| 8 February 1204 | Byzantine Empire [political events] | The co-Byzantine emperor Alexius IV Angelus dies in an uprising of the citizens of Constantinople, who are angered at his inability to fulfil his pledge to the Crusaders who had helped install him on the throne. Nicholas Canabus, proclaimed emperor by the anti-Latins, is imprisoned. Alexius V Ducas Murtzuphlus, son-in-law of the deposed Alexius III and leader of the anti-Latin forces in Constantinople assumes the Byzantine throne. |
| 8 February–3 March 1534 | Holy Roman Empire [revolution] | Jan Matthijszoon and Jan Boekelszoon (John of Leiden) from Holland lead a tempestuous Anabaptist revolution in the German city of Münster, winning council elections on 23 February, despoiling churches, and, from 27 February, expelling Lutherans and Catholics to incorporate Dutch Anabaptist refugees. |
| 8 February 1587 | England [crime and punishment] | When Mary Queen of Scots is executed at Fotheringhay Castle, near Northampton, England, Queen Elizabeth I of England, who has washed her hands of Mary after signing her death warrant on 1 February, feigns anger with her over-hasty officials, fining William Davidson, a secretary of state, for sending the warrant to Fotheringhay. The Lord Treasurer, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, remains in disgrace until July. |
| 8 February 1587 | England [births and deaths] | Mary Queen of Scots, queen of Scotland 1542–67, who was deposed because of her marital affairs and political incompetence and was forced to flee to England, is executed in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England (44). |
| 8 February 1640 | Ottoman Empire [political events] | Sultan Ibrahim succeeds the Ottoman sultan Murad IV on his death. |
| 8 February 1725 | Russia [administration] | Following the death of Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia, he is succeeded by his widow, Catherine I. The real ruler of the state during Catherine's reign is Tsar Peter's talented collaborator, Field Marshal Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. |
| 8 February 1725 | Russia [births and deaths] | Peter I the Great, tsar of Russia with his brother Ivan V 1682–96 and then alone 1696–1725, who westernized Russia, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (62). |
| 8 February 1807 | France, Russian Empire, Prussia [Napoleonic Wars (1803–15)] | The French emperor Napoleon I's army catches up with the retreating Russian and Prussian forces at Eylau in eastern Prussia; an indecisive battle causes heavy losses to both sides. |
| 8 February 1828 | France [births and deaths] | Jules Verne, French author who pioneers modern science fiction writing, born in Nantes, France (–1905). |
| 8 February 1863 | Prussia, Russian Empire, Poland [diplomacy] | Prussia allies with Russia to suppress the Polish revolt through a convention drawn up by Gustav, Count von Alvensleben, chief advisor to the Prussian king Wilhelm I (the ‘Alvensleben Convention’). |
| 8–9 February 1904 | Russian Empire, Japan [Russo–Japanese War (1904–05)] | The Russo-Japanese War starts when the Japanese fleet makes a surprise attack on the Russian squadron at Port Arthur (the Russian treaty port in northeastern China) without a declaration of war, and damages two battleships and a cruiser. |
| 8 February 1915 | [cinema and film] | The film Birth of a Nation, directed by D W Griffith, is released in the USA. An influential and commercially successful silent film, it stars Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Henry B Walthall. Its epic scope and innovative cinematic techniques are, however, marred by racism, which includes a sympathetic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. |
| 8 February 1965 | USA, South Vietnam, North Vietnam [Vietnam War (1954–75)] | US aircraft bomb North Vietnam following Vietcong attacks on US areas in South Vietnam. This begins a pattern of regular US bombing of North Vietnam known as Operation Rolling Thunder or Operation Flaming Dart. |
| 8 February 1995 | Russia, Chechnya [political events] | The president of the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev, announces that he and his military units are leaving the capital Grozny, conceding its loss; fighting continues to the south and east of the city. |
| 8 February 1998 | England [births and deaths] | (John) Enoch Powell, charismatic British Conservative politician known for his controversial views on immigration, dies in London, England (85). |
| 8 February 1999 | England [births and deaths] | Iris Murdoch (Jean Iris Bayley), novelist and philosopher, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, dies in Oxford, England (79). |
