On this day: February 21

Events on February 21

• 1613 Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia. 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
• 1861 Mariehamn, the capital city of Åland, is founded. 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
• 1862 American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory. Wikipedia
• 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. 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
• 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. 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
• 1937 The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1952 The Bengali language movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Wikipedia
• 1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". 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
• 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
• 1972 United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations. Wikipedia
• 1973 Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people. Wikipedia
• 1974 The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1994 Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia. Wikipedia
• 2013 At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad. 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

• 921 Abe no Seimei, Japanese astrologer (died 1005) Wikipedia
• 1728 Peter III of Russia (died 1762) 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
• 1895 Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976) 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
• 1943 David Geffen, American businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records Wikipedia
• 1946 Alan Rickman, English actor and director (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1950 Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopian politician and diplomat, 5th President of Ethiopia 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
• 1996 Sophie Turner, English actress Wikipedia

Died on February 21

• 4 Gaius Caesar, Roman consul and grandson of Augustus (born 20 BC) Wikipedia
• 675 Randoald of Grandval, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Grandval 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
• 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

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 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.