475 Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed Western Roman Emperor.
1517 Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
1587 Leiden University Library opened.
1795 John Keats, British poet, was born (d. 1821).
1822 Emperor Agustín de Iturbide attempted to dissolve the Mexican Empire.
1860 Juliette Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts (d. 1927)
1861 American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigned as Commander of the United States Army.
1863 The Land Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led byGeneral Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.
1864 Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
1876 A monster cyclone ravaged India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
1887 Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist Chinese leader, former Republic of China president, was born(d. 1975).
1908 Muriel Duckworth, Canadian activist, was born (d. 2009).
1913 Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States.
1913 – The Indianapolis Street Car Strike and subsequent riot began.
1917 World War I: Battle of Beersheba – “last successful cavalry charge in history”.
1918 Banat Republic was founded.
1920 Dick Francis, Welsh-Caymanian jockey and author, was born (d. 2010).
1923 The first of 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Western Australia.
1924 World Savings Day was announced in Milan by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).
1926 Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.
1931 Dan Rather, American television journalist, was born.
1937 – Tom Paxton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, was born.
1938 Great Depression: In an effort to restore investor confidence, theNew York Stock Exchange unveiled a fifteen-point programme aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
1940 – Judith Wilcox, Baroness Wilcox, English businesswoman and politician, was born.
1940 The Battle of Britain ended.
1941 After 14 years of work, drilling was completed on Mount Rushmore.
1941 The destroyer USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.
1943 World War II: An F4U Corsair accomplished the first successfulradar-guided interception.
1949 Bob Siebenberg, American drummer (Supertramp), was born.
1954 Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front began a revolt against French rule.
1956 Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France began bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
1961 – Sir Peter Jackson, New Zealand actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, was born.
1963 An explosion at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) in Indianapolis killed 74 people during an ice skating show.
1968 Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he had ordered a complete cessation of “all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam” effective November 1.
1973 Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison aboard a hijacked helicopter.
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two security guards.
1985 Keri Hulme’s novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize.
1986 The 5th congress of the Communist Party of Sweden was inaugurated. During the course of the congress the party name is changed to the Solidarity Party and the party ceases to be a communist party.
1994 An American Eagle ATR-72 crashed in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 68 passengers and crew.
1996 Fokker F100 TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashed into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.
1998 Iraq disarmament crisis began: Iraq announced it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
1999 – Yachtsman Jesse Martin returned to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
2000 Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 Flight 006 collided with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members.
2000 – A chartered Antonov An-26 exploded after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50.
2000 – Soyuz TM-31 launched, carrying the first resident crew to theInternational Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since.
2002 A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
2003 – Mahathir bin Mohamad resigned as Prime Minister of Malaysia and was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir’s 22 years in power.
2011 – The global population of humans reached seven billion. This day is recognised by the United Nations as Seven Billion Day.
2014 – Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashed in the Mojave Desert during a test flight.
2015 – Metrojet Flight 9268 was bombed over the northern Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.
2015 – New Zealand’s All Blacks became the first team to win consecutive Rugby World Cups and the first to win the title three times.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia