8 February in history
8 events that happened on 8 February, from 1238 to 1974.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1238 CE 788 years ago
Mongols sack Vladimir in north-eastern Rus
Batu Khan's army stormed and burned Vladimir, the capital of the leading Russian principality. The Mongol conquest brought the Russian lands under the Golden Horde for some two centuries.
1347 CE 679 years ago
The Byzantine civil war ends in a power-sharing agreement
The civil war fought over the guardianship of the young John V Palaiologos, between the regency of Anna of Savoy and John VI Kantakouzenos, ended in a power-sharing agreement. Kantakouzenos then reigned as emperor until 1354.
1587 CE 439 years ago
Mary, Queen of Scots is executed at Fotheringhay
After nineteen years in English captivity, Mary was beheaded for plotting against Elizabeth I. Her execution removed the Catholic claimant to the English throne and helped provoke the Spanish Armada.
1693 CE 333 years ago
Royal charter founds the College of William and Mary
William III and Mary II granted a charter for a college in Virginia, later sited at Williamsburg. It is the second-oldest college in the United States; Thomas Jefferson studied there.
1904 CE 122 years ago
Japan attacks the Russian fleet at Port Arthur
Japanese torpedo boats struck the Russian Pacific squadron at night, opening the Russo-Japanese War. Japan's victory in 1905 was the first by an Asian power over a European one in modern times.
1915 CE 111 years ago
'The Birth of a Nation' premieres in Los Angeles
D. W. Griffith's Civil War epic pioneered techniques of film storytelling but glorified the Ku Klux Klan. It drew protests from the NAACP and helped inspire the Klan's revival that year.
1974 CE 52 years ago
Skylab 4 crew return after 84 days in space
Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue splashed down after the longest crewed mission yet. Their experience of long-duration flight informed later space stations.
Born on 8 February 11
Died on 8 February 3
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.