Which event does this 1805 photograph show?

An admiral wins the greatest sea battle of the age and is shot dead in the middle of it (1805). Nelson destroyed a combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, taking or wrecking twenty-two ships without losing one of his own. He was shot by a marksman in the rigging of the Redoutable and died below decks while the battle was still being won. Britain was not seriously challenged at sea again for a century.

Which event does this 1959 photograph show?

A museum shaped like one long spiral ramp opens six months after its architect dies (1959). Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim opened in New York on 21 October 1959, six months after he died. Twenty-one artists had petitioned against it, arguing that curved walls and a sloping floor were no way to hang paintings. Wright wanted visitors taken to the top by lift and then walked down. Most of them still do the opposite.

Which event does this 1944 photograph show?

The first city on German soil falls after three weeks of house to house fighting (1944). Aachen surrendered on 21 October 1944, the first German city taken by the Western Allies. Hitler had ordered it held to the last man, and the fighting went building by building for nineteen days, wrecking most of the old town. Charlemagne had made the place his capital eleven centuries earlier and is buried there.

Which event does this 1854 photograph show?

A nurse leaves for a war where far more soldiers are dying of disease than of wounds (1854). Florence Nightingale left for the Crimea on 21 October 1854 with thirty-eight volunteer nurses, after newspaper reports of the state of the army hospitals caused a scandal at home. At Scutari seven men were dying of typhus, cholera and dysentery for every one killed in action. Her real weapon turned out to be statistics: she kept records nobody could argue with.

Which event does this 1797 photograph show?

A frigate is launched that is still a commissioned warship two centuries later (1797). USS Constitution was launched at Boston on 21 October 1797, at the third attempt; the first two stuck on the slipway. British shot was seen to bounce off her thick live oak sides in 1812, which earned her the name Old Ironsides. She is still in commission, the oldest warship afloat anywhere, and still puts to sea under her own sail once a year.

What happened on October 21? the Battle of Trafalgar, the opening of the Guggenheim Museum and 3 more

What happened on October 21

All 5 specimens from this file, spanning 1797 to 1959, with the story behind each photograph.

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Conflict · 1805

An admiral wins the greatest sea battle of the age and is shot dead in the middle of it

Nelson destroyed a combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, taking or wrecking twenty-two ships without losing one of his own. He was shot by a marksman in the rigging of the Redoutable and died below decks while the battle was still being won. Britain was not seriously challenged at sea again for a century.
Architecture · 1959

A museum shaped like one long spiral ramp opens six months after its architect dies

Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim opened in New York on 21 October 1959, six months after he died. Twenty-one artists had petitioned against it, arguing that curved walls and a sloping floor were no way to hang paintings. Wright wanted visitors taken to the top by lift and then walked down. Most of them still do the opposite.
Conflict · 1944

The first city on German soil falls after three weeks of house to house fighting

Aachen surrendered on 21 October 1944, the first German city taken by the Western Allies. Hitler had ordered it held to the last man, and the fighting went building by building for nineteen days, wrecking most of the old town. Charlemagne had made the place his capital eleven centuries earlier and is buried there.
Society · 1854

A nurse leaves for a war where far more soldiers are dying of disease than of wounds

Florence Nightingale left for the Crimea on 21 October 1854 with thirty-eight volunteer nurses, after newspaper reports of the state of the army hospitals caused a scandal at home. At Scutari seven men were dying of typhus, cholera and dysentery for every one killed in action. Her real weapon turned out to be statistics: she kept records nobody could argue with.
Engineering · 1797

A frigate is launched that is still a commissioned warship two centuries later

USS Constitution was launched at Boston on 21 October 1797, at the third attempt; the first two stuck on the slipway. British shot was seen to bounce off her thick live oak sides in 1812, which earned her the name Old Ironsides. She is still in commission, the oldest warship afloat anywhere, and still puts to sea under her own sail once a year.