- 457 Leo I crowned Eastern Roman Emperor, 1st to be crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople
- 1074 Battle of Montesarchio: Prince of Benevento, Pandulf IV killed battling the encroaching Normans in southern Italy
- 1238 Mongolian forces led by General Batu capture and burn the important Russian city of Vladimir, after an eight-day siege
- 1522 Treaty of Brussels: Habsburgers split into Spanish and Austrian Branches
Papal Inauguration
1550 Giovanni Maria del Monte elected Pope Julius III
Appointment of Interest
1653 Nicolas Fouquet appointed France's Superintendent of Finances
Music History
1668 Dutch Prince William III dances in premiere of "Ballet of Peace"
Great Siege of Gibraltar
1783 Great Siege of Gibraltar launched by France and Spain against the British colony during American War of Independence is lifted after 3 years and 7 months
- 1792 Austria & Prussia sign anti-French covenant
- 1792 Domenico Cimarosa's opera "Il Matrimonio Segreto" premieres in Vienna
- 1795 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms power of states
- 1795 Dutch Prince William V accepts British occupation of Dutch Indies
- 1812 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri
Historic Event
1812 Poet Lord Byron (6th Baron Byron) makes his maiden speech in House of Lords
- 1817 Baltimore becomes the 1st American city lit by gas street lamps with the first turned on at Market and Lemon Streets (currently Baltimore and Holliday Streets)
- 1818 1st successful US educational magazine "Academician" begins (NYC)
- 1827 Ballet (Deserter) introduced to US at Bowery Theater (NYC)
- 1831 Belgium adopts its Constitution
Historic Publication
1836 "Sketches by Boz" (essays) published by Charles Dickens
Historic Event
1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president"
- 1842 Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien
2,000-year-old Glass Treasure Shattered by a Drunk
1845 The Portland Vase, thought to date to the 1st century BC is shattered into more than 80 pieces by a drunken visitor to the British Museum
- 1856 Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the 1st piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot
- 1857 French writer Gustave Flaubert is acquitted on a charge of obscenity for his work "Madame Bovary"
- 1862 Federal fleet attack on Roanoke Island NC
- 1863 HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189
- 1864 Federal troops occupy Jacksonville, Florida
- 1872 Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College opens
- 1876 US President Grant's private secretary Orville acquitted in Whiskey Ring
- 1877 1st Guernsey Cattle Club organizes (NYC)
- 1881 Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: Boers beat superior British forces
Boxing Title Fight
1882 Last bare knuckle champion John L. Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Miss
- 1883 Lt-colonel Borgnis-Desbordes founds Fort Bamako, Niger
- 1884 Canadian Rugby Football Union forms
- 1889 Astronomical Society of Pacific holds 1st meeting in San Francisco
- 1893 Vanderbilt University claims it participated in the first organised intercollegiate basketball game at the Nashville YMCA Gymnasium; Vanderbilt beats YMCA, 9-3
- 1894 The Cripple Creek miners' strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado
- 1900 British troops vacate Vaal Krantz, Natal
- 1903 VVV '03 soccer club is established in the Dutch southeastern city of Venlo
- 1904 Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks)
- 1905 Dominican Republic signs treaty turning over customs collection to US
- 1907 The Mud March, first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)
- 1907 Conservative coalition take over Reichstag in Germany after rallying conservatives against the threat of a socialist government
Sports History
1908 Philadelphia A's manager/owner Connie Mack sells future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell to St Louis Browns for $5,000
Sports History
1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts silent film character The Tramp in "Kid Auto Races at Venice"
- 1914 Steel work completed on Exposition (Civic) Auditorium, San Francisco
- 1915 1st wireless message sent from a moving train to a station received
- 1915 Second Battle of Masurian Lakes: German armies surrounded a Russian army
- 1920 Russian Imperial Navy Admiral Kolchak, leader of anti-communist "White Movement" executed by Bolshevik firing squad in Irkutsk, Russian SFSR
- 1922 John Willard's "Cat & the Canary" premieres in NYC
Historic Event
1924 Benito Mussolini's Italian government exchanges diplomats with USSR
- 1928 1st solo flight from England to Australia takes off from Croydon, piloted by Australian aviator Bert Hinkler (arrives 15 ½ days later)
- 1931 American opera "Peter Ibbetson" by Deems Taylor premieres at Metropolitan Opera, New York City
- 1933 Colonial troops in Suriname kill 2 demonstrators
- 1933 Social-Dem meeting in Berlin "As thousands cheer" Marxism is dead
- 1934 1st contract for TVA power, Tupelo, Miss
- 1936 A flag is authorized for US Vice President
- 1936 Felix the Cat, animated film released by Van Beuren Studios licensed from Otto Messmer
Film Premiere
1940 Walt Disney's second feature length movie, "Pinocchio" premieres (NYC)
Music History
1941 Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey orchestra record "Everything Happens to Me"
Music History
1944 Bing Crosby records "Swinging on a Star" for Decca Records (Academy Award Best Original Song)
- 1944 Germans launch counteroffensive at Anzio, Italy
Historic Event
1945 General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila
- 1945 Harry Truman appoints Irwin C Mollison judge of US Customs Court
- 1945 US 76th/5th Infantry divisions begin crossing Sauer
- 1945 London, Washington and Moscow discuss final phase of World War II
- 1946 Filibuster in US Senate kills FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) bill
- 1947 The UK announces its intention to end the Mandate for Palestine
- 1948 "Cradle Will Rock" closes at Mansfield Theater NYC after 34 performances
Historic Event
1948 Omar Bradley succeeds Dwight Eisenhower as US Army Chief of Staff
- 1948 After winning Lake Placid (1932) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936) Olympic ski jumping gold medals, Birger Ruud comes out of retirement to win silver in St. Moritz in a Norwegian medal sweep
Sports History
1949 Joe DiMaggio becomes 1st $100,000 a year baseball player for the New York Yankees
Historic Event
1959 Fidel Castro proclaims new Cuban constitution
Film & TV History
1961 Jane Fonda made her acting debut in the NBC drama "A String of Beads"
- 1962 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298
Music History
1965 George Harrison's tonsils removed
- 1965 Operations begin at Grupo Folklorico Antiyano on Curacao
- 1965 US begins regular bombing & strafing of N Vietnam
- 1965 WVIZ TV channel 25 in Cleveland, Ohio (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1966 KWCM TV channel 10 in Appleton, MN (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1967 A fire at a restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama kills 25 people.
Theater Premiere
1968 Arthur Miller's play "Price" premieres in NYC
Historic Event
1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat becomes president of PLO
- 1969 Diane Crump becomes 1st woman jockey at a major US racetrack (Hialeah)
- 1969 The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is removed from service
- 1969 British rock band The Who record their song "Pinball Wizard" at Morgan Studio's, London
- 1970 "Hollywood Palace" last airs on ABC TV
- 1970 "Jingle Jangle" hits #10 on the pop singles chart by Archies
- 1970 LSU's "Pistol" Pete Marovich scores 69 pts in losing cause
- 1970 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
- 1970 US male Figure Skating championship won by Tim Wood
- 1971 Switzerland votes for national women's suffrage in a referendum
Olympic Gold
1972 Dutch Olympic 1,500m and 5,000m speed skating champion Ard Schenk wins his 3rd gold medal at the Sapporo Winter Games when he takes out the 10,000m
Album Release
1973 The Stooges release their 3rd album "Raw Power"
- 1974 Grenada gains independence from Britain (National Day)
Film Release
1974 Mel Brooks' film "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder
Election of Interest
1974 UK Prime Minister Edward Heath calls for a 'snap' general election in the midst of a protracted miners' strike
- 1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army claim responsibility for the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, daughter of Randolph Hearst
NHL Record
1976 Toronto center Darryl Sittler sets NHL record with 10 points in a Maple Leafs' 11-4 win over Boston at Maple Leaf Gardens; 6 goals, 4 assists
- 1976 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WCPR (Brooklyn New York)
- 1976 Larry Groce's "Junk Food Junkie" peaks at #9
- 1976 World's largest telescope (600 cm) begins operation (USSR)
- 1977 Soyuz 24 launches with 2 cosmonauts
- 1978 Ethiopian offensive in Ogaden desert
- 1979 "Supertrain", TV Anthology, Superbomb of 1979, debuts on NBC
- 1979 Colonel Benjedid Chadli succeeds president Boumedienne in Algeria
- 1979 Faoud Bacchus scores 250 for WI v India at Kanpur
Music Concert
1980 Pink Floyd premiere their live version of "The Wall" at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California
- 1982 Luis A Monge elected President of Costa Rica
- 1983 1st female secretary of transportation sworn-in (Elizabeth Dole)
- 1983 "José Cuervo" single released by Shelly West (Billboard Song of the Year 1983)
- 1984 American astronaut Bruce McCandless makes 1st untethered space walk
- 1984 David (born without immunity system) touches his mother for 1st time at age 12
Music History
1984 Michael Jackson awarded a 4-ft-high platinum disc by CBS
Historic Event
1986 Haiti's President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier flees to France: Henri Namphy becomes leader of Haiti
Election of Interest
1986 Corazon Aquino defeats incumbent Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the election to Marcos
Sports History
1987 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
- 1987 Police in South Korea make hundreds of arrests during protest demonstrations, the country's biggest for 6 years, after a student died in custody
NBA All-Star Game
1988 38th NBA All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: East beats West, 138-133; MVP: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, F
- 1988 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 15-6; MVP: Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills, DE
NHL All-Star Game
1989 40th NHL All-Star Game, Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton: Campbell Conference beats Wales Conference, 9-5; MVP: Wayne Gretzky, LA Kings, C
Sports History
1989 Tennis superstar Björn Borg apparently attempts suicide in Milan
- 1990 Karachi police kill 22 anti-nationalistic demonstrators
- 1990 USSR Communist party agrees to allow opposition political parties
- 1990 Lisa Leslie of Morningside HS in Inglewood California scores 101 in 1st half, South Torrance HS decides not to play 2nd half & loses 102-24
- 1991 Jean-Bertrand Aristide sworn in as Haiti's 1st elected president
Hall of Fame
1991 Bob Knight, Larry O'Brien, Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens, Harry Gallatin & Larry Fleisher elected to NBA Hall of Fame
- 1991 The IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
Sports History
1992 Mike Tyson testifies in his rape trial
Album Release
1993 Carmen Electra releases her self-titled debut album, "Carmen Electra"
Music Awards
1994 21st American Music Awards: Whitney Houston wins
Film & TV History
1994 Howard Stern stops a would-be jumper on the George Washington Bridge
- 1994 American actor and singer Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle, USMC) undergoes a liver transplant
Sports History
1995 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting
Album Release
1995 Bluegrass and country musician Alison Krauss releases her compilation album "Now that I've Found You"
Album Release
1995 "The Woman in Me" second studio album by Shania Twain is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1996)
- 1997 US & Russia announce summit set for Helsinki, March 20-21
- 1998 XVIII Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan
- 1998 NHL's Dallas Stars retire Neal Broten's #7
- 1999 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 23-10; Keyshawn Johnson, NY Jets, QB; Ty Law, New England Patriots, CB
- 1999 Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
- 2000 Bahria University is established through Presidential Ordinance No. V of 2000 by the Government of Pakistan.
- 2001 51st Berlin International Film Festival: "Intimacy" wins the Golden Bear
- 2005 Britain's Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world taking 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds
Film & TV History
2006 Uma Thurman is named a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France for outstanding achievement in the field of art and literature
Super Bowl
2010 Super Bowl XLIV, Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Miami, FL; New Orleans Saints beat Indianapolis Colts, 31-17; MVP: Drew Brees, New Orleans, QB
Laureus Awards
2011 Laureus World Sports Awards, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Sportsman: Rafael Nadal; Sportswoman: Lindsey Vonn; Team: Spanish Men's National Football team
- 2013 Eugène Delacroix's painting "Liberty Leading the People" is vandalized at the Louvre-Lens museum, Northern France
- 2013 Azerbaijan launches its first satellite, Azerspace-1
- 2013 63rd Berlin International Film Festival: "Child's Pose" wins the Golden Bear
- 2014 German treasurer Helmut Linssen resigns amid a scandal involving offshore banking accounts in the Bahamas and Panama
- 2014 XXII Winter Olympic Games open in Sochi, Russia
- 2016 Super Bowl L, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA: Denver Broncos beat Carolina Panthers, 24–10; MVP: Von Miller, Denver, LB
- 2018 Armed groups release 300 child soldiers from Yambio, South Sudan according to UN
- 2018 "The Los Angeles Times" is bought by LA doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong from Tronc for $500 million
Historic Event
2018 Missing Nigerian painting masterpiece of Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi by Ben Enwonwu announced rediscovered in London
- 2018 DNA analysis of Chedder Man, UK's oldest complete skeleton shows he had dark skin and blue eyes
- 2018 White House aide Rob Porter resigns in wake of physical abuse allegations by ex-wives
- 2018 All citrus fruit can be traced to the southeast foothills of the Himalayas, according to DNA study published in "Nature"
- 2018 Angel Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party reaches a coalition deal with Social Democrats after four months
- 2019 Measles cases in Europe highest in a decade, tripling in a year to 82,596 according to WHO
- 2019 New kangaroo fossil research published from Riversleigh, Australia, show Kangaroos learned to hop 20 million years ago, much earlier than first thought
