February 13Birthdays & History

On this day: February 13 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 962Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognising John as ruler of Rome.Europe
2. 1258Siege of Baghdad: Hulegu Khan, a prince of the Mongol Empire, orders his army to sack and plunder the city of Baghdad, which they had just captured.Middle EastAsia
3. 1322The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.Europe
4. 1352War of the Straits: The Battle of the Bosporus is fought in a stormy sea into the night between the Genoese, Venetian, Aragonese, and Byzantine fleets.Europe
5. 1462The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.Europe
6. 1503Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.Europe
7. 1542Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.Europe
8. 1633Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.Europe
9. 1642The Clergy Act becomes law, excluding bishops of the Church of England from serving in the House of Lords.Europe
10. 1660With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.Europe
11. 1689William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of England.Europe
12. 1692Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.Europe
13. 1726Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile brings an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.EuropeLatin America
14. 1755Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into two: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.Asia
15. 1820The Assassination of the Duke of Berry takes place in Paris. The Duke of Berry, nephew of Louis XVIII, is stabbed to death while attending the Paris Opera.Europe
16. 1849The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.Europe
17. 1861Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.Europe
18. 1867Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.Europe
19. 1880Thomas Edison observes thermionic emission.North America
20. 1913The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiates a period of almost four decades of independence.Asia
21. 1914Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.North America
22. 1920The Negro National League is formed.North America
23. 1931The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.EuropeAsia
24. 1935A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.North America
25. 1945World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.Europe
26. 1945World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.Europe
27. 1951Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.Asia
28. 1954Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.North America
29. 1955Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.Middle East
30. 1955Twenty-nine people are killed when Sabena Flight 503 crashes into Monte Terminillo near Rieti, Italy.Europe
31. 1960Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.North America
32. 1960With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.Europe
33. 1961An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.North America
34. 1967American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.North AmericaEurope
35. 1975Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.North America
36. 1978Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.Oceania
37. 1979An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.North America
38. 1981A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.North America
39. 1983A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.Europe
40. 1984Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.Europe
41. 1991Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.Middle East
42. 1996The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre).Asia
43. 2001A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 315.Latin America
44. 2004The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".North America
45. 2007Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.Asia
46. 2008Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.Oceania
47. 2010A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.Asia
48. 2011For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.North America
49. 2012The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.Europe
50. 2017Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.Asia
51. 2021A major winter storm causes blackouts and kills at least 82 people in Texas and northern Mexico.North AmericaLatin America
52. 2021Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial.North America

Source: Wikipedia "February 13" / CC BY-SA 4.0