History Events on October 21

French women vote for the first time during the 1945 French legislative election.

#1945_French_legislative_election

In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).

#Iran-Contra_affair

Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.

#Moshe_Dayan

American Civil War: Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war.

#Battle_of_Ball's_Bluff

João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".

#João_Álvares_Fagundes

Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.

#Siege_of_Antioch

Napoleonic Wars: A British fleet led by Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve.

#Battle_of_Trafalgar

In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.

#Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum

In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people are killed when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapses.

#Seongsu_Bridge

Foundation of the Swiss Social Democratic Party.

#Social_Democratic_Party_of_Switzerland

World War II: The first kamikaze attack damages HMAS Australia as the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.

#HMAS_Australia_(D84)

President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. President against lynching in the deep South.

#Warren_G._Harding

The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

#Metre

World War II: The Nemmersdorf massacre against the German civilians takes place.

#Nemmersdorf_massacre

Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara and becomes sh?gun of Japan.

#Tokugawa_Ieyasu

Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.

#Comet_Ikeya-Seki

World War II: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.

#Battle_of_Aachen

Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.

#Fred_Dryer

A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fight off the People's Crusade.

#People's_Crusade

Japanese Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.

#Emperor_Go-Kameyama

World War II: The Provisional Government of Free India is formally established in Japanese-occupied Singapore.

#Azad_Hind

HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

#HMS_Niobe_(1897)

The Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya is defeated.

#Mau_Mau_Uprising

Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

#Disappearance_of_Frederick_Valentich

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

#Thomas_Edison

President Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.

#Army_Ballistic_Missile_Agency

Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.

#Otto_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.

#Andreas_Papandreou

Portland cement is patented.

#Portland_cement

The Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.

#Medicine_Lodge_Treaty

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.

#World's_Columbian_Exposition

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

#Florence_Nightingale

The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.

#Republic_of_Formosa

North Korea and the United States sign an Agreed Framework that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

#Agreed_Framework

The flag of Taunton, Massachusetts is the first to include the word "Liberty".

#Flag_of_Taunton,_Massachusetts

The 1969 Somali coup d'état establishes a Marxist-Leninist administration.

#1969_Somali_coup_d'état

The Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.

#Jaffna_hospital_massacre

In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.

#USS_Constitution

Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as the Strait of Magellan.

#Ferdinand_Magellan

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

#Martin_Luther

Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in documenting its discovery.

A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre near Glasgow, Scotland.

The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organizes a march of fifty thousand people from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon.

A colliery spoil tip collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.

Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces against the North Koreans during the Battle of Yongju.

The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.

A secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.