What Happened on February 8th in History
30 historical events on this date
Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
Sir Sandford Fleming was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he immigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime...
England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
The England men's cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed...
The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.
The Japanese in Hawaii are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii's population. They now number about 16.7% of the islands' population,...
The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.
The Dawes Act of 1887 regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the President of the United States to...
Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the period of Japanese history spanning 79 years, starting with the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868, and ending with...
The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's...
The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, is the largest Scouting organization and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including...
The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty in 27 states, throughout the country at the federal level, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses....
Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.
The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalist rebels. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic...
World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.
The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider...
World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.
Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was a Soviet fighter pilot known for his escape from a Nazi concentration camp on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea.
The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.
The People's Republic of Korea (Korean: 조선인민공화국) was a short-lived provisional government that was organized at the time of the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It was...
The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the Stasi, was the intelligence service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive police organisations...
Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the...
Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.
The massacre at the Charonne metro station of 8 February 1962 was an incident that took place around and in the Charonne metro station in Paris, during a demonstration against the Secret Armed...
The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
The prime minister of the Republic of Iraq is the foremost executive of the Iraqi government and the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The premier is responsible for the general policy...
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 was an American domestic passenger flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Atlanta, Georgia, with scheduled stopovers at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York;...
American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country,...
South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground...
The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.
Skylab 4 was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew aboard the first American space station.
A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.
The 1983 Melbourne dust storm was a meteorological phenomenon that occurred during the afternoon of 8 February 1983, throughout much of Victoria, Australia and affected the state capital,...
Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, making it one of the worst rail accidents in Canada.
Via Rail Canada Inc., operating as Via Rail, is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada.
Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board.
On 8 February 1989, Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707 on an American charter flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, struck Pico Alto while on approach to Santa Maria...
An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.
Iran Airtour is a privately owned Iranian airline that was launched in 1973. Its main base is Mashhad Airport.
Over 2 miles (3.2 km) of road are buried after a storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of avalanches, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 others.
The Hindu Kush is an 800-kilometre-long (500 mi) mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan...
A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
From February 8–10, 2013, a severe and powerful blizzard, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Nemo by The Weather Channel and other media, or more commonly the Blizzard of 2013, primarily...
A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.
The 2014 Medina hotel fire was a hotel fire that occurred in a hotel in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The fire killed at least 15 people and another 130 were injured.
A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.
Between 8 and 9 February 2020, a mass shooting occurred near and in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, colloquially known as Korat. A Sergeant Major of the Royal Thai Army killed 29 people and wounded 58...
Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving.
On February 8, 2023, bus driver Pierre Ny St-Amand deliberately crashed Société de transport de Laval (STL) bus into a daycare in Laval, Quebec, Canada, killing two children and injuring six others....