Historical Events in October || Listed by Year

These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of October, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month 

539 BCE October 29 - King Cyrus "the Great" of Persia marches into Babylon, freeing Jewish captives and allowing them to return home.

331 BCE, October 1 - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela, also called the Battle of Arbela. One of Alexander's finest victories and a major defeat for the Persians. More 

52 BCE October 3 -  The Battle of Alesia during the Gallic Wars takes place. The Rome military forces under the command of Julius Caesar surround and blockade the city of Alesia where the Gallic general Vercingetorix and his forces were sheltered. Caesar directed his troops to erect a series of extensive fortifications, including two walls encircling the city, to keep the defenders in and potential reinforcements out. Vercingetorix’s eventual surrender secured Roman authority over Gaul in its entirety. More

42 BCE, October 23 -  Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar dies by suicide after being defeated in battle by Antony in Philippi. Greece.

54 CE, October 13 - Nero succeeds Claudius as Roman Emperor

70 CE, October - The Siege of Jerusalem concludes with the sacking and destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman Empire.

312 CE, October 28 - Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, becoming the sole Roman Emperor. According to ancient sources, Constantine converted to Christianity just before the battle It was likely the reason for his decision to end Christian persecution and establish Christianity as the most favored religion within the Roman Empire.

517, October 31 - Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses against papal indulgences, or the atonement of sins through monetary payment, on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. Within less than four years, the Catholic Church would brand Luther a heretic, and the Holy Roman Empire would condemn him as an outlaw. This  marked the beginning of the  Protestant Reformation, a turning point in history that would over time, transform not only the Christian faith, but also the politics and society of all of Europe. Some historians have argued that this event didn't happen as described but rather the Theses were delivered to the local archbishop. More 

539, October 12 - Persian king Cyrus (Achaemenid Empire), conquers Babylon, the ancient capital of the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire covering modern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Many consider Babylon, the ancient literary, religious an science center, More

732 CE, October 10 - The Battle of Tours takes place in France, where Frankish forces under Charles Martel defeat the Umayyad Caliphate,  The large invading Islamic army was led by Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi Abd al Rahman. During the battle, the Franks defeated the Islamic army and Emir Abd er Rahman was killed. This battle stopped the northward advance of Islam from the Iberian peninsula, and is considered by most historians to be of macro historical importance, in that it halted the Islamic conquests, during a period in which Islam was conquering the remains of the old Roman and Persian Empires. More

787 CE, October - The Second Council of Nicaea is held, addressing the use of religious images in the Byzantine Empire.

846 CE, October - The Great Heathen Army of Vikings attacks Rome, sacking the city and its surroundings.

877 CE October 8 - The Battle of the Aisne takes place in present-day France, with Louis the Stammerer leading the West Franks against the Vikings.

992 CE, October - The founding of the Fatimid Caliphate by Imam Al-Mahdi Billah in North Africa.

1000, October - The Icelandic parliament, Althing, is established, making it one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world.

1000, October - The construction of the Brihadisvara Temple in India is completed, dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva.

1000, October 18 - Leif Erikson, the Norse explorer, is believed to have landed in North America, possibly in present-day Canada.

1002 CE, October - King Æthelred the Unready orders the St. Brice's Day massacre, leading to the killing of many Danes in England.

1009, October 18 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

1066, October 14 - The Battle of Hastings takes place, resulting in William the Conqueror's victory over King Harold II of England. More

1097, October - The Crusaders lay siege to Antioch during the First Crusade.

1147, October - The Second Crusade begins, with European forces launching campaigns to the Holy Land.

1200, October - The Maya civilization reaches its peak in the Yucatan Peninsula, with cities like Chichen Itza flourishing.

1206, October 15 - Genghis Khan is proclaimed the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire.

1227, October - The Mongol Empire, under Genghis Khan's leadership, conquers the Jin Dynasty in China.

1307, October 13 - King Philip IV of France orders the arrest of the Knights Templar, leading to their persecution.

1340, October 30 - The Battle of Salado, also known as the Battle of Tarifa is fought between the armies of King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile against those of Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of the Marinid dynasty and Yusuf I of Granada, resulting in a Christian victory. More

1415, October 25 - The Battle of Agincourt takes place during the Hundred Years' War, resulting in a significant English victory over the French.

1424, October - The Yongle Emperor of China moves the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, initiating the construction of the Forbidden City.

1435, October - The Congress of Arras is held, aiming to negotiate peace during the Hundred Years' War.

1448, October 17 - The Battle of Kosovo takes place between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of Balkan states, with the Ottomans emerging victorious.

1453, October 29 - The Hundred Years' War comes to an end with the recapture of Bordeaux by the French, reclaiming their last possession in the conflict.

1466, October 8 - The Second Peace of Thorn is signed, ending the Thirteen Years' War and defining the borders between the Teutonic Knights and Poland-Lithuania.

1469, October 19 - Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile. The united kingdoms became the basis for the unification of Spain. In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was introduced, a brutal force of control in Spanish society. In 1492, the reconquest of Granada from the Moors was completed, and the crown ordered all Spanish Jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion from Spain. Also in 1492, the crown supported the explorations of Christopher Columbus, eventually resulting in Spain becoming  a dominant world power. In 1496, the Spanish Muslims were also order to convert to Christianity or face expulsion from Spain. More

1470, October - King Edward IV of England returns from exile, reclaiming the throne during the Wars of the Roses.

1483, October 2 - King Richard III of England is crowned, following the death of his nephew Edward V.

1485, October 22 - The Battle of Bosworth Field takes place, resulting in the defeat of Richard III and the ascension of Henry VII as King of England.

1486, October - The Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on witchcraft, is first published in Germany.

1489, October 30 - The Treaty of Medina del Campo is signed, establishing a marriage alliance between the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal.

1492, October 12 -  Christopher Columbus and his crew make landfall in the present day Bahamas, marking the European discovery of the Americas. More

1492, October 27 - The Alhambra Decree is issued by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, ordering the expulsion of Jews from the country.

1493, October - Christopher Columbus arrives back in Spain, concluding his first voyage to the New World.

1494, October - The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed between Spain and Portugal, dividing the newly discovered lands outside Europe.

1495, October 5 - King Charles VIII of France invades Italy, initiating the Italian Wars.

1497, October 19 - Italian explorer John Cabot lands in North America, possibly in Newfoundland.

1498, October 12 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reaches India, opening the sea route to the East.

1499, October - Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I dies in captivity, leading to the Ottoman Interregnum and subsequent rise of Selim I.

1501, October - Michelangelo begins work on his famous statue "David" in Florence, Italy.

1502, October - Christopher Columbus sets sail on his fourth and final voyage to the Americas.

1503, October - Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone for the new St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

1512, October 28 - Michelangelo's artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City is unveiled to the public.

1517, October 31 - Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, sparking the Protestant Reformation.

1520, October - The Aztec Empire's ruler, Moctezuma II, is taken captive by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.

1534, October 18 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII the head of the Church of England.

1535, October - Jacques Cartier's second voyage to Canada concludes, with the establishment of a settlement at Quebec.

1540, October - The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is formally approved by Pope Paul III.

1542, October - Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo becomes the first European to set foot on the West Coast of the United States.

1552, October - Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible captures Kazan, an important victory in the Russo-Kazan Wars.

1553, October 1 -  Coronation of Queen Mary I of England and Ireland takes place at Westminster Abbey, London, This was the first coronation of a queen regnant in England, a female ruler in her own right. More 

1562, October - The Edict of Saint-Germain is signed, granting limited religious freedom to French Protestants (Huguenots).

1571, October 7 - The Battle of Lepanto takes place, with the Holy League defeating the Ottoman Empire's navy in a significant naval battle.

1580, October 8 - The Spanish army captures Lisbon, effectively uniting the crowns of Portugal and Spain under Philip II.

1582, October 15 - The Gregorian calendar, decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, becomes effective in all the Catholic countries of Europe with the day after Thursday October 4, 1582  becoming  Friday, 15 October 1582. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies followed somewhat later because of delay in communication. The Gregorian calendar is now widely used around the world. With the exception of Ethiopia, Nepal, Iran and Afghanistan, the Gregorian calendar is now the world's universal civil calendar, old style calendars remaining in use in religious or traditional contexts. More

1597, October - Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces emerge victorious in the Battle of Myeongnyang against the Japanese invasions of Korea.

1598, October 18 - The Treaty of Vervins is signed, ending the war between Spain and France.

1599, October - The Battle of Sellenberk takes place, marking a significant conflict during the Long War between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy.

1599, October 27 - The Treaty of Weissenburg is signed, ending the War of the Jülich Succession between Spain and the Dutch Republic.

1600, October - The Battle of Sekigahara takes place in Japan, leading to Tokugawa Ieyasu's rise to power and the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

1601, October - Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, dies under mysterious circumstances.

1602, October - Dutch navigator and merchant Willem Janszoon becomes the first recorded European to set foot on Australian soil.

1604, October 9 - Supernova Kepler's Star becomes visible, leading to Johannes Kepler's study of its movement.

1605, October 5 - The Battle of Kircholm occurs between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden.

1607, October 26 - The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is established to facilitate colonial trade.

1608, October 14 - English explorer Henry Hudson reaches the river that now bears his name during his search for the Northwest Passage.

1610, October - The Italian scientist Galileo Galilei discovers the four largest moons of Jupiter, now known as the Galilean moons.

1613, October 12 - The new Russian Tsar, Michael Romanov, is elected, marking the beginning of the Romanov dynasty.

1618, October 29 - Sir Walter Raleigh is executed outside the Palace of Westminster. He was one of the most famous explorers of Elizabeth I's reign and a favorite of the Queen's. Raleigh was also a scholar and a poet, but he is usually remembered for introducing the essential potato, and the addictive tobacco. #gs.7ktlro">More

1628, October 11 - The War of the Mantuan Succession begins, a conflict between France and the Habsburg Monarchy over control of the Duchy of Mantua.

1635, October 28 - The Treaty of Sztumska Wieś is signed, ending the Polish-Swedish War and recognizing Sweden's control over Livonia.

1639, October - The Treaty of Hartford ends the Pequot War between the Pequot tribe and English settlers in New England.

1641, October - The Irish Rebellion of 1641 begins, marking a significant conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland.

1651, October 1 - English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell decisively defeat the Royalists at the Battle of Worcester.

1659, October 27 - Quakers William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson are hanged in Boston by the Puritans. Mary Dyer was also  scheduled to be hanged. However, her life was spared by a last minute reprieve. The day after her reprieve, Mary wrote to the General Court refusing to accept her pardon's terms. While the General Court attempted to soften the terms, Mary left for Rhode Island only to return in the spring of 1660. She was resolute; either the authorities would change their laws or they would need to hang a woman. She was publicly hanged on June 1, 1660. More
  
1660, October 13 - The Treaty of Oliva is signed, ending the Second Northern War and recognizing Swedish territorial losses.

1665, October - The Great Plague of London reaches its peak, causing widespread death and disruption.

1675, October - King Philip's War, a conflict between Native American tribes and English settlers, concludes with the Treaty of Casco.

1678, October - The Popish Plot, a fabricated conspiracy against King Charles II of England, emerges, leading to anti-Catholic sentiment.

1683, October 6 - The first Mennonites to establish a permanent settlement in North America arrived in Philadelphia. Invited to the city by its Quaker founder, William Penn, they settled in Germantown, then a small village about six miles north of the city. More

1683, October 14 - The Battle of Vienna takes place, with the Holy League forces defeating the Ottoman Empire and ending their siege of Vienna.

1685, October - King Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, leading to the persecution of Huguenots and the weakening of religious tolerance.

1688, October 22 - The Glorious Revolution begins as William of Orange lands in England to challenge King James II's rule.

1692, October - The Salem witch trials conclude in Massachusetts with several executions and imprisonments.

1697, October - The Treaty of Ryswick is signed, ending the Nine Years' War and restoring the status quo in Europe.

1699, October - The Treaty of Karlowitz is signed, marking the end of the Great Turkish War and resulting in territorial changes in southeastern Europe.

1608, October 2 - Fire destroys most of the Palace of Whitehall in London.

1609, October - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrates his newly built telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

1616, October 9 - Dutch sea captain Dirk Hartog makes the second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil.

1701, October - The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later Yale University) is founded in New Haven, Connecticut.

1707, October 22 - The Acts of Union unite the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1708, October - The Siege of Lille during the War of the Spanish Succession concludes with the city's surrender to Allied forces.

1710, October 11 - The Port Royal earthquake strikes Jamaica, causing widespread destruction and loss of life.

1720, October - The South Sea Bubble, a financial crisis in England, reaches its peak, leading to economic turmoil.

1737, October 20 - The Battle of Soor takes place during the War of the Austrian Succession, with the Austrian army defeating the French.

1740, October 20 - Maria Theresa becomes the ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy following the death of her father, Emperor Charles VI.

1751, October - The St. Petersburg State University is founded by Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

1755, October - The Lisbon earthquake and tsunami strike Portugal, resulting in massive destruction and loss of life.

1760, October 25 - George III becomes King of Great Britain following the death of his grandfather, George II.

1764, October 25 - Abigail Smith married a young lawyer from Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, by the name of John Adams, who would become, some thirty years later, the second president of the United States. Abigail Adams who was both the wife and the mother of a president shares that distinction with Barbara Bush. More

1777, October 17 - The British forces, led by General John Burgoyne, surrender to the American Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga, a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

1781, October 19 - The Siege of Yorktown concludes with the surrender of British General Cornwallis to American and French forces, effectively ending major combat in the American Revolutionary leading to the end of British rule in the colonies and the birth of a new nation — the United States of America. More
 
1789, October - The French Revolution begins with the Women's March on Versailles, prompting King Louis XVI to return to Paris.

1793, October 16 - Marie Antoinette, the former Queen of France, is executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. More

1797, October - The Treaty of Campo Formio is signed, ending the War of the First Coalition and marking significant territorial changes.

1799, October 9 - Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d'état, overthrowing the French Directory and establishing the French Consulate.

1703, October 23 - The Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall, England, is completely destroyed by a storm.

1707, October 28 - The Hōei earthquake strikes Japan, causing widespread damage and loss of life.

1746, October - The Battle of Rocoux occurs during the War of the Austrian Succession, with French forces defeating an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.

1746, October 28 - A major earthquake at 10:30pm of an estimated 9.2 magnitude and a following tsunami, demolish the Peruvian city of Lima and the port city of Callao, killing 18,000 persons. Most of the 3000 homes in Lima were destroyed with only two dozen remaining standing. All offices and all 74 churches were destroyed or damaged. To the south, many buildings collapsed all the way to Cañete, and to Chancay in the north. The disrupted area embraced 44,000 square kilometers. A little later in the evening, a following tsunami, devastated the neighboring port of Callao, destroying the port itself and sweeping miles inland. In contrast to Lima, only a handful of Callao’sinhabitants survived. More

1758, October - The Siege of Louisbourg during the French and Indian War ends with British forces capturing the fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia.

1787, October 27 - The Federalist Papers. The first in a series of eighty-five essays by “Publius,” the pen name of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, appeared in the Independent Journal, a New York newspaper. Publius urged New Yorkers to support ratification of the Constitution approved by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. #the-federalist-papers">More 

1792, October 13 - The Corner Stone of the White House is laid. In a proclamation issued on January 24, 1791, President George Washington announced the permanent location of the new capital, an area of land at the confluence of the Potomac and Eastern Branch (Anacostia) rivers that would eventually become the District of Columbia. More

1796, October 19 - A mysterious editorial from a writer named Phocion appeared in the Gazette of the United States, a popular Federalist newspaper in Philadelphia. Phocion said, in terms understood by most readers, that presidential candidate Jefferson was having an affair with one of his female slaves. More

1797, October 22 - Pioneering balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin became the modern world's first successful parachutist by jumping from a hydrogen balloon over Paris More 

1803, The U.S. Congress approves the Louisiana Purchase by a vote of 24 to 7.. More

1804, October 6 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition returns to St. Louis, completing their journey to explore and map the western portion of the United States.

1805, October 21 - The Battle of Trafalgar takes place, resulting in a British victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets during the Napoleonic Wars. More 

1810, October 12 - Kronprinz Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) marries Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen and the citizens of Munich were invited to attend the royal festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates.. The fields were named "Theresienwiese" ("Theresa's Meadow") in honor of the Crown Princess, and have kept that name ever since, although the locals have abbreviated the name simply to Wiesn. The precise origins of the festival and horse races remain a matter of controversy. However, the decision to repeat the horse races, spectacle, and celebrations in 1811 launched what is now the annual Oktoberfest tradition. More

1812, October 13 - American forces under General William Henry Harrison defeat the British and Native American forces at the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.

1812, October 19 - Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow. It is estimated that of the 612,000 combatants who entered Russia only 112,000 returned to the frontier; 100,000 are thought to have been killed in action, 200,000 died from other causes, 50,000 were left sick in hospitals, 50,000  deserted, and 100,000 were been taken as prisoners of war. Russian casualties have been estimated at 200,000 killed. More

1813, October 5 - The Battle of the Thames in present-day Ontario, Canada, sees British and Native American forces defeated by American forces.

1820, October 6 - Mexico officially becomes a republic as the Plan of Iguala is accepted, ending Spanish rule and establishing Mexican independence.

1825, October 26 - The Erie Canal opens providing overland water transportation between the ­­ Hudson River on the east and Lake Erie at the western end. Popularly known as “Clinton’s Folly,” the eight-year construction project was the vision of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. #the-erie-canal">More

1827, October 20 - The Naval Battle of Navarino occurs, during which combined British, French, and Russian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire's fleet.

1835, October - The Texas Revolution begins with the Battle of Gonzales, a confrontation between Texian settlers and Mexican soldiers.

1843, October - Sir James Young Simpson discovers the anesthetic properties of chloroform, revolutionizing surgery and pain management.

1854, October 6 - The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, England, destroys a large portion of both towns. More

1854, October 25 - The Charge of the Light Brigade takes place during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in the loss of the Light Brigade, one of Britain’s most spectacular military disasters. It was memorialized by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s popular poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, written just a few weeks after the battle. More

1856, October - The Second Opium War between Britain and France against China begins with the Battle of Canton.

1859, October 16 -  John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters start their march toward the town of Harpers Ferry. In the early hours of October 17,  they capture local residents and seized the federal armory and arsenal. Brown was captured two days later and quickly placed on trial and charged with treason against the state of Virginia, murder, and slave insurrection. Brown was sentenced to death for his crimes and hanged on December 2, 1859. More

1860, October 18 - During the Second Opium War, The British High Commissioner to China, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, orders  the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace in retaliation for the imprisonment and torture of several Anglo-French delegation members by the Qing government, with several of them being killed. The French and British troops had captured the palace days earlier and had looted and destroyed the imperial collections. The destruction of the Peking’s Summer Palace has been considered criminal and barbaric by many Chinese and remains a a very sensitive issue in China today. More

1860, October 24 - The Second Opium War ends with the signing of the Convention of Peking. The Beijing Convention consists of three individual treaties that China signs, with Great Britain (October 24), France (October 25), and Russia (November 14). More 

1861, October 24 - The first transcontinental telegraph system is completed by Western Union, making it possible to transmit messages rapidly from coast to coast. This technological advance, pioneered by inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, heralded the end of the Pony Express. More

1861, October 26 -  The Pony Express, the horseback mail service that had provided the fastest means of communication between the eastern and western United States officially closes, only one and one-half years of service, two days after the first Transcontinental Telegraph line is inaugurated. The nearly 2,000-mile route, using a continuous relay of the best riders and horses, from St. Joseph, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, averaged ten days, while winter deliveries required twelve to sixteen days, approximately half the time needed by stagecoach. More 

1863, October 3 -  President Abraham Lincoln encourages Americans to recognize the last Thursday of November as “a day of Thanksgiving   More

1864, October 31 - Nevada is admitted into the Union, becoming the 36th State.

1866, October 6 - The brothers John and Simeon Reno staged what is generally believed to be the first train robbery in American history. Their take was $13,000 from an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana. Considered the first train robbery, the incident at Seymour was preceded by a similar train burglary exactly nine months before. In early 1866, bandits entered an Adams Express car in route to Boston from New York and stole over half a million dollars from safes on the unoccupied car. As in the Seymour case, detectives from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency quickly identified the criminals. More

1867, October 18 - The United States formally takes possession of Alaska from Russia in a ceremony known as the Alaska Purchase. This $7.2 million purchase, ended Russia’s presence in North America and ensured U.S. access to the Pacific northern rim. Skeptics had dubbed the purchase of Alaska “Seward’s Folly,” but the former Secretary of State was vindicated when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896, and Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. The strategic importance of Alaska was finally recognized in World War II. Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959. More

1868, October 10 - Cuba Independence Day. It Commemorates the beginning of the 10 years unsuccessful war of independence from Spain from 1868 -78. and the the U.S. intervention in 1898 that ended the Spanish colonial presence in the Americas. Following the war, U.S. forces occupied Cuba until 1902, when the United States allowed a new Cuban government to take full control of the state’s affairs. As a condition of independence, the United States forced Cuba to grant a continuing U.S. right to intervene on the island in accordance with the Platt Amendment. The amendment was repealed in 1934 when the United States and Cuba signed a Treaty of Relations.

1871, October 8 - The most devastating forest fire in American history swept through northeast Wisconsin, claiming 1200+ lives.I t scorched 1.2 to 1.5 million acres, although it skipped over the waters of Green Bay to burn parts of Door and Kewaunee counties. The fire also burned 16 other towns, but the damage in Peshtigo was the worst. The city was gone in an hour. In Peshtigo alone, 800 lives were lost. The damage estimate was at $169 million,. The Peshtigo Fire usually receives little note outside the region because another horrific fire happened the same night -- the great Chicago Fire. More

1871, October 8 - The Great Chicago Fire starts at about 9:00 p.m. in or around a small barn belonging to Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The fire quickly spread and lasted two days. It killed about 300 people, and destroyed over 17,000 buildings, leaving 100,000 homeless. The estimated damage costs were $200 million dollars (roughly $4 billion in 2020 dollars). The real cause of the fire has never been determined by city officials. More 

1873, October 27 - Joseph Glidden applies for a patent for a reinforced wire fence that placed the barbs along a wire and then twisted another wire around it to keep the barbs in place, an improvement over Michael Kelly's 1868 invention that "twisted two wires together to form a cable for barbs. Nine patents for improvements to wire fencing were granted by the U.S. Patent Office to American inventors, beginning with Michael Kelly and ending with Joseph Glidden in November 24 1874 when he was 61 years old. By the time of his death in 1906, he was one of the richest men in America. More

1879, October 12 - The First Anglo-Boer War begins as British forces invade the South African Republic. (Transvaal) More

1881, October 26 - The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, USA, involving the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. More

1881, October 8 - Haiphong cyclone,  Over 300,000 people perished in one of most catastrophic natural disasters in history. The cyclone smashed into the Gulf of Tonkin causing widespread destruction as tidal waves flooded the city of Haiphong in northeastern Vietnam.

1883, October 4 - The Orient Express train makes its inaugural run leaving Paris with 40 passengers for Constantinople, (as the city of Istanbul was still commonly called in the west) and ending in Giurgiu, Romania, with stops in Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Ruse, Bulgaria, to pick up another train to Varna where they were then ferried by steamship across the Black Sea to Constantinople. With this one trip, the notion of long-distance travel was completely redefined. All original Orient Express routes finally retired in 2009 after almost 100 years of the most famous train journeys in the world. More

1886, October 28 - The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States, is dedicated on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. President Grover Cleveland oversaw the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in front of thousands of spectators. More

1892, October 12 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many U.S. public schools as part of the Columbus Day celebration.

1892, October 14 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is published . A collection of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories had been previously published in monthly installments in The Strand Magazine. Arthur Conan Doyle was a large contributor to the magazine with novels, short stories, poems and articles.

1898, October 25 - The United States defeats Spain in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a decisive naval engagement during the Spanish-American War.

1890, October 1 - President Benjamin Harrison signed the law that created Yosemite National Park. More 

1898, October 18 - The last Spanish troops in Puerto Rico sail back to Spain and the US flag is raised in most public buildings on the island formalizing U.S. control of the former Spanish colony. A military government was established under the command of General John R. Brooke. On August 12, Spain and the United States had agreed to an armistice; on September 13, the Protocol of Peace was ratified; and on December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War. and giving the United States full control over all former Spanish military installations as well as some 120,000 acres of land formerly owned by the Spanish Crown on the island. Puerto Rico remained under direct control of US military forces until the US Congress ratified the Foraker Law on April 12th, 1900, bringing a civilian government to the island. More

1899, October 11 - The Second Boer War begins between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics in South Africa.

1900, October 12 - USS Holland (SS-1) the first US Submersible Torpedo Boat, is commissioned by the Navy, Lt. Harry H. Caldwell in command in Newport, R.I. The USS Holland, was named for its designer John Philip Holland. It  had been launched in 1898 by Crescent Shipyards, Elizabeth, N.J. More

1901, October 24 - Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to successfully take the plunge over Niagara Falls  inside an oak barrel. She was a 63-year-old at the time. Seventy one years earlier, on October 17,1829,  Sam Patch, had survived jumping down the Horseshoe Falls of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side of the border. More 

1901, October 29 - Anarchist Leon Czolgosz was executed for the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley, forty five days after McKinley's death. More

1903, October 1 - The first modern World Series in baseball begins between the Boston Americans (now Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1904, October 27 - The New York City Subway Opens. #new-york-city-subway-opens">More

1908, October 1 - Henry Ford introduces the Model T automobile to the market, revolutionizing the automotive industry. More

1908, October 6 -  The dual Kingdome of Austria - Hungary announces the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina provinces in the Balkan region of Europe formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Intended as a catalyst for domestic policy, it proved to be a fateful move. More  

1910, October 16 - The first airship flight across the English Channel takes place, with French aviator Ferdinand Ferber piloting the "Ferber I."

1912, October 14 - Theodore Roosevelt is shot at a hotel in Milwaukee as he was about to start a campaign speech for a third term.  The bullet penetrated Roosevelt’s heavy overcoat and ripped through the right side of his chest. Inside the breast pocket were two items that absorbed the impact and undoubtedly saved Roosevelt’s life. The first was a thick fifty-page speech manuscript folded in half. Behind that was a metal eyeglass case in which Roosevelt kept his spectacles. Roosevelt was wounded, finished the speech and was then taken to the hospital. He survived the attack but loss the election for a third term. More

1912, October 17 - The First Balkan War breaks out as Serbia and Greece, follow Montenegro and declare war on the Ottoman Empire. More

1915, October 11 - Bulgaria's Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov issues a statement announcing Bulgaria's entrance into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers.  More 

1917, October 15 - Mata Hari is executed by the French on charges of spying for Germany during World War I. She was a dancer and courtesan whose name has become a synonym for the seductive female spy. She performed all over Europe telling the story that she was born in a sacred Indian temple and taught ancient dances by a priestess who gave her the name Mata Hari. Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, née Zelle was actually born in the Netherlands. The nature and extent of her espionage activities remain uncertain, and her guilt widely contested. More

1917, October 25 - The October Revolution in Russia begins as the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, seizes power in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg).

1917, October 26 - Brazil declares war on the German Empire. Brazil had pursued a policy of neutrality in the initial years of the war . In the course of the war, public opinion was on the side of the Allies. Only a few intellectuals declared their solidarity with the German Empire along with the majority of the descendants of German immigrants. On April of 1917 the Brazilian freighter Paraná was sank by Germany followed by three other Brazilian ships being torpedoed. More

1918, October 4 - German Chancellor Max von Baden,  sends a telegraph message to President Woodrow Wilson requesting an armistice between Germany and the Allied powers in World War I.  a few days later, Wilson responded to Baden’s armistice request (and a subsequent German communiqué on October 12) with a note that quickly deflated German expectations.

1918, October 12 - Minnesota's Moose Lake and Cloquet Fires. Originally started miles away a couple of days earlier by a spark from a passing train during an extreme dry season. Over 1000 people lost their lives, thirty-eight communities were destroyed, 250,000 acres were burned, causing and economic loss of $73 million (over a billion in today's economy). More

1918, October 28 - The Cech Republic Independence Day. Commemorates the Independence declaration by the Czechoslovak National Council.

1918, October 30 - The Armistice of Mudros is signed at the port of Mudros on the Aegean island of Lemnos, between the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain, representing the Allied powers, bringing an end to the Turkish Army’s participation in the war. More

1919, October 2 - President Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke that left him incapacitated until the end of his presidential term in 1921.  More

1919, October 28 - Congress passed the Volstead Act providing for enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified nine months earlier. Known as the Prohibition Amendment, it prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” in the United States. More 

1920, October 1 -  Scientific American reports that radio will soon be used to transmit music to the home. More

1921, October 24 - In the French town of Chalons-sur-Marne,U.S. Army Sgt. Edward F. Younger, a decorated World War I veteran, selects the "Unknown Soldier" to be interred in the planned Tomb at Arlington National Cemetery, by laying a spray of white roses upon one of four caskets. The following day, the Unknown Soldier’s casket departed from the port of Le Havre on board the USS Olympia. On November 11, 1921, the Unknown Soldier was placed on a horse-drawn caisson and carried in a procession through Washington, D.C. and across the Potomac River. A state funeral ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery's new Memorial Amphitheater and buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. More  

1923, October 16 - Walt Disney signed a contract with M. J. Winkler to produce a series of Alice Comedies — the date is used as the start of the Disney company, first known as “The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.” More

1923, October 29 - The Ottoman Empire officially dissolves as the Republic of Turkey is declared under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

1927, October 4 - Artist and sculptor Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore. Work on the monument finished 14 years later on October 31, 1941. It involved the efforts of nearly 400 men and women. The duties involved varied greatly from the call boy to drillers to the blacksmith to the housekeepers. Despite the colossal proportion and difficult nature of the project, there were no worker fatalities. Borglum died 7 months before the project was declared completed. His son Lincoln Borglum supervised the completion. More

1929, October 25 - The Teapot Dome scandal; Albert B. Fall, who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet, is found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office.. More

1929, October 29 - "Black Tuesday" marks the start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, leading to the Great Depression. It was preceded by the crash of the London Stock Exchange. It is considered the most disastrous market crash in the history of the United States characterized by panic sell-offs on the New York Stock Exchange and dramatic declines in major market indices. More

1931, October 3 - The Empire State Building is officially opened in New York City, becoming the tallest building in the world at the time.

1932, October 3 - Iraq Independence day - Britain ends its 17 year mandate and Iraq is admitted to the League of Nations, making Iraq an independent nation after centuries of Ottoman rule. More

1934, October 16 - The Red Army brakes through the first Nationalist enemy lines surrounding it and sets out on its Long March, a year-long trek to the west and to the north. More

1935, October 3 - Italy invades Ethiopia, initiating the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

1938, October 30 - "The War of the Worlds", a radio Halloween episode directed and narrated by Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1898) is performed and broadcast live over the CBS Radio Network. The episode is famous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was taking place, though the scale of panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners. More 

1940, October 28 -  Italy declares war on Greece and starts the invasion. The people of Greece answer the call to defend the country and drive the Italian army back into Albania, placing Hitler in the position of having to delay his invasion of Russia to commit troops to attack and occupy Greece. More

1942, October 3 - The V-2 first successful launch takes place. It flew at speeds in excess of 3,500 miles per hour and delivered a 2,200-pound warhead to a target 200 miles away. Beginning in September 1944, it was employed against targets in Western Europe, including London, Paris, and Antwerp. More

1942, October 26 - Japanese planes critically damage and sink the U.S.S Hornet in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island. Approximately 140 of her sailors and air crews were killed that day. The Hornet was a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier. She was in service for just over one year. While in the Pacific theater, Hornet was involved in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, and in the Battle of Midway. In the Solomon Islands campaign, she participated in the defense of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. More 

1943, October 13 -  The Kingdom of Italy, which was now based outside of Mussolini's control declares war on Germany, its one-time ally. and is granted the status of a co-belligerent by the United Nations. The war declaration, came 35 days after Italy signed the armistice that removed her from the ranks of nations giving military assistance to Germany. The Italian forces fought alongside the Allies against the Germans for the rest of the war. More

1944, October 20 - General Douglas MacArthur lands on the Philippine island of Leyte and delivers his famous “I Have Returned” speech. It is one of the most iconic phrases of the war, coupled with one of the most famous photographs, that captured the moment he waded ashore. More

1944, October 25 - Japan employs kamikaze bombers for the first time at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history, which took place in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines. Kamikaze strikes against Allied warships continued throughout World and were costly to both sides. War II. More

1945, October 12 - US Army medic Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss becomes the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor. More

1945, October 24 - The United Nations is officially established. The United Nations did not come into existence at the signing of the Charter. In many countries the Charter had to be approved by their congresses or parliaments. It had therefore been provided that the Charter would come into force when the Governments of China, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and most of other signatory states had ratified it and deposited notification to this effect with the State Department of the United States. On October 24, 1945, this condition was fulfilled. More 

1946, October 15 - WWI hero, addict and discredited Nazi leader Hermann Göring dies by suicide in prison after being found guilty during the Nuremberg Trials, convicted and sentenced to be hanged. He died by suicide before he could be executed by swallowing a cyanide tablet he had hidden from his guards. Hitler had designated Göring as his successor in 1939. More

1947, October 5 - President Harry Truman delivers the first-ever televised presidential address, asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help Europe, which was still recovering from World War II. More

1947, October 14 -  U.S. Air Force Captain Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager piloting the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis on the world’s first piloted supersonic flight, reaching a speed of Mach 1.06—faster than the speed of sound. The experimental purpose-built aircraft was air launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 bomber. The Bell X-1 went on to fly 78 times—as fast as Mach 1.45 and as high as 21,900 meters (71,900 feet). More 

1947, October 20 - The House Committee on Un-American Activities focused on universities, labor unions, and the film industry. The committee called Hollywood actors, directors, producers, and screenwriters to testify regarding communist influence on motion pictures. Ten men who refused to state their political affiliations, claiming First Amendment rights, were imprisoned for contempt of Congress. The “Hollywood Ten” became the first victims of a blacklist by major movie studios that curtailed hundreds of careers before it ended in 1960. More

1948, October 29 - An air pollution environmental disaster hits Donora, Pennsylvania. The town was home to many industries, such as steel mills and zinc melting plants. Of the town’s population of 14,000, approximately 20 people passed away and between 5000-7000 were estimated to become very ill due to the smog event. Investigations into the disaster eventually led to legislations to establish better control over air pollution. More

1949, October 1 - China National Day. Mao Zedong's formal proclamation of the establishment of the People's Republic of China

1949, October 7 - The German Democratic Republic. The GDR, commonly known as East Germany is created from the Soviet occupation zone of occupation on October 7, 1949. The United States responded by stating its position that the GDR was “without any legal validity,” and that the United States would “continue to give full support to the Government of the German Federal Republic FDR at Bonn in its efforts to restore a truly free and democratic Germany.” The FDR, commonly known as West Germany had been formed months earlier  on May  23,1949 by combining the occupation territories of France, Britain and the U.S. The U.S. refused to recognize the GDR until 1974. The GDR was absorbed by the FRG in 1990 when Germany reunified. More  

1954, October 25 - U.S President Dwight Eisenhower pledges support to South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem. More 

1956, October 29 - Israeli forces attacked across Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, advancing to within 10 miles of the Suez Canal under the pretext of protecting the Canal from the two belligerents (Egypt and Britain and France). Three month before, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had  announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, the joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869. Britain and France landed troops of their own a few days later. More

1957, October 4 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. More 

1958, October 1 - American Express launches the American Express card. American Express previously had an international network of offices in place, and their traveler's' cheques had been accepted throughout the world for decades, this was the first credit card accepted internationally. More

1958, October 2 - Guinea Independence Day from France. Guinea was the only French West African colony to opt for complete independence, rather than membership in the French Community. France withdrew all aid to the new republic. shortly thereafter. More 

1960, October 1 - Cyprus Independence day. The effective date of the Lon don-Zürich Agreements was 16 August 1960, but the public holiday was moved to October 1 to avoid summer heat and tourist season.

1960, October 1 - Nigeria Independence Day from the UK

1961, October 6 - President John F. Kennedy, in a letter to the members of the Committee on Civil Defense of the Governors’ Conference, urges Americans to build bomb shelters as protection from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also pressed Congress to allocate more than $100 million to build a network of public fallout shelters.  Only one year later, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR’s placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters. More

1962, October 2 - A team of scientists working at a University of Florida lab, invent a sports drink to quench thirst. the drink that would soon become known as Gatorade was born. The name "Gatorade" is derived from the nickname of the university's sports teams. Eventually, the drink becomes a phenomenon and made its inventors wealthy. More

1962, October 14 - The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. On Sep 16, the pictures were presented to President Kennedy after they were developed and analyzed by intelligence officers. President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that the missiles had been discovered. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address and his decision to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites.
For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited—seemingly on the brink of nuclear war—and hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. More 

1964, October 14 - Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize "for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population". More

1964, October 16 - The People's Republic of China (PRC) joined the nuclear club when it tested a nuclear device at its Lop Nur test site in Inner Mongolia. More 

1965, October 28 - The last piece of the St. Louis's Gateway Arch is fitted into place. More

1966, October 4 - Lesotho Independence day from the UK

1967, October 2 - Thurgood Marshall is sworn in to the nation’s highest court at the opening ceremony of the Supreme Court term, becoming the first Black US Supreme Court justice. More

1967, October 8 - Che Guevara is captured by Bolivian troops. He was executed the following day, on orders from the Bolivian President. More 

1968, October 12 - Equatorial Guinea Independence Day from Spain

1969, October 16 - The "Miracle Mets" win their first World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games.

1970, October 10 - Fiji's Independence Day from the UK. (Fiji Day) Commemorates the signing of the Instruments of Independence.

1971, October 1 - Walt Disney World Resort opens in Orlando, Florida.

1971, October 25 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, which “restored” the People's Republic of China to the Chinese seat at the UN and “expelled” the Republic of China (Taiwan). Since then, Taiwan has sought to maintain its international space without the benefits of UN membership. More

1972, October 12 - The Kitty Hawk Race Riot - More than 100 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk are involved in a race riot resulting in 46 sailors injured. in a race riot involving more than 100 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk en route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam.  More 

1972, October 13 - Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, a chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashes in the Andes mountains at an elevation of 3,660 metres (12,020 ft). The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew,  Three crew members and nine passengers died immediately and several more died soon after due to the frigid temperatures and the severity of their injuries. In total, only 16 survived the ordeal. The incident garnered international attention, especially after it was revealed that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism. More 

1972, October 18, The Clean Water Act is established as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 undergoes sweeping amendments in 1972. The amended law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA).  More

1973, October 6 - The Yom Kippur War begins as Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack against Israel. More

1973, October 17 - Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposes an embargo against the United States,  in retaliation for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations during  the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. More

1978, October 16 - Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła of Poland was elected to be the 264th Pope; he assumed the name John Paul II and was the first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years. More

1979, October 27 - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Independence Day from the UK

1981, October 6 -  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated by Islamic extremists during a military parade in Cairo. More

1983, October 25 - The United States invades Grenada, known as Operation Urgent Fury, in response to a coup. More 

1984, October 31 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India was assassinated by her own bodyguards and Sikh nationalists, purportedly to avenge the humiliation of Sikhs and the desecration of the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star in June of that year. She was the first and, to date, the only female Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. Despite her surname Gandhi, she is not related to the family of Mahatma Gandhi.   More 

1985, October 7 - Four terrorists from the Arab Liberation Front, hijack the Italian cruise ship MS Achille Lauro shortly after it left Alexandria, Egypt. During the hijack the terrorists killed Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled American man who was in a wheelchair. More

1986, October 5 - The Iran-Contra scandal comes to light after a plane carrying weapons is shot down over Nicaragua by the Sandinista regime. Eugene Hasenfus and ex US Marine and sole survivor of the plane crash, confessed that he was shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, an anti-Sandinista force, allegedly run by the CIA. President Ronald Reagan and other officials denied the CIA's involvement in the flight, but further investigations confirmed that the U.S. had been secretly selling weapons to Iran and using some of the proceeds to covertly fund the Contra war in Nicaragua. More

1987, October 19 -  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 22.6 percent in a single trading session, a loss that remains the largest one-day stock market decline in history. Reaction of market distress sent global stock exchanges plummeting in a matter of hours. More

1989, October 17 - The 7.1 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake, also called the San Francisco Earthquake, strikes the Bay Area in California causing 63 deaths, nearly 3000 injuries and billions of Dollars of damage. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the area since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  More

1989, October 18 - The Hungarian Republic is officially declared, marking the end of Communist rule. More

1990, October 3 - Germany Day of Unity. Commemorates the Reunification of Germany which ended decades of division. More 

1990, October 15 - The Nobel Committee gives President Gorbachev the main credit for bringing the Cold War between East and West  by awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize. More

1992, October 4 -  A Boeing 747 cargo planer flight 1862 of El Al Airlines nose-dives into two high-rise apartment complexes in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood minutes after takeoff, exploding on impact causing the building to partially collapse. The explosion and fire made the identification of those on the ground difficult to make, but it was estimated that about 100 people were dead as well as the plane captain, two other pilots and a passenger. More

1992. October 28 - The new Leif Erickson Tunnel ribbon is cut and balloons are dropped on the final link of I-35 through Duluth, MN. Mayor Gary Doty and U.S. Representative James Oberstar wield the giant plywood scissors. More

1993, October 15 - The Nobel Peace Prize for 1993 is awarded jointly to Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa" More

1994, October 1 - Palau Independence Day from the United States.

1994, October 27 - The U.S. prison population in state and federal prisons reaches one million (for the first time in American history. An additional 500,000 prisoners were estimated to be held in local prisons. The United States became second only to Russia in the world for incarceration rates at the time. In 2021, the U.S. had the highest incarceration rate in the world. In 2024, counting all federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, the incarcerated population is over 1.9 million people. More

1995, October 16 - An estimated 850,000 African American men from across the United States gathered  at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  The march took place in the context of a larger grassroots movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread voter registration campaigns. It was the brainchild of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and was organized by the National African American Leadership Summit and a number of other groups. More  

1995, October 30 - The citizens of the Canadian province of Québec vote to remain within the Federation of Canada by a narrow majority of 50.58 per cent. More     

1998, October 29 - John Glenn returns to space aboard the Discovery’s 25th flight. Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on Mercury-Atlas 6 on February 20, 1962. With one flight in 1962 and another in 1998, at 77 years of age, John Glenn uniquely bridged two eras in space history and became the oldest human ever to travel in space. He died at age 95 in December 2016. More

1999, October 27 - Gunmen storm the Armenian Parliament in Yerevan, resulting in the deaths of the Prime Minister and several members of parliament.

1999, October 31 - Egypt Air flight 990, an extended range Boeing 767-366 jet airliner crashes into the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles (100 km) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, after a rapid fatal descent losing its left engine before crashing into the ocean. All 217 people on board died. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated that the actions of the copilot caused the crash, but Egyptian authorities blamed mechanical failure. More

2000, October 12, The USS Cole, on a refueling stop at Aden, Yemen. is attacked by two suicide pilots of a small bomb-laden boat, blasting a a 40-by-40-foot hole in the port side of the USS Cole, at midship. Seventeen sailors were killed and 38 wounded in the attack. Following investigations determined the attack had ben carried out by members of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network. More

2001, October 7 - The U.S.‑led attack on Afghanistan begins as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on New, York and Washington DC. marking the beginning of the war in Afghanistan which lasted two decades. On September 18 2001, President Bush signed into law a joint resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for attacking the United States on September. On Aug 15 the Afghanistan government collapses and the capital comes under Taliban control on Aug. 15. Chaos erupts at the Kabul airport as desperate Afghans try to leave the country. The war ended on with a a complete withdraw of American and coalition troops. On Aug. 30, U.S. Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie announces the last planes have departed, marking the end of the military evacuation effort and America's war in Afghanistan. The Taliban celebrated what they call "full independence.".   More 

2001, October 9 - The Office of Homeland Security is established on October 8, 2001, less than one month after the September 11 terrorist Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, was appointed as the first Director of the Office of Homeland Security in the White House. On November 25, 2002, the Department of Homeland Security was established by combining 22 different federal departments and agencies into a unified, integrated Cabinet agency. Homeland Security is now one of the largest organs of the federal government, charged with preventing terror attacks, border security, immigrations and customs, disaster relief and prevention and other related tasks.

2001, October 23 - Apple introduces the iPod, revolutionizing the way people listen to music.

2001, October 26 - President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act. More

2002, October 12 - Terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia, kill over 200 people and injure hundreds more. More

2002, October 23 - Some 40 Chechen militants burst into the Dubrovka Theater during the performance of a popular musical and  take hundreds of audience members, actors, and staff hostage, demanding the withdrawal of troops from Russia's Chechnya region. It ended 57 hours later, when security forces stormed the building after pumping in toxic gas that neutralized the attackers but led to the deaths of as many as 174 hostages. More 

2003, October 15 - China launches Shenzhou 5,  the first manned space mission. Piloted by Yang Liwei  orbiting Earth 14 times during the 21-hour  and 23 minutes flight. He became the first Chinese launched into space with Chinese launch vehicle and spacecraft. The re-entry module landed safely in central Inner Mongolia making China the third country capable of sending humans to space and back independently, after Russia and the United States.

2003, October 24 -  The Concord makes its final commercial flight.  More

2003, October 28 - The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series championship in 86 years, breaking the "Curse of the Bambino."

2004, October 9 - The first official World Space Week is declared by the United Nations.

2004, October 28 - The European Space Agency's Huygens probe lands on Saturn's moon Titan.

2005, October 8 - The 7.6 magnitude Kashmir earthquake strikes northern Pakistan and India, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 86,000 people.  More

2006, October 9 - North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.

2007, October 14 - A suicide truck bomb detonates in Baghdad's busy market, killing over 500 people.

2008, October 3 - The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is signed into law in the United States, establishing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to address the financial crisis.

2009, October 9 - President Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.

2009, October 25 - Typhoon Morakot strikes Taiwan, causing significant flooding and landslides.

2010, October 10 - The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces the award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to imprisioned Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. The laureate, once an eminent scholar, was reportedly little-known inside the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the time of the award, he had participated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and was a co-author of the Charter 08 manifesto, for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison on 25 December 2009. More

2010, October 13 - The Copiapó mining accident in Chile ends with the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners.

2010, October 27 - The 2010 North Sumatra earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia, resulting in significant loss of life and devastation.

2011, October 7 - The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize is jointly awarded to three female political activists Two African and one Asian female ."for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".  The joint Laureated were: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (b. 1938), Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee (b. 1972) and Yemeni politician Tawakkul Karman (b. 1979). More

2011, October 20 - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed during the Libyan Civil War. More

2012, October 12 - The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 was awarded to the European Union (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe" More

2012, October 29 - Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in the northeastern United States, causing widespread damage and power outages.

2013, October 1 - The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, begins its enrollment phase in the United States.

2013, October 5 - Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is revealed as the source of leaked classified documents, exposing mass surveillance programs. 

2013, October 11 - The Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is awarded to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons". More 

2014, October 10 - The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education" More

2014, October 22 - Canada's Parliament Hill in Ottawa is attacked by a lone gunman, resulting in the death of a soldier and the attacker.

2015, October 1 - A mass shooting takes place at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, USA, leaving multiple people dead and injured.

2015, October 9 - The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to National Dialogue Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011" More

2015, October 31 - Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed minutes after takeoff from the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh to  the Russian city of St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. ISIS claimed responsibility for the downing of the Russian airliner claiming it was done in retaliation for Russia’s airstrikes in Syria.

2016, October 1 - Hurricane Matthew, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history, strikes the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.

2017, October 1 - A mass shooting occurs at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, USA, leaving 58 people dead and hundreds injured.

2018, October 2 - Journalist Jamal Khashoggi is murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

2018, October 29 - Lion Air Flight 610 crashes into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

2019, October 6 - The United States announces its withdrawal from Syria, leading to concerns about the situation in the region.

2019, October 9 - Turkey launches a military offensive into northern Syria against Kurdish forces.

2020, October 2 - U.S. President Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19, leading to concerns about the virus's impact on political leadership.

2020, October 18 - Protests erupt in Nigeria against police brutality and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), leading to widespread demonstrations.

2020, October 29 - A powerful earthquake strikes the Aegean Sea, causing significant damage and loss of life in Turkey and Greece.

2021, October 15 - NASA's Lucy spacecraft launches to study Trojan asteroids, marking a significant step in asteroid research.

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