24 February 252

At a restaurant in Uherský Brod, Czech Republic, a gunman opened fire in a restaurant, killing eight people before committing suicide.

United Airlines Flight 811 experienced uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii, blowing seats out of the aircraft and killing nine passengers.

Uganda–Tanzania War: Ugandan government forces fled Masaka as the Tanzania People's Defence Force bombarded and captured the town.

Five men disappeared after attending a college basketball game in Chico, California; the bodies of four of them were discovered months later.

Vietnam War: Led by Ngô Quang Trưởng, South Vietnamese forces recaptured the citadel of Huế.

World War II: The Battle of Kasserine Pass, the first major engagement between American and Axis forces in Africa, ended with the Allied forces suffering heavy losses.

Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached.

After standing for only 15 years, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (pictured), the third building in London of that name, burned down.

Napoleonic Wars: The British invasion of Martinique ended with the unconditional surrender of French admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (pictured), beginning a five-year occupation of the island.

War of the Quadruple Alliance: Spanish forces began a failed assault on the British settlement of Nassau in the Bahamas.

George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo, the first Italian-language opera written specifically for the London stage, premiered.

Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the first fully developed opera, premiered in Mantua.

The Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most severe episode of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, began with the publication of a first edict by Roman emperor Diocletian.

Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace the Pakatan Harapan government, which triggered the 2020-2022 Malaysian political crisis.

Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashes, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.

A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its final mission, STS-133.

Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years.

Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.

China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.

Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.

Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.