On this day: February 21

Events on February 21

• 1437 King James I of Scotland was murdered at Perth in a failed coup by his uncle and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. Wikipedia
• 1613 Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia. Wikipedia
• 1746 Jacobite rising of 1745: The siege of Inverness ended with British forces surrendering to the Jacobite army. Wikipedia
• 1804 The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales. Wikipedia
• 1828 The inaugural issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper in a Native American language, was published. Wikipedia
• 1842 John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine. Wikipedia
• 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde. Wikipedia
• 1866 Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to receive a doctorate from a dental college. Wikipedia
• 1878 The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut. Wikipedia
• 1885 The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated. Wikipedia
• 1913 Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins. Wikipedia
• 1918 The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. Wikipedia
• 1919 Bavarian socialist Kurt Eisner, who had organized the German Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy and established Bavaria as a republic, was assassinated. Wikipedia
• 1925 The New Yorker publishes its first issue. Wikipedia
• 1929 Nanjing decade: 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. Wikipedia
• 1948 NASCAR is incorporated. Wikipedia
• 1952 A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". Wikipedia
• 1965 American Black nationalist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom. Wikipedia
• 1971 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna. Wikipedia
• 1972 The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1973 After accidentally straying into the airspace of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two Israeli fighter aircraft, killing 108 of the 113 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1974 The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia

Born on February 21

• 1728 Peter III of Russia (died 1762) Wikipedia
• 1794 Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (died 1876) Wikipedia
• 1801 John Henry Newman, English cardinal (died 1890) Wikipedia
• 1875 Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian, oldest verified person ever (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1885 Sacha Guitry, Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1903 Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1907 W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and composer (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1921 John Rawls, American philosopher and academic (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1924 Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean educator and politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1933 Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1937 Harald V of Norway, King of Norway (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1946 Alan Rickman, English actor and director (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1950 Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopian politician and diplomat, 5th President of Ethiopia Wikipedia
• 1955 Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1962 Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist Wikipedia
• 1979 Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1980 Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 5th King of Bhutan Wikipedia
• 1987 Elliot Page, Canadian actor Wikipedia
• 1989 Corbin Bleu, American actor, model, dancer, film producer and singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1991 Riyad Mahrez, Algerian footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Phil Jones, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Sophie Turner, English actress Wikipedia

Died on February 21

• 4 Gaius Caesar, Roman consul and grandson of Augustus (born 20 BC) Wikipedia
• 1437 James I of Scotland (born 1394; assassinated) Wikipedia
• 1513 Pope Julius II (born 1443) Wikipedia
• 1677 Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher and scholar (born 1632) Wikipedia
• 1730 Pope Benedict XIII (born 1649) Wikipedia
• 1926 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1934 Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1941 Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1965 Malcolm X, American minister and activist (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 1968 Howard Florey, Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1984 Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1993 Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1999 Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2018 Billy Graham, American evangelist (born 1918) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (South Africa) Wikipedia
• Birthday of King Harald V (Norway) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix of Hadrumetum Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pepin of Landen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Damian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Randoald of Grandval Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Father Lini Day (Vanuatu) Wikipedia
• Language Movement Day (Bangladesh) Wikipedia
• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO) Wikipedia
• The first day of the Birth Anniversary of Fifth Druk Gyalpo, celebrated until February 23. (Bhutan) Wikipedia
• The first day of the Musikahan Festival, celebrated until February 27. (Tagum City, Philippines) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 21” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 21” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 21” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for February 21 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.