WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21, 2026

1805-Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson is shot and killed during the battle.

1854-Florence Nightingale, with a staff of 38 nurses, is sent to the Crimean War

1944-U.S. troops capture Aachen, the first large German city to fall in World War II

1948-U.N. rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons

1950-Chinese Communist forces occupy Tibet

1966-116 children and 28 adults die as a coal waste heap slides and engulfs a school in Aberfan, South Wales

1993-A failed military coup in Burundi led by ex-President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, causes 525,000 Hutus to flee and the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye

1994-North Korea signs a pact to end its nuclear projects