.)
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
The Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov.
The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism, starts with the death of Krishna.
Manu Bhaker, Indian sports shooter
Tanguy Coulibaly, French footballer
Jaime Jaquez Jr., American basketball player
Zakaria Aboukhlal, Moroccan footballer
Giacomo Raspadori, Italian footballer
Vernon, South Korean and American rapper, singer and songwriter
DK, South Korean singer
Tyler Dorsey, American-Greek basketball player
Nathan Aké, Dutch footballer
J-Hope, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, and record producer
Paul Zipser, German basketball player
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, American basketball player
Le'Veon Bell, American football player
Martin Marinčin, Slovak ice hockey player
Logan Miller, American actor
Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
Monica Aksamit, American saber fencer
Didi Gregorius, Dutch baseball player
Cody Hodgson, Canadian ice hockey player
Bryan Oviedo, Costa Rican footballer
Sonja Vasić, Serbian basketball player
Roman Neustädter, German-Russian footballer
Sarah Sutherland, American actress
Maiara Walsh, American-Brazilian actress
Kyle Weaver, American basketball player
Carlos Kameni, Cameroonian footballer
Kara Braxton, American basketball player
Jermaine Jenas, English footballer
Jason Maxiell, American basketball player
Christian Tiffert, German footballer
Andrei Kirilenko, Russian-American basketball player
Alex Ríos, American baseball player
Nik Antropov, Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player
Regina Spektor, Russian-American musician and songwriter
Ike Barinholtz, American actor and comedian
Kristoffer Polaha, American actor
Gary Neville, English footballer
Carrie Ann Baade, American painter and academic
Radek Černý, Czech footballer
Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmentalist and author
Jillian Michaels, American personal trainer and television personality
Thomas Bjørn, Danish golfer
Alexander Mogilny, Russian ice hockey player
Molly Ringwald, American actress
Tommy Tallarico, American video game music composer
Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
Colin Jackson, Welsh sprinter and hurdler
Phillip DeFreitas, Dominican-English cricketer
Ryan Routh, American suspected assassin
Dr. Dre, American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur
Matt Dillon, American actor
Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player
Greta Scacchi, Italian-Australian actress
Jayne Atkinson, English-American actress
Marita Koch, German sprinter
Vanna White, American television personality
Lisa See, American writer and novelist
John Travolta, American actor, singer and producer
Randy Crawford, American jazz and R&B singer
Maurice Lucas, American basketball player (died 2010)
Juice Newton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Queen Komal of Nepal
Isabel Preysler, Filipino-Spanish journalist
Nana Amba Eyiaba I, Ghanaian queen mother and advocate
John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2009)
Cybill Shepherd, American actress
Dennis DeYoung, American musician, singer, and songwriter
Michael Buerk, English journalist
Jess Walton, American actress
Elizabeth Nunez, American novelist (died 2024)
Irma Thomas, American singer-songwriter
Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999)
Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist and academic (died 1996)
Jean M. Auel, American author
Audre Lorde, American writer and activist (died 1992)
Yoko Ono, Japanese-American multimedia artist and musician
Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (died 2009)
Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (died 1975)
Miloš Forman, Czech-American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2018)
Johnny Hart, American cartoonist, co-created The Wizard of Id (died 2007)
Toni Morrison, American novelist and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019).
Len Deighton, English historian and author
André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (died 1968)
Fazal Mahmood, Pakistani cricketer (died 2005)
Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (died 1976)
George Kennedy, American actor (died 2016)
Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (died 1997)
Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (died 2012)
Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (died 1995)
Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (died 1998)
Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer (died 2013)
Rolande Falcinelli, French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue (died 2006)
Jack Palance, American boxer and actor (died 2006)
Phyllis Calvert, English actress (died 2002)
Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (died 1978)
Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (died 2000)
Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 1993)
Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and academic (died 1980)
Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (died 1983)
Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (died 1985)
Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet and politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (died 1980)
Li Linsi, Chinese educator and diplomat (died 1970)
Maksim Haretski, Belarusian prose writer, journalist and activist (died 1938)
Wendell Willkie, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1944)
Edward Arnold, American actor (died 1956)
Adolphe Menjou, American actor (died 1963)
Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (died 1954)
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (died 1957)
Harry Brearley, English inventor (died 1948)
William Laurel Harris, American painter and author (died 1924)
Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer (died 1950)
Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (died 1939)
Anders Zorn, Swedish artist (died 1920)
Jean Jules Jusserand, French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States (died 1932)
George Henschel, German-English singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (died 1934)
Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician (died 1906)
Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (died 1933)
Wilson Barrett, English actor, playwright, and manager (died 1904)
Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1916)
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Indian mystic and yogi (died 1886)
John O'Shanassy, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (died 1883)
Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński, Polish collector and art connoisseur who donated a large collection to the National Museum in Kraków (died 1889)
Lewis Armistead, American general (died 1863)
Samuel Fenton Cary, American lawyer and politician (died 1900)
Emanuel Granberg, Finnish church painter (died 1797)
Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, invented the battery (died 1827)
Johann Christian Kittel, German organist and composer (died 1809)
Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French philosopher and author (died 1743)
Marie Champmeslé, French actress (died 1698)
Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (died 1692)
Francesco Redi, Italian physician (died 1697)
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1674)
Per Brahe the Younger, Swedish soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (died 1680)
Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (died 1660)
Henry Vane the Elder, English politician (died 1655)
Maarten Gerritsz Vries, Dutch explorer (died 1646)
Isaac Casaubon, Swiss philologist and scholar (died 1614)
Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (died 1621)
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (died 1608)
Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese daimyō (died 1578)
Mary I of England (died 1558)
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Indian monk and saint (died 1534)
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (died 1448)
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (died 1274)
Gene Hackman, award-winning American actor (born 1930)
Gerald Ridsdale, Australian laicised Catholic priest and sex offender (born 1934)
Hurricane, American secret service canine (born 2009)
Flavio Bucci, Italian actor and voice actor (born 1947)
Alessandro Mendini, Italian designer and architect (born 1931)
Elchanan Heilprin, Czechoslovakian-born English rabbi (born 1920 or 1922)
Mavis Gallant, Canadian-French author and playwright (born 1922)
Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (born 1914)
Balthus, Polish-Swiss painter and illustrator (born 1908)
Dale Earnhardt, American racer and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (born 1951)
Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author (born 1895)
Jack Northrop, American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (born 1895)
Andy Devine, American actor (born 1905)
Dragiša Cvetković, Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (born 1893)
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (born 1904)
Grigory Nelyubov, Soviet pilot and military officer (born 1934)
Gertrude Vanderbilt, American stage actress (born c. 1885)
Gustave Charpentier, French composer (born 1860)
David King Udall, American missionary and politician (born 1851)
James J. Corbett, American boxer and actor (born 1866)
Frank James, American soldier and criminal (born 1843)
Lucy Stanton, American activist (born 1831)
Charles Lewis Tiffany, American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (born 1812)
Serranus Clinton Hastings, American lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Justice of California (born 1814)
Nikolay Zinin, Russian organic chemist (born 1812)
Vasil Levski, Bulgarian activist, founded the Internal Revolutionary Organization (born 1837)
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician and academic (born 1804)
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet and educator (born 1719)
John Whitehurst, English geologist and clockmaker (born 1713)
Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (born 1714)
Joseph Marie Terray, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (born 1715)
Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician (born 1712)
Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (born 1677)
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, Italian noble (born 1667)
Louis, Dauphin of France, (born 1682)
William Phips, governor of Massachusetts (born 1650)
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (born 1620)
John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck, English courtier (born c. 1591)
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French author (born 1594)
Michelangelo, Italian sculptor and painter (born 1475)
Martin Luther, German priest and theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation (born 1483)
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German magician, astrologer, and theologian (born 1486)
Hedwig Jagiellon, duchess of Bavaria (born 1457)
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, English nobleman (born 1449)
Fra Angelico, Italian priest and painter (born 1395)
Enguerrand VII, French nobleman (born 1340)
Albert II, duke of Mecklenburg (born 1318)
Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor (born 1215)
Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, Norman nobleman
Berthold V, duke of Zähringen (born 1160)
Yaropolk II, Grand Prince of Kiev (born 1082)
Gregory V, pope of the Catholic Church (born 972)
Thābit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and physician (born 826)
Angilbert, Frankish monk and diplomat (born 760)
Colmán, bishop of Lindisfarne
Christian feast day: Bernadette Soubirous (France)
Christian feast day: Colmán of Lindisfarne
Christian feast day: Flavian of Constantinople
Christian feast day: Geltrude Comensoli
Christian feast day: Simeon of Jerusalem (Western Christianity)
Christian feast day: February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Dialect Day (Amami Islands, Japan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Gambia from the United Kingdom in 1965
Kurdish Students Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
National Democracy Day, celebrates the 1951 overthrow of the Rana dynasty (Nepal)