Historical Events on October

  • Women's suffrage

    1931

    Spain adopts women's suffrage.

  • Harry S. Truman

    1947

    The first televised White House address is given by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

  • War in Afghanistan (2001-2014)

    2001

    The Global War on Terrorism begins as a result of the September 11 attacks. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan initiates with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.

  • San Francisco

    1860

    Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens.

  • Battle of Britain

    1940

    World War II: Battle of Britain: During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.

  • 14th Dalai Lama

    1980

    Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.

  • Detroit Tigers

    1908

    The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, clinching the World Series; this would be their last until clinching the 2016 World Series.

  • Theodore Roosevelt

    1912

    While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.

  • Bobby Fischer

    1956

    Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer play a famous chess game called The Game of the Century. Fischer beat Byrne and wins a Brilliancy prize.

  • Princeton University

    1873

    Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.

  • Pope John Paul II

    1978

    Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II.

  • Digital switchover

    2012

    After 38 years, the world's first teletext service (BBC's Ceefax) ceases broadcast due to Northern Ireland completing the digital switchover.

  • Norway

    1905

    Sweden accepts the independence of Norway.

  • Thessaloniki

    1912

    First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.

  • Ottoman Empire

    1923

    Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

  • Muhammad Ali

    1960

    In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower

    1953

    Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

  • International recognition of the State of Palestine

    2014

    Sweden is the first European Union member state to officially recognize the State of Palestine.

Famous Birthdays on October

Famous Deaths on October

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