October 21

1096 – The Seljuk Turks defeat in detail the ‘People’s Army’ of the First Crusade at Helenopolis in Bythnia – the modern port city of Hersek, Turkey.

1097 – The ‘Princes Army’ of the First Crusade, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.

1512 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.

1520 – During is voyage of circumnavigation, Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait near the lower end of South America now named after him and makes preparations to transit it by sending one of his ships to scout ahead.

1774 – The flag of Taunton, Massachusetts is the first to include the word “Liberty”.

1797 – The 44 gun U. S. Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.

1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.

1861 – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops at Ball’s Bluff Virgini, in the second major battle of the war.

1867 – The Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed by the southern great plains tribes; Kiowa, Comanche, Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, requiring them to relocate to reservations in western Oklahoma.

1879 – Thomas Edison applies for a patent for his design for an incandescent light bulb.

1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World’s Columbian Exposition, a world fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovery of the New World are held in Chicago.

1944 – During the Allied invasion of the Phillipines at Leyte, the first kamikaze attack damages HMAS Australia.
The city of Aachen -Aix-la-Chapelle- site of Charlemagne’s Court, falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, the first German city to fall to the Allies during World War II

1959 – President Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA

1973 – Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game during play against the Green Bay Packers.

1983 – The definition of the meter is redefined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers abduct American writer Edward Tracy, eventually releasing him in August 1991.

2005 – Photographs of the solar system’s dwarf planet Eris taken in January by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California are used to confirm its discovery.

2011 – President Obama announces that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq will be complete by the end of the year.

2021 – On a movie set in New Mexico, Alec Baldwin discharges a prop weapon, which had been loaded with live ammunition, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring director Joel Souza.