• 36 BC - In the battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate.
• 301 - San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus.
• 1188 - Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster.
• 1260 - The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.
• 1650 - Third English Civil War: Battle of Dunbar (1650)
• 1651 - Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester - Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war.
• 1666 - The Royal Exchange burnt down in the Great Fire of London
• 1777 - Cooch's Bridge - Skirmish of American Revolutionary war in New Castle County, Delaware where the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time.
• 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. America is officially free from Britain
• 1798 - Weeklong battle of St. George's Caye begun between Spanish and British off the coast of Belize.
• 1838 - Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a Free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boards a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.
• 1855 - Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under American General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Sioux village, killing 100 men, women, and children.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz begins, which will result in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23.
• 1874 - The congress of the state of México elevates Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of "Villa de Juárez".
• 1878 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
• 1914 - William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule.
• 1929 - Dow Jones Industrial Average reached all time high at the time (381.17), which was shortly followed by the Crash of 1929.
• 1933 - Yevgeniy Abalakov reaches the highest point of the Soviet Union - Communism Peak (7495 m).
• 1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph
• 1939 - World War II begins when France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, starting the Allies.
• 1942 - World War II: Uprising of the Jewish ghetto in Lakhva occurs.
• 1943 - World War II: Mainland Italy is invaded by Allied forces for the first time in the war.
• 1944 - Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, arriving three days later.
• 1951 - The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its first episode on the CBS network.
• 1954 - The People's Liberation Army begin shelling the ROC-controlled islands of Quemoy.
• 1954 - The German U-Boat U-505 began its move from a specially constructed dock to its final site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
• 1967 - Dagen H in Sweden: traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight
• 1971 - Qatar becomes an independent state
• 1976 - Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
• 1991 - In Hamlet, North Carolina, a grease fire breaks out at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant, killing 25 people.
• 1994 - Sino-Soviet Split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
• 1995 - eBay founded.
• 1997 - A Vietnam Airlines Tupolev TU-134 crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64.
• 2004 - The Beslan school massacre ends in the deaths of approximately 344 people, mostly teachers and children.

Births