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: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight a decisive battle with Caesar’s assassins Brutus and Cassius.
382 – Roman 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, is the first nobleman to be executed by hanging, drawing and quartering.
1392 – Muhammed VII becomes the twelfth sultan of the Emirate of Granada.
1574 – The Siege of Leiden is lifted by the Watergeuzen.
1683 – The Qing dynasty naval commander Shi Lang reaches Taiwan (under the Kingdom of Tungning) to receive the formal surrender of Zheng Keshuang and Liu Guoxuan after the Battle of Penghu.
1712 – The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.
1739 – The Treaty of Niš is signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia at the end of the Russian–Turkish War, 1736–39.
1778 – Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska.
1789 – George Washington makes the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America.
1835 – The Staedtler company is founded in Nuremberg, Germany.
1912 – U.S. forces defeat Nicaraguan rebels under the command of Benjamín Zeledón at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill.
1918 – King Boris III of Bulgaria accedes to the throne.
1929 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, “Land of the South Slavs”.
1930 – The German Socialist Labour Party in Poland – Left is founded following a split in DSAP in Łódź.
1932 – Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1935 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy invades Ethiopia under General de Bono.
1942 – Spaceflight: The first successful launch of a V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. It is the first man-made object to reach space.
1950 – Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San, primarily pitting Australian and British forces against communist China, begins.
1952 – The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon to become the world’s third nuclear power.
1962 – Project Mercury: Sigma 7 is launched from Cape Canaveral, with astronaut Wally Schirra aboard, for a six-orbit, nine-hour flight.
1963 – A violent coup in Honduras pre-empts the October 13 election, ends a period of reform, and begins two decades of military rule.
1985 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight. (Mission STS-51-J).
1990 – German reunification: The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union. Now celebrated as German Unity Day.
2009 – The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey sign the Nakhchivan Agreement on the Establishment of Turkic Council.