February 7

Events

Pre-1600

* 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
* 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
* 1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later king Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
* 1313 – King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom.
*1365 – Albert III of Mecklenburg (King Albert of Sweden) grants city rights to Ulvila ( sv, Ulvsby).
* 1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a "Bonfire of the vanities".

1601–1900

* 1756 – Guaraní War: The leader of the Guaraní rebels, Sepé Tiaraju, is killed in a skirmish with Spanish and Portuguese troops.
*1783 – American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
*1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
*1807 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen's Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.
* 1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
*1813 – In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Îles de Los, the frigates '' Aréthuse'' and ''Amelia'' batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.
*1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
*1842 – Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
*1854 – A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.
*1863 – sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
*1894 – The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.
*1898 – Dreyfus affair: Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing ''J'Accuse…!''
*1900 – Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
* 1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

1901–present

*1904 – A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
*1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, ''Pinocchio'', premieres.
*1943 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
* 1944 – World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
*1951 – Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
*1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
* 1974 – Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
*1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
*1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
* 1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
* 1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
*1991 – Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
* 1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
* 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
*1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
* 1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
* 2001 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' is launched on mission STS-98, carrying the ''Destiny'' laboratory module to the International Space Station.
* 2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.
*2012 – President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of the Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
* 2013 – The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.
* 2014 – Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.
*2016 – North Korea launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
*2021 – The 2021 Uttarakhand flood begins.

Births

Pre-1600

* 574 – Prince Shōtoku of Japan (d. 622)
*1102 – Empress Matilda, Holy Roman Empress and claimant to the English throne (probable; d. 1167)
*1478 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1535)
* 1487 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1557)
* 1500 – João de Castro, viceroy of Portuguese India (d. 1548)

1601–1900

* 1612 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (d. 1683)
* 1622 – Vittoria della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1694)
* 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia (d. 1740)
* 1722 – Azar Bigdeli, Iranian anthologist and poet (d. 1781)
* 1726 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English painter (d. 1766)
* 1741 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss-English painter and academic (d. 1825)
* 1758 – Benedikt Schack, Czech tenor and composer (d. 1826)
*1796 – Thomas Gregson, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (baptism date; d. 1874)
* 1802 – Louisa Jane Hall, American poet, essayist, and literary critic (d. 1892)
*1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)
* 1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (d. 1870)
* 1825 – Karl Möbius, German zoologist and ecologist (d. 1908)
* 1834 – Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, French architect (d. 1895)
* 1837 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
* 1864 – Arthur Collins, American baritone singer (d. 1933)
* 1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
* 1870 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish psychologist and therapist (d. 1937)
* 1871 – Wilhelm Stenhammar, Swedish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1927)
* 1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS ''Titanic'' (d. 1912)
* 1875 – Erkki Melartin, Finnish composer (d. 1937)
* 1877 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and geneticist (d. 1947)
* 1878 – Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (d. 1936)
* 1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
* 1885 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (d. 1953)
* 1887 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (d. 1983)
* 1889 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish-American engineer and theorist (d. 1976)
* 1893 – Joseph Algernon Pearce, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1988)
* 1893 – Nicanor Abelardo, Filipino pianist, composer and teacher (d. 1934)
* 1895 – Anita Stewart, American actress (d. 1961)

1901–present

* 1901 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (d. 1989)
*1904 – Ernest E. Debs, American politician (d. 2002)
* 1905 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and author (d. 1940)
* 1905 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
* 1906 – Puyi, Chinese emperor (d. 1967)
* 1906 – Oleg Antonov, Russian engineer, founded the Antonov Aircraft Company (d. 1984)
* 1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
* 1908 – Manmath Nath Gupta, Indian journalist and author (d. 2000)
* 1909 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop (d. 1999)
* 1909 – Amedeo Guillet, Italian soldier (d. 2010)
* 1912 – Russell Drysdale, English-Australian painter (d. 1981)
* 1912 – Roberta McCain, American socialite and oil heiress (d. 2020)
* 1915 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (d. 2007)
* 1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor and singer (d. 2002)
* 1916 – Frank Hyde, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2007)
* 1919 – Jock Mahoney, American actor and stuntman (d. 1989)
* 1919 – Desmond Doss, American army corporal and combat medic, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
* 1920 – Oscar Brand, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2016)
* 1920 – An Wang, Chinese-American engineer and businessman, founded Wang Laboratories (d. 1990)
* 1921 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
* 1922 – Hattie Jacques, English actress (d. 1980)
* 1923 – Dora Bryan

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