February 21

Historic Events

2022

In 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. ›

2013

At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad. ›

1995

Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. ›

1994

Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia. ›

1975

Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison. ›

1974

The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt. ›

1973

Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people. ›

1972

United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations. ›

1972

The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon. ›

1971

The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna. ›

1958

The 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. ›

1952

The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". ›

1952

The Bengali language movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). ›

1948

NASCAR is incorporated. ›

1947

In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America. ›

1945

World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga. ›

1945

World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front. ›

1937

The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War. ›

1929

In 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. ›

1925

The New Yorker publishes its first issue. ›

1921

Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution. ›

1921

Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup. ›

1919

German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany. ›

1918

The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. ›

1916

World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins. ›

1913

Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars. ›

1896

An 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. ›

1885

The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated. ›

1878

The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut. ›

1874

The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition. ›

1861

Mariehamn, the capital city of Åland, is founded. ›

1848

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto. ›

1842

John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine. ›

1828

Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah. ›

1808

Without 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. ›

1804

The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales. ›

1797

A 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. ›

1613

Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia. ›

1440

The Prussian Confederation is formed. ›

1245

Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. ›