October 21

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

October 21, 1660

Birth of Georg Ernst Stahl in Ansbach, Germany. He was one of the first professors in the newly founded school of medicine in Halle in 1694. In the debates of the time Stahl opposed a purely mechanical view of the nature of life and adopted the philosophy of animism ( an abstract principle of life).

October 21, 1704

Birth of Johann Friedrich Schönemann in Crossen, Germany. He was an actor in Karoline Neuber's troop after 1730. In 1740 he formed his own theater company. Although less than the influence of Neuber on the development of the German theater, Schönemann too led toward the development of serious theater in Germany.

October 21, 1725

Birth of Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Born in Russia of an Irish father, Lacy was educated in Germany and entered public service in Austria. He rose through the military to the top of Austria's army and became a trusted advisor to Joseph II.

October 21, 1871

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff visits Friedrich Nietzsche in Naumburg.

October 21, 1830

Birth of Georg von Dollmann in Ansbach, Germany. Dollmann was the architect employed by Ludwig II of Bavaria to build his (now very popular tourist attractions) palaces, Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof.

October 21, 1881

Death of Johann Kaspar Bluntschli in Zürich, Switzerland. Bluntschli was a professor of law at the universities of Zürich, Munich and Heidelberg. He is one of the developers of the system of international law. In his book Das moderne Kriegsrecht (1866) he set out standards of law for war. His system was largely adopted at the Hague conferences of 1899 and 1907. He also wrote Das moderne Völkerrecht in 1868 and Lehre vom modernen Staat in 1876.

October 21, 1885

Birth of the Austrian composer/musicologist, Egon Wellesz in Vienna, Austria. He taught at the University of Vienna and Oxford University. He became a leading authority on Byzantine music.

October 21, 1917

The first American troops engage in WWI.

October 21, 1931

Death of Arthur Schnitzler in Vienna, Austria. Schnitzler was a physician in Vienna, who had a strong interest in psychiatry. He is, however, remembered for his plays and novels. Among his noted works are Anatol (1893), Liebelei (1896), Leutnant Gustl (1901) and Der Weg ins Freie (1908).

October 21, 1969

Willy Brandt of the SPD is elected the fourth chancellor of West Germany. Germany has been divided into two states for 20 years at the time of his election. His time as chancellor will be characterized by "Ostpolitik", an attempt to soften relations with the East. Walter Scheel (FDP) becomes the vice chancellor and foreign minister.