- 202 BC Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending 2nd Punic War
- 439 The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa
- 615 St Deusdedit I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1031 Abbot Humbertus van Echternach opens grave of Saint Willibrord
- 1216 King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry
- 1298 Rindfleisch-140 Jews of Heilbron Germany are murdered
- 1453 French retake Bordeaux following the Battle of Castillon
- 1466 The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Second Peace of Thorn, Germany
Historic Discovery
1492 Christopher Columbus sights "Isabela", now Fortune Island/Long Cay, Bahamas
Christopher Columbus
Event of Interest
1512 Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia)
Martin Luther
- 1576 Dutch provinces begin consultation about Spanish existence
- 1630 In Boston the 1st general court is held
- 1634 Beach Island in North Sea destroyed by a heavy storm flood
- 1682 English Lord Shaftesbury flees to Holland
- 1722 Frenchman C Hopffer patents the fire extinguisher
- 1739 England declares war on Spain [OS=Oct 30]
- 1765 Stamp Act Congress meets in New York City, writes the Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Event of Interest
1781 British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 pm; US Revolutionary War ends
Charles Cornwallis
Comte de Rochambeau
George Washington
Napoléon Bonaparte
Music Premiere
1845 Richard Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser" premieres in Dresden
Richard Wagner
- 1853 First flour mill in Hawaii begins operations
- 1856 James Kelly and Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
- 1859 Wilhelm Tempel discovers diffuse nebula around Pleid star Merope
- 1863 Battle of Buckland Mills, Virginia
- 1864 Approx 25 Confederates make surprise attack on St Albans, Vermont
- 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, Union beats back Confederate attackers
- 1864 US Brigadier General Emory Upton (25) promoted to Major General
- 1870 1st African Americans (4) elected to US House of Representatives
- 1870 British steamship SS Cambria wrecked off the north-west of Ireland with the loss of 178 lives
- 1879 Afghan's emir Mohammed Yakub forced to resign
Meeting of Interest
1882 Pierre de Brazza meets Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Event of Interest
1901 Edward Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance March" premieres in Liverpool
Edward Elgar
Event of Interest
1906 Frederick Winslow Taylor is awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Pennsylvania
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Event of Interest
1913 At a meeting of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in Durban, NIC secretaries, M. C. Anglia and Dada Osman, severely criticise Mahatma Gandhi and tender their resignations
Mahatma Gandhi
- 1914 US post office 1st used an automobile to collect and deliver mail
- 1915 Russia and Italy declare war on Bulgaria
- 1915 US bankers arrange a $500 million loan to the British and French
- 1916 France extends formal recognition of the Provisional Government in Crete proclaimed Eleftherios Venizelos
- 1917 Love Field in Dallas, Texas, is opened
- 1919 1st US Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a living female recipient, Anna Howard Shaw
- 1919 Reds beat White Sox, 5 games to 3 in 16th World Series. This series is known as black sox scandal as 8 White Sox throw series
- 1921 Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup
- 1923 Ban Johnson persuades AL owners to prohibit boxing in their parks
- 1923 Beierse government refuses to prohibit NSDAP newspaper Völkischer Beobachter
- 1924 General Christian Worker's union demands 8 hr work day in Belgium
- 1925 Italian army takes Somalia
- 1926 John C Garand patents semi-automatic rifle
Event of Interest
1926 Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers
Leon Trotsky
Event of Interest
1932 Henry Ford gives his 1st radio speech
Henry Ford
Event of Interest
1935 Mao Zedong's army reaches Shanxi
Mao Zedong
- 1936 HR Ekins of "NY World-Telegram" beats 2 other reporters in a race around the world on commercial flights, by 18½ days
Event of Interest
1939 Hermann Goering begins plunder through Nazi's occupied areas
Hermann Goering
- 1941 1st woman jockey in North America, Anna Lee Wiley in Mexico
- 1943 Conference of foreign ministers in Moscow
- 1943 Theater Guild presentation of "Othello" opens at Shubert
- 1943 Yankee 2nd baseman Joe Gordon announces his retirement
- 1943 Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University
- 1944 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies back to London from Moscow
- 1944 Canadian troops liberate Aardensburg
- 1944 John Van Druten's "I Remember Mama" premieres in NYC
- 1944 US Navy says black women can join WAVES
- 1944 US forces land in Philippines
- 1947 De Gaulles RPF wins French municipal elections
- 1948 "My Romance" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 95 performances
- 1949 A's trade 2nd baseman Nellie Fox to White Sox for Joe Tipton
- 1949 Yanks trade Joe Gordon to Cleveland for Allie Reynolds
- 1950 Bird Building at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is dedicated
- 1950 UN forces entered Pyongyang, capital of North Korea
- 1951 US President Harry Truman formally ends state of war with Germany
- 1952 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Betty Jameson Golf Tournament
- 1952 Alain Bombard departs from the Canary Islands on his solitary journey across the Atlantic ocean with almost no provisions and only a sextant for navigation to test his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive
- 1953 1st jet transcontinental nonstop scheduled service
- 1953 Singer Julius LaRosa is fired on TV by Arthur Godfrey
- 1954 Egypt and Great Britain sign treaty; British troops depart
- 1954 KAKE TV channel 10 in Wichita, KS (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1954 First ascent of Cho Oyu, sixth highest mountain in the world at 8,201 metres
- 1957 "Damn Yankees" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 1,022 performances
Event of Interest
1957 Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Mont, becomes 1st NHLer to score 500 goals
Maurice Richard
- 1958 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1958 Stirling Moss wins season ending Moroccan Grand Prix at Ain-Diab but fellow Brit Mike Hawthorn takes World Drivers Championship from Moss by just 1 point by finishing second; first British world champion
- 1959 Florence Henderson joins Today Show panel
- 1959 William Gibson's "Miracle Worker" premieres in NYC
- 1960 France grants Mauritania independence
- 1960 KWCS (now KOOG) TV channel 30 in Ogden, UT (IND) begins broadcasting
Event of Interest
1960 Martin Luther King Jr. arrested in Atlanta sit-in
Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1960 US imposes embargo on exports to Cuba
- 1962 Stalin monument removed in Prague
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1964 In a blanket finish in the 80m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics, Germany's Karin Balzer and Teresa Cieply of Poland both record 10.5s with Pam Kilborn of Australia 10.6; Balzer is awarded the gold medal
- 1964 American sprinter Edith McGuire runs an Olympic record 23.0 to win the women's 200m gold medal in Tokyo; minor place medallists Irena Szewińska of Poland and Australian Marilyn Black both record 23.1
- 1964 Tamara Press of the Soviet Union wins the women's discus with an Olympic record throw 57.27m in Tokyo; first of 2 gold medals at the Games (shot put)
- 1966 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1967 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of USSR, sets then long jump record at 27' 4 3/4"
- 1967 Mariner 5 makes fly-by of Venus
- 1968 Golden Gate Bridge charges tolls only for southbound cars
- 1968 The West German crew beats Australia by just 0.9s to win the men's eights rowing gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1968 Derry Citizen's Action Committee, formed Oct 9, stages illegal sit-down at Guildhall Square as part of large civil disobedience campaign
- 1968 American swimmer Jan Henne in 1:00.0 leads American sweep of the women's 100m freestyle medals at the Mexico City Olympics; team mates Susan Pedersen & Linda Gustavson both swim 1:00.3 for minor medals
- 1968 Australian swimmer Michael Wendon sets world record 52.2s to win the blue ribband men's 100m freestyle gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1968 New Zealand scores an upset victory in the men's coxed four rowing final at the Mexico City Olympics; beats favoured East German crew by 2.58s; first ever rowing gold medal for the Kiwis
- 1969 J Bock and S Harnicks musical "Rothschilds" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 505 performances
- 1969 Oakland Darryle Lamonica passes for 6 touchdowns vs Buffalo (50-21)
- 1969 Scottish Matra-Ford driver Jackie Stewart finishes 4th in season ending Mexican Grand Prix to win his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 26 points from Jacky Ickx of Belgium
- 1970 Amdahl Corp forms at Sunnyvale, California
- 1970 John Frazier kills Ohta's declares WW 3 has begun
- 1971 Last issue of "Look" magazine is published
- 1971 A group of Northern Ireland Members of Parliament begin a 48 hour hunger strike against the policy of Internment
- 1972 "Mother Earth" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 12 performances
- 1972 Ulster Vanguard leader William Craig speaks at a meeting of right-wing Members of Parliament at Westminster: "We are prepared to come out and shoot and kill"
Event of Interest
1973 Ringo Starr releases "Photograph"
Ringo Starr
- 1973 Saudi Arabia, Libya, and other Arab states proclaim an embargo on oil exports to the United States
- 1974 Det Red Wing Mickey Redmond scores 1st hat trick against Wash Caps
- 1974 Detroit Pistons beat Trailblazers in Portland (next win 6-1-90)
- 1974 Niue becomes self-govering, in association with New Zealand
Event of Interest
1974 Australian tennis star Evonne Goolagong wins her first WTA Tour Championship; beats Chris Evert 6-3, 6-4 in the final at the Los Angeles Sports Arena
Chris Evert
Event of Interest
1976 US President Gerald Ford signs 1st major revision of copyright law since 1909
Gerald Ford
Nobel Prize
Arthur Leonard Schawlow
- 1981 MLB National League Championship: Los Angeles Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 3 games to 2
- 1982 Automaker John DeLorean arrested on cocaine charges (Not guilty)
- 1983 Columbia moves to Orbiter Processing Facility
- 1983 Grenada general Hudson Austin forms "revolutionary council"
- 1983 Philadelphia Flyers begin 13 NHL game win streak
- 1983 Senate establishes Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday
- 1986 "Flamenco Puro" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 40 performances
- 1986 "Raggedy Ann" closes at Nederlander Theater NYC after 5 performances
- 1986 Allan Border scores the 1,000,000th run in all test cricket (v India, Bombay)
- 1986 USSR expels five US diplomats
- 1987 "Anything Goes" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 804 performances
- 1987 Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record
- 1987 US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf
- 1987 Woody Woodward resigns as NY Yankee GM, Lou Piniella is named GM and Billy Martin is named NY Yankee manager for 5th & final time
- 1988 3 Americans win Nobel in physics; 3 W Germans win chemistry Nobel
- 1988 Britain bans broadcast interviews with IRA members
- 1988 Car bomb kills 7 Israelis, wounds 11 near Lebanon border
- 1988 Roxette releases "Roxette Look Sharp!" album
- 1988 South African anti-apartheid leader Sisulu wins $100,000 Human Rights prize
- 1988 US Senate passes bill curbing ads during children's TV shows
- 1989 Astor Piazzolla and William Finn's musical "Dangerous Games" premieres at Nederlander Theater NYC
- 1989 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1990 HCA, Helsinki Citizens Assembly, forms in Prague
Film Premier
1990 "Dances with Wolves" directed by Kevin Costner and starring Kevin Costner and Mary McDonnell premieres in Washington, D.C. (Academy Awards Best Picture 1991)
Kevin Costner
- 1991 Longest NCAA football game (3:52) as RI beats Maine 52-30 (6 OTs)
- 1991 Lonnie Glieberman purchased Ottawa Rough Riders from CFL
- 1993 UN authorizes arms, military and police supply embargo against Haiti
- 1994 160 killed in fighting in Tsjetsjenie (Chechnya)
- 1994 Palestinian bomb attack on bus in Tel Aviv, kills 22
- 1995 "Hello Dolly!" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 118 performances
- 1996 Braves beat NY Yanks by record tying 11 runs, 12-1 in a World Series
- 1997 "Annie" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC
- 1997 700th World Series home run (Sandy Alomar, Cleveland Indians)
- 1998 The Earth Liberation Front sets fire to Vail Mountain ski resort in Colorado, causing $12 million in damage
- 1999 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat New York Mets, 4 games to 2
- 2001 SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks killing 353
Beatification
2003 Mother Teresa of Calcutta is beatified by Pope John Paul II
Mother Teresa
John Paul II
Event of Interest
2005 Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity
Saddam Hussein
- 2005 Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb
- 2005 MLB National League Championship: Houston Astros beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 2
- 2006 MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat New York Mets, 4 games to 3
- 2007 Bomb explosion rocks Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati, the Philippines killing 11, injuring more than 100 people
- 2008 MLB American League Championship: Tampa Bay Rays beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3
- 2012 8 people are killed and 78 injured by a car bomb in Beirut, Lebanon
- 2013 16 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a suicide bombing Beledweyne, Somalia
- 2013 11 people are killed after a plane crashes in Namur, Belgium
- 2013 MLB American League Championship: Boston Red Sox beat Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 2
- 2014 A working human intestine is generated in a laboratory from stem cells in the United States
- 2015 US scientists from University of California find evidence life on earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million earlier than previously thought
Election of Interest
2015 Canadian federal elections: Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party win a majority with 184 seats
Justin Trudeau
Election of Interest
2016 Third US Presidential debate: Donald Trump notably refuses to say if he will accept the result of election during debate with Hillary Clinton at Nevada University, Las Vegas
Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton
Election of Interest
2017 New Zealand Labour Party forms a coalition government led by Jacinda Ardern (37), youngest NZ leader in 161 years
Jacinda Ardern
- 2017 Outbreak of the Marburg virus declared by Uganda's Ministry of Health
- 2018 "Halloween" film reboot starring Jamie Curtis makes a record $77m for a horror film with a female lead, biggest debut any film with female lead over 55 in US
October in History
Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry
A cosy assurance from a BBC weather forecaster for viewers not to worry about an impending storm has gone down as the most spectacular mis-forecast in history.
October 15, 1987
The Tragedy of Aberfan
One hundred and sixteen young children died on this day when an avalanche of coal tip waste and debris thundered down a hillside and engulfed their school.
October 21, 1966
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797
Test of Time for the Date of Creation
The assertion by a 17th Century bishop that the universe was created on this day in the year 4004 BC was put to the test in a famous trial in the United States.
October 23, 4004 BC