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February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 320 days remaining, 321 in leap years.

Events

• 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in French and German language.
• 1014 - Pope Boniface I recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.
• 1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
• 1575 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont.
• 1743 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1779 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands.
• 1797 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent & Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson led the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar.
• 1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void.
• 1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
• 1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills dejjazmatch Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
• 1843- The event that inspired the song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! is held.
• 1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
• 1854 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed.
• 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
• 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone,as does Elisha Gray.
• 1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
• 1886 - First trainload of oranges left Los Angeles via the transcontinental railroad.
• 1895 - First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest at the St James's Theatre in London).
• 1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
• 1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
• 1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
• 1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Labor).
• 1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
• 1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
• 1918 - Tarzan of the Apes, the first movie featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan character, is released.
• 1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar).
• 1919 - The Polish-Soviet War begins.
• 1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1924 - The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is founded.
• 1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangster rivals of Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1943 - World War II:Rostov, Russia is liberated.
• 1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.
• 1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
• 1945 - On the second day of the Bombing of Dresden in World War II the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.
• 1945 - Bombing of Prague - probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.
• 1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
• 1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship.
• 1945 - Fascism was destroyed in City of Mostar,Bosnia and Herzegovina(then:Yugoslavia) thanks to partisans(Dalmatinaska birgada,Hercegovacka divizija).
• 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.
• 1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.
• 1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
• 1949 - The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
• 1952 - VI Olympic Winter Games open in Oslo, Norway.
• 1956 - The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union starts in Moscow. In the last night of the meeting, in a secret session, Premier Nikita Khruschev condemns Josef Stalin's crimes.
• 1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
• 1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
• 1966 - Australian currency is decimalised.
• 1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
• 1980 - XIII Olympic Winter Games open in Lake Placid, New York.
• 1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from the CBS Evening News.
• 1981 - Stardust Disaster. A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people
• 1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
• 1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.
• 1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
• 1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.

• 1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
• 2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
• 2002 - The Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.
• 2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
• 2005 - Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the Cedar Revolution (Intifada of Independence).
• 2005 - Seven people were killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.

Births

• 1404 - Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)
• 1483 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, Moghul emperor of India (d. 1530)
• 1602 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
• 1680 - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)
• 1692 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)
• 1701 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)
• 1763 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
• 1766 - Thomas Malthus, English economist (d. 1834)
• 1812 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)
• 1817 - Frederick Douglas adopted as his birthday (d. 1895)
• 1819 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico (d. 1880)
• 1828 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (d. )
• 1846 - Julian Scott, American Civil War artist and Civil War Medal of Honor recipient.
• 1847 - Anna Howard Shaw, American women's suffrage leader (d. 1919)
• 1848 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
• 1856 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
• 1869 - Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
• 1884 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
• 1890 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
• 1892 - Radola Gajda, Czech military commander (d. 1948)
• 1894 - Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
• 1895 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
• 1898 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
• 1903 - Stu Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
• 1905 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)
• 1912 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)
• 1913 - Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)
• 1913 - Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)
• 1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (disappeared 1975)
• 1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director (d. 1996)
• 1916 - Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 1921 - Hugh Downs, American television host
• 1927 - Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress
• 1929 - Vic Morrow, actor (d. 1982)
• 1931 - Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian hockey player (d. 2006)
• 1931 - Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1932 - Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director
• 1933 - Madhubala, Indian actress (d. 1969)
• 1934 - Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor
• 1934 - Florence Henderson, American actress
• 1936 - Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer
• 1936 - Andrew Prine, American actor
• 1941 - Donna Shalala, American politician, educator
• 1941 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator (d. 1997)
• 1942 - Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
• 1942 - Andrew Robinson, actor
• 1943 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
• 1944 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist
• 1944 - Alan Parker, British film director and writer
• 1945 - Frank Welker, American actor
• 1946 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
• 1946 - Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)
• 1948 - Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host
• 1948 - Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)
• 1951 - Kevin Keegan, Liverpool Footballer
• 1951 - JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater. Married Terry Bradshaw.
• 1959 - Renee Fleming, Canadian soprano
• 1960 - Jim Kelly, American football player
• 1960 - Meg Tilly, Canadian actress
• 1962 - Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist (d. 2002)
• 1962 - Philippe Sella, French rugby player
• 1963 - Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor
• 1963 - Zach Galligan, American actor
• 1967 - Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
• 1967 - Stelios Haji-Ioannou, British entrepreneur
• 1968 - Jules Asner, American model and television personality
• 1970 - Simon Pegg, British comedian, writer, and actor
• 1971 - Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer
• 1972 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player
• 1972 - Hiroshi, Japanese comedian
• 1972 - Rob Thomas, American musician (matchbox twenty)
• 1973 - Steve McNair, American football player
• 1978 - Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
• 1979 - Antonio Chatman, American football player
• 1980 - Fatima Leyva, Mexican footballer
• 1985 - Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer
• 1992 - Freddie Highmore, British actor
• 1993 - Me!, just for being me
• 1994 - Paul Butcher Jr., American actor

Deaths

• 1317 - Marguerite of France, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1282)
• 1400 - King Richard II of England (murdered) (b. 1367)
• 1405 - Timur, Mongol conqueror (b. 1336)
• 1523 - Pope Adrian VI
• 1676 - Abraham Bosse, French engraver and artist
• 1737 - Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
• 1744 - John Hadley, inventor (b. 1682)
• 1779 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)
• 1780 - William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)
• 1808 - John Dickinson, American lawyer and Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (b. 1732)
• 1831 - Vicente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)
• 1831 - Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)
• 1885 - Jules Vallès, French writer (b. 1832)
• 1891 - William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War General (b. 1820)
• 1894 - Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (b. 1814)
• 1929 - Tom Burke, American runner (b. 1875)
• 1943 - Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer, and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)
• 1943 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
• 1949 - Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi communist leader
• 1958 - Abdul Rab Nishtar, veteran leader of Pakistan Movement, (b. 1899)
• 1959 - Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)
• 1969 - Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)
• 1970 - Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b. 1880).
• 1974 - Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1903)
• 1975 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
• 1975 - P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
• 1979 - Adolph Dubs, American diplomat (b. 1920)
• 1983 - Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
• 1987 - Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)
• 1988 - Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901)
• 1989 - James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
• 1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)
• 1994 - Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (b. 1923)
• 1995 - U Nu, Burmese politician (b. 1907)
• 1999 - John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)
• 2002 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
• 2003 - Dolly the sheep, first cloned mammal (b. 1996)
• 2003 - Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)
• 2004 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
• 2005 - Najai Turpin, American boxer
• 2005 - Rafik Hariri, Lebanese politician and billionaire businessman (b. 1944)
• 2006 - Shoshana Damari, the "Queen of Israeli song" (b. 1923)
• 2006 - Lynden David Hall, British singer (b.1974)
• 2006 - Jackie Pallo, Famous British wrestler
• 2006 - Darry Cowl, French musician and actor (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

• Denmark - Fastelavn. Children dress up, much like Halloween in the US.
• Mexico - Day of National Mourning (1831).
• Arizona - Admission Day (1912).
• Oregon - Admission Day (1859).
• Western World - Valentine's Day.
• Iraq - 'Communist Martyrs Day' celebrated by Iraqi Communist Party.

Liturgical feasts

• Europe/Catholicism - Feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe.
• Saint Abraham (d. 422)
• Saint Valentine (d. 422).

External links

• On this day in Canada
• NY Times: On this day
• BBC: On This Day

February 13 - February 15 - January 14 - March 14 -- historical anniversaries