Events

Up to 1950 
 1444 – Battle of Varna: King Wladyslaw of Poland and Hungary is killed, after defeat to the Turks under Murad II.
 1520 – King Christian II of Denmark orders the execution of dozens of people in the Stockholm Bloodbath, after successfully invading Sweden.
 1619 - René Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy.
 1674 - The Netherlands cedes the New Netherland to England.
 1775 – United States Marine Corps is created.
 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte becomes French consul.
 1821 - Cry of Independence by Rufina Alfaro at La Villa de los Santos, Panama, sets into motion a revolt which will lead to Panama's independence from Spain and to it immediately becoming part of Colombia.
 1847 - Passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off Ireland, killing 92 out of the 110 people on board.
 1865 - Major Henry Wirz, superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, US, is hanged.
 1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates the explorer David Livingstone in Ujiji, Tanzania.
 1890 - At Cabo Vilan, Spain, British ship HMS Serpent of the Royal Navy sinks in stormy seas, killing 172 people, with 3 being able to swim to safety.
 1909 - The first outdoor ice rink opens in Vienna.
 1918 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, following the declaring of a Republic in Germany, goes into exile in the Netherlands.
 1928 – Coronation of Hirohito as Emperor of Japan.
 1938 – The Kristallnacht ends. About 30 000 Jews are moved to concentration camps, and over 1500 synagogues are partly destroyed.
 1938 - President of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk dies.
 1940 - The 1940 Vrancea earthquake in Romania kills around 1,000 people.
 1942 - World War II: Germany invades Vichy France following French admiral Francois Darlan's agreement to an armistice with the allies in North Africa.
 1944 - The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood explodes at Manus, Admiralty Islands, killing at least 432 people.
 1945 - Heavy fighting in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and returning colonists after World War II.
 1946 - An earthquake in the Ancash region of Peru kills 1,400 people.

From 1951 
 1951 - The US' first direct coast-to-coast service begins, between New Jersey and California.
 1954 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
 1958 - The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.
 1969 – The television show Sesame Street airs for the first time in the United States.
 1970 - For the first time in five years, a week passes without reports of US Military casualties in Vietnam.
 1970 - Soviet lunar probe Lunokhod 1 is launched.
 1971 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44 people. 
 1975 – The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board.
 1975 - The UN General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with Racism. This is repealed (removed) by 1991.
 1978 - Larry Holmes wins the World Heavyweight Boxing title against Alfredo Evangelista.
 1982 - Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies, being succeeded by Yuri Andropov, who himself dies only 15 months later, in February 1984.
 1989 – Bulgaria's Communist regime under Todor Zhivkov falls.
 1995 – Nine Nigerian human rights activists are executed, including the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa.
 2001 – Apple Inc. starts selling the IPod.
 2008 - Over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declares the Phoenix mission finished, after communication with the lander was lost.
 2009 - Ships from the North Korean and South Korean navies clash off Daecheong Island in the Yellow Sea.
 2009 – John Allen Muhammad is executed for the Beltway sniper attacks.
 2011 – Lucas Papademos is chosen to lead a caretaker government in Greece.
 2012 - Four days after the United States Presidential Election, Florida is given to Barack Obama, sealing his 332-206 Electoral College win over Mitt Romney.
 2013 - Marc Marquez becomes the youngest Moto GP world champion.
 2014 - A suicide bomb attack at a school in northeastern Nigeria kills 48 people.
 2019 - Spain holds its second general election in less than seven months, with the governing Socialist Party under Pedro Sánchez remaining the largest party but the far-right Vox Party doubling its number of seats.
 2019 - Evo Morales resigns as President of Bolivia during a political crisis in the country over his disputed re-election on October 20.

Births

Up to 1800 
 1232 - Haakon the Young, King of Norway (d. 1257)
 1341 - Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (d. 1408)
 1433 – Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1477)
 1480 - Bridget of York, English nun and princess (d. 1517)
 1483 – Martin Luther, German Protestant reformer (d. 1546)
 1547 - Gerhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (d. 1601)
 1565 - Laurentius Paulinus Gothus, Swedish theologian and astronomer (d. 1646)
 1577 – Jacob Cats, Dutch poet, jurist and politician (d. 1660)
 1668 – François Couperin, French composer (d. 1733)
 1683 – George II, German-born King of Britain (d. 1760)
 1695 - John Bevis, English physician and astronomer (d. 1771)
 1697 - Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco (d. 1731)
 1697 – William Hogarth, English artist (d. 1764)
 1710 - Adam Gottlob Moltke, Danish statesman (d. 1792)
 1720 - Honoré III, Prince of Monaco (d. 1795)
 1728 – Oliver Goldsmith, Anglo-Irish playwright (d. 1774)
 1735 - Granville Sharp, English abolitionist (d. 1813)
 1740 - Maria Kunigunde of Saxony (d. 1826)
 1755 - Franz Anton Ries, German violinist (d. 1846)
 1759 – Friedrich Schiller, German writer (d. 1805)

1801  1900 
 1801 - Vladimir Dal, Russian lexicographer (d. 1872)
 1801 - Samuel Gridley Howe, American social reformer (d. 1876)
 1807 – Robert Blum, German politician and revolutionary (d. 1848)
 1810 - George Jennings, English plumber and engineer (d. 1882)
 1829 - Elwin Bruno Christoffel, German astronomer (d. 1900)
 1834 – José Hernández, Argentine journalist, poet and politician (d. 1886)
 1845 - Miguel Antonio Caro, 2nd President of Colombia (d. 1909)
 1845 – John Sparrow David Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1894)
 1851 - Francis Maitland Balfour, Scottish biologist (d. 1882)
 1859 - Théophile Steinlen, Swiss-French artist (d. 1923)
 1861 - Robert T. A. Innes, Scottish astronomer (d. 1933)
 1862 - Chester Hardy Aldrich, 17th Governor of Nebraska (d. 1924)
 1868 - Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist (d. 1957)
 1871 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (d. 1947)
 1873 - Henri Rabaud, French composer (d. 1949)
 1875 - Hansi Niese, Austrian actress (d. 1934)
 1878 - Jorge Ubico, President of Guatemala (d. 1946)
 1879 – Patrick Pearse, Irish writer and political activist (d. 1916)
 1880 - Jacob Epstein, American sculptor (d. 1959)
 1883 - Olaf Bull, Norwegian poet (d. 1933)
 1886 - Edward Joseph Collins, American pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1951)
 1887 - Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu, Romanian engineer (d. 1973)
 1887 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (d. 1968)
 1888 – Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1972)
 1888 - Juan Antonio Ríos, President of Chile (d. 1946)
 1889 - Claude Rains, British-American actor (d. 1967)
 1890 - El Lissitzky, American artist (d. 1941)
 1892 - Mabel Normand, American actress and director (d. 1930)
 1893 - John P. Marquand, American writer (d. 1960)
 1895 - John Knudsen Northrop, American industrialist and aircraft designer (d. 1981)
 1896 - Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
 1897 - Antonio Pons, Acting President of Ecuador (d. 1980)
 1899 - Swami Satyabhakta, Indian guru, philosopher and scholar (d. 1998)

1901  1950 
 1905 - Louis Harold Gray, British physicist and radiologist (d. 1965)
 1907 - Jane Froman, American actress and singer (d. 1980)
 1909 - Pawel Jasienica, Polish historian (d. 1970)
 1909 - Johnny Marks, American songwriter (d. 1985)
 1911 - Harry Andrews, English actor (d. 1989)
 1912 - Jean-Hilaire Aubame, Prime Minister of Gabon (d. 1989)
 1914 – Edmund Conen, German footballer (d. 1990)
 1916 - Dr. Tangalanga, Argentine comedian (d. 2013)
 1918 – Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist (d. 2007)
 1919 – Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian inventor of the AK-47 (d. 2013)
 1920 - Maurice Clavel, French writer and philosopher (d. 1979)
 1920 – Jennifer Holt, American actress (d. 1997)
 1923 – Hachiko, world famous Japanese Akita dog (d. 1935)
 1924 - Russell Johnson, American actor (d. 2014)
 1925 – Richard Burton, Welsh actor (d. 1984)
 1927 - Vaughn O. Lang, American general (d. 2014)
 1927 - Sabah, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2014)
 1928 – Ennio Morricone, Italian composer
 1930 - Gene Conley, American basketball player (d. 2017)
 1930 - Adam Purple, American activist and gardener (d. 2015)
 1931 - Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (d. 2013)
 1932 – Roy Scheider, American actor (d. 2008)
 1932 - Paul Bley, Canadian pianist (d. 2016)
 1933 - Ronald Evans, American astronaut (d. 1982)
 1934 - Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (d. 1969)
 1935 - Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov, Russian astronomer and astrophysicist
 1937 – Albert Hall, American actor
 1937 - Archie Macpherson, Scottish sports commentator
 1938 – Jiri Grusa, Czech diplomat and writer (d. 2011)
 1939 - Russell Means, Native American activist and actor (d. 2012)
 1940 – Screaming Lord Sutch, British musician and politician (d. 1999)
 1942 – Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss Federal Councillor
 1942 – Robert F. Engle, American economist
 1943 - Saxby Chambliss, American politician
 1944 – Sir Tim Rice, English songwriter
 1944 - Askar Akayev, former President of Kyrgyzstan
 1944 - Silvestre Reyes, American politician
 1945 - Terence Davies, English screenwriter, director, novelist and actor
 1947 – Greg Lake, English musician (d. 2016)
 1947 – Bachir Gemayel, Lebanese politician (d. 1982)
 1947 - Glen Buxton, American musician
 1948 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (d. 2005)
 1948 - Shigesato Itoi, Japanese video game designer, voice actor and author
 1949 - Ann Reinking, American actress and dancer
 1949 - Michio Yasuda, Japanese footballer

1951  1975 
 1954 - Jaume Bartumeu, 5th Prime Minister of Andorra
 1955 – Roland Emmerich, German movie director
 1955 – Bruno Peyron, French sailor
 1956 - Mohsen Badawi, Egyptian entrepreneur and activist
 1956 - Matt Craven, Canadian actor
 1956 - Sinbad, American actor and comedian
 1957 - Nigel Evans, British politician
 1958 - Stephen Herek, American film director
 1958 - George Lowe, American actor and comedian
 1959 – Mackenzie Phillips, American actress
 1959 - Randy Mamola, American racing driver
 1960 – Neil Gaiman, English writer
 1961 - John Walton, English darts player
 1963 – Hugh Bonneville, English actor
 1963 - Mike Powell, American athlete
 1963 - Antoni Martí, 6th Prime Minister of Andorra
 1964 - Magnús Scheving, Icelandic sportsperson, producer and actor
 1965 - Sean Hughes, Irish actor and comedian (d. 2017)
 1965 – Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racing driver
 1967 - Andreas Scholl, German tenor
 1967 - Michael Jai White, American actor and martial artist
 1968 – Tracy Morgan, American actor and comedian
 1968 - Daphne Deckers, Dutch model
 1968 - Steve Brookstein, British singer
 1969 – Faustino Asprilla, Colombian footballer
 1969 – Jens Lehmann, German footballer
 1969 – Ellen Pompeo, American actress
 1970 – Warren G, American rapper
 1970 - Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian footballer and manager
 1971 - Mario Abdo Benítez, Paraguayan politician, President of Paraguay
 1971 - Jose Peralta, American politician (d. 2018)
 1971 - Magnus Johansson, Swedish footballer
 1971 - Niki Karimi, Iranian actress, director and screenwriter
 1971 - Holly Black, American writer
 1972 - DJ Ashba, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
 1973 – Patrik Berger, Czech footballer

From 1976 
 1976 – Steffen Iversen, Norwegian footballer
 1976 – Shefki Kuqi, Finnish footballer
 1977 - Erik Nevland, Norwegian footballer
 1977 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (d. 2009)
 1978 - Kyla Cole, Slovakian model, fashion designer and pornographic actress
 1978 - Ruth Davidson, Scottish journalist and politician, former Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party
 1978 – Eve, American rapper and actress
 1978 – Nadine Angerer, German footballer
 1979 - Anthony Réveillère, French footballer
 1981 - Miroslav Slepicka, Czech footballer
 1981 - Ryback, American professional wrestler
 1982 - Ruth Lorenzo, Spanish singer
 1982 – Heather Matarazzo, American actress
 1983 – Miranda Lambert, American singer
 1983 - Craig Smith, American basketball player
 1984 - Kendrick Perkins, American basketball player
 1985 – Aleksandar Kolarov, Serbian footballer
 1986 – Samuel Wanjiru, Kenyan marathon runner (d. 2011)
 1986 - Josh Peck, American actor
 1987 - Jessica Tovey, Australian actress
 1989 - Taron Egerton, Welsh actor
 1990 - Kristina Vogel, German track cyclist
 1990 - Vanessa Ferrari, Italian gymnast
 1990 - Aron Johansson, American soccer player
 1990 - Mireia Belmonte, Spanish swimmer
 1991 - Genevieve Buechner, Canadian actress
 1991 - Tony Snell, American basketball player
 1992 - Wilfried Zaha, Ivorian-English footballer
 1994 - Takuma Asano, Japanese footballer
 1994 - Zoey Deutch, American actress
 1999 - Kiernan Shipka, American actress
 2000 – Mackenzie Foy, American actress and model

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 461 - Pope Leo I
 627 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury
 901 - Adelaide of Paris (b. 850)
 1241 - Pope Celestine IV
 1444 – Wladyslaw of Poland (b. 1424)
 1549 – Pope Paul III, last of the Renaissance popes (b. 1468)
 1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)
 1644 - Luis Velez de Guevara, Spanish writer (b. 1579)
 1673 - Michael of Poland (b. 1640)
 1777 - Cornstalk, American tribal chief (b. 1720)
 1808 - Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, 21st Governor General of Canada (b. 1724)
 1838 - Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Ukrainian poet (b. 1769)
 1848 – King Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
 1848 – Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (b. 1789)
 1852 - Gideon Mantell, British geologist, physician and palaeontologist (b. 1790)
 1865 - Henry Wirz, Swiss-born American POW commandant (b. 1823)
 1891 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (b. 1854)

1901  2000 
 1911 - Christian Lundeberg, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1842)
 1912 - Louis Cyr, Canadian strongman (b. 1863)
 1916 – Walter Sutton, American biologist (b. 1877)
 1936 - Louis Gustave Binger, French army officer and explorer (b. 1856)
 1937 - Lev Shubnikov, Russian physicist (b. 1901)
 1938 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first President of Turkey (b. 1881)
 1940 - Ilie Pintilie, Romanian activist (b. 1903)
 1943 - Johannes Prassek, German activist (b. 1911)
 1959 – Felix Jacoby, German classical philologist (b. 1896)
 1977 - Dennis Wheatley, English writer (b. 1897)
 1981 - Abel Gance, French actor, director and producer (b. 1889)
 1982 – Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1906)
 1987 - Seyni Kountché, President of Niger (b. 1931)
 1987 - Noor Hossain, Bangladeshi activist (b. 1961)
 1990 - Mário Schenberg, Brazilian physicist (b. 1914)
 1991 – Gunnar Gren, Swedish footballer (b. 1920)
 1992 - Chuck Connors, American actor and athlete (b. 1921)
 1994 - Carmen McRae, American singer (b. 1920)
 1995 – Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer and human rights activist (b. 1941)
 1997 - Ave Ninchi, Italian actress (b. 1914)
 1998 - Mary Millar, British actress (b. 1936)
 2000 – Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Prime Minister of France (b. 1915)
 2000 - Adamantios Androutsopoulos, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)

From 2001 
 2001 – Ken Kesey, American writer (b. 1935)
 2002 - Michel Boisrond, French actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
 2003 – Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936)
 2003 - Irv Kupcinet, American columnist and television presenter (b. 1912)
 2006 – Jack Palance, American actor (b. 1919)
 2007 – Laraine Day, American actress (b. 1920)
 2007 – Norman Mailer, American writer (b. 1923)
 2008 – Miriam Makeba, South African singer (b. 1932)
 2009 – Robert Enke, German footballer (b. 1977)
 2009 – John Allen Muhammad, American spree killer (b. 1960)
 2010 – Dino De Laurentiis, Italian movie producer (b. 1919)
 2011 - Ivan Martin Jirous, Czech poet (b. 1944)
 2013 - Giorgio Orelli, Swiss poet (b. 1921)
 2014 - Wayne Goss, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1951)
 2014 - Steve Dodd, Australian actor (b. 1928)
 2014 - Al Renfrew, American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1924)
 2014 - Ken Takakura, Japanese actor (b. 1931)
 2014 - Doc Paskowitz, American surfer (b. 1921)
 2014 - Jovian, American lemur actor (b. 1994)
 2015 - Allen Toussaint, American musician, songwriter and producer (b. 1938)
 2015 - Laurent Vidal, French triathlete (b. 1984)
 2015 - André Glucksmann, French philosopher (b. 1937)
 2015 - Pat Eddery, Irish jockey (b. 1952)
 2015 - Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany (b. 1918)
 2015 - Tim Valentine, American politician (b. 1926)
 2015 - Klaus Roth, German-British mathematician (b. 1925)
 2015 - Gene Amdahl, American computer scientist, physicist and engineer (b. 1922)
 2017 - Ray Lovelock, Italian actor and rock musician (b. 1950)
 2017 - Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov, Latvian-born Russian comedian and writer (b. 1948)
 2017 - Bernhard Eckstein, German racing cyclist (b. 1935)
 2017 - Erika Remberg, Austrian actress (b. 1932)
 2018 - Raffaele Baldassarre, Italian politician (b. 1956)
 2018 - Joel Barcellos, Brazilian actor (b. 1936)
 2018 - Ron Johnson, American football player (b. 1947)
 2018 - Herbert London, American political activist and conservative commentator (b. 1939)
 2018 - Liz J. Patterson, American politician (b. 1939)
 2019 - T. N. Seshan, Indian politician (b. 1932)
 2019 - István Szívós, Hungarian water polo player (b. 1948)

Observances 
 Atatürk Remembrance Day (Turkey)
 Heroes' Day, or Hari Pahlawan (Indonesia)
 World Science Day

Days of the year