What happened on 21 February?

9 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1848 Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels' pamphlet launching modern communism.
2. 1916 Battle of Verdun Ten-month French-German bloodbath; symbol of WWI's industrial slaughter.
3. 1972 Nixon visits China U.S. president meets Mao Zedong; ends two decades of diplomatic estrangement.
4. 1804 Trevithick's first steam locomotive Hauled iron from Penydarren ironworks in South Wales — the first steam locomotive.
5. 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 Communist Party seizes power in Prague — Iron Curtain falls across Czechoslovakia.
6. 1893 Born: Andres Segovia Spanish guitarist who established the classical guitar as a concert instrument.
7. 1933 Born: Nina Simone American singer, pianist and civil-rights icon.
8. 1965 Assassination of Malcolm X Malcolm X is shot dead at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan.
9. 1613 Time of Troubles ends Conventional end of Time of Troubles.