Today in History
21st February
The first locomotive in the world was
built
by R. Trevithick in 1804
Michael Romanov
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21st February |
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| 1173 Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket Absp of Canterbury | ||
| 1431 England begins trial against Joan of Arc | ||
| 1437 King James I of Scotland was assassinated by conspirators led by Walter of Atholl after his efforts to break the influence of the Scottish nobility. |
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| 1513 Pope Julius II died after a 10-year reign. History knows him as a supreme patron of the arts for commissioning Bramante to design the new St. Peter's basilica, Michelangelo to execute the Sistine Chapel frescoes and Raphael to decorate his private apartments. | ||
| 1574 Spanish garrison of Middelburg Netherland surrenders | ||
| 1583 Groningen Netherland begins using Gregorian calendar | ||
| 1598 Boris Godunov crowned tsar | ||
| 1613 Michael Romanov was elected czar of Russia, beginning the Romanov imperial line. | ||
| 1673 Michiel A de Ruyter appointed lt-admiral-general of Dutch fleet | The first locomotive in the world was
built |
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| 1675 Prince Willem III appointed viceroy of Gelderland | ||
| 1764 John Wilkes thrown out of Engl House of Commons for "Essay on Women" | ||
| 1782 US congress resolves establishment of a US mint | ||
| 1792 Congress passes Pres Succession Act | ||
| 1795 Freedom of worship established in France under constitution | ||
| 1797 Trinidad, West Indies surrenders to British | ||
| 1804 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for 1st time, in Wales | ||
| 1849 In the second British-Sikh war, the British defeated a force of 50,000 Sikhs under Shir Singh at the battle of Gujerat. | ||
| 1857 Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US |
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| 1857 US issues flying eagle cents | ||
| 1858 Edwin T Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Mass) | ||
| 1861 Navaho indians elect Herrero Grande as chief | ||
| 1862 Confederate Constitution & presidency are declared permanent | ||
| 1864 1st US Catholic parish church for blacks dedicated, Baltimore | ||
| 1874 Benjamin Disraeli replaces William Gladstone as English premier | ||
| 1874 Oakland Daily Tribune begins publication | ||
| 1885 The Washington Monument was dedicated. | ||
| 1887 1st US bacteriology laboratory opens (Brooklyn) | ||
| 1911 Japan and the United States signed a commercial treaty limiting the flow of Japanese workers to the United States. | ||
| 1914 White Wolf troops attack Zhanjiang China | ||
| 1915 In World War I the Germans under Hindenberg heavily defeated the Russians under Baron Siever at the Winter Battle of Masuria which ended on this day. More than 200,000 Russians were lost. | ||
| 1915 20th Russian Army corps surrenders | ||
| 1916 Battle of Verdun in WW I begins (1 million casualties) | ||
| 1916 The German army launched an attack on the French fortress at Verdun. The epic battle was to last until December 18, with 434,000 German and 543,000 French casualties. | ||
| 1917 British Mendi sinks off Isle of Wight, 627 die | ||
| 1917 Train near Chirurcha Romania catches fire & explodes; 100s die | ||
| 1918 The Australian cavalry captured the city of Jericho in Jordan. | ||
| 1919 German National Meeting accepts Anschluss: incorporation of Austria | ||
| 1919 Revolutionary strike in Barcelona | ||
| 1922 Airship Rome explodes at Hampton Roads Virginia; 34 die | ||
| 1922 Great Britain grants Egypt independence | ||
| 1931 Alka Seltzer introduced | ||
| 1932 Andre Tardieu becomes premier of France | ||
| 1934 Nicaraguan patriot Augusto Cesar Sandino assassinated by Natlional Guard | ||
| 1939 Belgian govt of Pierlot forms | ||
| 1943 German offensive at Western Dorsalgebergte Tunisia | ||
| 1944 Japanese Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama was replaced as Chief of the Imperial Army General Staff by General Hideki Tojo, the prime minister. |
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| 1945 British Army captures Goch | ||
| 1945 US 10th Armour division overthrows Orscholz line | ||
| 1946 Anti-British demonstrations in Egypt | ||
| 1952 Dick Button performs 1st figure skating triple jump in competition | ||
| 1958 Egypt-Syria as UAR elect Nasser president (99.9% vote) | ||
| 1965 Black nationalist leader Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) was murdered in New York as he was about to address a meeting of his Afro-American Unity Organization. | ||
| 1966 Indonesia's president Sukarno fires General Nasution | ||
| 1968 150,000 demonstrate against leftist students in West-Berlin | ||
| 1970 Pathet Lao conquerors Xieng Khuang & Muong Suy | ||
| 1971 Series of tornadoes cuts through Miss & La killing 117 | ||
| 1972 Richard Nixon became the first serving U.S. president to visit China. | ||
| 1973 Israeli fighters shoot Libyan aircraft down, killing 108 | ||
| 1974 Israeli forces leave western Suez | ||
| 1974 Yugoslavia adopts constitution | Michael Romanov |
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| 1975 Three aides of U.S. ex-president Richard Nixon, former attorney general John Mitchell, former chief of staff H.R. Haldeman and domestic adviser John Ehrlichman, were jailed for obstructing the course of justice in the Watergate affair. | ||
| 1976 Cardinal Willebrands installed as archbishop of Utrecht | ||
| 1980 Hanni Wenzel is 1st Liechtensteiner to win Olymp gold (giant slalom) | ||
| 1981 Japan launches Hinotori satellite to study solar flares (580/640 k) | ||
| 1987 Syrian army marches into Beirut | ||
| 1989 Czechoslovak dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was jailed by Prague's Communist authorities for incitement and obstruction. | ||
| 1991 USSR announces Iraq agrees to a proposal to end Persian Gulf War | ||
| 1994 Pakistani commandos stormed the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, killing three Afghan gunmen who had been holding hostage five schoolboys and a teacher. | ||
| 1994 The Togolese opposition claimed victory in elections to the country's first multi-party parliament. | ||
| 1995 RAF-pilot Jo Salter is 1st woman to fly in a tornado | ||
| 1997 Jeanne Calment, believed to be the world's oldest person, celebrated her 122nd birthday in France. | ||
| 1997 North Korean Vice Premier Hong Song Nam was named acting premier in place of Kang Song San, one of the most powerful figures in the secretive Stalinist state. | ||