September 21 in History

Historical Events on September 21

455

Emperor Avitus enters Rome with a Gallic army and consolidates his power.
1170

Combined English and Irish forces, under the command of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke and Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster seize Norse-Gaelic Dublin, forcing Ascall mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin into exile.
1217

Livonian Crusade: The Estonian leader Lembitu and Livonian leader Kaupo the Accursed are killed in Battle of Matthew's Day.
1435

The Congress of Arras causes Burgundy to switch sides in the Hundred Years' War.
1745

Battle of Prestonpans: A Hanoverian army under the command of Sir John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart
1776

Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.
1780

American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
1792

French Revolution: The National Convention declares France a republic and abolishes the absolute monarchy.
1843

John Williams Wilson takes possession of the Strait of Magellan on behalf of the newly independent Chilean government.
1860

Second Opium War: An Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao.
1896

Mahdist War: British forces under the command of Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in the Sudan.
1898

Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
1921

A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 500-600 people.
1933

Salvador Lutteroth ran the first ever EMLL (now CMLL) show in Mexico, marking the birth of Lucha libre.
1934

A large typhoon hits western Honshū, Japan, killing more than three thousand people.
1937

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.
1938

The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.
1939

Romanian Prime Minister Armand Călinescu is assassinated by far-right legionnaires of the fascist paramilitary organization Iron Guard.
1942

The Holocaust in Ukraine: On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Nazis send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaitsi to Bełżec extermination camp.
1942

The Holocaust in Poland: At the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynów and move to the ghetto in Biała Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns, including Janów Podlaski, Rossosz and Terespol.
1942

In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2,588 Jews.
1942

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.
1949

The People's Republic of China is established in Beijing.
1953

Lieutenant No Kum-sok, a North Korean pilot, defects to South Korea and is associated with Operation Moolah.
1964

Malta gains independence from the United Kingdom but remains in the Commonwealth.
1964

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.
1965

The Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.
1971

Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the United Nations.
1972

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation № 1081, placing the entire country under martial law and marking the beginning of his authoritarian rule.
1976

Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.
1976

Seychelles joins the United Nations.
1981

Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
1981

Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.
1984

Brunei joins the United Nations.
1991

Armenia gains independence from the Soviet Union.
1993

Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.
1996

The Defense of Marriage Act passes the United States Congress (a vote of 342-67 in the House of Representatives and a vote of 85-14 in the Senate). The law prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage, while allowing states to adopt any marital definition of their choosing.
1999

Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.
2001

America: A Tribute to Heroes is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks.
2001

Increased racial tensions in Peterborough, England following the September 11 attacks result in the murder of Ross Parker by a gang of ten Muslims in a racially motivated attack.
2003

The Galileo Probe is terminated by sending it into Jupiter.
2013

Al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people.

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