Human Saga

On October 21

On October 21, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

On this day

21 October 1805Battle of TrafalgarMilitary & conflict

On 21 October 1805, off Cape Trafalgar on the southwest coast of Spain, a British fleet of 27 ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson decisively defeated a combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships commanded by Admiral…

Also this week in history (Oct 18 – Oct 24)

24–29 October 1929Wall Street Crash and onset of the Great DepressionEconomy & trade

After a speculative boom, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed in late October 1929.

19 October 202 BCEBattle of Zama ends the Second Punic WarMilitary & conflict

At Zama in North Africa the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (later 'Africanus') decisively defeated Hannibal, ending the Second Punic War and Carthage's status as a great power.

18 October 1685Revocation of the Edict of NantesReligion & ideology

On 18 October 1685 Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes (1598) and stripping France's Protestant Huguenots of the legal toleration they had held for nearly a century.

23 October – 10 November 1956Hungarian UprisingMilitary & conflict

The Hungarian Revolution began on 23 October 1956 when student-led demonstrations in Budapest, demanding political reform and an end to Soviet domination, escalated into a nationwide revolt.

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