1 February in history

10 events that happened on 1 February, from 1327 to 2003.

  1. 1327 CE 699 years ago

    Edward III crowned after his father's deposition

    Fourteen-year-old Edward III was crowned at Westminster Abbey after Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer forced Edward II from the throne. His later claim to the French crown began the Hundred Years' War.

  2. 1790 CE 236 years ago

    US Supreme Court gathers for its first session

    The Supreme Court convened at the Merchants' Exchange in New York, though too few justices had arrived to begin business until the next day. It heard no cases in its first year.

    New York

  3. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1793 CE 233 years ago

    Revolutionary France declares war on Britain and the Dutch Republic

    Days after executing Louis XVI, the National Convention declared war on Britain and the Netherlands. The conflict that followed lasted, with brief pauses, until Waterloo in 1815.

    Dutch Republic

  4. 1861 CE 165 years ago

    Texas votes to secede from the Union

    A Texas convention voted 166 to 8 for secession, a decision confirmed by referendum later that month. Governor Sam Houston refused to swear loyalty to the Confederacy and was removed from office.

  5. 1865 CE 161 years ago

    Lincoln signs the resolution for the Thirteenth Amendment

    Abraham Lincoln added his signature to the congressional resolution sending the amendment to abolish slavery to the states, though presidents play no formal role in amendments. Illinois ratified it that day.

  6. 1896 CE 130 years ago

    Puccini's 'La bohème' premieres in Turin

    Conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini at the Teatro Regio, Puccini's opera of struggling artists in Paris received a cool critical welcome. Audiences loved it, and it became one of the most performed operas.

    Paris

  7. 1920 CE 106 years ago

    Royal Canadian Mounted Police is formed

    The Royal North-West Mounted Police merged with the Dominion Police to form the RCMP, Canada's national police force. Its scarlet tunics became one of the country's best-known symbols.

    British EmpireDominionCanada

  8. 1946 CE 80 years ago

    Trygve Lie becomes the first UN Secretary-General

    The General Assembly appointed Norway's foreign minister Trygve Lie as the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. He served until 1952, resigning after Soviet opposition over the Korean War.

    United NationsNorway

  9. 1960 CE 66 years ago

    Greensboro sit-in begins at a Woolworth's lunch counter

    Four Black students sat at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and stayed after being refused service. Sit-ins spread across the South, and Woolworth's desegregated the counter that July.

  10. 2003 CE 23 years ago

    Space Shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry

    Columbia disintegrated over Texas minutes before landing, killing all seven astronauts. Hot gases had entered a wing damaged by foam at launch; shuttle flights were suspended for two and a half years.

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