France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.

Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.

The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time.

Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.

A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.

The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier {{HMAS|Melbourne|R21|6}} collides with the destroyer {{HMAS|Voyager|D04|6}} off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.

Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.

Japanese submarine bombards Midway Atoll.

The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram.

In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf, killing him.

New Delhi becomes the capital of India.

Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas.

Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.

{{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} is launched.

The Russo-Japanese War over Korea and Manchuria begins after the Battle of Port Arthur.

The YWCA is founded in New York City.

The fire extinguisher is patented.

First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Champaubert

Louis Alexandre Berthier invades Rome, proclaims a Roman Republic on February 15 and then on February 20 takes Pope Pius VI prisoner.

French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.

An explosion destroys the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland. The second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, Lord Darnley is found strangled, in what many believe to be an assassination.

The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.

In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, his leading political rival, sparking revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence

Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.