October 21 Historical Events

The following events took place on October 21. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 55 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 1096
  People’s Crusade: The Turkish army successfully fight off the People’s Army of the West.
• 1097
  First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.
• 1209
  Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.
• 1392
  Nanboku-chō, Japan: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
• 1512
  Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
• 1520
  Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
• 1520
  João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of “Islands of the 11,000 Virgins”.
• 1600
  Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate that in effect rules Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
• 1774
  First display of the word “Liberty” on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
• 1797
  In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
• 1805
  Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve, signaling almost the end of French maritime power and leaves Britain’s navy unchallenged until the 20th century.
• 1816
  The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings, the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
• 1824
  Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
• 1854
  Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.
• 1861
  American Civil War: Battle of Ball’s Bluff: Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.

• 1867
  Manifest destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty: Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.
• 1879
  Thomas Edison invents a workable electric light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. which was tested the next day and lasted 13.5 hours. This would be the invention of the first commercially practical incandescent light. Popular belief is that he invented the first light bulb, which he did not.
• 1888
  Foundation of the Swiss Social Democratic Party.
• 1892
  Opening ceremonies for the World’s Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.
• 1895
  The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
• 1902
  In the United States, a five-month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
• 1910
  HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.
• 1912
  First Balkan War: Kardzhali is liberated by Bulgarian forces.
• 1921
  President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. President against lynching in the deep South.
• 1921
  George Melford’s silent film, The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, premiers.
• 1931
  The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.
• 1940
  The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.
• 1943
  The Provisional Government of Free India is formally declared by Subhas Chandra Bose.
• 1944
  World War II: The first kamikaze attack. A Japanese fighter plane carrying a 200 kg bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
• 1944
  World War II: Nemmersdorf massacre against the German civilians takes place.