1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of Bayezid I, becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia.
1500 – Duke Friedrich and Duke Johann attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.
1600 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy, at Campo de’ Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno has a wooden vise put on his tongue to prevent him continuing to speak.
1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.
1676 – Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate’s expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan.
1739 – The Battle of Vasai commences as the Marathas move to invade Portuguese-occupied territory.
1753 – In Sweden February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
1801 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormant.
1819 – The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
1838 – Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus.
1854 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
1859 – Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captured the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress that was manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam.
1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
1864 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
1865 – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
1867 – The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.
1871 – The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France, after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
1904 – Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
1913 – The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.
1919 – The Ukrainian People’s Republic asks Entente and the US for help fighting the Bolsheviks.
1933 – Newsweek magazine is first published.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins: The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.
1944 – World War II: Operation Hailstone begins: U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan’s main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
1949 – Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel.
1959 – Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
1964 – In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
1964 – Gabonese president Léon M’ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.
1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the “Sea of Tranquility” would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
1968 – In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
1972 – Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.
1974 – Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
1978 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants.
1979 – The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
1980 – First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly.
1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN.
1996 – In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
1996 – NASA’s Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.
1996 – The 8.2 Mw Biak earthquake shakes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving one-hundred sixty-six people dead or missing and 423 injured.
2006 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
2011 – Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime begin. In Bahrain, security forces launched a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.
2015 – Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti.
2016 – Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.
Births on February 17
624 – Wu Zetian, Chinese empress consort (d. 705)
1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian scholar and imam (d. 1085)
1490 – Charles III, duke of Bourbon (d. 1527)
1519 – Francis, French Grand Chamberlain (d. 1563)
1524 – Charles de Lorraine, French cardinal (d. 1574)
1646 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (d. 1714)
1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1713)
1723 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (d. 1762)
1740 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Swiss physicist and meteorologist (d. 1799)
1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German author and playwright (d. 1831)
1754 – Nicolas Baudin, French cartographer and explorer (d. 1803)
1758 – John Pinkerton, Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist and historian (d. 1826)
1781 – René Laennec, French physician, invented the stethoscope (d. 1826)
1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician and botanist (d. 1866)
1817 – Édouard Thilges, Luxembourgian jurist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1904)
1820 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1881)
1821 – Lola Montez, Irish-American actress and dancer (d. 1861)
1832 – Richard Henry Park, American sculptor (d. 1902)
1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1870)
1843 – Aaron Montgomery Ward, American businessman, founded Montgomery Ward (d. 1913)
1848 – Louisa Lawson, Australian poet and publisher (d. 1920)
1854 – Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German businessman (d. 1902)
1861 – Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, duchess of Albany (d. 1922)
1862 – Mori Ōgai, Japanese general, author, and poet (d. 1922)
1864 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak priest, botanist, and painter (d. 1929)
1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1941)
1874 – Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (d. 1956)
1877 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and author (d. 1904)
1877 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (d. 1932)
1881 – Mary Carson Breckinridge, American nurse midwife, founded Frontier Nursing Service (d. 1965)
1887 – Joseph Bech, Luxembourgian lawyer and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1975)
1887 – Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer and critic (d. 1947)
1888 – Otto Stern, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
1890 – Ronald Fisher, English-Australian statistician, biologist, and geneticist (d. 1962)
1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (d. 1965)
1893 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player and journalist (d. 1965)
1899 – Jibanananda Das, Bangladeshi-Indian poet and author (d. 1954)
1900 – Ruth Clifford, American actress (d. 1998)
1903 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-French author and translator (d. 1951)
1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1980)
1905 – Ruth Baldwin, British socialite (d. 1937)
1905 – Rózsa Politzer, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1977)
1906 – Mary Brian, American actress (d. 2002)
1908 – Red Barber, American sportscaster (d. 1992)
1908 – Bo Yibo, Chinese general and politician, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 2007)
1910 – Marc Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1911 – Oskar Seidlin, German-American author, poet, and scholar (d. 1984)
1912 – Andre Norton, American author (d. 2005)
1914 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor (d. 1990)
1914 – Wayne Morris, American actor and producer (d. 1959)
1916 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian rugby player and pilot (d. 1940)
1916 – Don Tallon, Australian cricketer (d. 1984)
1916 – Raf Vallone, Italian footballer and actor (d. 2002)
1918 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (d. 1999)
1918 – Jacqueline Ferrand, French mathematician (d. 2014)
1919 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2009)
1919 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1919 – Joe Hunt, American tennis player (d. 1945)
1920 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1920 – Annie Castor, American disability and communication disorder advocate (d. 2020)
1920 – Curt Swan, American soldier and illustrator (d. 1996)
1921 – Duane Gish, American biochemist and academic (d. 2013)
1922 – Tommy Edwards, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1969)
1923 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and scholar (d. 1988)
1923 – Buddy DeFranco, American clarinet player and bandleader (d. 2014)
1924 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (d. 2008)
1925 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1925 – Hal Holbrook, American actor and director
1928 – Marta Romero, Puerto Rican actress and singer (d. 2013)
1929 – Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean-French director and screenwriter
1929 – Chaim Potok, American rabbi and author (d. 2002)
1929 – Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, English lieutenant and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (d. 1993)
1929 – Patricia Routledge, English actress and singer
1930 – Roger Craig, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1930 – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 2013)
1930 – Ruth Rendell, English author (d. 2015)
1931 – Jiřina Jirásková, Czech actress and singer (d. 2013)
1931 – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (d. 2016)
1933 – Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (d. 2007)
1934 – Alan Bates, English actor (d. 2003)
1934 – Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage), Australian comedian, actor, and author
1935 – Christina Pickles, English-American actress
1936 – Jim Brown, American football player and actor
1937 – Mary Ann Mobley, American model and actress, Miss America 1959 (d. 2014)
1940 – Vicente Fernández, Mexican singer-songwriter, actor, and producer
1941 – Julia McKenzie, English actress, singer, and director
1941 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1942 – Huey P. Newton, American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party (d. 1989)
1944 – Karl Jenkins, Welsh saxophonist, keyboard player, and composer (Soft Machine)
1945 – Zina Bethune, American actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2012)
1945 – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
1946 – Shahrnush Parsipur, Iranian-American author and academic
1948 – José José, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2019)
1948 – Rick Majerus, American basketball player and coach (d. 2012)
1949 – Fred Frith, English guitarist and songwriter
1949 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (d. 2016)
1951 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani soldier and pilot (d. 1971)
1952 – Karin Büttner-Janz, German gymnast and physician
1952 – Vladimír Padrůněk, Czech bass player (d. 1991)
1954 – Lou Ann Barton, American blues singer-songwriter
1954 – Miki Berkovich, Israeli basketball player
1954 – Rene Russo, American actress
1955 – Mo Yan, Chinese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1956 – Richard Karn, American actor and game show host
1957 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer-songwriter, accordion player, and pianist
1959 – Aryeh Deri, Moroccan-Israeli rabbi and politician, Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs
1959 – Rowdy Gaines, American swimmer and sportscaster
1960 – Lindy Ruff, Canadian hockey player and coach
1961 – Angela Eagle, English politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
1961 – Maria Eagle, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
1961 – Andrey Korotayev, Russian anthropologist, historian, and sociologist
1962 – Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor and director
1963 – Larry the Cable Guy, American comedian and voice actor
1963 – Alison Hargreaves, English mountaineer (d. 1995)
