What happened today in history
February
What happened on February 3
On February 3 history recorded 53 notable events. 160 people who left a mark were born on this day, and 92 died. Here is the full almanac.
- 53events
- 160births
- 92deaths
- 20observances
Highlights
Highlights
1047Emperor Henry III declared Drogo of Hauteville to be count of all Apulian and Calabrian Normans.
Henry III, called Heinrich the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.
1266Mudéjar revolt: King James I of Aragon entered the formerly Muslim-held city of Murcia following its surrender three days earlier.
The Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 was a rebellion by the Muslim populations (Mudéjares) in the Lower Andalusia and Murcia regions of the Crown of Castile. The rebellion was in response to Castile's policy of relocating Muslim populations from these regions and w
1813Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment defeated Spanish royalist forces in the Battle of San Lorenzo (depicted).
The Argentine War of Independence was a set of military events from 1810 to 1825 which resulted in the consolidation of Argentina as an independent country from Spanish rule. The historiographical term encompasses battles and military feats such as the Crossin
February 3
On this day
XI century
- 1047
1047Drogo of Hauteville is elected as count of the Apulian Normans during the Norman conquest of Southern Italy.
XII century
XV century
XVI century
- 1509
1509The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India. - 1583
1583Battle of São Vicente takes place off Portuguese Brazil where three English warships led by navigator Edward Fenton fight off three Spanish galleons sinking one in the process.
XVII century
XVIII century
- 1706
1706During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment. - 1716
1716The 1716 Algiers earthquake sequence began with an Mw 7.0 mainshock that caused severe damage and killed 20,000 in Algeria. - 1781
1781American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius. - 1783
1783Spain–United States relations are first established. - 1787
1787Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
XIX century
- 1807
1807A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay. - 1809
1809The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress. - 1813
1813José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence. - 1830
1830The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence. - 1862
1862Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities. - 1870
1870The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
XX century
- 1913
1913The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax. - 1916
1916The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives. - 1917
1917World War I: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare. - 1918
1918The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,630 meters) long. - 1927
1927A revolt against the military dictatorship of Portugal breaks out at Porto. - 1930
1930The Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a "Unification Conference" held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong. - 1931
1931The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258. - 1933
1933Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Nazi foreign policy. - 1943
1943The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive. - 1944
1944World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison. - 1945
1945World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000. - 1945
1945World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan. - 1953
1953The Batepá massacre occurs in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleash a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros. - 1958
1958Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community. - 1959
1959Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died. - 1959
1959Sixty-five people are killed when American Airlines Flight 320 crashes into the East River on approach to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. - 1960
1960British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation. - 1961
1961The United States Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post. - 1966
1966The Soviet Union's Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon. - 1971
1971New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption. - 1972
1972The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history. - 1984
1984Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth. - 1984
1984Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger. - 1989
1989After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months. - 1989
1989A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954. - 1994
1994Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle. - 1995
1995Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. - 1998
1998Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
XXI century
- 2005
2005One hundred five people are killed when Kam Air Flight 904 crashes in the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan. - 2007
2007A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339. - 2014
2014A school shooting in Moscow, Russia leaves two people dead and one wounded. - 2023
2023Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River. - 2026
2026Islamist militants massacred at least 162 while injuring and kidnapping dozens in two villages in Kwara State, Nigeria.
Best known
Born on February 3
1721Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz
Prussian cavalry general
1736Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
Austrian composer
1747Samuel Osgood
American politician
1763Caroline von Wolzogen
German writer of Weimar Classicism
1777John Cheyne (physician)
British physician, surgeon and author
1780Mihail G. Boiagi
Aromanian grammarian and professor
Best known
Died on February 3
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day: Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Christian feast day: Ansgar
- Christian feast day: Berlinda of Meerbeke
- Christian feast day: Blaise
- Christian feast day: Celsa and Nona
- Christian feast day: Claudine Thévenet
- Christian feast day: Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
- Christian feast day: Hadelin
- Christian feast day: Margaret of England
- Christian feast day: Werburgh
- Christian feast day: February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
- Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
- Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
Frequently asked questions
What happened on February 3?
53 documented historical events happened on February 3, from antiquity to the present day. The best known is this: Emperor Henry III declared Drogo of Hauteville to be count of all Apulian and Calabrian Normans. On the same day, in another year: Mudéjar revolt: King James I of Aragon entered the formerly Muslim-held city of Murcia following its surrender three days earlier. On Almanaccolo every event is listed in chronological order, grouped by century, and links to the Wikipedia article it comes from, so you can always read further or check the source. Alongside the events you find who was born and who died on this date, and which observances are celebrated around the world.
Who was born on February 3?
160 people with a Wikipedia article were born on February 3, including Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Samuel Osgood. The list spans every era and every field — art, science, politics, sport, entertainment — ordered by year of birth, from the earliest to the most recent. The six featured people are those most has been written about: the ordering uses the length of their Wikipedia article as an indicator of prominence. For each one you find their occupation, year of birth and a link to the full biography.
Who died on February 3?
92 people with a Wikipedia article died on February 3, including Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II, Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I, Werburgh. The list is in chronological order by year of death and spans all of documented history, from antiquity to the present day. For each person you find their occupation, the year and a link to the Wikipedia biography, where the full story and its sources can be read.
What is celebrated on February 3?
20 observances are celebrated on February 3 around the world: Christian feast day: Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church), Christian feast day: Ansgar, Christian feast day: Berlinda of Meerbeke, Christian feast day: Blaise, Christian feast day: Celsa and Nona, Christian feast day: Claudine Thévenet. The list gathers national holidays, international days and religious or civil observances falling on this date in different countries, as recorded on Wikipedia. Some are fixed and recur on the same day every year; others depend on the local calendar. Each links to the article explaining its origin and meaning.
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Source: Wikipedia · Calendar