A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 21st. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On October 21, 1096, a Seljuk Turk army led by Sultan Kilij Arslan I massacred a Christian army from Europe, known as the People’s Army, ending the first of the religious wars known as the Crusades.
On October 21, 1944, Japan began their notorious kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, first striking HMAS Australia.
On October 21, 1944, the Soviet Red Army was steamrolling the German army on the Eastern Front, reaching the town of Nemmersdorf, where heartless Soviets massacred at least 74 ethnic Germans, and for good measure slaughtered another 50 French and Belgians being held by the Germans as POW’s.
On October 21, 1966, at 9:15 in the morning, the little Welsh village of Aberfan was the scene of a bizarre disaster that combined natural and man-made elements that resulted in the deaths of 116 children and 28 adults.
On October 21, 1973, defensive end Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams (yes, that is where they played before St. Louis, and they were the Cleveland Rams before that) became the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in one game, a remarkable feat.
On October 21, 1978, the Australian pilot of a Cessna 182 (small single engine propeller airplane) disappeared, but not before he radioed to Melbourne air traffic control that he was being shadowed by “not an aircraft.”
On October 21, 1983, the standard metric unit of length, the meter, was redefined as “the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.”
On October 21, 1995, Spanish illustrator and author Jesús Blasco died at age 76.
On October 21, 2017 (and October 22), Heritage Gun Shows, LLC hosted a gun show at the Richland County fairgrounds in Mansfield, Ohio.
On October 21, 2021, film actor Alex Baldwin fired a single shot from a movie prop pistol on the set of Rust, a movie being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.
On October 21, 2022, another blockbuster film in the DC Extended Universe was being released to the American public, and after spending $200 million on the budget and providing a tantalizing series of commercials and trailers we had to think the movie would be a big success at the box office.
On Monday, October 21, 2024, psychological thriller fans had their chance to be among the first in Cleveland, Ohio to see Conclave at 7:00 PM at Phoenix Theatres Great Northern Mall, 450 Great Northern Mall, North Olmsted, OH 44070!
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.