23 – Rebels capture and sack the Chinese capital Chang’an during a peasant rebellion. They kill and decapitate the emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.
610 – Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
1227 – Assassination of Caliph al-Adil.
1302 – A peace treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice ends the Byzantine–Venetian War (1296–1302).
1363 – End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
1511 – Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.
1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1597 – The first Guale uprising begins against the Spanish missions in Georgia.
1636 – The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
1693 – Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
1725 – Foundation of Rosario in Argentina.
1777 – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
1779 – The Fort Wilson Riot takes place.
1795 – Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence by suppressing armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.
1824 – Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.
1830 – The Provisional Government of Belgium secedes from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1853 – The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.
1936 – The British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.
1941 – Norman Rockwell’s Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
1960 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston’s Logan International Airport, killing 62 people (out of 72 onboard).
1966 – Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
1967 – Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, Hassanal Bolkiah.
1992 – The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.
1992 – El Al Flight 1862: An El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.
1993 – Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
2001 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: A Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.
2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange.