February 2 in history — What Happened Today in History

Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.

Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.

Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.

Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.

The Detroit Red Wings played in the first outdoor hockey game by any NHL team in an exhibition against the Marquette Branch Prison Pirates in Marquette, Michigan.

World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.

The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.

Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.

Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.

Ulysses by James Joyce is published.

The uprising called the "pork mutiny" starts in the region between Kuolajärvi and Savukoski in Finland.

The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.

Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.

The Paris Film Congress opens, an attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPPC cartel in the United States.

Funeral of Queen Victoria.

The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.

In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.

The sentences of the trial of the warlocks of Chiloé are imparted.

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.

The Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.

Pro-Imperial forces capture Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burn it to the ground.

Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.

Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.

The last of the River Thames frost fairs comes to an end.

The siege of Mantua ends after eight months when Count Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser surrenders the fortress of Mantua to Napoleon Bonaparte. The fall of Mantua secures French control over Northern Italy and marks the beginning of the conclusion of the Italian campaign of 1796-1797, and sets the stage for the end of the War of the First Coalition.

J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis.

Arfa Karim, Pakistani student and computer prodigy (died 2012)

Curtis Lazar, Canadian ice hockey player

Remilia, American professional gamer (died 2019)

Caterina Bosetti, Italian volleyball player

Bobby De Cordova-Reid, English-Jamaican footballer

Ravel Morrison, English footballer

Lammtarra, American race horse (died 2014)

Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer

Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer

Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (died 2015)

Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor

Harrison Smith, American football player

Southside, American record producer

Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (born 1935)

Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (born 1922)

The Jacka, American rapper and producer (born 1977)

Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (born 1935)

Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (born 1992)

Nicholas Brooks, English historian (born 1941)

Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1933)

Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (born 1967)

Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (born 1962)

Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (born 1948)

Nigel Walker, English footballer (born 1959)

Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (born 1961)

John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (born 1931)