October 11
1962:
Opening of the Second Vatican Council.
The Second Vatican Council, announced by Pope John XXIII in 1959, opened this day in 1962, lasted for three years, and remains a symbol (controversial to some) of the church's readiness to adapt to modern life.
2002:
The U.S. Congress passed a bill, by a wide margin, granting U.S. President George W. Bush broad authority to use force against Iraq.
2000:
In a ceremony in London, the International Women of the Year Association awarded the title Greatest Woman Achiever of the Century to Russian cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
1976:
In China the Gang of Four, having lost their influence with the death of Mao Zedong, were arrested.
1974:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was established by President Gerald R. Ford to oversee the civilian use of nuclear materials in the United States.
1958:
The unmanned U.S. deep-space probe Pioneer 1 was launched into lunar orbit.
1899:
The South African (Boer) War began between Great Britain and the two Boer (Afrikaner) republics—the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.
1890:
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was organized.
1531:
Protestant troops under J鰎g G鰈dli were defeated by Roman Catholic troops at the Battle of Kappel during the Swiss Reformation.
October 12
1492:
New World sighted .
The New World was “discovered” this day in 1492 when land (most likely San Salvador) was sighted in the Caribbean from the Pinta, one of the three ships that participated in Christopher Columbus's historic first voyage.
2001:
The centennial Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, and to the United Nations.
1898:
A landmark in labour union history, a coal-mine riot took place in Virden, Illinois, when strikebreakers were brought in.
1896:
Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, prose writer, editor, and translator who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975, was born in Genoa.
1866:
Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour Party prime minister of the United Kingdom—in the Labour governments of 1924 and 1929–31 and in the national coalition government of 1931–35—was born.
1810:
The first Oktoberfest was celebrated in Munich, Germany, in the form of a horse race held in honour of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria (who later became King Louis I) to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
October 13
1792:
Cornerstone laid for the White House.
The cornerstone for the White House, the official office and home of every U.S. president and first lady since 1800 (when John and Abigail Adams moved in near the end of his term), was laid this day in 1792.
1988:
The archbishop of Turin, Italy, announced that carbon-14 dating indicated that the Shroud of Turin dates only to the Middle Ages, though the origins of the shroud remain controversial.
1977:
Palestinians hijacked a Lufthansa airliner to Somalia and demanded the release of imprisoned Red Army Faction members.
1943:
Italy declared war on Nazi Germany.
1843:
B'nai B'rith, the oldest and largest Jewish service organization in the world, was founded in New York City.
1775:
The Second Continental Congress established the Continental Navy to aid the Continental Army during the American Revolution.
October 14
1066:
Battle of Hastings.
At the Battle of Hastings, fought this day in 1066, King Harold II of England was defeated by the invading army of William, duke of Normandy, in the Norman Conquest, establishing Normans as rulers of England.
1994:
Naguib Mahfouz, the 82-year-old novelist and 1988 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was stabbed by Islamic militants in Cairo.
1973:
Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn was forced to leave Thailand following huge public demonstrations.
1944:
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox,” ended his life by drinking poison following the discovery of his connection to a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
1936:
The first group of 500 trainees for the International Brigades arrived in Albacete, Spain.
1806:
French troops under Napoleon smashed the outdated Prussian army led by Charles William Ferdinand at the Battle of Jena.
1644:
English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom William Penn, who oversaw the founding of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was born.
October 15
1959:
Final conference on Antarctic Treaty.
On this day in 1959 a final conference on the Antarctic Treaty convened in Washington D.C., and, after six weeks of negotiations, the treaty was signed by 12 countries, preserving the continent for free scientific study.
1987:
A military coup in Burkina Faso overthrew head of state Thomas Sankara, killing him and eight others.
1969:
President Cabdirashiid Cali Shermaʾarke (Abdirashid Ali Shermarke) of Somalia was assassinated.
1934:
Chinese communists began the Long March, the 6,000-mile (10,000-km) trek that resulted in the relocation of the communist revolutionary base from southeast China to northwest China and the emergence of Mao Zedong as the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
1844:
Classical scholar and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Prussia.
1839:
Encouraged by her uncle Leopold, Queen Victoria of England proposed to her cousin, Prince Albert.
879:
Boso convoked the bishops of Provence and had them proclaim him their king.
70:
Virgil, the Roman poet best known for his national epic, the Aeneid, was born near Mantua.
October 16
1793:
Marie-Antoinette guillotined.
After the French Revolution began, Marie-Antoinette, queen consort of Louis XVI, was targeted by agitators who, enraged by her extravagance and attempts to save the monarchy, ultimately guillotined her on this day in 1793.
1964:
China, eager to join the nuclear race, successfully detonated its first atomic bomb.
1946:
Ten of the twelve defendants sentenced to death at the Nürnberg trials were executed.
1888:
American dramatist Eugene O'Neill, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936, was born.
1859:
John Brown, a militant abolitionist, made his legendary raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
1846:
William Thomas Green Morton first demonstrated the use of ether as a general anesthetic before a gathering of physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
1813:
Napoleon led his troops against an allied force of Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops during the Battle of Leipzig.
October 17
1979:
Mother Teresa awarded Nobel Prize.
On this day in 1979, Mother Teresa, founder of a Roman Catholic order of women dedicated to the poor and particularly to the destitute of India, was named the recipient of that year's Nobel Prize for Peace.
1854:
British and French troops began the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.
1777:
British General John Burgoyne surrendered his troops following his shocking defeat in the Second Battle of Saratoga.
1707:
German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach at Dornheim.
1448:
The last major effort by Crusaders to free the Balkans from Ottoman rule began with the second Battle of Kosovo in Serbia, in which a Hungarian-Walachian army suffered a crushing defeat.
1346:
At the Battle of Neville's Cross, the English defeated the Scots who, as allies of the French, had invaded England in an attempt to distract Edward III from the siege of Calais, France.
October 18
1867:
Alaska Purchase approved.
After much opposition, a deal negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for the U.S. purchase of the Russian colony of Alaska was approved, and on this day in 1867 the U.S. flag was flown over the capital, Sitka.
1931:
American inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, New Jersey.
1922:
The British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., was established, to be replaced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1927.
1898:
Puerto Rico was turned over to the United States following the Spanish-American War.
1854:
The Ostend Manifesto was declared, by which three U.S. diplomats communicating to Secretary of State William L. Marcy advocated U.S. seizure of Cuba from Spain.
1469:
Isabella I, queen of Castile, married Ferdinand II, king of Aragon.
October 19
1781:
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.
On this day in 1781, Britain's Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington, commander of the American army, at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the American Revolution and assuring America's independence.
1998:
The antitrust trial against Microsoft Corporation brought by the U.S. government opened in Washington, D.C.
1987:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted nearly 23 percent, the largest one-day drop in the stock market's history.
1897:
American industrialist George M. Pullman, inventor of the Pullman sleeping car used on railroads, died.
1864:
Confederate soldiers based in Canada crossed into St. Albans, Vermont, and robbed three banks in order to agitate the Union during the American Civil War.
1812:
Napoleon began his disastrous retreat from Russia.
October 20
1973: Opening of Sydney Opera House.
Australia's Sydney Opera House—designed by Danish architect J鴕n Utzon, whose dynamic, imaginative, but problematic plan won an international competition in 1957—was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on this day in 1973.
2002:
Blue Stream, the deepest underwater pipeline in the world, opened in Turkey and was put in use for the transport of natural gas.
1973:
During the ongoing Watergate investigation, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox, prompting the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus in what has been called the “Saturday Night Massacre” of Justice Department officials.
1968:
Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
1964:
Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover died in New York City.
1921: France and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey signed the Treaty of Ankara.
1822:
The Congress of Verona, the last of the meetings held by the European powers in accordance with the terms of the Quadruple Alliance, opened in Verona, Italy.
1803:
The U.S. Senate, after due consideration and considerable oratory, ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
1740:
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died, setting off the War of the Austrian Succession.
1600:
The Battle of Sekigahara established the hegemony of the Tokugawa family in Japan.
October 21
1520:
Magellan's discovery of gateway to circumnavigating the globe.
On this day in 1520, explorer Ferdinand Magellan and three Spanish ships entered the strait later named for him, sailing between the mainland tip of South America and the island of Tierra del Fuego toward the Pacific Ocean.
1960:
John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon debated for the fourth and final time before the 1960 U.S. presidential election.
1959:
The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City.
1907:
Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow opened in New York City.
1805:
A fleet of 33 ships (18 French and 15 Spanish) under Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve fought and was defeated by a British fleet of 27 ships under Admiral Horatio Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar (combat was waged west of Cape Trafalgar, Spain).
1797:
One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy, the Constitution (byname Old Ironsides), was launched in Boston.
October 22
1962:
Cuban missile crisis.
On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy alerted Americans to the Cuban missile crisis, declaring a naval blockade to prevent further missile shipments to the island country 90 miles (145 km) off the coast of the U.S.
2001:
Two postal workers in Washington, D.C., died of pulmonary anthrax, two others were hospitalized with the disease, and a fifth, who worked at a different facility from the previous four, was diagnosed with pulmonary anthrax on October 25. It was believed that the victims contracted the disease from letters laced with the poisonous substance, an unexplained act of terrorism.
1934:
Infamous criminal Charles (“Pretty Boy”) Floyd was fatally shot in a field near East Liverpool, Ohio, by FBI agents.
1836:
Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1797:
André-Jacques Garnerin, an inspector in the French army who encouraged the use of balloons for military purposes, made a balloon ascent in order to give his first exhibition of parachuting, when he jumped from a height of about 3,200 feet (1,000 metres).
October 23
1983:
U.S. Marines attacked in Beirut.
On this day in 1983, a terrorist bent on suicide drove a truckload of high explosives through a series of barricades and into the U.S. Marine Corps headquarters at the Beirut airport in Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. servicemen.
1956:
The Hungarian Revolution began with a massive demonstration in Budapest.
1956:
The International Atomic Energy Agency was created with the purpose of increasing the contribution of atomic energy to world peace.
1944:
During World War II, U.S. forces under the leadership of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., commenced a decisive air and sea battle against the Japanese on the central Philippine island of Leyte.
1942:
The British, led by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, launched a successful infantry attack against the Germans at El-Alamein, Egypt, during World War II.
October 24
1945:
United Nations established.
The charter for the United Nations—the world's premier international organization, established at the end of World War II to maintain world peace and friendly relations among nations—entered into force this day in 1945.
1970:
Salvador Allende's election as the first Marxist president of Chile was confirmed.
1940:
The 40-hour workweek went into effect under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
1929:
A record 12,894,650 shares of stock were traded, causing the first day of real panic in the Crash of 1929, known as “Black Thursday.”
1922: Benito Mussolini summoned a “March on Rome” and subsequently became dictator of Italy.
1917:
More than 600,000 Italians surrendered or retreated at the Battle of Caporetto during World War I.
1861:
The first transcontinental telegram was sent via the telegraph in the United States, effectively bringing to an end the Pony Express.
1648:
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch and the German phase of the Thirty Years' War.
1632:
Dutch microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who became the first to observe bacteria and protozoans, was born.
October 25
1529:
Cardinal Wolsey dismissed by Henry VIII.
Henry VIII of England dismissed Thomas Cardinal Wolsey on this day in 1529 for his failure to legitimize Henry's affair with Anne Boleyn and one day later designated Sir Thomas More as lord chancellor in his place.
1983:
The U.S. military, under President Ronald Reagan, invaded the tiny island country of Grenada.
1950:
China entered the Korean War on the side of North Korea against the United States and South Korea.
1936:
Germany and Italy established the Rome-Berlin Axis.
1415:
The English, led by Henry V, scored a decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt in the Hundred Years' War.
October 26
1979:
Park Chung Hee assassinated.
On this day in 1979, South Korean President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by his lifelong friend Kim Jae Kyu, the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, who was sentenced to death for his actions.
1958:
America's first jet airliner, the Boeing 707, entered service for Pan American World Airways.
1955:
A constitutional law of perpetual neutrality in Austria was promulgated.
1918:
Prussian General Erich Ludendorff was forced to resign by Emperor William II on Prince Maximilian's advice, in an effort to establish an armistice agreement.
1916:
Fran鏾is Mitterrand, who served two terms (1981–95) as president of France and was the country's first socialist to hold the office, was born.
1905:
The St. Petersburg soviet (workers' council) was formed during the Russian Revolution of 1905.
1813:
British and U.S. troops clashed in the Battle of Ch鈚eauguay during the War of 1812.
1795:
The National Convention, the assembly that governed France during a pivotal period of the Revolution, was dispersed.
October 27
1978:
Anwar el-Sādāt and Menachem Begin awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
On this day in 1978, Anwar el-Sādāt of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for negotiations that resulted first in the Camp David Accords, then in a peace treaty between their countries.
2000:
At a concert near Tel Aviv, the music of German composer Richard Wagner, which many associate with the Nazi regime, was played for the first time in public in Israel.
1979: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an island nation lying within the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, achieved its independence.
1968:
Physicist Lise Meitner, whose research (along with that of Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann) led to the discovery of nuclear fission, died in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
1961:
The first Saturn rocket was successfully launched, and years later the Saturn V was the launch vehicle used in the Apollo moon-landing flights.
1795:
Pinckney's Treaty, an agreement between the United States and Spain, was signed, giving the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
1492:
Christopher Columbus sailed to Cuba and claimed the island for Spain.
939:
Athelstan, the first king to rule over all of England, died.
October 28
1886:
Statue of Liberty dedicated.
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States on the occasion of America's 100th anniversary in 1876, was officially dedicated this day in 1886 by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
1971:
Great Britain launched Prospero, the first of four X-3 satellites.
1965:
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, designed by Finnish-born American architect Eero Saarinen to commemorate St. Louis's historic role as “Gateway to the West,” was completed.
1962:
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev capitulated to U.S. demands to halt delivery of nuclear-armed missiles to Cuba, bringing an end to the Cuban missile crisis.
1919:
The U.S. Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto and passed the Volstead Act, providing enforcement guidelines for Prohibition.
1918:
Tomáš Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, and other leaders issued a proclamation announcing the formation of an independent Czechoslovakian state.
1914:
American physician and medical researcher Jonas Edward Salk, who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio, was born.
1790:
Spain, yielding to British demands, signed the convention that resolved the Nootka Sound controversy.
1636:
Harvard University, the oldest institute of higher learning in the United States, was founded by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
October 29
1929:
Collapse of U.S. stock market prices.
Just five days after nearly 13 million shares of U.S. stock were sold in one day in 1929, an additional 16 million shares were sold this day, called “Black Tuesday,” further fueling the crisis known as the Great Depression.
1995:
Terry Southern, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider, died in New York City.
1956:
Israel's army attacked Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula in a fight for control of the Suez Canal area.
1950:
King Gustav V of Sweden, a strong proponent of Swedish neutrality during World War II, died in Stockholm.
1901:
Anarchist Leon Czolgosz was executed for the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley.
1897:
Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda for the German Third Reich under Adolf Hitler, was born.
1709:
The community of Cistercian nuns at Port-Royal des Champs, an abbey in France, was dispersed and exiled to other convents because of their involvement with Jansenism.
1618:
British adventurer and writer Sir Walter Raleigh was executed for treason.
October 30
1485:
Henry Tudor crowned king of England.
Henry Tudor, who was crowned Henry VII on this day in 1485, founded the Tudor dynasty, ended the Wars of the Roses, used his children's marriages to build alliances, and signed treaties that increased England's power.
1974:
Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle,” regaining the world heavyweight boxing title.
1938:
Orson Welles's radio dramatization of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds caused a national panic as thousands of listeners feared a genuine invasion from Mars.
1905:
Emperor Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, bringing the end of unlimited autocracy in Russia and ushering in an era of constitutional monarchy.
1895:
German bacteriologist and pathologist Gerhard Domagk, recipient of the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, was born.
1340:
An allied force of Castilian and Portuguese Christians defeated the Muslim Marīnids of North Africa at the Battle of Río Salado.
130:
The Roman emperor Hadrian officially founded the city of Antino鰌olis in ancient Egypt.