473 – Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II as Caesar of the Byzantine Empire..
1415 – Hundred Years’ War: Henry V of England and his lightly armoured infantry andarchers defeat the heavily armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin’s Day.
1747 – British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeats the French at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre.
1760 – George III becomes King of Great Britain.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: The First Siege of Missolonghi begins.
1854 – The Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
1920 – After 74 days on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence Mac Swiney dies.
1940 – Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf: The largest naval battle in history, takes place in and around the Philippines
between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Third and U.S. Seventh Fleets. Afterward is the first Kamikaze attack of the war.
1945 – The Republic of China takes over administration of Taiwan following Japan’s surrender to the Allies.
1977 – Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
2009 – The October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.