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.