Events
Pre-1600 46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to Venus Genetrix, fulfilling a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus. 715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne. 1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100. 1142 – Stephen of Blois's army approaches Oxford, beginning the siege of Oxford. 1143 – Election of pope Celestine II following the death of pope Innocent II. 1212 – The Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty. 1345 – Friso-Hollandic Wars: Frisians defeat Holland in the Battle of Warns. 1371 – Serbian–Turkish wars: Ottoman Turks fight against a Serbian army at the Battle of Maritsa. 1423 – Hundred Years' War: A French army defeats the English at the Battle of La Brossinière. 1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Spanish, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera. 1580 – Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth in Plymouth, England.
1601–1900 1687 – Morean War: The Parthenon in Athens, used as a gunpowder depot by the Ottoman garrison, is partially destroyed after being bombarded during the Siege of the Acropolis by Venetian forces. 1688 – The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British troops capture and begin the occupation of Philadelphia, which had been serving as the American capital city, during the Philadelphia campaign. 1789 – George Washington appoints Thomas Jefferson the first United States Secretary of State. 1799 – War of the 2nd Coalition: French troops defeat Austro-Russian forces, leading to the collapse of Suvorov's campaign. 1810 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1901–present 1905 – Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity. 1907 – Four months after the 1907 Imperial Conference, New Zealand and Newfoundland are promoted from colonies to dominions within the British Empire. 1914 – The United States Federal Trade Commission is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act. 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins. 1918 – World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive began which would last until the total surrender of German forces. 1919 – Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeats the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka. 1923 – The German government calls off the passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr. 1933 – As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Lluis Companys reshuffles the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the marxist POUM and anarcho-syndicalist CNT joining the government. 1942 – Holocaust: Senior SS official August Frank issues a memorandum detailing how Jews should be "evacuated". 1950 – Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces. 1953 – Rationing of sugar in the United Kingdom ends. 1954 – The Japanese rail ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, killing 1,172. 1959 – Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless. 1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. 1978 – Air Caribbean Flight 309 crashes in Residencial Las Casas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing six. 1980 – A terrorist bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, kills 13 people and injures 213 others. 1983 – Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war. 1983 – Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L, intended to launch a crew to the Salyut 7 space station, explodes on the launch pad. The launch escape system is activated before the Soyuz-U rocket explodes, saving the crew. 1984 – The United Kingdom and China agree to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997. 1992 – A Nigerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes in Ejigbo, Lagos, killing 159. 1994 – A Yakovlev Yak-40 crashes into a river near Vanavara, Russia, killing 24. 1997 – A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan airport, killing 234. 1997 – An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse. 2000 – Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 20,000 protesters) turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits. 2000 – The sinks off Paros in the Aegean Sea killing 80 passengers. 2002 – The overcrowded Senegalese ferry, , capsizes off the coast of the Gambia killing more than 1,000. 2009 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities. 2010 – The Philippine Bar exam bombing occurs near the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila injuring 47 people. 2014 – A mass kidnapping of 43 students from a teaching college occurs in Iguala, Mexico. 2022 – A mass shooting occurs at a school in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia, resulting in the deaths of 18 people, including 11 children. 2024 – Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the mainland United States since Katrina.
Births Pre-1600 932 – Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, Arab caliph (died 975) 1329 – Anne of Bavaria, German queen consort (died 1353) 1406 – Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (died 1430) 1462 – Engelbert, Count of Nevers, younger son of John I, Duke of Cleves (died 1506) 1526 – Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (died 1569)
1601–1900 1637 – Sébastien Leclerc, French painter (died 1714) 1641 – Nehemiah Grew, English plant anatomist and physiologist (died 1712) 1651 – Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of Germantown, Philadelphia (died 1720) 1660 – George William, Duke of Liegnitz (died 1675) 1698 – William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (died 1755) 1711 – Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician, First Lord of the Admiralty (died 1779) 1750 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, English admiral (died 1810) 1758 – Cosme Argerich, Argentinian physician (died 1820) 1767 – Wenzel Müller, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1835) 1774 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and environmentalist (died 1845) 1783 – Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke, English politician and literary figure (died 1858) 1791 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (died 1824) 1792 – William Hobson, Irish-New Zealand explorer and politician, 1st Governor of New Zealand (died 1842) 1820 – Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Indian philosopher, painter, and academic (died 1891) 1840 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec (died 1923) 1843 – Joseph Furphy, Australian author and poet (died 1912) 1848 – Henry Walters, American art collector and philanthropist (died 1931) 1849 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936) 1856 – Anna Paaske, Norwegian opera singer and music teacher (died 1935) 1865 – Archibald Butt, United States Army Officer (died 1912) 1865 – Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford (died 1937) 1869 – Komitas, Armenian-French priest and composer (died 1935) 1870 – Christian X of Denmark (died 1947) 1872 – Max Ehrmann, American poet and lawyer (died 1945) 1873 – Wacław Berent, Polish author and translator (died 1940) 1874 – Lewis Hine, American photographer and activist (died 1940) 1874 – Charles Vyner Brooke, 3rd Raj of Sarawak (died 1963) 1875 – Edmund Gwenn, English-American actor (died 1959) 1876 – Edith Abbott, American economist, social worker, and author (died 1957) 1876 – Ghulam Bhik Nairang, Indian poet, lawyer, and politician (died 1952) 1877 – Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and academic (died 1963) 1877 – Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (died 1962) 1877 – Bertha De Vriese, Belgian physician (died 1958) 1878 – Walter Steinbeck, German actor (died 1942) 1884 – Jack Bickell, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (died 1951) 1886 – Archibald Hill, English physiologist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1977) 1887 – Edwin Keppel Bennett, English author and poet (died 1958) 1887 – Antonio Moreno, Spanish-American actor and director (died 1967) 1887 – Barnes Wallis, English scientist and engineer, invented the Bouncing bomb (died 1979) 1888 – J. Frank Dobie, American journalist and author (died 1964) 1888 – T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) 1889 – Gordon Brewster, Irish cartoonist (died 1946) 1889 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (died 1976) 1889 – Abdulkadir Inan, Bashkir/Turkish Turkologist (died 1976) 1890 – Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager (died 1959) 1891 – William McKell, Australian politician, 12th Governor General of Australia (died 1985) 1891 – Charles Münch, French violinist and conductor (died 1968) 1891 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (died 1953) 1892 – Robert Staughton Lynd, American sociologist and academic (died 1970) 1894 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress (died 1929) 1895 – Jürgen Stroop, German general (died 1952) 1897 – Pope Paul VI (died 1978) 1897 – Arthur Rhys-Davids, English lieutenant and pilot (died 1917) 1898 – George Gershwin, American pianist and composer (died 1937) 1900 – Suzanne Belperron, French jewelry designer (died 1983)
1901–present 1901 – George Raft, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1980) 1901 – Ted Weems, American bandleader and musician (died 1963) 1902 – Albert Anastasia, Italian-American mobster (died 1957) 1905 – Millito Navarro, Puerto Rican baseball player (died 2011) 1905 – Karl Rappan, Austrian footballer and coach (died 1996) 1907 – Anthony Blunt, English historian and spy (died 1983) 1907 – Shug Fisher, American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and comedian (died 1984) 1907 – Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (died 1992) 1909 – Bill France Sr., American race car driver, founded NASCAR (died 1992) 1909 – A. P. Hamann, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (died 1977) 1911 – Al Helfer, American sportscaster (died 1975) 1913 – Frank Brimsek, American ice hockey player (died 1998) 1914 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian skier and mountaineer (died 2009) 1914 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness expert (died 2011) 1917 – Réal Caouette, Canadian journalist and politician (died 1976) 1917 – Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese-French philosopher and theorist (died 1993) 1918 – Eric Morley, English businessman and television host, founded the Miss World (died 2000) 1919 – Barbara Britton, American actress (died 1980) 1919 – Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and author (died 2012) 1922 – Takis Miliadis, Greek actor (died 1985) 1922 – Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia (died 2014) 1923 – Dev Anand, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2011) 1923 – Hugh Griffiths, Baron Griffiths, English cricketer, lawyer, and judge (died 2015) 1923 – James Hennessy, English businessman and diplomat (died 2024) 1924 – Jean Hoerni, Swiss physicist, inventor and businessman (died 1997) 1925 – Norm Dussault, American-Canadian ice hockey player (died 2012) 1925 – Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and race car driver (died 1982) 1926 – Julie London, American singer and actress (died 2000) 1926 – Manfred Mayrhofer, Austrian philologist and academic (died 2011)