|
|
- 0042 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.
- 0425 Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
- 0502 The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
- 1086 A Muslim army from Africa defeats Castile's Alfonso VI October 23 at Zallaka Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Berber leader of the Almoravids, sends cartloads of Christian heads to the chief cities of Spain and Africa's Magrib as evidence of his victory
- 1086 At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
- 1157 The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
- 1641 Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years.
- 1642 Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
- 1679 Meal Tub Plot against James II of England
- 1694 American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
- 1707 The first Parliament of Great Britain, i.e., the United Kingdom, meets.
- 1739 War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
- 1790 Slaves revolt in Haiti (later suppressed)
- 1805 Sailing ship "Aeneus" sinks off Newfoundland killing 340
- 1812 Claude Franois de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet is executed on October 29.
- 1813 The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).
- 1855 Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
- 1864 Battle of Westport, Missouri
- 1864 Union Gen Samuel R Curtis defeats Conf Gen Stirling Price
- 1867 72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
- 1870 Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
- 1871 Columbia and Sappho (US) beat Livonia (UK) in 3rd America's Cup
- 1876 New Orleans Mint reopens as an assay office
- 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
- 1910 Blanche Scott became First woman solo a public airplane flight
- 1911 First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
- 1915 25,000 women march in NYC, demanding right to vote
- 1917 Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
- 1917 The Canadian Railway War Board holds its first meeting in the Canadian Pacific Boardroom in Windsor Station, Montreal. The name was changed to the Railway Association of Canada in 1919. The RAC represents the interests of all railways operating in Canada.
- 1927 City of Netanya, Israel founded
- 1929 Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
- 1929 The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
- 1930 The first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- 1932 "Fred Allen Show" premieres on radio
- 1935 Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
- 1941 Burning of the Odessa, Ukraine, Jews: 19,000 Jews are burned alive at Dalnik in Odessa, by Romanian and German troops. The next day, another 10,000 Jews are killed. Romanian Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu administered the executions.
- 1941 Walt Disney's "Dumbo" released
- 1941 World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations designed to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the German armies from capturing Moscow.
- 1942 All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Among the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
- 1942 During WW II, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt
- 1942 World War II: The Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begin a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt, never to return.
- 1944 Soviet army invades Hungary
- 1944 The largest naval battle in the history of warfare was fought near Leyte Gulf in the Philippines on Oct 23-26, 1944
- 1946 UN General Assembly 2nd session convenes (First NYC) (Flushing Meadows)
- 1947 NAACP petition on racism, "An Appeal to the World" presented to UN
- 1954 Britain, England, France and USSR agree to end occupation of Germany
- 1956 Revolt against Stalinist policies began in Hungary
- 1956 Thousands of Hungarians protest against the goverment and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
- 1957 First test firing of Vanguard satellite launch vehicle, TV-3
- 1958 Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature
- 1958 The Springhill Mine Bump - An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
- 1958 USSR lends money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam
- 1963 The beautiful Diane was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire UK
- 1965 Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
- 1968 Kip Keino (Kenya) wins gold medal for 1,500m (3 min 34.9 sec)
- 1970 Gary Gabelich sets auto speed record 622.4 mph (1,002 kph)
- 1973 A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
- 1973 Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge Sirica
- 1973 The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
- 1977 Panamanians vote 2:1 to approve the new Canal treaties
- 1980 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin resigns, due to illness
- 1982 Number one hit on UK music charts - Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
- 1983 Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
- 1983 Suicide terrorist truck bomb kills 243 US personnel in Beirut
- 1983 Truck bomb in Beirut kills 241 US soldiers
- 1984 NBC airs BBC footage of Ethiopian famine
- 1989 Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas killed 23 and injured 314.
- 1989 The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mtys Szrs, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
- 1990 Iraq announces release of 330 French hostages
- 1990 Visitor posting - Rachel Beger was born - USA
- 1991 Dr Jack Kevorkian's suicide machine kills 2 women
- 1992 Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
- 1997 Visitor posting - Maddii L. is born to Jennifer and Rob L - USA
- 1997 Visitor posting - Maryrose is born - USA
- 2000 Visitor posting - OCT 23 2000 NORAYA MCKAY WAS BORN TO SHERRIKA AND JAMES MCKAY III
- 2001 The first iPod is released.
- 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
- 2004 Brazil's "Operation Cajuana" launches its first rocket into space, the VSB-30, just 14 months after its space program was hit a deadly launch pad accident.
- 2009 A huge explosion occurs at an oil refinery in Cataño, Puerto Rico.
- 2009 A huge explosion rips through an upmarket area of Peshawar in Pakistan.
- 2009 A universal mobile phone charger that works with any handset is approved by the International Telecommunication Union.
- 2009 A white Kenyan, Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley, is released after five months of an eight month prison sentence for manslaughter.
- 2009 At the end of their three-week synod in the Vatican, more than 200 African Roman Catholic bishops issue a 12-page document urging what they call corrupt political leaders on the continent to repent their sins or resign and criticising multinational companies who exploit and destroy the earth. (BBC) (Reuters) (CBC)
- 2009 Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, says that the Vatican is considering the possibility of converting the Lefebvrist group into a personal prelature.
- 2009 Jean Todt defeats Ari Vatanen in an election to become the new head of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, replacing former head Max Mosley, who held the position for 16 years
- 2009 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launches its first human rights body, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
- 2009 The Swiss Government says that the United States has formally requested the extradition of film director Roman Polanski for having unlawful sex with an underage girl in 1977.
- 2009 The UK GDP contracts by 0.4% between July and September, meaning that the United Kingdom has been contracting for 6 successive quarters for the first time since records were kept in 1955.
- 2009 Vitit Muntarbhorn, United Nations Special Rapporteur for North Korea, says the country should improve its "abysmal" rights record, adding it should provide food to over 8 million citizens
More historical events added daily - keep checking back