| 1 February 1793 | France, UK, United Netherlands [French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1801)] | France declares war on Britain and the Dutch Republic. |
| 1 February 1851 | England [births and deaths] | Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, English writer, author of Frankenstein, dies in London, England (53). |
| 1 February 1864 | Austrian Empire, Prussia, Germany, Denmark [political events] | Austro-Prussian troops enter Schleswig in opposition to Denmark's incorporation of the disputed territory. |
| 1 February 1895 | USA [births and deaths] | John Ford (adopted name of Sean O'Feeney), US film director best known for his Westerns, born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (–1973). |
| 1 February 1908 | Portugal [law and government] | King Carlos I of Portugal and the crown prince are murdered in Lisbon, Portugal, by republicans, and Prince Manuel becomes King Manuel II (–1910). |
| 1 February 1917 | Germany [World War I (1914–18)] | Germany announces its return to a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in order to cut off the supplies sent to the Allies from the British Empire and the USA. |
| 1 February 1931 | [births and deaths] | Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician who was a prime force in the establishment of a new Commonwealth of Independent States to replace the USSR, born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia. |
| 1–16 February 1934 | Austria [legislation] | Political parties are forcibly dissolved in Austria except for Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss's Fatherland Front. |
| 1 February 1946 | Norway [international organizations] | The Norwegian Labour politician Trygve Lie is elected the first secretary general of the United Nations (UN), serving until 1952. |
| 1 February 1949 | UK [clothing and fashion] | Clothes rationing ends in the UK. |
| 1 February 1961 | UK [postal services] | The General Post Office introduces a recorded delivery service in Britain. |
| 1 February 1990 | Bulgaria [law and government] | The Bulgarian government resigns. On 8 February, a new all-communist government is formed, dominated by the reformed Bulgarian Socialist Party. |
| 1 February 2003 | [space exploration] | The US space shuttle Columbia explodes and breaks up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The crew of six US and one Israeli are all killed in the disaster. |
