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21 February| 21 February 1543 | Ethiopia, Adal [wars] | The Ethiopian forces of Emperor Galawdewos (Claudius) ambush the army of Adal at Weyna Dega near Lake Tana, Ethiopia, killing its leader Ahmad Grañ; the invasion force withdraws and Adali attempts to conquer Ethiopia come to an end. | | 21 February 1613 | Russia [political events] | After the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, the Zemsky Sobor (council of Boyars), elects the Boyar Michael Romanov as tsar of Russia (the founder of the Romanov dynasty). | | 21 February 1677 | United Netherlands [births and deaths] | Baruch (Benedict) de Spinoza, Dutch philosopher, leading exponent of rationalism, dies in The Hague, United Netherlands (44). | | 21 February 1804 | UK [railways] | English engineer Richard Trevithick builds the first steam railway locomotive, and on a wager runs it on a 16 km/10 mi track at the Pen-y-darren ironworks in South Wales carrying 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers. Further development is hindered because the engine cracks the cast iron rails. | | 21 February–18 December 1916 | France [World War I (1914–18)] | German and Allied troops meet in the Battle of Verdun in France, the German commander Eric von Falkenhayn planning to sap French reserves in a battle of attrition. By the end of the battle each side has lost about 400,000 men. | | 21 February 1925 | USA [magazines] | The first issue of the magazine New Yorker, featuring fiction, humor, and cartoons, appears in the USA, edited by Harold Ross. | | 21 February 1940 | UK [welfare] | Legislation is passed to entitle British women to receive an old age pension at the age of 60. | | 21 February 1965 | USA [civil rights] | Malcolm X, US black militant leader, is shot dead at the Audubon Ballroom, in New York City (39). | | 21 February 1973 | Laos [political events] | The government of Laos and the communist resistance group, the Pathet Lao, sign a ceasefire agreement in the captial, Vientiane. |
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