October 3

Events 
 Up to 1900 
 2333 BC – Famous date of the establishment of the Kingdom of Chosun (Korea).
 52 BC – Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, surrenders to the Romans under Julius Caesar, ending the siege and Battle of Alesia.
 42 BC – First Battle of Philippi: The Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight a battle with Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius. Even though Brutus defeats Octavian, Antony defeats Cassius.
 382 – Emperor Theodosius I concludes a peace treaty with the Goths and settles them in the Balkans in exchange for military service.
 1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, becomes the first person executed by drawing and quartering.
 1574 – The Siege of Leiden lifted by the Watergeuzen – foundation of the first Dutch university.
 1683 – The Qing Dynasty naval commander Shi Lang reaches Taiwan.
 1712 – The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.
 1739 – The Treaty of Nissa is signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia at the end of the Russian-Turkish War, 1736–1739.
 1762 – Catherine II of Russia is crowned.
 1778 – Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska.
 1789 – George Washington names the first Thanksgiving Day.
 1835 – The Staedtler Company is founded in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany.
 1849 – American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious (a terribly confused state of mind) in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances.
 1863 – Thanksgiving Day declared as the last Thursday in November by President Abraham Lincoln.
 1866 – American passenger steamer Evening Star sinks in hurricane–force winds, 180 nautical miles off Tybee Island, Georgia, US, killing 148 people.
 1884 – In Denmark, Christiansborg Castle is destroyed by fire.

 1901 – 2000 
 1904 – The Nama War begins as Namibian independence activist Hendrik Witbooi declares war on the colonial power, Germany.
 1918 – Boris III of Bulgaria becomes King.
 1919 – Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque becomes the first Hispanic American baseball player in the World Series.
 1929 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, "Land of the South Slavs".
 1932 – Iraq gets its independence.
 1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia under General de Bono (replaced November 11 by Pietro Badoglio).
 1942 – First successful launch of A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. The rocket flew 147 kilometres wide and got to a height of 84.5 kilometres and was the first man-made object reaching space.
 1949 – WERD, the first black-owned radio station in the United States, opens in Atlanta, Georgia.
 1950 – Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San, primarily pitting Australian and British forces against Communist China, begins.
 1951 – New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5–4, winning the National League pennant, with Bobby Thomson's three-run homer called "The Shot Heard 'Round the World".
 1952 – The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon.
 1955 – The Mickey Mouse Club is first shown on the American Broadcasting Company.
 1957 – Willy Brandt, future-German Chancellor, is elected as Governing Mayor of West Berlin, after the death of Otto Suhr.
 1960 – The Andy Griffith Show starts.
 1961 – The Dick Van Dyke Show is first shown on CBS–TV.
 1962 – At Cape Canaveral the Mercury 8 takes off with Astronaut Wally Schirra on it for a nine-hour flight.
 1963 – A violent coup in Honduras starts two decades of military rule.
 1964 – Underdog debuts on CBS.
 1965 – Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration and Naturalization Service Act of 1965 into law, making immigration rules easier for people coming to the United States.
 1969 – Berlin's television tower opens.
 1974 – Peru is struck by an earthquake, killing 83 people.
 1979 – The divorce of Michele Catain, an American crew member and real estate agent, and David Thomas Durboraw, an American businessman, is finalized.
 1981 – The Hunger Strike by Irish Republican Army prisoners at the Maze jail in Belfast ends after seven months and 10 deaths.
 1982 – Changtse mountain in Tibet is climbed for the first time, by Dutch climber Johan Taks.
 1985 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its first flight.
 1990 – German reunification: East Germany ends, after merging with the Federal Republic of Germany and joining the European Economic Community.
 1993 – Battle of Mogadishu: In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization in Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 US Army Rangers and about 2000 Somalis are killed. US forces withdraw from Somalia soon after.
 1995 – O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
 1997 – The first cloned rodent, a mouse named Cumulina, is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 From 2001 
 2004 – The Montreal Expos play their last Major League Baseball game before the franchise is moved to Washington, D.C..
 2005 – The EU starts entry negotiations with Turkey and Croatia.
 2010 – In Delhi, India, the 2010 Commonwealth Games begin.
 2011 – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is given to Bruce Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann and Ralph M. Steinman. Unknown to the Nobel Committee, Steinman had died three days earlier and becomes only the third-ever posthumous (after death) Nobel laureate in history, as of the announcement date.
 2011 – Helle Thorning-Schmidt becomes Prime Minister of Denmark.
 2013 – A boat travelling from North Africa, carrying migrants from the East African countries of Eritrea and Somalia, catches fire and sinks off the Italian Mediterranean Sea island of Lampedusa, killing 134 people, with many more feared dead.
 2013 – The Gambia withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations, through a decision made by its President, Yahya Jammeh.
 2015 – At least 42 people are killed in an airstrike on a hospital, operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, in the Kunduz region of Afghanistan.
 2017 – Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss win the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves.

 Births 
 Up to 1850 
 85 BC – Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman senator (d. 42 BC)
 1458 – Saint Casimir, Polish prince (d. 1484)
 1610 – Gabriel Lalemant, French-Canadian missionary (d. 1649)
 1713 – Antoine Dauvergne, French composer and violinist (d. 1797)
 1716 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (d. 1781)
 1720 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (d. 1796)
 1722 – Johann Heinrich Tischbein, German painter (d. 1789)
 1784 – Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel, German explorer of Kamchatka, Russia (d. 1863)
 1789 – Henry Pottinger, Irish-British soldier and colonial officer (d. 1856)
 1792 – Francisco Morazán, Central American political leader and statesman (d. 1842)
 1797 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1870)
 1800 – George Bancroft, American politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1891)
 1804 – Allan Kardec, French founder of Spiritism or Kardecism (d. 1869)
 1804 – Townsend Harris, American merchant, politician and diplomat (d. 1878)
 1806 – Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (d. 1850)
 1828 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (d. 1897)
 1837 – Nicolás Avellaneda, President of Argentina (d. 1885)
 1844 – Patrick Manson, Scottish physician (d. 1922)
 1848 – Henry Lerolle, French painter (d. 1929)

 1851 – 1900 
 1853 – Stephan G. Stephansson, Western Icelandic farmer and poet (d. 1927)
 1854 – Hermann von Struve, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1920)
 1858 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (d. 1924)
 1862 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (d. 1902)
 1862 – Andrew J. Montague, Governor of Virginia (d. 1937)
 1868 – Francisco Vidal y Barraquer, Spanish cardinal (d. 1943)
 1869 – Alfred Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1942)
 1873 – Emily Post, American etiquette advisor (d. 1960)
 1873 – Ivan Shmelyov, Russian writer (d. 1950)
 1875 – Dr. Atl, Mexican painter and writer (d. 1964)
 1877 – William L. Harding, Governor of Iowa (d. 1934)
 1879 – Warner Oland, Swedish-American actor (d. 1938)
 1885 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (d. 1970)
 1886 – Alain-Fournier, French novelist (d. 1914)
 1889 – Carl von Ossietzky, German journalist, writer and pacifist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1938)
 1890 – Emilio Portes Gil, 41st President of Mexico (d. 1978)
 1893 – King Carol III of Romania (d. 1953)
 1894 – Elmer Robinson, American politician (d. 1982)
 1894 – Walter Warlimont, German general (d. 1976)
 1895 – Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (d. 1925)
 1895 – Giovanni Comisso, Italian writer (d. 1969)
 1896 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish writer and poet (d. 1987)
 1897 – Louis Aragon, French writer (d. 1982)
 1898 – Leo McCarey, American movie director (d. 1969)
 1899 – Gertrude Berg, American actress (d. 1966)
 1900 – Thomas Wolfe, American writer (d. 1938)

 1901 – 1950 
 1904 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist (d. 1989)
 1905 – Fuller Warren, 30th Governor of Florida (d. 1973)
 1905 – Tekin Ariburun, Turkish politician (d. 1993)
 1916 – James Herriot, British veterinarian and writer (d. 1995)
 1916 – Russell W. Peterson, Governor of Delaware (d. 2011)
 1919 – Jean Lefebvre, French actor (d. 2004)
 1919 – James M. Buchanan, American economist (d. 2013)
 1920 – Philippa Foot, British philosopher (d. 2010)
 1923 – Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (d. 2004)
 1924 – Arkady Vorobyov, Russian weightlifter
 1925 – George Wein, American pianist and producer
 1925 – Gore Vidal, American writer (d. 2012)
 1927 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian artist (d. 2013)
 1928 – Sonny Ramphal, 2nd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
 1931 – Glenn Hall, Canadian ice hockey player, NHL goaltender
 1933 – Neale Fraser, Australian tennis player
 1934 – Jerry Apodaca, former Governor of New Mexico
 1934 – Miguel-Angel Cardenas, Colombian painter and photographer (d. 2015)
 1935 – Charles Duke, American general, pilot and astronaut
 1936 – Viktor Kanevskyi, Ukrainian footballer and coach (d. 2018)
 1936 – Steve Reich, American composer
 1938 – Eddie Cochran, American singer (d. 1960)
 1938 – Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, former President of Peru
 1940 – Sheila Fearn, British actress
 1941 – Chubby Checker, American popular musician
 1941 – Andrea de Adamich, Italian racing driver and sportscaster
 1942 – Roberto Perfumo, Argentine footballer (d. 2016)
 1944 – Bob Riley, American politician, former Governor of Alabama
 1944 – Roy Horn, German-born entertainer (Siegfried & Roy) (d. 2020)
 1944 – Harry Hood, Scottish footballer (d. 2019)
 1944 – Pierre Deligne, Belgian mathematician
 1946 – P. P. Arnold, American soul singer
 1947 – John Perry Barlow, American musician (d. 2018)
 1947 – Hopeton Lewis, Jamaican musician (d. 2014)
 1947 – Fred DeLuca, American businessman (d. 2015)
 1949 – J. P. Dutta, Indian director
 1949 – Lindsey Buckingham, American musician (Fleetwood Mac)
 1950 – Pamela Hensley, actress
 1950 – John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (d. 1988)

 1951 – 1975 
 1951 – Keb' Mo', American blues singer
 1951 – Dave Winfield, American Baseball Hall of Famer
 1953 – Bever-Leigh Banfield, American actress
 1954 – Dennis Eckersley, American Baseball Hall of Famer
 1954 – Al Sharpton, American minister, politician and activist
 1954 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (d. 1990)
 1956 – Hart Bochner, Canadian actor, screenwriter and producer
 1957 – Robert Azevedo, Brazilian diplomat, 6th Director of the World Trade Organization
 1958 – Louise Lecavalier, Canadian dancer
 1958 – Chen Yanyin, Chinese sculptor
 1959 – Fred Couples, American golfer
 1959 – Greg Proops, American actor, stand-up comedian, voice artist and television host
 1962 – Tommy Lee, American rock musician
 1964 – Clive Owen, English actor
 1965 – Jan-Ove Waldner, Swedish table tennis player
 1969 – Gwen Stefani, American singer, No Doubt frontwoman
 1971 – Kevin Richardson, American musician and singer (Backstreet Boys)
 1972 – Komla Dumor, Ghanaian journalist (d. 2014)
 1973 – Neve Campbell, Canadian actress
 1973 – Lena Headey, British actress
 1975 – India.Arie, American singer

 From 1976 
 1976 – Seann William Scott, American actor
 1978 – Christian Coulson, English actor
 1978 – Gerald Asamoah, German footballer
 1978 – Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian footballer
 1978 – Jake Shears, American singer (Scissor Sisters)
 1978 – Vienna Teng, American pianist and singer-songwriter
 1979 – Josh Klinghoffer, American musician (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
 1979 – Danny O'Donoghue, Irish singer (The Script)
 1980 – Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (d. 2013)
 1981 – Florian Keller, German field hockey player
 1981 – Seth Gabel, American actor
 1981 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish footballer
 1981 – Andreas Isaksson, Swedish footballer
 1983 – Frederico Chaves Guedes, Brazilian footballer
 1984 – Ashlee Simpson, American actress and singer
 1984 – Bruno Gervais, Canadian ice hockey player
 1985 – Courtney Lee, American basketball player
 1986 – Jackson Martínez, Colombian footballer
 1987 – Zuleyka Rivera, Puerto Rican model and actress
 1987 – Robert Grabarz, English high jumper
 1987 – Danny Willett, English golfer
 1988 – Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress
 1988 – ASAP Rocky, American rapper
 1990 – Daria Shkurikhina, Russian rhythmic gymnast
 1991 – Aki Takajo, Japanese singer (AKB48)
 1994 – Charlie Wernham, English comedian and actor
 1996 – Adair Tishler, American actress and singer
 1996 – Kalechi Iheanacho, Nigerian footballer
 1997 – Juri Takahashi, Japanese idol and singer (AKB48)
 1999 – Aramis Knight, American actor
 2004 – Noah Schnapp, American actor

 Deaths 
 Up to 1900 
 42 BC – Gaius Cassius Longinus
 1078 – Iziaslav I of Kiev (b. 1024)
 1226 – Saint Francis of Assisi (b. c. 1182)
 1283 – David ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, executed
 1369 – Margarete Maultasch, Countess of Tyrol (b. 1318)
 1568 – Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
 1611 – Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (b. 1584)
 1629 – Giorgi Saakadze, Georgian military leader (b. 1570)
 1838 – Black Hawk, Sauk–American tribal leader (b. 1767)
 1860 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter (b. 1778)
 1867 – Elias Howe, American inventor (b. 1819)
 1873 – Captain Jack, Modoc tribal leader
 1877 – James Roosevelt Barley, American archbishop (b. 1814)
 1881 – Orson Pratt, American religious leader (b. 1811)
 1890 – Joseph Hergenröther German church historian (b. 1824)
 1891 – Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (b. 1842)
 1896 – William Morris, British artist and designer (b. 1834)
 1897 – Saint Therese of Liseaux (b. 1873)

 1901 – 2000 
 1929 – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1878)
 1931 – Carl Nielsen, Danish composer (b. 1865)
 1932 – Max Wolf, German astronomer (b. 1863)
 1936 – John Heisman, American football coach (b. 1869)
 1939 – Fay Templeton, American actress & singer in musical comedy (b. 1865)
 1953 – Arnold Bax, composer (b. 1883)
 1959 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1892)
 1965 – Zachary Scott, American actor (b. 1914)
 1967 – Woody Guthrie, American folk musician (b. 1912)
 1967 – Malcolm Sargent, English conductor (b. 1895)
 1967 – Pinto Colvig, American actor and animator (b. 1892)
 1969 – Skip James, American blues musician (b. 1902)
 1979 – Nicos Poulantzas, Greek-French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1936)
 1987 – Jean Anouilh, French writer (b. 1910)
 1987 – Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (b. 1947)
 1988 – Franz Josef Strauß, Bavarian politician (b. 1915)
 1990 – General Curtis LeMay, United States Air Force officer, candidate for Vice President of the United States (b. 1906)
 1990 – Stefano Casiraghi, Italian businessman, married into Monegasque royalty (b. 1960)
 1994 – Heinz Rühmann, German actor (b. 1920)
 1997 – Michael Adekunle Ajasin, Nigerian politician (b. 1908)
 1998 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (b. 1928)
 1999 – Akio Morita, Japanese co-founder of Sony (b. 1921)
 2000 – Benjamin Orr, bassist and part-time lead singer for The Cars (b. 1947)

 From 2001 
 2002 – Bruce Paltrow, American television and movie producer (b. 1943)
 2003 – William Steig, American cartoonist and children's writer; creator of Shrek (b. 1907)
 2004 – Janet Leigh, American actress (b. 1927)
 2005 – Ronnie Barker, British actor and comedian (b. 1929)
 2009 – Reinhard Mohn, German businessman (b. 1921)
 2009 – Fatima El-Sharif, former Queen of Libya (b. 1911)
 2010 – Philippa Foot, British philosopher (b. 1920)
 2013 – Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player (b. 1944)
 2014 – Jean-Jacques Marcel, French footballer (b. 1931)
 2014 – Peer Augustinski, German actor (b. 1940)
 2014 – Ewen Gilmour, New Zealand comedian (b. 1963)
 2014 – Alan Henning, English aid worker (b. 1967)
 2014 – Ward Ruyslinck, Belgian writer (b. 1929)
 2014 – Kevin Metheny, American radio executive (b. 1954)
 2015 – Javid Iqbal, Pakistani judge (b. 1924)
 2015 – Denis Healey, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1917)
 2017 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade unionist (b. 1945)
 2017 – Michel Jouvet, French oneirologist and neurobiologist (b. 1926)
 2017 – Chittani Ramachandra Hegde, Indian artist and dancer (b. 1933)
 2017 – Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Kurdish politician, President of Iraq (b. 1933)
 2017 – Ming Chang, Chinese-American naval officer (b. 1932)
 2017 – John Herrnstein, American baseball player (b. 1938)
 2017 – Isabella Karle, American scientist (b. 1921)
 2017 – Victorino Martín, Spanish cattle rancher (b. 1929)
 2018 – Elisabeth Andersen, Dutch actress (b. 1920)
 2018 – Julien Bogaert, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1924)
 2018 – Roger Gibbs, British financier (b. 1934)
 2018 – Joseph Kamaru, Kenyan musician and political activist (b. 1938)
 2018 – Leon M. Lederman, American physicist (b. 1922)
 2018 – Bent Lorentzen, Danish composer (b. 1935)
 2018 – Hollie Pihl, American judge (b. 1928)
 2019 – John Buchanan, Canadian politician, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1931)
 2019 – Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Portuguese politician, former Interim Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1941)
 2019 – Hu Yamei, Chinese physician and medical researcher (b. 1923)
 2019 – Ignacio Noguer Carmona, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1931)
 2019 – Alberto Testa, Italian dancer and choreographer (b. 1922)

 Observances 
 Unity Day (Germany), marking the German reunification of 1990.
 Foundation Day (South Korea).
 National Day (Iraq).
 Soldiers' Day (Honduras).

October 03