February 2Birthdays & History

On this day: February 2 in history

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

1. 506Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of "Roman law".Europe
2. 880Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III of France is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.Europe
3. 962Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.Europe
4. 1032Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.Europe
5. 1141The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.Europe
6. 1207Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.Europe
7. 1347Byzantine Empress Anna convenes a synod to depose patriarch Joseph XIV in Constantinople. The same night, conspirators let in her rival John VI Kantakouzenos which ends the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347.EuropeMiddle East
8. 1428An intense earthquake struck the Principality of Catalonia, with the epicenter near Camprodon. Widespread destruction and heavy casualties were reported.Europe
9. 1438Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.Europe
10. 1461Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross results in the death of Owen Tudor.Europe
11. 1536Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.Latin America
12. 1645Wars of the Three Kingdoms: In Scotland, the Battle of Inverlochy results in a Royalist/Irish victory.Europe
13. 1653New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.EuropeNorth America
14. 1709Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.Latin America
15. 1725J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis.Europe
16. 1797The siege of Mantua ends after eight months when Count Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser surrenders the fortress of Mantua to Napoleon Bonaparte. The fall of Mantua secures French control over Northern Italy and marks the beginning of the conclusion of the Italian campaign of 1796-1797, and sets the stage for the end of the War of the First Coalition.Europe
17. 1814The last of the River Thames frost fairs comes to an end.Europe
18. 1848Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.Latin AmericaNorth America
19. 1850Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.North America
20. 1868Pro-Imperial forces capture Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burn it to the ground.Asia
21. 1870The Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.Europe
22. 1876The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.North America
23. 1881The sentences of the trial of the warlocks of Chiloé are imparted.Latin America
24. 1887In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.North America
25. 1899The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.Oceania
26. 1901Funeral of Queen Victoria.Europe
27. 1909The Paris Film Congress opens, an attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPPC cartel in the United States.EuropeNorth America
28. 1913Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.North America
29. 1920The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.Europe
30. 1922Ulysses by James Joyce is published.Europe
31. 1922The uprising called the "pork mutiny" starts in the region between Kuolajärvi and Savukoski in Finland.Europe
32. 1925Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.North America
33. 1934The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.North America
34. 1935Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.North America
35. 1942The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.Europe
36. 1943World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.Europe
37. 1954The Detroit Red Wings played in the first outdoor hockey game by any NHL team in an exhibition against the Marquette Branch Prison Pirates in Marquette, Michigan.North America
38. 1959Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.Europe
39. 1966Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.Asia
40. 1971The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.Middle East
41. 1971Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.Africa
42. 1980Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.North America
43. 1982Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.Middle East
44. 1987After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.Asia
45. 1989Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.EuropeAsia
46. 1990Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.AfricaNorth America
47. 1998Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into Mount Sumagaya in the Philippines, killing all 104 people on board.Asia
48. 2000First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.EuropeNorth America
49. 2004Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.Europe
50. 2005The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.North America
51. 2007Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.Europe
52. 2012The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146–165 dead.Oceania
53. 2021The Burmese military establishes the State Administration Council, the military junta, after deposing the democratically elected government in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.Asia
54. 2025Slovenian NBA player Luka Doncic is traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis in one of the largest trades in American sports history.North America

Source: Wikipedia "February 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0