October 15 in History

Historical Events on October 15

1815 Emperor Napoleon I begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

1863 American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley.

1894 The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying.

1917 World War I: At Vincennes outside Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.

1945 World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.

1965 Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war rally in Manhattan including a public burning of a draft card; the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.

1989 Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.

1990 Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.

2001 NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

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Famous Birthdays on October 15

1844 Friedrich Nietzsche

1900 Mervyn LeRoy

1988 Mesut Özil

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Famous Deaths on October 15

1946 Hermann Göring

1959 Stepan Bandera

1988 Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

2012 Norodom Sihanouk

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