Events

• 202 BC – Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the invading Carthaginian army.

• 439 – The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.

• 1216 – King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.

• 1453 – The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years' War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil.

• 1466 – The Thirteen Years War ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.

• 1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.

• 1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).

• 1649 – New Ross town, Co. Wexford, Ireland, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell.

• 1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.

• 1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

• 1812 – Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.

• 1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.

• 1822 – In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.

• 1864 – Battle of Cedar Creek – Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroy the Confederate Army under Jubal Early.

• 1864 – St. Albans Raid – Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.

• 1873 – Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.

• 1904 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.

• 1912 – Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

• 1914 – The First Battle of Ypres begins.

• 1917 – The Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.

• 1921 – Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.

• 1933 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.

• 1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.

• 1943 – Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

• 1944 – United States forces land in the Philippines.

• 1950 – The military of the People's Republic of China takes control of the town of Chamdo in eastern Tibet.

• 1954 – First ascent of Cho Oyu

• 1959 – The first discothèque opens.

• 1969 – The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba.

• 1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.

• 1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.

• 1976 – Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.

• 1983 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard.

• 1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev 134 plane crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.

• 1987 – In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.

• 1987 – Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.

• 1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.

• 2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

• 2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

• 2004 – Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the SPDC on charges of corruption.

• 2004 – Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.

• 2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

• 2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.

• 2007 – Philippines. Amidst corruption controversies hounding the Arroyo administration, a bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.

Births

• 1276 – Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328)

• 1433 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)

• 1562 – Archbishop George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633)

• 1582 – Dmitry Ivanovich, Russian Tsarevich (d. 1591)

• 1605 – Thomas Browne, English writer (d. 1682)

• 1610 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)

• 1658 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704)

• 1680 – John Abernethy, Irish Protestant minister (d. 1740)

• 1688 – William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)

• 1718 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (d. 1804)

• 1720 – John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)

• 1721 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)

• 1784 – James Henry Leigh Hunt, English Romantic critic, essayist, and poet (d. 1859)

• 1784 – John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)

• 1810 – Cassius Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903)

• 1850 – Annie Smith Peck, American mountaineer (d. 1935)

• 1851 – Empress Myeongseong, Empress of Korea (d. 1895)

• 1858 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)

• 1862 – Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d. 1954)

• 1868 – Bertha Landes, first woman mayor of a major US city (d. 1943)

• 1873 – Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925)

• 1873 – John Barton King, American cricketer (d. 1965)

• 1876 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (d. 1945)

• 1882 – Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1916)

• 1885 – Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956)

• 1895 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (d. 1990)

• 1895 – Frank Durbin, last American veteran of the Battle of Verdun (d. 1999)

• 1896 – Bob O'Farrell, American baseball player (d. 1988)

• 1897 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)

• 1899 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)

• 1900 – Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)

• 1900 – Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1957)

• 1900 – Erna Berger, German soprano (d. 1990)

• 1901 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (d. 1996)

• 1903 – Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (d. 1971)

• 1907 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)

• 1908 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)

• 1909 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (d. 1981)

• 1909 – Marguerite Perey, French physicist (d. 1975)

• 1910 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

• 1910 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980)

• 1913 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)

• 1915 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian composer, musician, and actor (d. 1974)

• 1916 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2009)

• 1916 – Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985)

• 1918 – Charles Evans, British mountaineer, leader of the expedition that made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955 (d. 1995)

• 1920 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003)

• 1922 – Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005)

• 1926 – Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)

• 1926 – Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer and songwriter (d. 2009)

• 1928 – Lou Scheimer, American animation producer

• 1931 – John le Carré, English novelist

• 1932 – Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992)

• 1936 – Tony Lo Bianco, American actor

• 1936 – James Bevel, American activist (d. 2008)

• 1937 – Peter Max, American artist

• 1937 – Marilyn Bell, Canadian swimmer

• 1940 – Michael Gambon, Irish actor

• 1941 – Simon Ward, British actor

• 1942 – Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney

• 1943 – Robin Holloway, British composer

• 1943 – Takis Ikonomopoulos, Greek footballer

• 1944 – George McCrae, American soul singer

• 1945 – Divine, American actor (d. 1988)

• 1945 – Patricia Ireland, American attorney and feminist

• 1945 – John Lithgow, American actor

• 1945 – Jeannie C. Riley American country and gospel singer

• 1946 – Philip Pullman, English writer

• 1947 – Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comic strip artist

• 1948 – Patrick Simmons, American musician

• 1948 – Dave Mallow, American voice actor

• 1949 – Lynn Dickey, American football player

• 1949 – Jamie McGrigor, British politician

• 1951 – Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek mathematical physicist, recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize

• 1952 – Verónica Castro, Mexican actress and singer

• 1953 – Lionel Hollins, American basketball player and coach

• 1954 – Joe Bryant, American basketball player

• 1954 – Sam Allardyce, English football manager

• 1954 – Deborah Blum, American writer

• 1955 – Melpo Kosti, Greek actress

• 1956 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993)

• 1956 – Bruce Weber, American Basketball Coach

• 1956 – Didier Theys, Belgian racing driver

• 1957 – Ray Richmond, American columnist and critic

• 1957 – Karl Wallinger, Welsh musician

• 1957 – Doug Kirby, American author and travel guide

• 1958 – Tiriel Mora, Australian actor

• 1958 – Lou Briel, Puerto Rican singer and actor

• 1958 – Michael Steele, American political figure

• 1959 – Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem (2008 - )

• 1960 – Jonathan FeBland, English musician and artist

• 1961 – Sunny Deol, Indian actor

• 1962 – Tracy Chevalier, American author

• 1962 – Evander Holyfield, American boxer

• 1963 – Prince Laurent of Belgium

• 1964 – Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-born American boxer

• 1965 – Brad Daugherty, American basketball player

• 1965 – Ty Pennington, American television carpenter

• 1966 – Roger R. Cross, Jamaican-born actor

• 1966 – Jon Favreau, American actor, writer and director

• 1966 – Sinitta, American singer

• 1967 – Yōko Shimomura, Japanese composer

• 1967 – Amy Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy Carter

• 1969 – Trey Parker, American cartoonist and actor

• 1969 – Erwin Sánchez, Bolivian footballer

• 1969 – DJ Sammy, Spanish DJ

• 1969 – John Edward, American TV Psychic

• 1970 – Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor

• 1972 – Keith Foulke, American baseball pitcher

• 1972 – Pras, American musician

• 1973 – Hicham Arazi, Moroccan tennis player

• 1973 – Joaquin Gage, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1976 – Joy Bryant, American actress

• 1976 – Omar Gooding, American actor

• 1976 – Desmond Harrington, American actor

• 1976 – Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1976 – Michael Young, baseball player

• 1977 – Louis-José Houde, Canadian stand-up comic

• 1977 – Jason Reitman, Canadian filmmaker

• 1977 – Raúl Tamudo, Spanish footballer

• 1977 – Habib Beye, Senegalese footballer

• 1978 – Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian race car driver

• 1978 – James Roberts, British Ice Hockey Player

• 1978 – Zakhar Dubenskiy, Russian footballer

• 1978 – Henri Sorvali, Finnish musician

• 1979 – José Luis López, Mexican footballer

• 1979 – Brian Robertson, American trombonist (Suburban Legends)

• 1980 – Benjamin Salisbury, American actor

• 1981 – Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish race car driver

• 1982 – Gonzalo Pineda, Mexican footballer

• 1985 – Terry Etim, English mixed martial artist

• 1989 – Miroslav Stoch, Slovakian footballer

• 1990 – Janet Leon, Swedish singer and dancer (Play)

Deaths

• 727 – Saint Frideswide

• 1187 – Pope Urban III

• 1216 – King John (b. 1167)

• 1432 – John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392)

• 1587 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)

• 1608 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)

• 1636 – Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician

• 1682 – Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605)

• 1723 – Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (b. 1646)

• 1745 – Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667)

• 1790 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)

• 1813 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)

• 1815 – Paolo Mascagni, Anatomist (b. 1755)

• 1842 – Aleksey Koltsov, Russian poet (b. 1808)

• 1851 – Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (b. 1778)

• 1856 – William Sprague III, American politician from Rhode Island (b. 1799)

• 1889 – King Louis of Portugal (b. 1838)

• 1893 – Lucy Stone, American suffragist and women's rights activist (b. 1818)

• 1897 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)

• 1901 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829)

• 1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887)

• 1936 – Lu Xun, Chinese writer (b. 1881)

• 1937 – Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)

• 1943 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)

• 1945 – Plutarco Elías Calles, President of Mexico (b. 1877)

• 1950 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (b. 1892)

• 1956 – Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)

• 1960 – George Wallace, Australian vaudevillian and film comedian (b. 1895)

• 1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (b. 1885)

• 1970 – Lázaro Cárdenas, President of Mexico (b. 1895)

• 1978 – Gig Young, American actor (b. 1913)

• 1983 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)

• 1984 – Jerzy Popiełuszko, Polish priest, associated with the Solidarity union, murdered by the agents of internal intelligence agency (b. 1947)

• 1985 – Alfred Rouleau, French Canadian businessman (b. 1915)

• 1986 – Dele Giwa, Nigerian journalist

• 1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)

• 1987 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945)

• 1987 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)

• 1988 – Son House, American musician (b. 1902)

• 1994 – Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916)

• 1995 – Don Cherry, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1936)

• 1997 – Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947)

• 1999 – Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer (b. 1900)

• 1999 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)

• 2000 – Hortense Ellis, Jamaican reggae singer (b. 1941)

• 2003 – Alija Izetbegović, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925)

• 2003 – Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902)

• 2003 – Road Warrior Hawk, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)

• 2005 – Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982)

• 2005 – Corinne Lévesque, wife of Quebec premier René Lévesque (b. 1943)

• 2006 – James Glennon, American cinematographer (b. 1942)

• 2007 – Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate (b. 1943)

• 2007 – Michael Maidens, English footballer with Hartlepool United (b. 1987)

• 2007 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch writer (b. 1925)

• 2008 – Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic (b. 1922)

• 2008 – Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian and actor (Dolemite) (b. 1937)

• 2009 – Howard Unruh, American spree killer (b. 1921)

• 2009 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals – Armilustrium in honor of Mars

• Roman Catholic Saints – Saints Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions; Saint Frideswide

• Also see October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Albania – Mother Teresa Day.

• Brazil – Independence Day of State of Piauí

• Niue – Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974.

• French Republican Calendar – Tomate (Tomato) Day, twenty-eighth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

• Aaron, a saint of the Coptic Church