Difference between historical and historic

[Blueblack35]

How to explain these two words, historical and historic? And how to know which one of them would be used when we are talking about something relating to history or some thing that happened in the past?

[Dozy]

"historic" emphasises the momentous nature of something in the context of history. It can be used of old events or recent events. "historical" means related to or existing in history. For example:

"a historic event" -- a very important event that stands out (or will stand out) in history

"a historical event" -- an event that happened a long time ago