February 21

Pre-1600

 * 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.
 * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
 * 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.

1601–1900

 * 1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
 * 1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.
 * 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
 * 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.
 * 1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
 * 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
 * 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
 * 1861 – Mariehamn, the capital city of Åland, is founded.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
 * 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
 * 1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
 * 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
 * 1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.

1901–present

 * 1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
 * 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
 * 1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
 * 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.
 * 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
 * 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) and damage the USS Saratoga (CV-3).
 * 1945  – World War II:  the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.
 * 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.
 * 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
 * 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).
 * 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.
 * 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
 * 1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations.
 * 1972  – The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
 * 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.
 * 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
 * 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.
 * 1994 – Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia.
 * 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
 * 2013 – At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.
 * 2022 – In the Russo-Ukrainian crisis 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.

Pre-1600

 * 921 – Abe no Seimei, Japanese astrologer (d. 1005)
 * 1397 – Isabella of Portugal (d. 1471)
 * 1462 – Joanna la Beltraneja, princess of Castile (d. 1530)
 * 1484 – Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
 * 1498 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English Earl (d. 1549)
 * 1541 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1599)
 * 1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German astronomer, composer, and theorist (d. 1615)

1601–1900

 * 1609 – Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian military commander (d. 1680)
 * 1621 – Rebecca Nurse, Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (d. 1692)
 * 1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, English admiral and politician (d. 1781)
 * 1728 – Peter III of Russia (d. 1762)
 * 1783 – Catharina of Württemberg (d. 1835)
 * 1788 – Francis Ronalds, British scientist, inventor and engineer who was knighted for developing the first working electric telegraph (d. 1873)
 * 1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1857)
 * 1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (d. 1876)
 * 1801 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (d. 1890)
 * 1817 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1893)
 * 1821 – Charles Scribner I, American publisher, founded Charles Scribner's Sons (d. 1871)
 * 1836 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (d. 1891)
 * 1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
 * 1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh-English sculptor and academic (d. 1952)
 * 1865 – John Haden Badley, English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (d. 1967)
 * 1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1934)
 * 1875 – Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian, oldest verified person ever (d. 1997)
 * 1878 – Mirra Alfassa, French-Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
 * 1881 – Kenneth J. Alford, English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (d. 1945)
 * 1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (d. 1957)
 * 1887 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of War (d. 1945)
 * 1888 – Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (d. 1965)
 * 1892 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1949)
 * 1893 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (d. 1979)
 * 1893  – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
 * 1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian chemist and academic (d. 1955)
 * 1895 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
 * 1896 – Nirala, Indian poet and author (d. 1961)
 * 1900 – Jeanne Aubert, French singer and actress (d. 1988)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Arthur Nock, English theologian and academic (d. 1963)
 * 1903 – Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (d. 1977)
 * 1903  – Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (d. 1976)
 * 1907 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
 * 1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
 * 1910 – Douglas Bader, English captain and pilot (d. 1982)
 * 1912 – Arline Judge, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
 * 1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (d. 1999)
 * 1914  – Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
 * 1914  – Jean Tatlock, American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1944)
 * 1915 – Claudia Jones, Trinidad-British journalist and activist (d. 1964)
 * 1915  – Ann Sheridan, American actress and singer (d. 1967)
 * 1915  – Anton Vratuša, Prime Minister of Slovenia (d. 2017)
 * 1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (d. 1996)
 * 1917  – Tadd Dameron, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
 * 1921 – Zdeněk Miler, Czech animator (d. 2011)
 * 1921  – John Rawls, American philosopher and academic (d. 2002)
 * 1921  – Richard T. Whitcomb, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2009)
 * 1924 – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst (d. 1980)
 * 1924  – Thelma Estrin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
 * 1924  – Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean educator and politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (d. 2019)
 * 1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director and screenwriter (d. 1984)
 * 1925  – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
 * 1927 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
 * 1929 – Chespirito, Mexican actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
 * 1933 – Bob Rafelson, American film director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2022)
 * 1933  – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2003)
 * 1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
 * 1935 – Richard A. Lupoff, American author (d. 2020)
 * 1935  – Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
 * 1936 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1996)
 * 1937 – Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (d. 2015)
 * 1937  – Harald V of Norway
 * 1937  – Gary Lockwood, American actor
 * 1938 – Bobby Charles, American singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1940 – Peter Gethin, English racing driver (d. 2011)
 * 1940  – John Lewis, American activist and politician (d. 2020)
 * 1942 – Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1942  – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1943 – David Geffen, American businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
 * 1945 – Maurice Bembridge, English golfer (d. 2024)
 * 1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress and singer
 * 1946  – Anthony Daniels, English actor and producer
 * 1946  – Alan Rickman, English actor and director (d. 2016)
 * 1946  – Bob Ryan, American journalist and author
 * 1947 – Johnny Echols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1947  – Olympia Snowe, American politician
 * 1949 – Frank Brunner, American illustrator
 * 1949  – Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1949  – Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer (d. 2022)
 * 1950 – Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopian politician and diplomat, 5th President of Ethiopia
 * 1951 – Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (d. 2006)
 * 1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
 * 1952  – Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat, former Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations (d. 2017)
 * 1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress and singer
 * 1953  – William Petersen, American actor and producer
 * 1954 – Christina Rees, British politician
 * 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, and producer
 * 1958 – Jake Burns, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1958  – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1958  – Kim Coates, Canadian-American actor
 * 1958  – Jack Coleman, American actor
 * 1958  – Alan Trammell, American baseball player, coach, and manager
 * 1959 – José María Cano, Spanish singer-songwriter and painter
 * 1960 – Plamen Oresharski, Bulgarian economist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria
 * 1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor and businessman
 * 1961  – Elliot Hirshman, American psychologist and academic
 * 1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist
 * 1962  – David Foster Wallace, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2008)
 * 1963 – William Baldwin, American actor
 * 1963  – Ranking Roger, English singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2019)
 * 1963  – Greg Turner, New Zealand golfer
 * 1964 – Mark Kelly, American astronaut and politician
 * 1964  – Scott Kelly, American astronaut
 * 1965 – Mark Ferguson, Australian journalist
 * 1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner and coach
 * 1967  – Sari Essayah, Finnish athlete and politician
 * 1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1969  – Aunjanue Ellis, American actress and producer
 * 1969  – Petra Kronberger, Austrian skier
 * 1969  – Tony Meola, American soccer player and manager
 * 1969  – Cathy Richardson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1971 – Pierre Fulke, Swedish golfer
 * 1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1973  – Brian Rolston, American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
 * 1975 – Scott Miller, Australian swimmer
 * 1976 – Michael McIntyre, English comedian, actor and television presenter
 * 1976  – Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
 * 1977  – Rhiannon Giddens, American musician
 * 1978 – Erick Barkley, American basketball player
 * 1979 – Tituss Burgess, American actor and singer
 * 1979  – Carlito, Puerto Rican wrestler
 * 1979  – Pascal Chimbonda, Guadeloupean-French footballer
 * 1979  – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and producer
 * 1979  – Jordan Peele, American actor, comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1980 – Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1980  – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1980  – Brendan Sexton III, American actor
 * 1980  – Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 5th King of Bhutan
 * 1981 – Tsuyoshi Wada, Japanese baseball player
 * 1982 – Andre Barrett, American basketball player
 * 1982  – Chantal Claret, American singer-songwriter
 * 1982  – Tebogo Jacko Magubane, South African DJ and producer
 * 1983 – Braylon Edwards, American football player
 * 1983  – Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1983  – Mélanie Laurent, French actress
 * 1984 – Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1984  – David Odonkor, German footballer
 * 1984  – Marco Paoloni, Italian footballer
 * 1984  – James Wisniewski, American ice hockey player
 * 1985 – Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
 * 1986 – Charlotte Church, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1987 – Eniola Aluko, English footballer
 * 1987  – Ashley Greene, American actress
 * 1987  – Elliot Page, Canadian actor
 * 1988 – Donté Greene, American basketball player
 * 1989 – Corbin Bleu, American actor, model, dancer, film producer and singer-songwriter
 * 1989  – Ian Cole, American ice hockey player
 * 1989  – Federico Fernández, Argentine footballer
 * 1989  – Jake Muzzin, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1990 – Mattias Tedenby, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1991 – Joe Alwyn, English actor
 * 1991  – Riyad Mahrez, Algerian footballer
 * 1991  – Ji So-yun, South Korean footballer
 * 1991  – Devon Travis, American baseball player
 * 1992 – Phil Jones, English footballer
 * 1993 – Steve Leo Beleck, Cameroonian footballer
 * 1993  – Davy Klaassen, Dutch footballer
 * 1994 – Tang Haochen, Chinese tennis player
 * 1994  – Hayley Orrantia, American actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1994  – Wendy, South Korean singer
 * 1996 – Noah Rubin, American tennis player
 * 1996  – Sophie Turner, English actress
 * 1999 – Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, Thai actor and singer

Pre-1600

 * 4 AD – Gaius Caesar, Roman consul and grandson of Augustus (b. 20 BC)
 * 675 – Randoald of Grandval, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Grandval
 * 1184 – Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Japanese shōgun (b. 1154)
 * 1211 – Aymon de Briançon, archbishop of Tarentaise and crusader
 * 1267 – Baldwin of Ibelin, Seneschal of Cyprus
 * 1437 – James I of Scotland (b. 1394; assassinated)
 * 1471 – Jan Rokycana, Czech bishop and theologian (b. 1396)
 * 1513 – Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
 * 1543 – Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Somalian general (b. 1507)
 * 1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist and physician (b. 1498)
 * 1572 – Cho Shik, Korean poet and scholar (b. 1501)
 * 1590 – Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (b. 1528)
 * 1595 – Robert Southwell, English priest and poet (b. 1561)

1601–1900

 * 1677 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher and scholar (b. 1632)
 * 1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (b. 1637)
 * 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
 * 1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German jurist and diplomat (b. 1756)
 * 1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais, French general (b. 1781)
 * 1829 – Kittur Chennamma, Indian queen and freedom fighter (b. 1778)
 * 1846 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (b. 1800)
 * 1862 – Justinus Kerner, German poet and physician (b. 1786)
 * 1888 – William Weston, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1804)
 * 1891 – James Timberlake, American lieutenant and police officer (b. 1846)

1901–present

 * 1918 – Incas, last known Carolina parakeet (h. )
 * 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (b. 1867)
 * 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
 * 1934 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (b. 1895)
 * 1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and academic (b. 1868)
 * 1941 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
 * 1944 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-French racing driver (b. 1873)
 * 1945 – Eric Liddell, Scottish rugby player and runner (b. 1902)
 * 1946 – José Streel, Belgian journalist (b. 1911)
 * 1947 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (b. 1881)
 * 1958 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
 * 1965 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (b. 1925)
 * 1967 – Charles Beaumont, American author and screenwriter (b. 1929)
 * 1968 – Howard Florey, Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
 * 1972 – Zhang Guohua, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
 * 1972  – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian-American dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
 * 1972  – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (b. 1884)
 * 1974 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, co-founded Tim Hortons (b. 1930)
 * 1980 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author (b. 1914)
 * 1982 – Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli historian and philosopher (b. 1897)
 * 1984 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 * 1985 – Louis Hayward, South African-American actor (b. 1909)
 * 1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American novelist (b. 1895)
 * 1991 – Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, Australian poet, critic, and academic (b. 1915)
 * 1991  – Nutan, Indian actress (b. 1936)
 * 1993 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (b. 1888)
 * 1994 – Johannes Steinhoff, German general and pilot (b. 1913)
 * 1995 – Robert Bolt, English dramatist (b. 1924)
 * 1996 – Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1913)
 * 1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * 1999  – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (b. 1914)
 * 1999  – Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player and politician (b. 1930)
 * 2002 – John Thaw, English actor and producer (b. 1942)
 * 2004 – John Charles, Welsh footballer and manager (b. 1931)
 * 2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban author, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1929)
 * 2005  – Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1929)
 * 2008 – Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
 * 2011 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media (b. 1962)
 * 2011  – Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
 * 2012 – H. M. Darmstandler, American general (b. 1922)
 * 2013 – Hasse Jeppson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
 * 2014 – Héctor Maestri, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1935)
 * 2014  – Matthew Robinson, Australian snowboarder (b. 1985)
 * 2014  – Cornelius Schnauber, German–American historian, playwright, and academic (b. 1939)
 * 2015 – Aleksei Gubarev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1931)
 * 2015  – Sadeq Tabatabaei, Iranian journalist and politician (b. 1943)
 * 2015  – Clark Terry, American trumpet player, composer, and educator (b. 1920)
 * 2016 – Eric Brown, Scottish-English captain and pilot (b. 1919)
 * 2017 – Jeanne Martin Cissé, Guinean teacher and politician (b. 1926)
 * 2018 – Billy Graham, American evangelist (b. 1918)
 * 2019 – Stanley Donen, American film director (b. 1924)
 * 2019  – Peter Tork, American musician and actor (b. 1942)
 * 2021 – Mireya Arboleda, Colombian classical pianist (b. 1928)
 * 2021  – Kevin Dann, Australian rugby league player (b. 1958)
 * 2024 – John Bahnsen, United States Army brigadier general and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances

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