| 28 February 1533 | France [births and deaths] | Michel de Montaigne, French writer, creator of the essay as a literary genre, born in Château de Montaigne, near Bordeaux, France (–1592). |
| 28 February 1618 | United Netherlands [political events] | Maurice of Nassau, stadtholder of the United Netherlands, succeeds as Prince of Orange on the death of his brother, Philip William. |
| 28 February 1784 | UK, America [Christianity] | The English evangelist John Wesley signs a deed of declaration as the charter of Wesleyan Methodism and ordains two ‘Presbyters’ for the American Mission. |
| 28 February 1808 | Austrian Empire, France, Europe [trade] | Austria joins the French emperor Napoleon I's Continental System and supports the closure of European ports to Britain. |
| 28 February 1813 | Prussia, Russian Empire [treaties] | Prussia agrees, by the Alliance of Kalisz with Russia, to conduct a joint campaign in Saxony and Silesia against the French emperor Napoleon I and the Confederation of the Rhine (association of German states under French protection). Prussia is to regain all territory lost since 1806. An invitation to join the war is extended to Britain and Austria, and the agreement becomes the genesis of the Fourth Coalition against France. |
| 28 February 1827 | USA [railways] | The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad becomes the first railway in the USA to be chartered to carry freight and passengers. The railway is built to compete with the Erie Canal, which is taking business away from Baltimore, Maryland. |
| 28 February 1868 | UK [administration] | The British Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli becomes prime minister of Britain. |
| 28 February 1876 | Spain [wars] | The Second Carlist War in Spain ends with the flight to France of the pretender Don Carlos following the defeat of his forces by the king's troops. |
| 28 February 1877 | Ottoman Empire, Serbia [political events] | A peace is signed between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia ending the Serbian revolt against Ottoman rule, without significant concessions. |
| 28 February 1900 | Natal [Anglo–Boer Wars (1899–1902)] | General Sir Redvers Buller relieves the town of Ladysmith in Natal, which has been besieged by a Boer force since 30 October 1899. |
| 28 February 1910 | South Africa [slavery] | The last Chinese labourers leave the Rand diamond mines in South Africa, the slave-like conditions of their employment having created a furore throughout the British Empire. |
| 28 February–17 March 1921 | Russia [political events] | A mutiny of sailors begins at Kronstadt naval base near Petrograd, Russia, in opposition to the communist government's harsh policies; it is put down by troops. |
| 28 February 1933 | Germany [law and government] | German chancellor Adolf Hitler persuades president Paul von Hindenburg to issue a ‘decree for the protection of people and state’. It suppresses civil liberties and freedom of the press in the wake of the Reichstag fire and allows the Nazis to arrest thousands of their opponents. |
| 28 February 1972 | UK [football] | English women's football clubs are officially recognized by the English Football Association (FA) under the assurance that no matches are to be allowed between mixed teams or between men's teams and women's teams.The FA had banned women from playing at the grounds of clubs under its jurisdiction in 1921. |
| 28 February 1986 | Sweden [law and government] | Olof Palme, Swedish prime minister 1969–76 and 1982–86, is assassinated by a gunman in a Stockholm street, Sweden (59). |
| 28 February 1995 | Somalia [United Nations] | United Nations (UN) troops withdraw from Somalia, having been unable to end its civil war. |
| 28 February 2005 | [business and economics] | Banking group HSBC records profits of £9.6 billion for 2004, a 37% increase on the previous year and the largest annual profit so far recorded by a British company. |
