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Events

69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.

1260 - The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1260 - Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself.

1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.

1648 - The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.

1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia

1812 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.

1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.

1917 - Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro-Italian front of World War I

1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."

1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia

1944 - World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku is sunk.

 
 

1945 - Founding of the United Nations

1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.

1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam

1956 - Soviet Union invades Hungary

1957 - the USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.

1960 - Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.

1964 - Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)

1973 - Yom Kippur War ends

1977 - Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)

1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union

1986 - Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi was helped by Syrian officials.

1990 - Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army.

1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission

 
 

2002 - Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.

2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.

2004 - A plane carrying ten members of the NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports team crashes en route to the race held at Martinsville Speedway. There were no survivors.

2005 - Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in South Florida.

 

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