This is a list of selected February 16 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Spencer Compton -
Félix Faure -
Sikorsky S-51 -
The original hand-written Act of Independence of Lithuania
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, Losar in Bhutan and Tibet, Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, and others (2018); | only Losar is eligible |
| 1742 – Spencer Compton became British Prime Minister, but ended up being a figurehead for the true leader of the British Government: Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. | unreferenced section |
| 1849 – The French Government passed a law to set the A above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch and combat pitch inflation. | unreferenced section |
| 1899 – French president Félix Faure suddenly died from apoplexy while having sexual activities with Marguerite Steinheil in his office. | refimprove |
| 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ended with the military of the First Austrian Republic defeating the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund, leaving at least several hundred people dead in the five-day conflict. | needs more footnotes |
| 1940 – Second World War: The Royal Navy boarded and captured the German tanker Altmark and freed 299 captured British sailors. | refimprove |
| 1946 – The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for civilian instead of military use, made its first flight. | lots of CN tags |
| 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton set sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. | both featured on April 25 |
| 1968 – The first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system for the North American Numbering Plan went into service in Haleyville, Alabama. | refimprove section |
| 1977 – Archbishop Janani Luwum of the Church of Uganda, a leading voice against the regime of Idi Amin, was arrested for treason and murdered the next day. | refimprove |
| 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was established by Ward Christensen during a blizzard in Chicago. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1249 – Louis IX of France dispatched André de Longjumeau as his ambassador to the Mongol Empire.
- 1862 – American Civil War: A Union victory in the Battle of Fort Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender".
- 1918 – The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence, proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania.
- 1923 – Howard Carter, the English Egyptologist and archaeologist, unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun.
- 1943 – World War II: Norwegian commandos destroyed a factory to prevent the German nuclear weapon project from acquiring heavy water.
- 1959 – Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, beginning his decades-long rule over Cuba.
- 1961 – The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered.
- 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires burned over half a million acres (over 2,000 km2) each in both South Australia and Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others.
- 1996 – Two trains collided in Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S., killing 11 people and leading to the creation of comprehensive federal rules for passenger car design.
- Born/died: Coluccio Salutati (b. 1331) · Jean du Bellay (d. 1560) · Henry Wilson (b. 1812) · Thomas Bracken (d. 1898) · Lanny McDonald (b. 1953) · Mary Amdur (d. 1998)
February 16: Day of the Shining Star in North Korea
- 1270 – Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
- 1804 – First Barbary War: Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a U.S. Navy raid to destroy the captured USS Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli (depicted), denying her use to the Barbary States.
- 1936 – In the Spanish general election, the Popular Front coalition of left-wing parties came to power, precipitating the Spanish Civil War five months later.
- 1985 – The Lebanese Shia political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah released a manifesto describing its ideology and goals.
- 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol, an extension to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, entered into force.
Richard of Dover (d. 1184) · Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (b. 1922) · Theresa Goh (b. 1987)