8th February 1699: The Russian tsar, Peter the Great arrives in London, staying incognito at the house of John Evelyn.
8th February 1725: Tsar Peter the Great of Russia dies, succeeded by his wife Catherine.
8th February 1814: The Battle of Montereau is fought betwen the French and Austrian armies during Napoleon's campaigns.
8th February 1837: The first public steam-powered railway in Germany opens in Nuremberg.
8th February 1856: The Crimean War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
8th February 1879: The SS Metropolis, a British paddle steamer, sinks in the North Sea with the loss of 84 life.
8th February 1904: The Russo-Japanese War begins, with a surprise Japanese attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
8th February 1910: The first issue of the magazine Boy Scout is published in London.
8th February 1922: James Joyce's novel, "Ulysses" is published in Paris, the day marking Leopold Bloom's fictious odyssey through Dublin.
8th February 1924: The first Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France.
8th February 1935: The first "Alcoholics Anonymous" meeting is held in Akron, Ohio.
8th February 1942: The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse are sunk by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya, signaling the end of battleship supremacy.
8th February 1950: The British physicist, Klaus Fuschs is sentenced to 14 year in prison for spying for the Soviet Union during the Manhattan Project.
8th February 1962: The first transatlantic fax is sent, travelling between London and New York.
8th February 1965: Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a Boeing 727, crashes into the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, killing 84 of the 151 on board.
8th February 1968: The first heart transplant in South Africa is performed at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town.
8th February 1981: The American poet and author, John Dos Passos, dies aged 83.
8th February 1992: The first Winter Paralympic Games begin in Tignes-Alberville, France.
8th February 1996: David Sancious, the keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, dies of pneumonia aged 49.
8th February 2004: Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student, launches the social networking site, Facebook.
8th February 2011: The Australian cricketer, Don Bradman, widely considered the greatest batsman in cricket history, dies aged 92.
8th February 2018: The 23rd Winter Olympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea.