Calendar date · February

What happened on February 8

On February 8, 421: Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Events

41

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Aquarius

Featured moment · 421

Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Constantius III was briefly Western Roman emperor in 421, having earned the throne through his capability as a general under Honorius. By 411 he had achieved the rank of magister militum, and in the same year he suppressed the revolt of the usurper Constantine III. Constantius went on to lead campaigns against various barbarian groups in Hispania and Gaul, recovering much of both for the Western Roman Empire.

People

Born on February 8

I.N 2001– South Korean singer (born 2001)
Alessia Russo 1999– English footballer (born 1999)
Rui Hachimura 1998– Japanese basketball player (born 1998)
Kathryn Newton 1997– American actress (born 1997)
Kenedy 1996– Brazilian footballer (born 1996)
Leighton Vander Esch 1996– American football player (born 1996)
Gabriel Deck 1995– Argentine basketball player (born 1995)
Joshua Kimmich 1995– German footballer (born 1995)
Hakan Çalhanoğlu 1994– Turkish footballer (born 1994)
Show 9 more — notable births on February 8
Nikki Yanofsky 1994– Canadian singer (born 1994)
Bruno Martins Indi 1992– Dutch footballer (born 1992)
Nam Woo-hyun 1991– South Korean singer and actor (born 1991)
Bethany Hamilton 1990– American surfer (born 1990)
Klay Thompson 1990– American basketball player (born 1990)
Zac Guildford 1989– New Zealand rugby union player
JaJuan Johnson 1989– American basketball player (born 1989)
Julio Jones 1989– American football player (born 1989)
Brendan Smith 1989– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1989)

People

Died on February 8

Dick Jauron American football player and coach (1950–2025)
Sam Nujoma President of Namibia from 1990 to 2005
Gyalo Thondup Brother of the 14th Dalai Lama (1928–2025)
Arto Heiskanen Finnish ice hockey player (1963–2023)
Marty Schottenheimer American football player and coach (1943–2021)
Mary Wilson American singer (1944–2021)
Robert Conrad American actor (1935–2020)
Peter Mansfield English physicist (1933–2017)
Rina Matsuno Musical artist
Show 9 more — notable deaths on February 8
Alan Simpson British screenwriter (1929–2017)
Amelia Bence Argentine actress (1914–2016)
Nida Fazli Indian poet, lyricist and dialogue writer (1938–2016)
Margaret Forster English novelist and biographer (1938–2016)
Violette Verdy French ballet dancer, choreographer, and professor
Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde Finnish ufologist (1939–2015)
Els Borst Dutch politician (1932–2014)
Maicon Pereira de Oliveira Brazilian footballer (1988–2014)
Nancy Holt American artist (1938–2014)

Timeline

Every February 8 on record

  1. 421 Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

    Roman emperor in 421

    Constantius III was briefly Western Roman emperor in 421, having earned the throne through his capability as a general under Honorius. By 411 he had achieved the rank of magister militum, and in the same year he suppressed the revolt of the usurper Constantine III. Constantius went on to lead campaigns against various barbarian groups in Hispania and Gaul, recovering much of both for the Western Roman Empire.

  2. 1238 The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

    Empire in Eurasia from 1206-1368

    The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the medieval empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to Eastern Europe, extending northward into Siberia and east and southward into the Indian subcontinent, mounting invasions of Southeast Asia, and conquering the Iranian Plateau; and reaching westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.

  3. 1250 Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.

    Religious crusade in Egypt from 1248 to 1254

    The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking Egypt, the main seat of Muslim power in the Near East. The Crusade was conducted in response to setbacks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, beginning with the loss of the Holy City in 1244, and was preached by Innocent IV in conjunction with a crusade against emperor Frederick II, Baltic rebellions and Mongol incursions.

  4. 1347 The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

    The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War, was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir, John V Palaiologos. It pitted on the one hand Andronikos III's chief minister, John VI Kantakouzenos, and on the other a regency headed by the Empress-Dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV Kalekas, and the megas doux Alexios Apokaukos. The war polarized Byzantine society along class lines, with the aristocracy backing Kantakouzenos and the lower and middle classes supporting the regency.

  5. 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

    Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567

    Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.

  6. 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.
  7. 1693 The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
  8. 1807 Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.
  9. 1817 An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.
  10. 1837 Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.
  11. 1865 Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified by Delaware on February 12, 1901, the 92nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.
  12. 1879 Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
  13. 1879 England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
  14. 1885 The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.
  15. 1887 The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.
Show 15 earlier entries from February 8
  1. 1904 Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.
  2. 1904 The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
  3. 1910 The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
  4. 1924 The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
  5. 1937 Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.
  6. 1942 World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
  7. 1945 World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.
  8. 1945 World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.
  9. 1946 The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.
  10. 1950 The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
  11. 1960 Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
  12. 1962 Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.
  13. 1963 The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
  14. 1965 Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people onboard.
  15. 1968 American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

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