Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
February 21
| 1595 | The Jesuit poet Robert Southwell is hanged for "treason" being a Catholic. | |
| 1631 | Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected Russian Tsar. | |
| 1744 | The British blockade of Toulon is broken by 27 French and Spanish warships attacking 29 British ships. | |
| 1775 | As troubles with Great Britain increase, colonists in Massachusetts vote to buy military equipment for 15,000 men. | |
| 1797 | Trinidad, West Indies surrenders to the British. | |
| 1828 | The first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is printed, both in English and in the newly invented Cherokee alphabet. | |
| 1849 | In the Second Sikh War, Sir Hugh Gough's well placed guns win a victory over a Sikh force twice the size of his at Gujerat on the Chenab River, assuring British control of the Punjab for years to come. | |
| 1862 | The Texas Rangers win a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico. | |
| 1878 | The world's first telephone book is issued by the New Haven Connecticut Telephone Company containing the names of its 50 subscribers. | |
| 1885 | The Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington, D.C. | |
| 1905 | The Mukden campaign of the Russo-Japanese War, begins. | |
| 1916 | The battle of Verdun begins with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines. | |
| 1925 | The first issue of New Yorker magazine hits the newsstands. | |
| 1940 | The Germans begin construction of a concentration camp at Auschwitz. | |
| 1944 | Hideki Tojo becomes chief of staff of the Japanese army. | |
| 1949 | Nicaragua and Costa Rica sign a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders. | |
| 1951 | The U. S. Eighth Army launches Operation Killer, a counterattack to push Chinese forces north of the Han River in Korea. | |
| 1956 | A grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama indicts 115 in a Negro bus boycott. | |
| 1960 | Havana places all Cuban industry under direct control of the government. | |
| 1965 | El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcom X) is assassinated in front of 400 people. | |
| 1972 | Richard Nixon arrives in Beijing, China, becoming the first U.S. president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the U.S. | |
| 1974 | A report claims that the use of defoliants by the U.S. has scarred Vietnam for a century. | |
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Born on February 21 |
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| 1794 | Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican Revolutionary. | |
| 1801 | John Henry Newman, English theologian and writer. | |
| 1821 | Charles Scribner, founded the publishing firm which became Charles Scribner's Sons and also founded Scribner's magazine. | |
| 1893 | Andés Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist. | |
| 1907 | W.H. Auden, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (The Age of Anxiety). | |
| 1920 | Robert S. Johnson, American World War II fighter ace who shot down 27 German planes. | |
| 1927 | Erma Bombeck, author and humorist (The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank). | |
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