February 21Birthdays & History

On this day: February 21 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1245Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.Europe
2. 1440The Prussian Confederation is formed.Europe
3. 1613Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.Europe
4. 1797A force of 1,400 French soldiers invade Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.Europe
5. 1804The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.Europe
6. 1808Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.Europe
7. 1828Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.North America
8. 1842John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.North America
9. 1848Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.Europe
10. 1861Mariehamn, the capital city of Åland, is founded.Europe
11. 1862American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.North AmericaLatin America
12. 1874The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.North America
13. 1878The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.North America
14. 1885The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.North America
15. 1896An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fights an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically takes place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.OceaniaNorth AmericaLatin America
16. 1913Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.Europe
17. 1916World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.Europe
18. 1918The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.North America
19. 1919German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.Europe
20. 1921Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.Europe
21. 1921Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup.Middle East
22. 1925The New Yorker publishes its first issue.North America
23. 1929In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.Asia
24. 1937The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.Europe
25. 1945World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.Latin AmericaEurope
26. 1945World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.Asia
27. 1947In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.North America
28. 1948NASCAR is incorporated.North America
29. 1952The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".Europe
30. 1952The Bengali language movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).Asia
31. 1958The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.Europe
32. 1971The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.Europe
33. 1972The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.Europe
34. 1972United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations.North AmericaAsia
35. 1973Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.Middle EastAfrica
36. 1974The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.Middle East
37. 1975Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.North America
38. 1994Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia.EuropeNorth America
39. 1995Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.North America
40. 2013At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.Asia
41. 2022In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "February 21" / CC BY-SA 4.0