On This Day — 21 March

2022

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashes in Guangxi, China, killing 132 people.

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735

2019

The 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion occurs, killing at least 47 people and injuring 640 others.

2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion

2006

The social media site Twitter (now officially named X) is founded.

Social media

2000

Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.

Pope John Paul II

1999

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.

Bertrand Piccard

1994

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

1990

Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.

Namibia

1989

Transbrasil Flight 801 crashes into a slum near São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, killing 25 people.

Transbrasil Flight 801

1986

Debi Thomas becomes the first African American to win the World Figure Skating Championships.

Debi Thomas

1985

Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.

Paraplegia

1983

The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.

1983 West Bank fainting epidemic

1980

Cold War: American President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War.

Cold War

1970

The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.

Earth Day

1970

San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop and culture festival in the world, hosts its inaugural event.

San Diego Comic-Con

1968

Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.

Battle of Karameh

1965

Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of uncrewed lunar space probes.

Ranger program

1965

Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Martin Luther King Jr.

1963

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary

1960

Apartheid: Sharpeville massacre, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.

Apartheid

1952

Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Alan Freed

1946

The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in professional American football since 1933.

Los Angeles Rams

1945

World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.

World War II

1945

World War II: Operation Carthage: Royal Air Force planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. They also accidentally hit a school, killing 125 civilians.

Operation Carthage

1945

World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes.

Kingdom of Bulgaria

1943

Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through; von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.

Wehrmacht

1937

Ponce massacre: Nineteen unarmed civilians in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by police in a terrorist attack ordered by the US-appointed Governor, Blanton Winship.

Ponce massacre

1935

Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran.

List of monarchs of Iran

1934

The landmark Australian Eastern Mission led by John Latham departs on its three-month tour of East and South-East Asia.

Australian Eastern Mission

1928

Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.

Charles Lindbergh

1925

The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.

Butler Act

1925

Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.

Syngman Rhee

1925

Ravel's opera L'enfant et les sortilèges, to a libretto by Colette, is premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

L'enfant et les sortilèges

1921

The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.

New Economic Policy

1919

The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.

Hungarian Soviet Republic

1918

World War I: The first phase of the German spring offensive, Operation Michael, begins.

World War I

1871

Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire.

Otto von Bismarck

1871

Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.

Henry Morton Stanley

1861

Alexander H. Stephens gives the Cornerstone Speech.

Alexander H. Stephens

1844

The Baháʼí calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year of the Baháʼí calendar. It is annually celebrated by members of the Baháʼí Faith as the Baháʼí New Year or Náw-Rúz.

Baháʼí calendar

1829

The Wellington–Winchilsea duel takes place in London involving the Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington.

Wellington–Winchilsea duel

1821

Greek War of Independence: Greek revolutionaries seize Kalavryta.

Greek War of Independence

1814

Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.

Napoleonic Wars

1804

Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law.

Napoleonic Code

1801

The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt.

Battle of Alexandria (1801)

1800

With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.

Papal States

1788

A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.

Great New Orleans Fire (1788)

1556

On the day of his execution in Oxford, former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer deviates from the scripted sermon by renouncing the recantations he has made and adds, "And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine."

Oxford

1349

Erfurt massacre: Outbreak of an antisemitic pogrom in Erfurt, Germany, during which between 100 and up to 3000 Jews were killed by Christians after being accused of causing the Black Death.

Erfurt massacre (1349)

1180

Emperor Antoku accedes to the throne of Japan.

Emperor Antoku

1152

Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Louis VII of France

867

An army of the Kingdom of Northumbria attempts to recapture York from the Great Heathen Army but is defeated in the battle of York.

Northumbria

717

Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.

Battle of Vincy

630

Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.

Heraclius

537

Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius.

Siege of Rome (537–538)