Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/February 2026/This month in military history
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- 1662 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
- 1793 - French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
- 1942 - Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war.
- 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
- 880 -Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III of France is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
- 1141 - The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
- 1461 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross results in the death of Owen Tudor.
- 1509 - Battle of Diu takes place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
- 1542 - Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Moslem-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente
- 1848 - Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war.
- 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
- 1920 - Tartu Peace Treaty signed between Estonia and Russia.
- 1943 - World War II: The last German forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.
- 1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation.
- 1583 - Battle of São Vicente takes place off Portuguese Brazil where three English warships led by navigator Edward Fenton fight off three Spanish galleons sinking one in the process.
- 1706 - During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
- 1917 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1944 - World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
- 1995 - Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
- 1810 - British Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
- 1899 - The Philippine–American War begins.
- 1915 - Germany establishes a submarine blockade around the UK and declares any vessel in it a legitimate target.
- 1932 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
- 1782 - Spain defeats British forces and captures Menorca.
- 1933 -Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
- 1941 - World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
- 1945 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
- 1958 - A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
- 1968 - The Battle of Khe Sanh of the Vietnam War begins.
- 1985 - Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
- 1694 - Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
- 1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
- 1806 - Royal Navy victory in the Battle of San Domingo.
- 1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee.
- 1899 - Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
- 1922 - The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
- 1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- 987 - Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
- 1807 - Napoléon's French Empire begins fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition at the Battle of Eylau in Eylau, Poland.
- 1842 - Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien
- 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.
- 1943 -World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of [troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island in the Guadalcanal campaign.
- 1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive against the Allied Operation Shingle.
- 1951 - Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
- 2013 - The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery.
- 1238 - The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
- 1807 - Battle of Eylau - Napoleon defeats Russians under General Benigssen.
- 1817 - An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- 1904 - Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China, starts the Russo-Japanese War.
- 1098 - A First Crusade army led by Bohemond of Taranto wins a major battle against the Seljuq emir Ridwan of Aleppo during the siege of Antioch.
- 1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.
- 1994 - Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called Vance-Owen peace plan).
- 1258 - Battle of Baghdad (1258) - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing large numbers of citizens (estimates range from 10,000 to 800,000).
- 1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war; France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
- 1814 - Battle of Champaubert occurs.
- 1964 - The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
- 1586 - Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias for two months, obtaining a ransom and booty.
- 1971 - United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
- 1429 - English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
- 1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail with 15 ships and 800 men from Lisbon, Portugal on his second voyage to India.* 1817 - Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeat Spanish troops on the battle of Chacabuco
- 1593 - Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwŏn Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
- 1934 - The Austrian Civil War begins
- 1938 - Anschluss: German troops enter Austria.
- 1946 - Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
- 1352 - War of the Straits: The Battle of the Bosporus is fought in a stormy sea into the night between the Genoese, Venetian, Aragonese, and Byzantine fleets.
- 1726 - Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile brings an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.
- 1861 - Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest, Hungary.
- 1945 - World War II: The Royal Air Force bombs Dresden, Germany.
- 1951 - Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
- 1960 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb.
- 1971 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- 1779 - James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
- 1797 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent & Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson led the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar.
- 1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
- 1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- 1944 - World War II: In the action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian Regia Marina submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
- 1954 - First Indochina War - small French garrison at Đắk Đoa is overrun by the Viet Minh after a week's siege
- 1898 - Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
- 1942 - World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom, Canadian and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
- 1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
- 1630 - Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
- 1646 - Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First English Civil War.
- 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.
- 1940 - Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, is boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.
- 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
- 1500 - Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein and King John of Denmark attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.
- 1621 - Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.
- 1859 - Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captures the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an American victory.
- 1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
- 1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.
- 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
- 1637 - Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
- 1797 - Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.
- 1878 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
- 1932 - Japan declares Manzhouguo (obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from China.
- 1946 - Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
- 1947 - First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.
- 1955 - Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
- 197 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
- 1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York.
- 1915 - World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.
- 1942 - World War II: nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
- 1943 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins.
- 1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.
- 1813 - Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
- 1943 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
- 1959 - The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
- 1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.
- 2009 - Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national air force headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target.
- 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
- 1797 - A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.
- 1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
- 1808 - Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose Finland to Russia.
- 1916 - World War I: The Battle of Verdun begins.
- 1929 - In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.
- 1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
- 1945- World War II: Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga.
- 1945 - World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeats German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.
- 1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt.
- 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
- 1744 - War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
- 1847 - Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista - 5,000 American troops defeat 15,000 Mexicans.
- 1899- Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
- 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the American defense collapses.
- 1946 - The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
- 1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
- 2006 - Explosions occurr at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.
- 1574 - The Fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France.
- 1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
- 1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
- 1847 - Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- 1941 - Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Glenn T. Seaborg.
- 1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
- 1988 - Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.
- 2008 - A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
- 1303 - The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.
- 1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah
- 1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
- 1917 - World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
- 1991 -Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
- 2022 - Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 1836 - Samuel Colt receives an American patent for the Colt revolver.
- 1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Verdun, a German unit captures Fort Douaumont, keystone of the French defences, without a fight.
- 1921 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Soviet Russia.
- 1933 - The USS Ranger is launched, becoming the first custom-built aircraft carrier.
- 1939 - As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, North London.
- 1991 - Gulf War: An Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US Marines.
- 1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
- 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
- 1952 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
- 1991 - Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
- 1993 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.
- 1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea
- 1864 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
- 1902 - Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.
- 1942 - World War II: In the naval Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied force is defeated by a Japanese force.
- 2019 - A Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.
- 1900 - The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
- 1959 - Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
- 1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the KLA in Kosovo.
- 1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
- 1996 - The Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
- 2020 - The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement bringing peace to Afghanistan.
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