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17 September 1965 – The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.

Battle of Chawinda

Battle in the Indo–Pakistani War of 1965

The Battle of Chawinda was a major engagement between Pakistan and India in the Second Kashmir War^[b] as part of the Sialkot campaign. It is well known as being one of the largest tank battles in history since the Battle of Kursk, which was fought between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in World War II.^[14]

The initial clashes in Chawinda coincided with the Battle of Phillora, and the fighting here intensified once the Pakistani forces at Phillora retreated. The battle came to an end shortly before the United Nations Security Council mandated an immediate ceasefire, which would formally end the hostilities of the 1965 war.^[15][16]

1. ^ Jogindar Singh (1993). Behind the Scene: An Analysis of India's Military Operations, 1947–1971. Lancer Publishers. pp. 217–219. ISBN 1-897829-20-5. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
2. ^ Chakravorty 1992a.
3. ^ Abrar Hussain (2005). Men of Steel: 6 Armored Division in the 1965 War. Army Education Publishing House. pp. 36–52. ISBN 969-8125-19-1.
4. ^ Nawaz 2008, pp. 227–230.
5. ^ Krishna Rao 1991.
6. ^ Sources assessing stalemate:
   • Manus I. Midlarsky (2011). Origins of Political Extremism: Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 256. ISBN 978-1139500777.: "Several major tank battles would be fought, one at Khem Karan in Punjab yielding a major Pakistani defeat, and another at Chawinda involving over 600 tanks, the outcome of which was inconclusive."
   • Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). McFarland. p. 600. ISBN 978-1476625850.: "Up to 600 tanks were engaged in the battle, primarily fought around Phillora and Chawinda, September 11–12, but the results were indecisive, largely because neither side properly supported their armor with infantry units."
   • Hasan, Zubeida (Fourth Quarter 1965), "The India-Paktstan War – A summary account", Pakistan Horizon, 18 (4): 344–356, JSTOR 41393247: "After a few days of intense fighting, in which each side claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other, the war reached a stalemate on this front."
7. ^ Zaloga 1980, p. 19.
8. ^ Barua 2005, p. 191
9. ^ Philip, Snehesh Alex (12 August 2019). "How Pakistani Lt Col Nisar Ahmed won over Indian peers after stalling their advance in 1965". ThePrint. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
10. ^ Amin, Major A.H. "Battle of Chawinda Comedy of Higher Command Errors". Military historian. Defence journal(pakistan). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
11. ^ ^{a b} Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). McFarland. p. 600. ISBN 978-1476625850.
12. ^ ^{a b} Chakravorty 1992a, p. 221.
13. ^ ^{a b} Zaloga 1980, p. 35.
14. ^ Michael E. Haskew (2015). Tank: 100 Years of the World's Most Important Armored Military Vehicle. Voyageur Press. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-0-7603-4963-2.
15. ^ Pradhan 2007.
16. ^ "Indo-Pakistan War of 1965". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2 June 2012.

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18 September 1838 – The Anti-Corn Law League is established by Richard Cobden.

Anti–Corn Law League

Former political movement in Great Britain

The Anti–Corn Law League was a successful political movement in Great Britain aimed at the abolition of the unpopular Corn Laws, which protected landowners’ interests by levying taxes on imported wheat, thus raising the price of bread at a time when factory-owners were trying to cut wages. The League was a middle-class nationwide organisation that held many well-attended rallies on the premise that a crusade was needed to convince parliament to repeal the corn laws. Its long-term goals included the removal of feudal privileges, which it denounced as impeding progress, lowering economic well-being, and restricting freedom. The League played little role in the final act in 1846, when Sir Robert Peel led the successful battle for repeal. However, its experience provided a model that was widely adopted in Britain and other democratic nations to demonstrate the organisation of a political pressure group with the popular base.

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19 September 1991 – Ötzi the Iceman is discovered in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria.

Ötzi

Natural mummy of a man who lived c. 3300 BC

For other uses, see Ötzi (disambiguation).

Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi's remains were discovered on 19 September 1991, in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi", German: [œtsi]) at the border between Austria and Italy. He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.

Because of the presence of an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds, researchers believe Ötzi was killed. The nature of his life and the circumstances of his death are the subject of much investigation and speculation. His remains and personal belongings are on exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.

1. ^ Farid Chenoune (2005). Carried Away: All About Bags. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-86565-158-6.
2. ^ Joachim Chwaszcza; Brian Bell (1993). Italian Alps, South Tyrol. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-65772-0.

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20 September 2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, resulting in 2,975 deaths, US$90 billion in damage, and a major humanitarian crisis

Hurricane Maria

Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in 2017

This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 2017. For other storms of the same name, see List of storms named Maria.

Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths.^[1][2] It is the deadliest and costliest hurricane to strike the island of Puerto Rico, and is the deadliest hurricane to strike the country of Dominica and the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2017, Maria was the thirteenth named storm, eighth consecutive hurricane, fourth major hurricane, second Category 5 hurricane, and deadliest storm of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. Maria was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch in 1998, and the tenth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. Total monetary losses are estimated at upwards of $91.61 billion (2017 USD), mostly in Puerto Rico, ranking it as the fourth-costliest tropical cyclone on record.

Maria became a tropical storm on September 16 east of the Lesser Antilles and rapidly intensified to Category 5 strength just before making landfall on Dominica on September 18. After crossing the island, Maria achieved its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (282 km/h) and a pressure of 908 mbar (hPa; 26.81 inHg). On September 20, an eyewall replacement cycle weakened Maria to a high-end Category 4 hurricane by the time it struck Puerto Rico. Passing north of The Bahamas, Maria gradually degraded and weakened, swinging eastward over the open Atlantic and dissipating by October 2.

Maria brought catastrophic devastation to the entirety of Dominica, destroying housing stock and infrastructure beyond repair, and practically eradicating the island's lush vegetation. The neighboring islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique endured widespread flooding, damaged roofs, and uprooted trees. Puerto Rico suffered catastrophic damage and a major humanitarian crisis; most of the island's population suffered from flooding and a lack of resources, compounded by a slow relief process. The storm caused the worst electrical blackout in US history, which persisted for several months.^[3] Maria also landed in the northeast Caribbean during relief efforts from another Category 5 hurricane, Irma, which crossed the region two weeks prior.

The total death toll is 3,059: an estimated 2,975 in Puerto Rico,^[4][5] 65 in Dominica, 5 in the Dominican Republic, 4 in Guadeloupe, 4 in the contiguous United States, 3 in the United States Virgin Islands, and 3 in Haiti. Maria was the deadliest hurricane in Dominica since the 1834 Padre Ruíz hurricane^[6] and the deadliest in Puerto Rico since the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane.^[7] This makes it the deadliest named Atlantic hurricane of the 21st century to date.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

1. ^ Baldwin, Sarah Lynch; Begnaud, David (August 28, 2018). "Hurricane Maria caused an estimated 2,975 deaths in Puerto Rico, new study finds". CBS News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
2. ^ Richard J. Pasch; Andrew B. Penny; Robbie Berg (April 5, 2018). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Maria (PDF) (Report). Miami, Florida: National Hurricane Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 20, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
3. ^ Giusti, Carlos (June 13, 2018). "Puerto Rico issues new data on Hurricane Maria deaths". NBC News. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
4. ^ Baldwin, Sarah Lynch; Begnaud, David (August 28, 2018). "Hurricane Maria caused an estimated 2,975 deaths in Puerto Rico, new study finds". CBS News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference TCR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Neely, Wayne (December 19, 2016). The Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes of the Caribbean and the Americas: The Stories Behind the Great Storms of the North Atlantic. iUniverse. p. 375. ISBN 978-1-5320-1151-1. Archived from the original on September 2, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
7. ^ Sean Breslin (August 9, 2018). "Puerto Rican Government Admits Hurricane Maria Death Toll Was at Least 1,400". The Weather Company. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.

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21 September 1942 – The Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

"Superfortress" and "B-29" redirect here. For the derivate post-war-bomber, see Boeing B-50 Superfortress. For other uses, see B29 (disambiguation).

US heavy bomber aircraft, 1942

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat.

One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with state-of-the-art technology, which included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $51 billion in 2022),^[3] far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war.^[4][5] The B-29 remained in service in various roles throughout the 1950s, being retired in the early 1960s after 3,970 had been built. A few were also used as flying television transmitters by the Stratovision company. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 with the service name Washington from 1950 to 1954 when the jet-powered Canberra entered service.

The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, and trainers. For example, the re-engined B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II became the first aircraft to fly around the world non-stop, during a 94-hour flight in 1949. The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter airlifter, which was first flown in 1944, was followed in 1947 by its commercial airliner variant, the Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser. This bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948, Boeing introduced the KB-29 tanker, followed in 1950 by the Model 377-derivative KC-97. A line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy, which remain in service with NASA and other operators. The Soviet Union produced 847 Tupolev Tu-4s, an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy of the B-29. Twenty B-29s remain as static displays, but only two, FIFI and Doc, still fly.^[6]

1. ^ LeMay and Yenne 1988, p. 60.
2. ^ "Boeing B-29." Boeing. Retrieved: 5 August 2010.
3. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 29 February 2024.
4. ^ O'Brien, Phillips Payson (2015). How the War Was Won (First ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-1-107-01475-6.
5. ^ "B-29 Superfortress, U.S. Heavy Bomber". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Kent G. Budge. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
6. ^ Waller, Staff Sgt. Rachel (17 July 2016). "B-29 'Doc' takes to the skies from McConnell". McConnell AFB. Retrieved 3 January 2024.

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22 September 1980 – Iraq invades Iran, sparking the nearly eight year Iran–Iraq War.

Iraqi invasion of Iran

Event that sparked the Iran–Iraq War in 1980

The Iraqi invasion of Iran began on 22 September 1980, sparking the Iran–Iraq War, and lasted until 5 December 1980. Iraq attacked under the impression that Iran would not be able to respond effectively due to internal socio-political turmoil caused by the country's Islamic Revolution one year earlier. However, Iraqi troops became increasingly bogged down in the face of fierce Iranian resistance, which greatly stalled their advance into western Iran. In just over two months, the invasion was brought to a halt, but not before Iraq had managed to occupy more than 25,900 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Iranian territory.^[4]

On 10 September 1980, Iraq, hoping to take advantage of a weakened Iran's consolidation of the Islamic Revolution, forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saïf Saad; these had been promised to Iraq under the terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement, but were never actually transferred. Both Iran and Iraq later declared the treaty as null and void, doing so on 14 September and 17 September, respectively. As a result, the only outstanding dispute along the Iran–Iraq border at the time of the Iraqi invasion on 22 September was the question of whether Iranian ships would fly Iraqi flags and pay navigation fees to Iraq while sailing through a stretch of the Shatt al-Arab^[e] spanning several kilometres.^[12][13] On 22 September, Iraqi aircraft pre-emptively bombarded ten Iranian airfields in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to gain aerial superiority on the battlefield. On the next day, Iraqi troops crossed the international border in strength and advanced into Iran in three simultaneous thrusts along a front of approximately 644 kilometres (400 mi). Of Iraq's six divisions that were invading by land, four were sent to Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan in order to cut off Iranian access to the Shatt al-Arab and establish a territorial security zone.^[14]

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein presented the invasion as a strategically defensive measure to blunt the edge of Iranian politician Ruhollah Khomeini, who had risen to power as Iran's "Supreme Leader" and was attempting to export the Islamic Revolution to the Arab world. Saddam, as a secularist and an Arab nationalist, perceived Iran's Shia Islamism and Persian identity as an immediate and existential threat to his Ba'ath Party and thereby to Iraqi society as a whole.^[15] The Iraqi government sought to take control of the entire Shatt al-Arab in a rapid and decisive military campaign, believing that Iraq's victory in the broader conflict would humiliate Iran and lead to Khomeini's downfall, or, at the very least, thwart the new Iranian government's attempts to spread Khomeinism throughout the Muslim world.^{[16][17][18][19]} Saddam had also aspired to annex Khuzestan and saw the Islamic Revolution as an opportunity to do so, seeking to increase his country's prestige and power in the Arab world.^[19][20] To this end, his administration hoped that Iraq, as an Arab-majority country, could successfully exploit Arab separatism in Khuzestan to undermine Iran from within. In practice, these objectives failed to materialize and the majority of Iranian Arabs were indifferent to the pan-Arabism espoused by Iraq's Ba'athists.^[16]

1. ^ Sloan, Stephen; Anderson, Sean K. (3 August 2009). Historical Dictionary of Terrorism. Scarecrow Press. pp. 145–146. ISBN 978-0-8108-6311-8.
2. ^ "روایت تنها بازمانده "دژ" خرمشهر از سقوط تا آزادی". Farda News. 23 May 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
3. ^ Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (4 September 2014). The Iran-Iraq War: A Military and Strategic History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107062290.
4. ^ ^{a b} Hiro, Dilip (1 February 2019). Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-19-005022-1.
5. ^ Pollack, p, 186
6. ^ Farrokh, Kaveh, 305 (2011)
7. ^ Pollack, p. 187
8. ^ Farrokh, Kaveh, 304 (2011)
9. ^ "The state of the air combat readiness of Iran ... • corporal_historian_23". Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
10. ^ Pollack, p. 186
11. ^ ^{a b} Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Harvard University Press, 2015. p. 147,149. ISBN 978-0674915718.
12. ^ Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). "A context of 'bitterness and anger'". The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–63 (e-book, page numbers approximate). ISBN 9781107062290. On 7 September 1980, Iraq accused Iran of shelling Iraqi villages in the territories of Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad on 4 September 1980. Iraq demanded that the Iranian forces in those territories evacuate and return the villages to Iraq. Tehran gave no reply. Iraqi forces then moved to 'liberate' the villages, and on 10 September announced that its forces had done so in a short, sharp military engagement. ... On 14 September 1980, Iran announced it would no longer abide by the 1975 Algiers Agreement. Given the scene that was set, it was no surprise that on 17 September, five days before the invasion, Iraq declared the accords null and void. ... On 22 September, Iraqi units crossed the frontier.
13. ^ Makiya, Kanan (1998). Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, Updated Edition. University of California Press. p. 270. ISBN 9780520921245. There remains the issue of sovereignty over Shatt al-Arab. ... Granted that this might have been a genuine motive for abrogating the 1975 treaty, and reclaiming title to the whole Shatt, what was the point of the invasion on September 22? Iraq had taken back by unilateral action on September 10 the only strips of territory it still claimed under the treaty. There was no longer any 'territory' as such on the other side to conquer. The Ba'th had already followed the Shah's example of 1971 when he unilaterally took over the three islands in the Gulf.
14. ^ Karsh, Efraim (25 April 2002). The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988. Osprey Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-1841763712.
15. ^ Cruze, Gregory S. (Spring 1988). "Iran and Iraq: Perspectives in Conflict". Military Reports. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
16. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference efraimkarsh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
17. ^ Malovany, Pesach (2017). Wars of Modern Babylon: A History of the Iraqi Army from 1921 to 2003. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813169439.
18. ^ Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674088634.
19. ^ ^{a b} Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). The Iran-Iraq War: A Military and Strategic History. Cambridge University Press. p. 98. ISBN 9781107062290.
20. ^ Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). "A context of 'bitterness and anger'". The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 61–62 (e-book, page numbers approximate). ISBN 9781107062290. Certainly Saddam believed that the oil-rich areas of Arabistan (Khuzestan) were within his reach, a goal his intelligence services seemed delighted to further.

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23 September 1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the Karlstad Treaty, peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.

Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden

1905 dissolution of the kingdoms' personal union

The dissolution of the union (Bokmål: unionsoppløsningen; Nynorsk: unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: unionsuppløysingi; Swedish: unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolution of the Storting on 7 June 1905. Following some months of tension and fear of an outbreak of war between the neighbouring kingdoms (then in personal union) – and a Norwegian plebiscite held on 13 August which overwhelmingly backed dissolution – negotiations between the two governments led to Sweden's recognition of Norway as an independent constitutional monarchy on 26 October 1905. On that date, King Oscar II renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne, effectively dissolving the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and this event was swiftly followed, on 18 November, by the accession to the Norwegian throne of Prince Carl of Denmark, taking the name of Haakon VII.

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24 September 2008 – Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa.

Thabo Mbeki

President of South Africa from 1999 to 2008

Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (Xhosa: [tʰaɓɔ mbɛːkʼi]; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC).^[1] Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999.

The son of Govan Mbeki, a renowned ANC intellectual, Mbeki has been involved in ANC politics since 1956, when he joined the ANC Youth League, and has been a member of the party's National Executive Committee since 1975. Born in the Transkei, he left South Africa aged twenty to attend university in England, and spent almost three decades in exile abroad, until the ANC was unbanned in 1990. He rose through the organisation in its information and publicity section and as Oliver Tambo's protégé, but he was also an experienced diplomat, serving as the ANC's official representative in several of its African outposts. He was an early advocate for and leader of the diplomatic engagements which led to the negotiations to end apartheid. After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, he was appointed national deputy president. In subsequent years, it became apparent that he was Mandela's chosen successor, and he was elected unopposed as ANC president in 1997, enabling his rise to the presidency as the ANC's candidate in the 1999 elections.

While deputy president, Mbeki had been regarded as a steward of the government's Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy, introduced in 1996, and as president he continued to subscribe to relatively conservative, market-friendly macroeconomic policies. During his presidency, South Africa experienced falling public debt, a narrowing budget deficit, and consistent, moderate economic growth. However, despite his retention of various social democratic programmes, and notable expansions to the black economic empowerment programme, critics often regarded Mbeki's economic policies as neoliberal, with insufficient consideration for developmental and redistributive objectives. On these grounds, Mbeki grew increasingly alienated from the left wing of the ANC, and from the leaders of the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, and South African Communist Party. It was these leftist elements which supported Jacob Zuma over Mbeki in the political rivalry that erupted after Mbeki removed the latter from his post as deputy president in 2005.

As president, Mbeki had an apparent predilection for foreign policy and particularly for multilateralism. His Pan-Africanism and vision for an "African renaissance" are central parts of his political persona, and commentators suggest that he secured for South Africa a role in African and global politics that was disproportionate to the country's size and historical influence.^[2][3] He was the central architect of the New Partnership for Africa's Development and, as the inaugural chairperson of the African Union, spearheaded the introduction of the African Peer Review Mechanism. After the IBSA Dialogue Forum was launched in 2003, his government collaborated with India and Brazil to lobby for reforms at the United Nations, advocating for a stronger role for developing countries. Among South Africa's various peacekeeping commitments during his presidency, Mbeki was the primary mediator in the conflict between ZANU-PF and the Zimbabwean opposition in the 2000s. However, he was frequently criticised for his policy of "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe, under which he refused to condemn Robert Mugabe's regime or institute sanctions against it.

Also highly controversial worldwide was Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policy. His government did not introduce a national mother-to-child transmission prevention programme until 2002, when it was mandated by the Constitutional Court, nor did it make antiretroviral therapy available in the public healthcare system until late 2003. Subsequent studies have estimated that these delays caused hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.^[4][5][6] Mbeki himself, like his Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, has been described as an AIDS denialist, "dissident," or sceptic. Although he did not explicitly deny the causal link between HIV and AIDS, he often posited a need to investigate alternate causes of and alternative treatments for AIDS, frequently suggesting that immunodeficiency was the indirect result of poverty.

His political descent began at the ANC's Polokwane conference in December 2007, when he was replaced as ANC president by Zuma. His term as national president was not due to expire until June 2009, but, on 20 September 2008, he announced that he would resign at the request of the ANC National Executive Committee. The ANC's decision to "recall" Mbeki was understood to be linked to a high court judgement, handed down earlier that month, in which judge Chris Nicholson had alleged improper political interference in the National Prosecuting Authority and specifically in the corruption charges against Zuma. Nicholson's judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal in January 2009, by which time Mbeki had been replaced as president by Kgalema Motlanthe.

1. ^ "Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, Mr". Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). 14 October 2004. Archived from the original on 16 April 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
2. ^ Landsberg, Chris (18 June 2007). "The AU, Nepad and Mbeki's 'progressive African agenda'". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
3. ^ Olivier, Gerrit (2003). "Is Thabo Mbeki Africa's Saviour?". International Affairs. 79 (4): 815–828. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.00338. ISSN 0020-5850. JSTOR 3569575.
4. ^ Dugger, Celia W. (25 November 2008). "Study Cites Toll of AIDS Policy in South Africa". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nattrass-2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chigwedere-2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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25 September 1963 – Lord Denning releases the UK government's official report on the Profumo affair.

Profumo affair

1960s British political scandal

The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler beginning in 1961. Profumo denied the affair in a statement to the House of Commons in 1963; weeks later, a police investigation proved that he had lied. The scandal severely damaged the credibility of Macmillan's government, and Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health. The fallout contributed to the Conservative government's defeat by the Labour Party in the 1964 general election.

When the Profumo affair was revealed, public interest was heightened by reports that Keeler may have been simultaneously involved with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, thereby creating a possible national security risk. Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her friendship with Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite who had taken her under his wing. The exposure of the affair generated rumours of other sex scandals and drew official attention to the activities of Ward, who was charged with a series of immorality offences. Perceiving himself as a scapegoat for the misdeeds of others, Ward took a fatal overdose during the final stages of his trial, which found him guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies.

An inquiry into the Profumo affair by a senior judge, Lord Denning, assisted by a senior civil servant, T. A. Critchley, concluded that there had been no breaches of security arising from the Ivanov connection. Denning's report was later described as superficial and unsatisfactory. Profumo subsequently worked as a volunteer at Toynbee Hall, an East London charitable trust. By 1975 he had been officially rehabilitated, although he did not return to public life. He died, honoured and respected, in 2006. By contrast, Keeler found it difficult to escape the negative image attached to her by press, law, and parliament throughout the scandal. In various, sometimes contradictory, accounts, she challenged Denning's conclusions relating to security issues. Ward's conviction has been described by analysts as an act of establishment revenge, rather than serving justice. In the 2010s the Criminal Cases Review Commission reviewed his case but decided against referring it to the Court of Appeal. Dramatisations of the Profumo affair have been shown on stage and screen.

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26 September 1983 – Australia II wins the America's Cup, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year domination of the race.

Australia II

Australian racing yacht

For the warship referred to as HMAS Australia II, see HMAS Australia (D84).

Australia II (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982^[1] and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successful Cup challenger, ending a 132-year tenure (with 26 successful defences) by the New York Yacht Club.

1. ^ J.T. "1983 – Australia II – KA 6". 33rd America's Cup. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

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27 September 1875 – The merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked in a storm at Liverpool.

Ellen Southard

Merchant ship built in 1863

Ellen Southard was an American full-rigged merchant ship from Bath, Maine that was built in 1863 by prominent shipbuilder T.J. Southard. She plied international trade routes for twelve years, calling at ports as far away as Sydney.

On 27 September 1875, the ship wrecked in the mouth of the Mersey River at Liverpool during a hurricane-strength storm. Shore-based lifeboats crewed mainly by volunteers set out from several lifeboat stations to the aid of the distressed ship after it foundered on a sandbank. One of the lifeboats capsized in heavy seas after picking up the ship's crew, resulting in nine people from the ship as well as three rescuers losing their lives.

Following the advice of the US consul at Liverpool, the United States Congress recognised the acts of bravery by issuing 27 Gold Lifesaving Medals to the lifeboat men who attempted to save her crew, after a two-year delay during which US law first had to be changed to allow the newly instituted medals to be awarded to non-US citizens. Debate about lifeboat designs continued for many years until a self-righting design was eventually adopted.

1. ^ ^{a b} Treasury-1871, p. 77.
2. ^ ^{a b} Preble, Partridge & Raymond 1879, p. 62.
3. ^ Sutherd 1977.
4. ^ Records-1882, p. 46.

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28 September 1994 – The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people

MS Estonia

Cruiseferry sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1994

This article is about the ship itself. For the disaster, see sinking of the MS Estonia. For the Russian American Line vessel operating from 1912 to 1949, see SS Czar.

MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft, in Papenburg, West Germany. She was employed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies (first Viking Line, then EffJohn) until 1993, when she was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline's Tallinn–Stockholm route. The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives.

59°23′0″N 21°40′0″E / 59.38333°N 21.66667°E / 59.38333; 21.66667

1. ^ "M/F Estonia". The ferry site. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
2. ^ ^{a b} Final report on the capsizing on 28 September 1994 in the Baltic Sea of the Ro-Ro passenger vessel MN Estonia, Chapter 3: The vessel. The Joint Accident Investigation Commission of Estonia, Finland and Sweden, December 1997.

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29 September 1864 – The Battle of Chaffin's Farm is fought in the American Civil War.

Battle of Chaffin's Farm

This article is about the September 1864 American Civil War battle at Laurel Hill, Virginia. For the May 1864 American Civil War battle, see Battle of New Market. For the 1861 American Civil War battle at Laurel Mountain or Laurel Hill, West Virginia, see Laurel Mountain (West Virginia).

Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, also known as Laurel Hill and combats at Forts Harrison, Johnson, and Gilmer, was fought in Virginia on September 29–30, 1864, as part of the siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War.

1. ^ Sommers, p. 21.
2. ^ Kennedy, p. 363. There were 4,500 defenders on September 29, reinforced by 10,000 on September 30.
3. ^ Sommers, p. 499. Bonekemper, p. 317, cites 383 killed, 2,299 wounded, and 645 missing or captured. Trudeau, p. 217, cites 1,040 killed or missing and 2,317 wounded. Horn, p. 167, cites 3,327 total Union casualties. Salmon, p. 433, estimates 4,150 Union casualties.
4. ^ Bonekemper, p. 317. Sommers, p. 499, cites 1,737 casualties, including 396 missing or captured. Horn, p. 167, Trudeau, p. 217, and Kennedy, p. 363, estimate 1,700 total Confederate casualties. Salmon, 433, estimates about 1,750 Confederate casualties, mostly on September 30.

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30 September 1968 – The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.

Boeing 747

American wide-body long-range commercial jet aircraft

The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet 2+1⁄2 times its size, to reduce its seat cost by 30%. In 1965, Joe Sutter left the 737 development program to design the 747. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft, and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan. On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant, the world's largest building by volume. The 747's first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane called a "Jumbo Jet" as the first wide-body airliner.

The 747 is a four-engined jet aircraft, initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, then General Electric CF6 and Rolls-Royce RB211 engines for the original variants. With a ten-abreast economy seating, it typically accommodates 366 passengers in three travel classes. It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep, allowing a Mach 0.85 (490 kn; 900 km/h) cruise speed, and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie. The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to a freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports.

Boeing introduced the -200 in 1971, with uprated engines for a heavier maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 833,000 pounds (378 t) from the initial 735,000 pounds (333 t), increasing the maximum range from 4,620 to 6,560 nautical miles [nmi] (8,560 to 12,150 km; 5,320 to 7,550 mi). It was shortened for the longer-range 747SP in 1976, and the 747-300 followed in 1983 with a stretched upper deck for up to 400 seats in three classes. The heavier 747-400 with improved RB211 and CF6 engines or the new PW4000 engine (the JT9D successor), and a two-crew glass cockpit, was introduced in 1989 and is the most common variant. After several studies, the stretched 747-8 was launched on November 14, 2005, with new General Electric GEnx engines, and was first delivered in October 2011. The 747 is the basis for several government and military variants, such as the VC-25 (Air Force One), E-4 Emergency Airborne Command Post, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and some experimental testbeds such as the YAL-1 and SOFIA airborne observatory.

Initial competition came from the smaller trijet widebodies: the Lockheed L-1011 (introduced in 1972), McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1971) and later MD-11 (1990). Airbus competed with later variants with the heaviest versions of the A340 until surpassing the 747 in size with the A380, delivered between 2007 and 2021. Freighter variants of the 747 remain popular with cargo airlines. The final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air in January 2023 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built. As of December 2023^[update], 64 Boeing 747s (4.1%) have been lost in accidents and incidents, in which a total of 3,746 people have died.

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1 October 1887 – Balochistan is conquered by the British Empire.

Balochistan

Region of southwestern Asia

This article is about the geographic region. For other uses, see Balochistan (disambiguation).

Region

Balochistan^[4] (/bəˈlɒtʃɪstɑːn, bəˌlɒtʃɪˈstɑːn, -stæn/ bə-LOTCH-ist-a(h)n, -⁠A(H)N; Balochi: بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of desert and mountains is primarily populated by ethnic Baloch people.^[5][6][7]

The Balochistan region is split among three countries: Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Administratively it comprises the Pakistani province of Balochistan, the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and the southern areas of Afghanistan, which include Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces.^[8][9] It borders the Khyber Paktunkhwa region to the north, Sindh and Punjab to the east, and Iranian regions to the west. Its southern coastline, including the Makran Coast, is washed by the Arabian Sea, in particular by its western part, the Gulf of Oman.

1. ^ Iran, Library of Congress, Country Profile . Retrieved December 5, 2009.
2. ^ Afghanistan, The World Factbook . Retrieved December 5, 2009.
3. ^ Central Intelligence Agency (2013). "The World Factbook: Ethnic Groups". Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
4. ^ Other variations of the spelling, especially on French maps, include Beloutchistan and Baloutchistan also Baloch Land.
5. ^ Dashti, Naseer (October 2012). The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4669-5896-8.
6. ^ Ahmed, Manzoor; Khan, Gulawar (22 September 2020). "The History of Baloch and Balochistan: A Critical Appraisal". South Asian Studies. 32 (1 (2017)) – via University of the Punjab.
7. ^ Dames, Mansel Longworth (1904). The Baloch Race: A Historical and Ethnological Sketch. Royal Asiatic Society.
8. ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh (12 February 2016). "A Brief History of Balochistan". thediplomat.com. THE DIPLOMAT. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
9. ^ "Human Rights in Balochistan: A Case Study in Failure and Invisibility". HuffPost. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.

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2 October 2018 – The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey

Jamal Khashoggi

Assassinated Saudi journalist and dissident (1958–2018)

Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi (/kəˈʃoʊɡdʒi, kəˈʃɒɡdʒi/; Arabic: جمال أحمد خاشقجي, romanized: Jamāl ʾAḥmad Ḵāšuqjī, Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [dʒaˈmaːl xaːˈʃʊɡ.(d)ʒi]; 13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Khashoggi served as editor for the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Watan, turning it into a platform for Saudi progressives.^[12] Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017 and went into self-imposed exile. He said that the Saudi government had "banned him from Twitter",^[13] and he later wrote newspaper articles critical of the Saudi government. Khashoggi had been sharply critical of the Saudi rulers, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.^[14] He also opposed the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.^[15]

On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents related to his planned marriage but was never seen leaving. Amid news reports claiming that he had been killed and dismembered inside, an inspection of the consulate, by Saudi and Turkish officials, took place on 15 October. Initially, the Saudi government denied the death, but following shifting explanations for Khashoggi's death, Saudi Arabia's attorney general eventually stated that the murder was premeditated.^[16][17] By 16 November 2018, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had concluded that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's assassination.^[18][19] The murder has created tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, including calls for the U.S. to sever diplomatic ties with the kingdom.

On 11 December 2018, Jamal Khashoggi was posthumously named Time magazine's person of the year for his work in journalism, along with other journalists who faced political persecution for their work. Time referred to Khashoggi as a "Guardian of the Truth".^[20][21][22]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Cite error: The named reference black-guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Hubbard, Ben; Gladstone, Rick; Landler, Mark (16 October 2018). "Trump Jumps to the Defense of Saudi Arabia in Khashoggi Case". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018. Mr. Khashoggi, who wrote columns for The Washington Post, lived in the United States, and his 60th birthday was on Saturday [13 October].
3. ^ "Khashoggi 'died after fight' – Saudis". BBC. 19 October 2018. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference alaa-nassif-washingtonpost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Rick Rowley (director) (12 January 2021). Kingdom of Silence (Motion picture).
6. ^ Miller, Greg; Mekhennet, Souad (16 November 2018). "Woman says she married Khashoggi in ceremony kept secret from his fiancee and some in his family". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
7. ^ O'Toole, Gavin (30 October 2018). "Khashoggi's fiancee speaks about 'death squad' killing". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
8. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytasassination was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
9. ^ "Jamal Khashoggi: An unauthorized Turkey source says journalist was murdered in Saudi consulate". BBC News. 7 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
10. ^ "Speakers". International Public Relations Association – Gulf Chapter (IPRA-GC). 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
11. ^ "Khashoggi Was No Critic of Saudi Regime". 15 October 2018. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
12. ^ Hendley, Paul (17 May 2010). "Saudi newspaper head resigns after run-in with conservatives". Al Hdhod. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
13. ^ "Saudi Arabia wasn't always this repressive. Now it's unbearable". Opinion. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
14. ^ "Jamal Khashoggi: An unauthorized Turkey source says journalist was murdered in Saudi consulate". BBC News. 7 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
15. ^ "Turkey says journalist Khashoggi 'killed at Saudi consulate'". France 24. 7 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
16. ^ Batrawy, Aya; Torchia, Christopher (25 October 2018). "Saudi Arabia again changes its story on Khashoggi killing". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
17. ^ Stancati, Margherita; Said, Summer (25 October 2018). "Saudi Arabia Says Evidence Points to Premeditated Killing of Khashoggi". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
18. ^ Shane Harris; Greg Miller; Josh Dawsey (16 November 2018). "CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi's assassination". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
19. ^ Schmitt, Eric; Fandos, Nicholas (4 December 2018). "Saudi Prince 'Complicit' in Khashoggi's Murder, Senators Say After C.I.A. Briefing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
20. ^ Haag, Matthew; Grynbaum, Michael M. (11 December 2018). "Time Names Person of the Year for 2018: Jamal Khashoggi and Other Journalists". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
21. ^ "Time Person of the Year: 'The Guardians and the War on Truth' - CNN". CNN. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
22. ^ "Time Person of the Year is 'The Guardians' in 2018, including slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi - the Washington Post". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.

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3 October 1990 – The German Democratic Republic is abolished and becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany; the event is afterwards celebrated as German Unity Day

German Unity Day

National Day of Germany

German Unity Day (German: Tag der Deutschen Einheit, pronounced [ˈtaːk deːɐ̯ ˈdɔɪ̯t͡ʃn̩ ˈaɪ̯nhaɪ̯t] ^ⓘ) is the National Day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday.^[1] It commemorates German reunification in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state. German Unity Day on 3 October has been the German National Holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.

An alternative choice to commemorate the reunification could have been the day the Berlin Wall came down: 9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918, and the defeat of Hitler's first coup in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938 (Kristallnacht), so the day was considered racist as a national holiday^[2][3] (see 9 November in German history). Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of the formal reunification, was chosen instead. It replaced the "German Unity Day" on 17 June, the national holiday of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1954.

1. ^ www.buzer.de – Article 3 of the Treaty of German reunification ("Einigungsvertrag")
2. ^ Kosmidou, Eleftheria Rania (2012). European Civil War Films: Memory, Conflict, and Nostalgia. pp. 9–10. ISBN 1136250646
3. ^ Deutsche Welle (dw.de) (9.11.2004). Schicksalstag der Deutschen.

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12 October 2019 – Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.

Eliud Kipchoge

Marathon world record holder from 2018 to 2023

Eliud Kipchoge EGH (born 5 November 1984^[2]) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized in the 5000 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion, and was the world record holder in the marathon from 2018 to 2023, with a time of 2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon,^[3] until that record was broken by Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35. He has run four of the 10 fastest marathons in history.^[4]

Kipchoge claimed his first individual world championship title in 2003 by winning the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships and setting a world junior record for the 5000m. At the age of eighteen, he became the senior 5000 m world champion at the 2003 World Championships with a championship record, then followed by an Olympic bronze for Kenya in 2004 and a bronze at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. A five-time World Championship 5000 m finalist, Kipchoge took silver medals at the 2007 World Championships, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 2010 Commonwealth Games.

He switched to road running in 2012 and made the second-fastest half marathon debut ever, at 59:25. In his marathon debut, he won the 2013 Hamburg Marathon in a course record time. His first victory at a World Marathon Major came at the Chicago Marathon in 2014, and he went on to become series champion a record five times – for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. He has won the London Marathon a record four times and also holds the record for most Berlin Marathon wins with five, his latest coming in September 2023. With 15 victories out of his 18 marathons, Kipchoge's only losses have been a second-place finish behind Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, where Kipsang broke the world record, an eighth-place finish at the 2020 London Marathon and a sixth place in his debut at the Boston Marathon in 2023.^[5][6][7] Kipchoge's last world record run broke by 30 seconds his own 2018 world record, which was in turn a 78-second improvement over the existing best, the greatest improvement in a marathon world record time since 1967.

On 12 October 2019, Kipchoge ran the marathon distance for the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, achieving a time of 1:59:40.2, becoming the first person in recorded history to do a sub-two-hour marathon.^[8] The run did not count as a new marathon record, as standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.^[9][10][11]

Kipchoge was appointed Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 20 October 2019 in recognition of his sub-two-hour marathon.^[12] He was also named the 2019 BBC World Sport Star of the Year. In 2023 he was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award in the category "Sports".^[13]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Eliud KIPCHOGE". olympicchannel.com. Olympic Channel Services. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
2. ^ "Eliud KIPCHOGE – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
3. ^ George Ramsay (8 August 2021). "Eliud Kipchoge is the 'greatest of all time ... in any sport'". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
4. ^ "All time Top lists – Marathon Men – Senior | until 08 October 2023 | All". World Athletics. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
5. ^ "News". leichtathletik.de (in German). 28 April 2019. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
6. ^ "Berlin marathon: Wilson Kipsang sets new world record". BBC Sport. 29 September 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
7. ^ Snider-McGrath, Ben (4 October 2020). "Shura Kitata wins London Marathon in sprint finish, Kipchoge 8th". Canadian Running Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
8. ^ Andrew Keh (12 October 2019). "Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
9. ^ Dalek, Brian; Sgobba, Christa (12 October 2019). "History Made: Kipchoge Runs Under 2 Hours at INEOS 1:59 Challenge". Runner's World. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
10. ^ Hawkins, Derek (12 October 2019). "Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge just became the first marathon runner to break the 2-hour barrier". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
11. ^ "Eliud Kipchoge: The man, the methods & controversies behind 'moon-landing moment'". BBC Sport. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
12. ^ "Kipchoge honoured with the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya". The Standard. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
13. ^ Princess of Asturias Award 2023

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5 October 1962 – The first of the James Bond film series, based on the novels by Ian Fleming, Dr. No, is released in Britain

Dr. No (film)

1962 James Bond film directed by Terence Young

Dr. No is a 1962 spy film directed by Terence Young. It is the first film in the James Bond series. Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman and Jack Lord, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather from the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, a partnership that continued until 1975. It was followed by From Russia with Love in 1963. In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American space launch from Cape Canaveral with a radio beam weapon.

Although it was the first of the Bond books to be made into a film, Dr. No was the sixth of Fleming's series, beginning with Casino Royale. The film makes a few references to threads from earlier books, and later books in the series as well, such as the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which was not introduced until the 1961 novel Thunderball. Produced on a low budget, Dr. No was a financial success. While the film received a mixed critical reaction upon release, it has gained a reputation over time as one of the series' best instalments. Dr. No also launched a genre of secret agent films that flourished in the 1960s. The film spawned a comic book adaptation and soundtrack album as part of its promotion and marketing.

Many aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in Dr. No. The film begins with an introduction to the character through the view of a gun barrel and a highly stylised main title sequence, both of which were created by Maurice Binder.^[5] It also introduced the iconic theme music. Production designer Ken Adam established an elaborate visual style that is one of the hallmarks of the film series.

1. ^ "Dr. No". Lumiere. European Audiovisual Observatory. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
2. ^ "AFI|Catalog". Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
3. ^ Chapman, L. (2021). “They wanted a bigger, more ambitious film”: Film Finances and the American “Runaways” That Ran Away. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 18(2), 176–197 p 180. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2021.0565
4. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945–1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360
5. ^ "Spies". Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema. Series 2. Episode 3. 2 April 2020. Event occurs at 13:26. BBC. BBC Four. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.

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6 October 1600 – Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, receives its première performance, beginning the Baroque period.

Euridice (Peri)

Earliest surviving opera

Euridice (also Erudice or Eurydice) is an opera by Jacopo Peri, with additional music by Giulio Caccini. It is the earliest surviving opera, Peri's earlier Dafne being lost. (Caccini wrote his own "Euridice" even as he supplied music to Peri's opera, published this version before Peri's was performed, in 1600, and got it staged two years later.) The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is based on books X and XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses^[1] which recount the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his wife Euridice.

The opera was first performed in Florence on 6 October 1600 at the Palazzo Pitti with Peri himself singing the role of Orfeo.^[2]

1. ^ "Le tre Euridici: Characterization and Allegory in the Euridici of Peri and Caccini". Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
2. ^ Pietropaolo, Domenico and Parker, Mary Ann (2011). The Baroque Libretto: Italian Operas and Oratorios in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto, p. 60. University of Toronto Press

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7 October 1985 – Four men from the Palestine Liberation Front hijack the MS Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt.

Achille Lauro hijacking

1985 hijacking of an Italian cruise ship by the PLF

The Achille Lauro hijacking took place on 7 October 1985, when the Italian ocean liner MS Achille Lauro was hijacked by four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) off the coast of Egypt, as she was sailing from Alexandria to Ashdod, Israel. A 69-year-old Jewish American man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered by the hijackers and thrown overboard. The hijacking sparked the "Sigonella Crisis".

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8 October 1982 – Poland bans Solidarity and all other trade unions.

Solidarity (Polish trade union)

20th-century Polish trade union

"Solidarność" redirects here. For other uses, see Solidarność (disambiguation).

Solidarity (Polish: „Solidarność”, pronounced [sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ] ^ⓘ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity"^[4] (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność”, abbreviated NSZZ „Solidarność” [ɲɛzaˈlɛʐnɨ samɔˈʐɔndnɨ ˈzvjɔ̃zɛɡ‿zavɔˈdɔvɨ sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ]), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland.^[1] Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state.^[5]

The union's membership peaked at 10 million in September 1981,^[2][3] representing one-third of the country's working-age population.^[6] In 1983 Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the union is widely recognized as having played a central role in the end of communist rule in Poland.

In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement, using methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change.^[7] The Government attempted in the early 1980s to destroy the union through the imposition of martial law in Poland and the use of political repressions.

Operating underground, with substantial financial support from the Vatican and the United States,^[8] the union survived and by the later 1980s had entered into negotiations with the government.

The 1989 round table talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition produced agreement for the 1989 legislative elections, the country's first pluralistic election since 1947. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed, and in December 1990 Wałęsa was elected President of Poland.

Following Poland's transition to liberal capitalism in the 1990s and the extensive privatization of state assets, Solidarity's membership declined substantially. By 2010, 30 years after its founding, the union had lost more than 90% of its original membership.

1. ^ ^{a b} Guardian newspaper report Retrieved 22 June 2009
2. ^ ^{a b} (in Polish) 30 lat po Sierpniu'80: "Solidarność zakładnikiem własnej historii" Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 June 2011
3. ^ ^{a b} (in Polish) Duda za Śniadka? by Maciej Sandecki and Marek Wąs, Gazeta Wyborcza of 24 August 2010
4. ^ Solidarity at the Encyclopædia Britannica
5. ^ Stanley, John (14 April 2015). "Sex and Solidarity, 1980–1990". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 52 (1–2): 131–151. doi:10.1080/00085006.2010.11092641. JSTOR 40871520. S2CID 155049801.
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Official was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. ^ Aleksander Smolar, "'Self-limiting Revolution': Poland 1970–89", in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6, pp. 127–43.
8. ^ Tony Judt (2005). Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. The Penguin Press. p. 589.

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9 October 1760 – Seven Years' War: Russian and Austrian troops briefly occupy Berlin.

Raid on Berlin

1760 battle of the Third Silesian War

For the 1757 raid on Berlin, see related article.

For air raids on Berlin, see Bombing of Berlin in World War II.

The Raid on Berlin took place in October 1760 during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War) when Austrian and Russian forces occupied the Prussian capital of Berlin for several days. After raising money from the city, and with the approach of further Prussian reinforcements, the occupiers withdrew. There were later allegations that the Russian commander Count Tottleben had received a personal bribe from the Prussians to spare the city, and he was subsequently tried and found guilty of being a spy.

The future generalissimo of the Russian Empire — Alexander Suvorov — took part in this raid.

1. ^ Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, Jean-Paul Bled
2. ^ Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, Jean-Paul Bled

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10 October 1957 – The Windscale fire results in Britain's worst nuclear accident.

Windscale fire

1957 nuclear accident in the UK

The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom's history, and one of the worst in the world, ranked in severity at level 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.^[1] The fire was in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale site on the north-west coast of England in Cumberland (now Sellafield, Cumbria). The two graphite-moderated reactors, referred to at the time as "piles," had been built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October 1950, followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951.^[4]

The fire burned for three days and released radioactive fallout which spread across the UK and the rest of Europe.^[5] The radioactive isotope iodine-131, which may lead to cancer of the thyroid, was of particular concern at the time. It has since come to light that small but significant amounts of the highly dangerous radioactive isotope polonium-210 were also released.^[6][5] It is estimated that the radiation leak may have caused 240 additional cancer cases, with 100 to 240 of these being fatal.^[1][2][3]

At the time of the incident, no one was evacuated from the surrounding area, but milk from about 500 km² (190 square miles) of the nearby countryside was diluted and destroyed for about a month due to concerns about its radiation exposure. The UK government played down the events at the time, and reports on the fire were subject to heavy censorship, as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan feared the incident would harm British-American nuclear relations.^[3]

The event was not an isolated incident; there had been a series of radioactive discharges from the piles in the years leading up to the accident.^[7] In the spring of 1957, only months before the fire, there was a leak of radioactive material in which strontium-90 isotopes were released into the environment.^[8][9] Like the later fire, this incident was also covered up by the British government.^[8] Later studies on the release of radioactive material due to the Windscale fire revealed that much of the contamination had resulted from such radiation leaks before the fire.^[7]

A 2010 study of workers involved in the cleanup of the accident found no significant long-term health effects from their involvement.^[10][11]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Richard Black (18 March 2011). "Fukushima - disaster or distraction?". BBC News. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
2. ^ ^{a b} Ahlstrom, Dick (8 October 2007). "The unacceptable toll of Britain's nuclear disaster". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Highfield, Roger (9 October 2007). "Windscale fire: 'We were too busy to panic'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
4. ^ Wakeford, Richard (2007). "Editorial". J. Radiol. Prot. 27 (3): 211–215. Bibcode:2007JRP....27..211W. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/27/3/e02. PMID 17768324. S2CID 2115012.
5. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference bbc-7030536 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Arnold, Lorna (1995). Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 147. ISBN 978-1349240081.
7. ^ ^{a b} Hamann, Paul; Blakeway, Denys (1990). Our Reactor is on Fire. Inside Story: BBC TV.
8. ^ ^{a b} Morgan, Kenneth O. (2001). Britain Since 1945: The People's Peace (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 180. ISBN 0191587990.
9. ^ "Info withheld on nuclear accident, papers show". The Index-Journal. Greenwood, South Carolina. 3 January 1989. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
10. ^ McGeoghegan, D.; Whaley, S.; Binks, K.; Gillies, M.; Thompson, K.; McElvenny, D. M. (2010). "Mortality and cancer registration experience of the Sellafield workers known to have been involved in the 1957 Windscale accident: 50 year follow-up". Journal of Radiological Protection. 30 (3): 407–431. Bibcode:2010JRP....30..407M. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/30/3/001. PMID 20798473. S2CID 206023363.
11. ^ McGeoghegan, D.; Binks, K. (2000). "Mortality and cancer registration experience of the Sellafield employees known to have been involved in the 1957 Windscale accident". Journal of Radiological Protection. 20 (3): 261–274. Bibcode:2000JRP....20..261M. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/20/3/301. PMID 11008931. S2CID 250751210.

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11 October 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.

Polaroid Corporation

American film and camera company

This section is about the company that pioneered instant film in the 20th century. For the company that currently produces Polaroid instant film and cameras, formerly known as Impossible Project, see Polaroid B.V. For other uses, see Polaroid (disambiguation).

Polaroid Corporation was an American company best known for its instant film and cameras, which now survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of his Polaroid polarizing polymer.^[1] Land and Polaroid created the first instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1948.^[2]

Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,000 in 1978, and its peak revenue was $3 billion in 1991.^[3]

Polaroid Corporation was declared bankrupt in 2001;^[4][5] its brand and assets were sold off.^[6] A new Polaroid company formed,^[4][6] and the brand assets changed hands multiple times before being sold to Polish billionaire Wiaczesław Smołokowski [pl] in 2017. This acquisition allowed Impossible Project, which had started producing instant films for older Polaroid cameras in 2008,^[7] to rebrand as Polaroid Originals in 2017, and eventually as Polaroid in 2020.^[8] Since the original company's downfall, Polaroid-branded products in other fields, such as LCD televisions and DVD players, have been developed and released by various licensees globally.^[9][10]

1. ^ "History of Polaroid and Edwin Land". Boston.com. Boston: The New York Times Company. 2012-10-03. Archived from the original on 2016-01-04. Retrieved 2015-01-31.
2. ^ "History of Polaroid and Edwin Land".
3. ^ "Polaroid quits instant film". Sun Journal. Lewiston, Maine. Associated Press. February 9, 2008. pp. B8, B7. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
4. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference pdcmain was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference pdcshare was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference pdcfaq was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. ^ Zhang, Michael (2017). Polaroid Acquired by The Impossible Project’s Largest Shareholder Archived 2019-08-11 at the Wayback Machine, PetaPixel.com, 10 May 2017
8. ^ Polaroid [@Polaroid] (March 26, 2020). "This is Polaroid — now. From The Impossible Project to Polaroid Originals, we are returning to where it all began. With the one name, the one brand: Polaroid. No matter where you joined us in this journey, thank you for your support. Together, we can make history... again" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
9. ^ Walker, Rob (2008-03-16). "Photo Finish (Published 2008)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
10. ^ "Polaroid to Finally Get the Museum It's Always Deserved". Time. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2023-08-10.

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12 October 2012 – The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.

2012 Nobel Peace Prize

Edition of award

Award

Albania

Austria

Belarus

Belgium

Bosnia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech
Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta→

Moldova

Mont.

Netherlands

N. Mac.

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

 Switz-
erland

Turkey

Ukraine

United
Kingdom

The member states of the European Union (European Communities pre-1993), animated in order of accession. Only territories in and around Europe are shown.

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The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union (EU) (founded in 1958) "for over six decades [having] contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe" by a unanimous decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The decision highlighted the reconciliation of France and Germany, stating that "over a seventy-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars. Today war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners." The decision also highlighted the EU's contribution to the "introduction of democracy" in Greece, Spain and Portugal, the advancing of democracy and human rights in Turkey, the strengthening of democracy in Eastern Europe following the Revolutions of 1989 and overcoming of "the division between East and West" and ethnically based national conflicts, and finally the EU's contribution to the "process of reconciliation in the Balkans".^[1]

1. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize for 2012". The Norwegian Nobel Committee. Retrieved 12 October 2012.

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13 October 1972 – Aeroflot Flight 217 crashes outside Moscow, killing 174.

Aeroflot Flight 217

1972 plane crash in Moscow, Russia

Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport (now Pulkovo Airport) in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. At the time, it was the world's deadliest civil aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in 1973.^[1] As of 2023^[update], this remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.^[2][3][4]

1. ^ Leddington, Roger (16 October 1972). "Death toll at 176 in Russian crash". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
2. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 62 CCCP-86671 Moskva-Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 8 April 2005. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
3. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 62M SP-LBG Warszawa-Okecie Airport (WAW)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 10 November 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
4. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 154B-1 CCCP-85243 Omsk Airport (OMS)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 22 March 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2017.

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14 October 1947 – Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to exceed the speed of sound.

Chuck Yeager

American flying ace and test pilot (1923–2020)

Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (/ˈjeɪɡər/ YAY-gər, February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941.^[a] After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942, he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer), later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front, where he was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft (the half credit is from a second pilot assisting him in a single shootdown). On October 12, 1944, he attained "ace in a day" status, shooting down five enemy aircraft in one mission.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot and flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Through the NACA program, he became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years. In 1962, he became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which trained and produced astronauts for NASA and the Air Force.

Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, as well as in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In recognition of his achievements and the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1969 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973, retiring on March 1, 1975. His three-war active-duty flying career spanned more than 30 years and took him to many parts of the world, including the Korean War zone and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Yeager is referred to by many as one of the greatest pilots of all time, and was ranked fifth on Flying's list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation in 2013. Throughout his life, he flew more than 360 different types of aircraft over a 70-year period, and continued to fly for two decades after retirement as a consultant pilot for the United States Air Force.

1. ^ "My First Time". Air & Space/Smithsonian. Vol. 17, no. 2. June–July 2002. p. 48.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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15 October 1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.

America (airship)

Blimp used by Walter Wellman (1906–10)

The America was a non-rigid airship built by Louis Mutin Godard in France in 1906 for the journalist Walter Wellman's attempt to reach the North Pole by air. Wellman first conceived of using a balloon to fly to the pole during a failed polar attempt by boat and sledge from Svalbard in 1894. He then visited Paris to review the state of balloon technology but left disappointed by the lack of acceptable steering and propulsion capability. A decade later while at the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Conference he learned of recent innovations in French dirigible design and believed a solution might be at hand for his Arctic aerial plan. After receiving the backing of newspaper publisher Victor F. Lawson, the Wellman Chicago Record-Herald Polar Expedition was announced, and Wellman traveled to Paris in search of a suitable design and manufacturer. In the meantime a public company was established to raise the $US 250,000 required for the expedition and airship (to which Lawson contributed $60,000).

As originally constructed, the America was 165 ft (50 m) long and 51 ft 10 in (15.80 m) wide at its greatest diameter and enclosed a volume of 258,000 cubic feet (7,300 m³) of hydrogen. The envelope was of three layers of fabric and three of rubber, and contained no internal framework. The gondola could hold a crew of five, and power was supplied by three internal-combustion engines delivering a total of 80 hp (60 kW) to two propellers, one fore and one aft. It was delivered by ship to Spitsbergen on July 8, 1906, where Wellman and his team attempted to erect it. Their efforts met with failure when the engines fell apart. In September, the America was dismantled and returned by ship to France.

Wellman returned to Spitsbergen with the America in June the following year, 1907. The airship had a new centre-section sewn into it to increase its length to 185 ft (56 m) and volume to 272,000 cubic feet (7,700 m³). The weather was very unfavourable, however, and it was 2 September before the America could even leave the hangar. Wasting no time, Wellman launched later that day with mechanic Melvin Vaniman and navigator Felix Riesenberg in an attempt to reach the pole. Unfortunately, more bad weather forced this to be abandoned after only a few miles and the America was deflated to avoid a crash landing. America once again returned to France for repairs.

She returned to Spitsbergen one more time in July 1909, and at 10 AM on 15 August, launched with Wellman, Vaniman, Russian balloonist Nicolas Popov and Vaniman's brother-in-law Albert Louis Loud on board. The flight began well enough, but two hours and 40 miles (64 km) later, a device Wellman called the "equilibrator" failed. This was a long, leather tube filled with ballast that was intended to help gauge and maintain a fixed altitude over the ice. America gained altitude rapidly, until brought under control at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) and gradually lowered back to the ground by venting hydrogen. The crew was rescued by the Norwegian steamer Farm.^[1] Wellman began plans to extend the hangar so that he could return the following year with a larger airship, but on learning^[2] of Dr. Frederick Cook's claim to have reached the pole, abandoned the adventure.

Instead, Wellman resolved to make the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. He had the America enlarged again, now to 345,000 cu ft (9,800 m³). A spark gap radio set was added to the underhanging life boat and operator Jack Irwin used it during the flight, callsign "W", and with the frame of the airship as the antenna. Given the airship was inflated with hydrogen, this was a very dangerous system. The unit made some of the very first air-to-ground transmissions,^[3] when the airship's engineer Melvin Vaniman sent one of the first aerial radio transmissions urging the launch boat to "come and get this goddam cat!" – the cat Kiddo who was (at first) not happy about being airborne.^[4][5][6][7]

On 15 October 1910, takeoff was made from Atlantic City.^[8][9] Condensing water on the airship's skin added excess weight, and it was difficult to gain height. A passing storm also made forward navigation difficult. The engines failed 38 hours into the flight, apparently due to contamination by beach sand, and America drifted. The crew jettisoned all excess weight, including one of the defunct engines.^[9] The ship had gone as far as a point east of New Hampshire and south of Nova Scotia before floating generally south.

After another 33 hours,^[9] and having now traveled a total distance of 1,370 miles (2,200 km) from launching, they sighted the Royal Mail steamship Trent west of Bermuda. After attracting the ship's attention by a signaling lamp using Morse code, Irwin made the first aerial distress call by radio. The crew, and mascot cat Kiddo, got into the lifeboat and, after opening the gas valves on the airship, abandoned the America. The airship drifted out of sight and was never seen again. Trent, having barely avoided running down the lifeboat in a high crosswind, was able to rescue the crew and returned them to New York.^[10] The first successful aerial crossings of the Atlantic came nine years later.

1. ^ Jaklin, Asbjorn [de; no]. "Rittmesteres røvertokt" Nordlys, 4 November 2011. Accessed: 19 September 2017.
2. ^ Rhodes, Barbara G. (2000). "The 1931 Polar Flight of the Airship Graf Zeppelin An Historical Perspective". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 15 October 2010. Wellman abandoned his plans when both Robert E. Peary and Frederick A. Cook announced in the fall of 1909 that each claimed to have attained the North Pole by surface travel.
3. ^ Jack Irwin series by John Dilks, QST Magazine, September, October, November, 2010.
4. ^ "How Cat Won Lasting Fame". Bluffton Chronicle. June 14, 1911.
5. ^ "Kiddo, the airship cat". Purr'n'Fur
6. ^ “Roy, come and get this goddamn cat” was the first ever in-flight radio transmission" AviationHumor
7. ^ Copping, Jasper (13 October 2010). "America the airship: the first transatlantic crossing". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2010-10-26. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
8. ^ Trevelyan, Laura (2010-10-15). "Airship America's landmark crossing attempt recalled". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
9. ^ ^{a b c} Davies, Alan. "Vaniman, the acrobatic photographer". State Library of New South Wales 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-04. enlarged again to 9760 cubic metres volume, giving a lifting capacity of 12 tonnes ... launched on 15 October 1910 ... crew of six, including Wellman and Vaniman and a stowaway cat
10. ^ Irwin, Jack (August 1924). "When the America Put Out to Sea: Fog – Wind – Disaster – and – Rescue" (PDF). Radio Broadcast. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via K2TQN Vintage Radio.

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16 October 1923 – Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as The Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney

American animator and producer (1901–1966)

For other uses, see Walt Disney (disambiguation).

Walter Elias Disney (/ˈdɪzni/;^[2] December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned and nominations by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute.

Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now The Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Mary Poppins (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards.

In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed.

Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic, they have been contradicted by many who knew him. Historiography of Disney has taken a variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a purveyor of homely patriotic values to being a representative of American cultural imperialism. Widely considered to be one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Disney remains an important presence in the history of animation and in the cultural history of the United States, where he is acknowledged as a national cultural icon. His film work continues to be shown and adapted, the Disney theme parks have grown in size and number to attract visitors in several countries and his company has grown to become one of the world's largest mass media and entertainment conglomerates.

1. ^ "Disney to Quit Post at Studio". Los Angeles Times. September 11, 1945.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference OD: pronunciation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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17 October 1943 – The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed.

Burma Railway

WWII Japanese Thai–Burma railway

This article is about the railway constructed by Japan during World War II. For the railways of the country Burma, see Rail transport in Myanmar.

The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by South East Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and a smaller group of captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Japanese Government was Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (泰緬連接鉄道), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway.

At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya.

Most of these civilians were moved to ‘rest camps’ after October 1943, they remained in these camps after the end of the war as they watched the Allied POWs being evacuated. Survivors were still living in the camps in 1947. They were British subjects who, without access to food or medical care, continued to die of malaria, dysentery and malnutrition. They had survived the ordeal of the Railway only to die in the ‘rest camps’. No compensation or reparations have been provided to the Southeast Asian victims.^[2][3][4]

Most of the railway was dismantled shortly after the war. Only the first 130 kilometres (81 mi) of the line in Thailand remained, with trains still running as far north as Nam Tok.

1. ^ Beattie, Rod (2007). The Thai-Burma Railway. Thailand-Burma Railway Centre. p. 10.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Boggett was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ P. Chandrasekaran. "Remembering Malayan victims of the Death Railway". The Star. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
4. ^ "Remembering Death Railway labourers". Tabla! Singapore. Retrieved 30 June 2023.

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18 October 1900 – Count Bernhard von Bülow becomes chancellor of Germany

Bernhard von Bülow

Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909

Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow (German: Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin Fürst von Bülow German: [fɔn ˈbyːloː];^[1] 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as the chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to 1909. A fervent supporter of Weltpolitik, Bülow devoted his chancellorship to transforming Germany into a global power. Despite presiding over sustained economic growth and major technological advancement, his government's foreign policy did much to antagonize France and Great Britain, which contributed significantly to Germany's defeat in the First World War.

Born into a prominent family of Danish-German aristocrats, Bülow entered the German foreign service after his father, Bernhard Ernst von Bülow, was appointed foreign secretary in Otto von Bismarck's government. He held several diplomatic posts, including German ambassador to Rome, before being appointed foreign secretary in 1897 by Wilhelm II. Three years later he was appointed chancellor following the resignation of the Prince of Hohenlohe.

As chancellor, Bülow promoted cautious and conservative domestic policies. In foreign affairs, he pursued an ambitious and expansionist policy. His open challenge to France's growing control over Morocco sparked the First Moroccan Crisis, which aggravated the French and the British and helped strengthen the Entente Cordiale. In 1908, Wilhelm's indiscreet remarks were published during the Daily Telegraph Affair, causing significant damage to German foreign relations and the Kaiser's prestige. Bülow was blamed for failing to prevent the blunder and, having lost the support of both the Kaiser and the Reichstag, he resigned in 1909 and was succeeded by Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg.

Bülow moved to Rome after his resignation. He came out of retirement in late 1914 to serve as interim ambassador to Italy, but was unable to bring King Victor Emmanuel III to the side of the Central Powers. Bülow died in Rome in 1929 at the age of 80.

1. ^ Duden – Bülow

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19 October 1960 – The United States imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.

United States embargo against Cuba

Ongoing restriction on trade with Cuba by the United States

US president Dwight D. Eisenhower (left) and Cuban leader Fidel Castro

The United States embargo against Cuba prevents US businesses, and businesses organized under US law or majority-owned by US citizens, from conducting trade with Cuban interests. It is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history.^[1][2] The US first imposed an embargo on the sale of arms to Cuba on March 14, 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. Again on October 19, 1960, almost two years after the Cuban Revolution had led to the deposition of the Batista regime, the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized the US-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962, the embargo was extended to include almost all exports. The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution every year since 1992 demanding the end of the US economic embargo on Cuba, with the US and Israel being the only nations to consistently vote against the resolutions.^[3]

As of 2024^[update], the embargo is enforced mainly through the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act of 1996, and the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.^[4] The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to maintain sanctions on Cuba as long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights."^[5] The Helms-Burton Act further restricted United States citizens from doing commerce in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government were met. In 1999, President Bill Clinton expanded the trade embargo by also disallowing foreign subsidiaries of US companies to trade with Cuba. In 2000, Clinton authorized the sale of food and humanitarian products to Cuba.^[6]

William M. LeoGrande summarized that the embargo against Cuba is "the oldest and most comprehensive US economic sanctions regime against any country in the world" imposed over half a century ago. According to LeoGrande, "The embargo has never been effective at achieving its principal purpose: forcing Cuba's revolutionary regime out of power or bending it to Washington's will."^[7]

1. ^ "Understanding the Failure of the U.S. Embargo on Cuba". WOLA. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
2. ^ Nouri, Sarah (November 20, 2022). "Time To End The US Embargo Against Cuba". Human Rights Pulse. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
3. ^ "UN General Assembly calls for U.S. to end Cuba embargo for 29th consecutive year". United Nations General Assembly. June 23, 2021.
4. ^ "The US Embargo Against Cuba: Its Impact on Economic and Social Rights". Amnesty International. September 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
5. ^ "Cuban Democracy Act of 1992". U.S. Department of State.
6. ^ "Case Studies in Economic Sanctions and Terrorism: US v. Gta 5 (1960– : Castro)" (PDF). Peterson Institute for International Economics. October 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
7. ^ LeoGrande, William M. (Winter 2015). "A Policy Long Past Its Expiration Date: US Economic Sanctions Against Cuba". Social Research. 82 (4): 939–966. ISSN 0037-783X. JSTOR 44282148.

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20 October 1973 – The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction.

Sydney Opera House

Performing-arts centre in Australia

For the historical (1879–1900) theatre of the same name, see Opera House, Sydney.

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.^[3][4]

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973,^[5] 16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.^[6]

The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and near to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The building comprises multiple performance venues, which together host well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people.^[7] Performances are presented by numerous performing artists, with many resident companies such as Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, the site is visited by more than eight million people annually, and approximately 350,000 visitors take a guided tour of the building each year.^[8] The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales State Government.

On 28 June 2007 the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site,^[9] having been listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate since 1980, the National Trust of Australia register since 1983, the City of Sydney Heritage Inventory since 2000, the New South Wales State Heritage Register since 2003, and the Australian National Heritage List since 2005.^[10][11] The Opera House was also a finalist in the New7Wonders of the World campaign list.^[12][13]

1. ^ "Inflation Calculator". RBA. 14 February 1966. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
2. ^ Topographic maps 1:100000 9130 Sydney and 1:25000 91303N Parramatta River
3. ^ Environment, Department of the (23 April 2008). "World Heritage Places – The Sydney Opera House – World Heritage values". www.environment.gov.au. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
4. ^ Maher, Alannah (30 July 2021). "Seven Sydney Opera House designs that never saw the light of day". Time Out. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
5. ^ "Sydney Opera House history". Sydney Opera House Official Site. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
6. ^ "2003 Laureate". The Pritzker Architecture Prize. The Hyatt Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
7. ^ "Sydney Opera House 2015 Annual Report – Performing Arts" (PDF). Retrieved 19 December 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. ^ "How do you value an icon? The Sydney Opera House: economic, cultural and digital value" (PDF). Deloitte Access Economics. 2010. p. 70. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
9. ^ Braithwaite, David (28 June 2007). "Opera House wins top status". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2007.
10. ^ "Sydney Opera House". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01685. Retrieved 3 September 2017. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence.
11. ^ "Sydney Opera House, 2 Circular Quay East, Sydney, NSW, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Government. 12 July 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
12. ^ "New7Wonders of the World". World of New7Wonders.
13. ^ "Sydney Opera House short-listed for new 'Seven Wonders'". ABC News.

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21 October 1950 – Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces and North Koreans during the Battle of Yongju.

Battle of Yongyu

1950 battle of the Korean War

The Battle of Yongyu (영유永柔 전투), also known as the Battle of the Apple Orchard or the Battle of Yongju by the Australians who fought in it, took place between 21 and 22 October 1950 during the United Nations Command (UNC) offensive into North Korea against the Korean People's Army (KPA) that had invaded South Korea during the Korean War. The battle was fought between the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the KPA 239th Regiment.

On 20 October, the US 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (187 RCT) staged a parachute assault at Sukchon and Sunchon, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Pyongyang, with the objectives of cutting off KPA forces retreating ahead of the US Eighth Army general advance from the south, capturing important North Korean government officials evacuating Pyongyang, and liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) being moved out of Pyongyang. On 21 October, two 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (187 ABN) combat teams started southwards in a reconnaissance-in-force to clear the Sukchon–Yongyu highway and rail line and to establish contact with the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade that was leading the Eighth Army advance northwards from Pyongyang. 187 ABN came under fire from the KPA 239th Regiment in the vicinity of Yongyu. As a result of the US airborne operation, the KPA 239th Regiment found itself caught between the Eighth Army advance and the 187 ABN attack in its rear. The KPA 239th Regiment attempted a breakout to the north just after midnight on 21–22 October. Facing determined attacks, the American paratroopers at Yongyu requested armoured assistance from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade on the Pyongyang–Sukchon road just south of Yongyu.

The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade had departed from Pyongyang at noon on 21 October, headed north on the Sukchon highway, tasked with reaching the Chongchon River. The 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highland Regiment (1 ASHR), leading the brigade advance, pushed up the highway until fired upon by KPA in the hills south of Yongyu. By nightfall, the hills were cleared by the Highlanders and the brigade halted for the night. The British could hear the sounds of a heavy battle taking place to the north. 3 RAR was directed to take the lead when the brigade moved out the following morning. C Company, 3 RAR, was selected to lead the Australian advance. C Company, with elements mounted on US tanks and the rest of the company following in motorised transport, was to pass through Yongyu as rapidly as possible and effect a relief of the 187 ABN defenders to the north. At first light on 22 October, 1 ASHR and the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (1 MR) advanced into Yongyu to clear the town of KPA. 3 RAR, with C Company on point, passed through 1 ASHR and 1 MR and moved through Yongyu, headed north on the Yongyu–Sukchon road.

C Company, 3 RAR, came under fire from a KPA 239th Regiment rearguard force entrenched in a hillside apple orchard north of Yongyu and aggressively counterattacked off the line of march into the orchard, routing the KPA from the high ground. The KPA 239th Regiment, now on open ground between 3 RAR and 187 ABN, was forced to withdraw westwards with heavy casualties. 3 RAR then relieved the American paratroopers in their defensive positions. By midday, after three hours of fighting, the battle was mostly over. Many KPA soldiers who had been unable to escape hid or feigned death until captured or killed. With the linkup completed, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade relieved 187 RCT at Sukchon and passed through for the continuation of its drive to the Chongchon River. The Australians had distinguished themselves in their first major battle in the Korean War, and the battalion was later praised for its performance.

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22 October 1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Gounod's Faust.

Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)

Former opera house in Manhattan, New York

"The Old Met" redirects here. For the former sports venue in Minnesota, see Metropolitan Stadium.

The Metropolitan Opera House, also known as the Old Metropolitan Opera House^[1] and Old Met,^[2] was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera.

1. ^ "'Old' Metropolitan Opera House". The New York Preservation Archive Project. Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
2. ^ Byrnes, Mark (October 22, 2014). "The 'Old Met' In Its Final Days". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2022.

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23 October 1998 – Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum.

Wye River Memorandum

1998 step in the Israel-Palestinian peace process

The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at a summit in Wye River, Maryland, U.S., held 15–23 October 1998. The Memorandum aimed to resume the implementation of the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II Accord). It was signed in the White House by Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat, through negotiations led by U.S. President Bill Clinton, on 23 October 1998.^[1] On 17 November 1998 Israel's 120-member parliament, the Knesset, approved the Memorandum by a vote of 75–19. The Memorandum determined that it would enter into force on 2 November 1998, ten days from the date of signature.

On 18 December 1998, the Clinton administration and the EU declared their contentment about the implementation of the first phase of the Memorandum by both sides.^[2] Israel, however, had only implemented stage 1 of the further redeployment (F.R.D.), meaning that it had withdrawn from 2% of Area C instead of the required 13%.^[3][4] Both parties accused each other of not fulfilling its share of responsibilities under the Wye River Memorandum, and the further implementation of the agreement remained unfinished.

1. ^ Gellman, Barton (24 October 1998). "Netanyahu, Arafat Sign Accord; Talks Nearly Founder After Israel Demands Convicted Spy's Release". The Washington Post. p. A1.
2. ^ US-EU Declaration on the Middle East Peace Process. US State Department, 18 December 1998
   
   • We welcome implementation of the first phase of the Memorandum by both sides. We call on the parties to implement fully the remaining obligations ...
3. ^ What Was the 1999 Sharm al-Sheikh Memorandum?. ProCon, 19 May 2008
4. ^ "The demise of the Oslo process". Archived from the original on 16 August 2000.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link). Joel Beinin, MERIP, 26 March 1999.

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24 October 1929 – "Black Thursday" on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wall Street Crash of 1929

American stock market crash

Not to be confused with Blackout Tuesday.

"Black Tuesday" and "Wall Street Crash" redirect here. For other uses, see Black Tuesday (disambiguation) and Wall Street Crash (disambiguation).

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Crash of '29, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It began in September, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) collapsed, and ended in mid-November. The pivotal role of the 1920s' high-flying bull market and the subsequent catastrophic collapse of the NYSE in late 1929 is often highlighted in explanations of the causes of the worldwide Great Depression.

It was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States when taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its aftereffects.^[1] The Great Crash is mostly associated with October 24, 1929, called Black Thursday, the day of the largest sell-off of shares in U.S. history,^[2][3] and October 29, 1929, called Black Tuesday, when investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day.^[4] The crash, which followed the London Stock Exchange's crash of September, signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.

1. ^ Bone, James. "The beginner's guide to stock markets". The Times. London. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2012. The most savage bear market of all time was the Wall Street Crash of 1929–1932, in which share prices fell by 89 percent.
2. ^ "The Stock Market Crash of 1929". Money-Zine. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
3. ^ • "Worst Stock Crash Stemmed by Banks; 12,894,650 Share Day Swaps Market", The New York Times, Friday, October 25, 1929. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
      • Shachtman, Tom. (1979). The Day America Crashed: A Narrative Account of the Great Stock Market Crash of October 24, 1929. Description. New York: G.P. Putnam. Retrieved November 27, 2020
4. ^ Wanniski, Jude (1978). The Way the World Works. Gateway Editions. ISBN 0895263440.^{[page needed]}

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25 October 1949 – The Battle of Guningtou in the Taiwan Strait begins.

Battle of Guningtou

1949 battle of the Chinese Civil War

The Battle of Kuningtou^[4] or Battle of Guningtou (Chinese: 古寧頭之役; pinyin: Gǔníngtóu zhī yì; Wade–Giles: Ku³-ning²-t’ou² chih¹ i⁴), also known as the Battle of Kinmen (金門戰役; Jīnmén Zhànyì), was fought over Kinmen in the Taiwan Strait during the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The failure of the Communists to take the island left it in the hands of the Kuomintang (Nationalists) and crushed their chances of taking Taiwan to destroy the Nationalists completely in the war.^[5][6][7]

1. ^ "Gallery: The Battle That Saved Taiwan". August 7, 2012.
2. ^ 老衲 (2002). "古寧頭之役的回顧". 四海一家軍事網. Archived from the original on June 8, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2004. Chinese language only. See 戰果
3. ^ 老衲 [2002]. See 戰果.
4. ^ "Chiang Kai-shek (1st–5th terms)". Office of the President Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved September 29, 2019. 1949-10-26 Taiwan wins victory in Battle of Kuningtou against Chinese Communists in Kinmen.
5. ^ "金門古寧頭戰役(一)". YouTube (in Chinese). September 3, 2009. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023.
6. ^ "金門古寧頭戰役(二)". YouTube (in Chinese). September 3, 2009. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023.
7. ^ "金門古寧頭戰役(三)". YouTube (in Chinese). September 3, 2009. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023.

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26 October 1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.

Boeing 707

Narrow-body jet airliner family

The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial 707-120 first flew on December 20, 1957. Pan Am began regular 707 service on October 26, 1958. With versions produced until 1979, the 707 was a swept wing quadjet with podded engines. Its larger fuselage cross-section allowed six-abreast economy seating, retained in the later 720, 727, 737, and 757 models.

Although it was not the first commercial jetliner in service, the 707 was the first to be widespread, and is often credited with beginning the Jet Age.^[5] It dominated passenger air transport in the 1960s, and remained common through the 1970s, on domestic, transcontinental, and transatlantic flights, as well as cargo and military applications. It established Boeing as a dominant airliner manufacturer with its 7x7 series. The initial, 145-foot-long (44 m) 707-120 was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojet engines. The shortened, long-range 707-138 and the more powerful 707-220 entered service in 1959. The longer-range, heavier 707-300/400 series has larger wings and is stretched slightly by 8 feet (2.4 m). Powered by Pratt & Whitney JT4A turbojets, the 707-320 entered service in 1959, and the 707-420 with Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans in 1960.

The 720, a lighter short-range variant, was also introduced in 1960. Powered by Pratt & Whitney JT3D turbofans, the 707-120B debuted in 1961 and the 707-320B in 1962. The 707-120B typically flew 137 passengers in two classes over 3,600 nautical miles [nmi] (6,700 km; 4,100 mi), and could accommodate 174 in one class. With 141 passengers in two classes, the 707-320/420 could fly 3,750 nmi (6,940 km; 4,320 mi) and the 707-320B up to 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi). The 707-320C convertible passenger-freighter model entered service in 1963, and passenger 707s have been converted to freighter configurations. Military derivatives include the E-3 Sentry airborne reconnaissance aircraft and the C-137 Stratoliner VIP transport. In total, 865 Boeing 707s were produced and delivered, not including 154 Boeing 720s.

1. ^ "Boeing 707 Jet Transport." aviation-history.com. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
2. ^ "Iranian airline SAHA halts operation due to outdated fleet". payvand.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
3. ^ Waldron, Greg (January 14, 2019). "Boeing 707 crashes near Tehran". FlightGlobal. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
4. ^ "707 Model Summary". Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
5. ^ Wilson, Stewart (1999). Airliners of the World. Fyshwick, Australia: Aerospace Publications. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-875671-44-1. The Boeing 707, the airliner which introduced jet travel on a large scale and p. 48. Quote: "The USA's first jetliner, the 707 was at the forefront of jet travel revolution..."

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