Events

• 794 – Emperor Kanmu relocates the Japanese capital to Heian-kyō (now Kyoto).
• 906 – Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh leads a raid against the Byzantine Empire, taking 4,000-5,000 captives.
• 1383 – The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice.
  • Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.
• 1633 – The Ming dynasty defeats the Dutch East India Company.
• 1707 – Four British naval vessels run aground on the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation.
  • In response, the first Longitude Act is enacted in 1714.
• 1721 – Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware River repulse repeated Hessian attacks in the Battle of Red Bank.
• 1784 – Russia founds a colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
• 1790 – Northwest Indian War: Native American forces defeat the United States, ending the Harmar Campaign.
• 1797 – André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump, from one thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris.
• 1836 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.
• 1859 – Spain declares war on Morocco.
• 1866 – A plebiscite ratifies the annexation of Veneto and Mantua to Italy, which had occurred three days before, on 19 October.
• 1879 – Using a filament of carbonised thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasts 13 1⁄2 hours before burning out).
• 1884 – The International Meridian Conference designates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich as the world’s prime meridian.
• 1923 – The royalist Leonardopoulos-Gargalidis coup d’état attempt fails in Greece, discrediting the monarchy and paving the way for the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.
• 1941 – World War II: French resistance member Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed by the Germans in retaliation for the death of a German officer.
• 1943 – World War II: In the second firestorm raid on Germany, the RAF conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.
• 1947 – The Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan begins, having started just after the partition of India.
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval “quarantine” of the Communist nation.
• 1999 – Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
• 2007 – A raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos.
  • All except one die in this attack.
  • Eight Sri Lanka Air Force planes are destroyed and ten damaged.
• 2014 – Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacks the Parliament of Canada, killing a soldier and injuring three other people.

People (Births)

• 1847 – Koos de la Rey, South African general (d. 1914).
• 1921 – Harald Nugiseks, Estonian Waffen-SS sergeant (d. 2014).
• 1936 – John Blashford-Snell, English soldier, author, and explorer.
• 1971 – José Manuel Martínez, Spanish runner.
• 1973 – Mark van der Zijden, Dutch swimmer.
• 1982 – Mark Renshaw, Australian cyclist.
• 1987 – Tiki Gelana, Ethiopian runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1626 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyō (b. 1561).
• 1853 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1784).
• 1883 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American soldier and author (b. 1818).
• 1941 – Guy Môquet, French militant (b. 1924).
• 1986 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1897).
• 2013 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (b. 1925).
• 2014 – George Francis, English footballer and soldier (b. 1934).
• 2015 – Joshua Wheeler, US Army sergeant (b. 1975).