October 8

Events
Up to 1900
1075 Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia.
1480 Stand-off on the Ugra River, between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the 'Great Horde', and those of Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, resulting in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols.
1573 End of the Spanish Siege of Alkmaar (Netherlands) - First Dutch victory in the Eighty Years' War.
1600 San Marino adopts its own constitution.
1806 Napoleonic Wars: Forces of the British Empire lay siege to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on France's English Channel coast.
1813 The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.
1814 The first election to Norway's Storting (Parliament) takes place.
1821 The Government of Jose de San Martin creates the Peruvian Navy.
1822 A volcanic eruption begins on the island of Java.
1856 The Second Opium War between China and Western powers begins.
1860 The telegraph line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, opens.
1862 American Civil War: Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.
1871 The Great Chicago Fire occurs.
1879 War of the Pacific: In the naval Battle of Angamos, Chile defeats Peru.
1895 Empress Myeongseong of Korea is murdered by Japanese forces at Geongbok Palace, before her corpse is burned.
1897 Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera.
1901 2000
1904 Edmonton, Alberta and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan become cities.
1912 The First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1918 World War I: In the Argonne Forest, France, US Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132.
1928 Joseph Szigeti gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella's violin concerto.
1932 The Indian Air Force is created.
1939 World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
1941 World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
1952 United Kingdom: The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash occurs. It is the UK's deadliest peacetime rail disaster.
1956 The New York Yankees player Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series.
1962 Algeria joins the UN.
1962 Germany's Der Spiegel publishes an article on the Bundeswehr (German army), which leads to a major scandal.
1967 Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia, leading to his execution the next day.
1973 Yom Kippur War: Gabi Amir's armored brigade attack Egyptian-occupied positions on Israel's side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away. The attack fails, destroying over 150 Israeli tanks.
1974 Baja California Sur becomes a state of Mexico.
1978 Australian Ken Warby sets the a water speed record, which still stands.
1982 Trade Unions, including Solidarity, are banned in Poland.
1982 The musical Cats opens on Broadway.
1990 Israel-Palestinian Conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinian and injure over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.
1991 Croatia decides to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia.
1998 In Oslo, Gardermoen Airport replaces Fornebu Airport.
2000 Aleksander Kwasniewski is re-elected as President of Poland.
From 2001
2001 Two airplanes collide in heavy fog from take-off from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
2001 George W. Bush announces the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
2004 Wangari Maathai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2005 2005 Pakistan earthquake: At 03:50:38 UTC, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale happens in the Pakistan region of Kashmir, killing thousands of people.
2010 Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2013 Peter Higgs and Francois Englert share the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the Higgs boson.
2015 President Sepp Blatter is suspended from FIFA for ninety days, along with senior officials Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke, during a major corruption scandal.
2018 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases a special report, warning that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" would need to be made to prevent global warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the upcoming century.
Births
Up to 1900
1515 Margaret Douglas, Scottish noblewoman (d. 1578)
1585 Heinrich Schutz, German composer (d. 1672)
1661 Michel Le Quien, French history writer (d. 1733)
1676 Benito Jeronimo Feijoo, Galician monk and scholar (d. 1764)
1713 Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi (d. 1793)
1715 Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1774)
1720 Jonathan Mayhew, American minister (d. 1766)
1747 Jean-Francois Rewbell, French politician (d. 1807)
1789 William John Swainson, English-New Zealand ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1855)
1789 John Ruggles, American politician (d. 1874)
1807 Harriet Taylor Mill, English philosopher and activist (d. 1858)
1818 John Henninger Reagan, American politician (d. 1905)
1823 Ivan Aksakov, Russian writer (d. 1876)
1826 Emily Blackwell, American physician and activist (d. 1910)
1834 Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer (d. 1905)
1843 Kitty Kielland, Norwegian artist (d. 1914)
1846 Bjorn Jonsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1912)
1850 Henry Louis Le Chatelier, French chemist (d. 1936)
1863 Edythe Chapman, American actress (d. 1948)
1864 Ozias Leduc, Canadian painter (d. 1955)
1868 Max Slevogt, German painter (d. 1932)
1868 Coleman Livingston Blease, Governor of South Carolina (d. 1942)
1870 Louis Vierne, French composer (d. 1937)
1871 Ivan Poddubny, Russian wrestler (d. 1949)
1873 Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish chemist and astronomer (d. 1967)
1873 Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect (d. 1949)
1875 Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (d. 1919)
1877 Hans Heysen, German-born landscape artist (d. 1968)
1883 Otto Heinrich Warburg, German chemist, won the 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1970)
1883 Dick Burnett, American musician (d. 1977)
1884 Walther von Reichenau, German general (d. 1942)
1889 Collett E. Woolman, American businessman (d. 1966)
1890 Edward Rickenbacker, American fighter pilot (d. 1973)
1890 Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (d. 1971)
1892 Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (d. 1941)
1893 Clarence Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
1895 Juan Peron, President of Argentina (d. 1974)
1895 Zog I, King of Albania (d. 1961)
1896 Julien Duvivier, French director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1967)
1897 Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian director (d. 1987)
1901 1950
1901 Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (d. 1977)
1901 Mark Oliphant, Australian physicist, humanitarian and politician, Governor of South Australia (d. 2000)
1903 Georgy Geshev, Bulgarian chess player (d. 1937)
1908 Martha Dodd, American writer (d. 1990)
1910 Paulette Dubost, French actress (d. 2011)
1910 Gus Hall, American Communist politician (d. 2000)
1913 Robert Gilruth, American aviation and space travel pioneer (d. 2000)
1917 Rodney Robert Porter, British biochemist (d. 1985)
1917 Billy Conn, American boxer (d. 1993)
1917 Walter Lord, American writer (d. 2002)
1918 Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist (d. 2018)
1919 Kiichi Miyazawa, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2007)
1920 Frank Herbert, American science fiction writer (d. 1986)
1922 Nils Liedholm, Swedish footballer (d. 2007)
1924 Alphons Egli, Swiss politician (d. 2016)
1927 Cesar Milstein, Argentine scientist (d. 2002)
1927 Raymond Chow, Hong Kong film producer (d. 2018)
1928 Bill Maynard, English actor (d. 2018)
1929 Betty Boothroyd, English politician
1929 Valdir Pereira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2001)
1929 Franklin Stahl, American geneticist and biologist
1930 Alasdair Milne, English director and producer (d. 2013)
1931 Bill Brown, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
1932 Kenneth Appel, American mathematician (d. 2013)
1932 Ray Reardon, Welsh snooker player
1934 James Holshouser, American politician, 68th Governor of North Carolina (d. 2013)
1935 Albert Roux, French-English chef
1937 Paul Schell, American politician, 50th Mayor of Seattle (d. 2014)
1938 Walter Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1938 Bronislovas Lubys, Lithuanian politician and businessman (d. 2011)
1939 Paul Hogan, Australian actor
1939 Harvey Pekar, American writer (d. 2010)
1939 Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Israeli basketball player (d. 2014)
1939 Lynne Stewart, American attorney (d. 2017)
1941 Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and activist
1943 Chevy Chase, American comedian and actor
1946 Dennis Kucinich, American politician
1946 Hanan Ashrawi, Pakistani scholar, activist and politician
1946 Jean-Jacques Beineix, French director and producer
1948 Gottfried Helnwein, Austrian-Irish artist
1948 Claude Jade, French actress (d. 2006)
1948 Pedro Lopez, Colombian serial killer
1948 Johnny Ramone, American musician (d. 2004)
1948 Baldwin Spencer, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
1949 Sigourney Weaver, American actress
1950 Blake Morrison, English writer
1950 Miguel Brindisi, Argentine footballer
1951 1975
1951 Shannon C. Stimson, American political theorist
1952 Takis Koroneos, Greek basketball player and coach
1952 Edward Zwick, American director, producer and screenwriter
1953 Robert Saxton, English composer
1954 Brigitte Rohde, German sprinter
1956 Janice E. Voss, American astronaut (d. 2012)
1956 Stephanie Zimbalist, American actress
1957 Martha Kearney, Irish-British broadcaster
1957 Antonio Cabrini, Italian footballer
1958 Ursula von der Leyen, German politician
1960 Reed Hastings, American businessman, co-founder of Netflix
1960 Francois Perusse, Canadian humorist
1964 Jakob Arjouni, German writer (d. 2013)
1964 CeCe Winans, American singer
1965 C. J. Ramone, American musician
1965 Ardal O'Hanlon, Irish comedian and actor
1965 Harri Koskela, Finnish wrestler
1968 Zvonimir Boban, Croatian footballer
1968 Emily Procter, American actress
1970 Matt Damon, American actor
1970 Anne-Marie Duff, British actress
1970 Sadiq Khan, British politician, Mayor of London
1970 Tetsuya Nomura, Japanese video game designer and director
1971 Monty Williams, American basketball player
1971 David Gauke, British politician
1972 Stanislav Varga, Slovakian footballer
1972 Terry Balsamo, American guitarist
1972 Kim Myung-min, South Korean actor
1974 Fredrik Modin, Swedish ice hockey player
1974 Koji Murofushi, Japanese hammer thrower
From 1976
1976 Karina Bacchi, Brazilian model and actress
1976 Renate Groenwold, Dutch speed skater
1976 Seryoga, Belarussian rapper, actor and producer
1977 Anne-Caroline Chausson, French cyclist
1977 Jamie Marchi, American voice actress, director and screenwriter
1977 Erna Siikavirta, Finnish musician (Lordi)
1977 Travis Wester, American actor
1978 Antonino D'Agostino, Italian footballer
1979 Kristanna Loken, American actress
1980 Nick Cannon, American actor, rapper and producer
1980 The Miz, American professional wrestler
1981 Chris Killen, New Zealand footballer
1984 Anthony Le Tallec, French footballer
1985 Eiji Wentz, Japanese entertainer
1985 Simone Bolelli, Italian tennis player
1985 Bruno Mars, American singer-songwriter
1987 Aya Hirano, Japanese voice actress
1989 Armand Traore, French footballer
1993 Angus T. Jones, American actor
1993 Garbine Muguruza, Spanish tennis player
1993 Barbara Palvin, Hungarian model
1993 Molly Quinn, American actress
1996 Sara Takanashi, Japanese ski jumper
1997 Bella Thorne, American actress, singer and dancer
Deaths
Up to 1900
976 Helen of Zadar, Queen of Croatia
1286 John I of Dreux, Duke of Brittany (b. 1217)
1317 Emperor Fushimi of Japan (b. 1265)
1621 Antoine de Montchrestien, French soldier, playwright and economist (b. 1575)
1647 Christian Soren Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (b. 1562)
1652 John Greaves, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1602)
1656 John George I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1585)
1735 Yongzheng Emperor of China (b. 1678)
1754 Henry Fielding, English writer (b. 1707)
1772 Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (b. 1711)
1793 John Hancock, American revolutionary and businessman (b. 1737)
1802 Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese general (b. 1758)
1803 Vittorio Alfieri, Italian writer (b. 1749)
1809 James Elphinston, Scottish linguist, educator and orthographer (b. 1721)
1820 Henri Christophe, King of Haiti (b. 1767)
1834 Francois-Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (b. 1775)
1869 Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (b. 1804)
1879 Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian naval officer (b. 1834)
1886 Austin F. Pike, American politician (b. 1819)
1891 Giovanni Caselli, Italian physicist (b. 1815)
1894 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and writer (b. 1809)
1895 Empress Myeongseong of Korea (b. 1851)
1897 Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter (b. 1830)
1901 2000
1928 Larry Semon, silent movie comedian (b. 1889)
1936 Premchand, Indian writer (b. 1880)
1936 Red Ames, American baseball player (b. 1882)
1942 Sergei Chaplygin, Soviet engineer (b. 1869)
1944 Wendell Willkie, American politician, candidate for President of the United States (b. 1892)
1945 Felix Salten, Austrian writer (b. 1869)
1953 Nigel Bruce, British actor (b. 1895)
1953 Kathleen Ferrier, American contralto (b. 1912)
1967 Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1883)
1972 Prescott Bush, father of President of the United States George H. W. Bush (b. 1895)
1973 Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher, playwright and critic (b. 1889)
1977 Giorgos Papasideris, Greek singer, composer and lyricist (b. 1902)
1982 Fernando Lamas, Argentine actor (b. 1916)
1982 Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, English peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1889)
1983 Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)
1983 Robert Docking, American politician, 38th Governor of Kansas (b. 1925)
1985 Malcolm Ross, American balloonist and atmospheric physicist (b. 1919)
1987 Konstantinos Tsatsos, President of Greece (b. 1899)
1992 Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1913)
1997 Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (b. 1913)
1999 John McLendon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
From 2001
2002 Jacques Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1952)
2004 Jacques Derrida, French philosopher (b. 1930)
2012 Eric Lomax, Scottish captain and author (b. 1919)
2012 Ken Sansom, American actor and singer (b. 1927)
2012 Nawal Kishore Sharma, Indian politician, 20th Governor of Gujarat (b. 1925)
2012 John Tchicai, Danish-French saxophonist and composer (b. 1936)
2013 Phil Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1957)
2014 Thomas Eric Duncan, Liberian Ebola patient diagnosed in the US (b. 1972)
2014 Jeen van den Berg, Dutch speed skater (b. 1928)
2014 Mike Waugh, American politician (b. 1955)
2014 Helmut Ruge, German comedian, actor and writer (b. 1940)
2015 Paul Prudhomme, American chef (b. 1940)
2015 Jim Diamond, Scottish singer (b. 1951)
2017 Gianni Bonagura, Italian actor (b. 1925)
2017 Slim Chaker, Tunisian politician (b. 1961)
2017 Jerry Kleczka, American politician (b. 1943)
2017 Grady Tate, American soul-jazz drummer and singer (b. 1932)
2017 Y. A. Tittle, American football player (b. 1926)
2017 Birgitta Ulfsson, Finnish-Swedish actress (b. 1928)
2017 Beverly Reid O'Connell, American judge (b. 1965)
2018 Arnold Kopelson, American film producer (b. 1935)
2018 George Taliaferro, American football player (b. 1927)
2018 Joseph Tydings, American lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
2018 Hiroshi Wajima, Japanese sumo and professional wrestler (b. 1948)
2018 Venantino Venantini, Italian actor (b. 1930)
Observances
Independence Day (Croatia)
Navy Day (Peru)
Air Force Day (India)
Children's Day (Iran)
Arbor Day (Namibia)
October 08