October 22 in History

October 22 spans 53 recorded events across recorded history, from 2137 BC to 2019. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

Holidays and observances on October 22

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Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

1836 — Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

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Historical Events 53 events 2137 BC – 2019

More major events on October 22

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the Communist nation. Source
  2. 2008 India launches its first uncrewed lunar probe mission Chandrayaan-1. Source

Did you know

In 1836, Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The Republic of Texas, or simply Texas, was a short-lived sovereign country in North America from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

Texas was bordered by Mexico to the west and southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, the two U.S. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

states of Louisiana and Arkansas to the east and northeast, and U.S. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

unorganized territory encompassing parts of the current U.S. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.


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Showing all 52 events

-2137 Solar eclipse of October 22, 2137 BC

A solar eclipse occurs over China, one of the earliest recorded in human history, reportedly resulting in the executions of two astronomers who failed to predict it.

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on October 22, 2137 BC, with a magnitude of 0.9736. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun, completely or partially blocking the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than that of the Sun, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing it to appear as an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse also appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometers wide. The annular eclipse was visible in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China, and Taiwan. A partial eclipse was visible over much of northern, central and eastern Asia and Oceania.
451

The Chalcedonian Creed, regarding the divine and human nature of Jesus, is adopted by the Council of Chalcedon, an ecumenical council.

The Chalcedonian Definition (also called the Chalcedonian Creed or the Definition of Chalcedon) is the declaration of Christ as fully God and fully human, having two natures "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation", adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Chalcedon was an early centre of Christianity located in Asia Minor. The council was the fourth of the ecumenical councils that are accepted by Chalcedonian churches which include the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It was the first council not to be recognised by any Oriental Orthodox church; for this reason these churches may be classified as Non-Chalcedonian.
794 Emperor Kanmu

Japanese Emperor Kanmu relocates his empire's capital to Heian-kyō (now Kyoto).

Emperor Kanmu (桓武天皇, Kammu-tennō; 735 – April 9, 806), or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kammu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the scope of the emperor's powers reached its peak. His reign saw the transition from the Nara period to the Heian period.
906

Abbasid general Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh leads a raid against the Byzantine Empire, taking 4,000–5,000 captives.

Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh (Arabic: أحمد بن كيغلغ) was an Abbasid military officer who served as governor in Syria and Egypt. He was ousted as governor of Egypt by Muhammad ibn Tughj in 935.
1303 Pope Benedict XI

Election of Pope Benedict XI following the death of Pope Boniface VIII in the previous weeks.

Pope Benedict XI (Latin: Benedictus XI; 1240 – 7 July 1304), born Nicola Boccasini (Niccolò of Treviso), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 October 1303 to his death on 7 July 1304. Boccasini entered the Order of Preachers in his native Treviso. He studied at Venice and Milan before becoming a teacher in Venice and in other Dominican houses. He served two terms as Provincial Prior of Lombardy, before being elected Master of the Order in 1296. Two years later, he was made cardinal. He was appointed Bishop of Ostia, and served as papal legate first to Hungary, and then to France. He was with Pope Boniface VIII when Boniface was attacked by French forces at Anagni. He was beatified with his cultus confirmed by Pope Clement XII in 1736. He is a patron of Treviso.
1383 Portuguese House of Burgundy

The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice.

Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.
The Portuguese House of Burgundy (Portuguese: Casa de Borgonha) was a Portuguese noble house that ruled the County and later Kingdom of Portugal from its founding until the 1383–85 Portuguese Interregnum. The house was founded by Henry of Burgundy, who became Count of Portugal in 1096. His son, Afonso Henriques, was proclaimed King of Portugal following his victory at the Battle of Ourique in 1139, establishing the Afonsine dynasty (Dinastia Afonsina). Burgundian monarchs would rule Portugal through much of its early formation, including the formalization of the Portuguese language under King Dinis I, the first Portuguese parliament, under King Afonso II, and the conquest of the Kingdom of the Algarve, under King Afonso III. Numerous princes of the house took up thrones across Europe, such as Ferdinand I, Count of Flanders and Peter I, Count of Urgell. Similarly, many princesses became royal consorts, including Berengaria, Queen of Denmark, Leonor, Queen of Aragon, and Teresa, Duchess of Burgundy, among others.
1721 Russian Empire

The Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

The Russian Empire was an empire that extended across northern Eurasia from 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in 1917, forming the final era of Tsarist Russia and the wider Russian monarchy. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km2 (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history, behind only the British and Mongol empires. Prior to the imperial era, Russian governance was dominated by the aristocratic boyar elite under the authority of the grand prince and later an autocratic tsar. The groundwork of the empire was laid by Ivan III (r. 1462–1505), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state, and secured independence from the Great Horde. His grandson, Ivan IV (r. 1533–1584), was the first Russian monarch to be crowned as tsar in 1547. Between 1550 and 1700, the Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 km2 (14,000 sq mi) per year. Peter the Great transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought wars that turned Russia into a major European power. He moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg, and led a cultural revolution that introduced a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great (r. 1762–1796) presided over further Russian expansion by conquest, colonization, and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization. Alexander I (r. 1801–1825) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and constituted the Holy Alliance, which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening it as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish wars were checked by defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and conquests in Central Asia instead. Alexander II (r. 1855–1881) initiated major reforms, most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. The period also saw major developments in literature, music, and the sciences. By the start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska in the east. It colonized Alaska between 1799 and 1867, and in the early-to-mid 19th century briefly maintained outposts in California. The empire also expanded its control over the Caucasus, most of Central Asia, and parts of Northeast Asia. By the 1897 Russian census, the population reached 126 million with vast ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the empire experienced industrial growth and railway construction, though the country remained largely agrarian. Severe famines, along with resistance to political reform, led to growing unrest and the rise of revolutionary movements. Following the 1905 Revolution, Nicholas II (r. 1894–1917) authorized the creation of a national parliament, the State Duma, though ultimate power remained with him. Russia entered the First World War in 1914 on the side of the Allies, also known as the Entente. High casualties, military setbacks, and severe food and fuel shortages in the cities led to widespread discontent with the monarchy. In 1917, mass unrest in Petrograd and army mutinies culminated in the February Revolution, which led to Nicholas II's abdication, the establishment of the Russian Provisional Government, and the proclamation of the Russian Republic. Political instability, continued involvement in the unpopular war, and economic disruption resulted in mass demonstrations against the government in July. The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks, who proclaimed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and signed a treaty that ended Russia's involvement in the war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites. After emerging victorious in the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; Russia was one of four continental European empires to collapse as a result of World War I, along with Germany, Austria–Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.
1724 Johann_Sebastian_Bach

J.

S. Bach leads the first performance of Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Adorn yourself, O dear soul) in Leipzig on the 20th Sunday after Trinity, based on the communion hymn of the same name.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
1730 Ladoga_Canal

Construction of the Ladoga Canal is completed in Russia.

The Ladoga Canal is a historical water transport route, now situated in Leningrad Oblast, linking the Neva and the Svir River so as to bypass the stormy waters of Lake Ladoga which lies immediately to the northwest. It is about 117 kilometres (73 mi) long and comprises two distinct but overgrown canals, Old Ladoga Canal and New Ladoga Canal, running in parallel from Sviritsa on the Svir through Novaya Ladoga on the Volkhov to Shlisselburg on the Neva.
1739 War_of_Jenkins'_Ear

The War of Jenkins' Ear begins with the first attack on La Guaira.

The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought between Great Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748. Most of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations over by 1742. It is considered a related conflict of the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession.
1746 Princeton University

The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) receives its charter.

Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747 and then to its Mercer County campus in Princeton nine years later. It officially became a university in 1896 and was subsequently renamed Princeton University. The university is governed by the Trustees of Princeton University and has an endowment of $42.3 billion, the largest endowment per student in the United States. Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering to approximately 9,000 students on its main campus spanning 600 acres (2.4 km2) within the borough of Princeton. It offers postgraduate degrees through the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Architecture and the Bendheim Center for Finance. The university also manages the Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and is home to the NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and has one of the largest university libraries in the world. Princeton uses a residential college system and is known for its eating clubs for juniors and seniors. The university has over 500 student organizations. Princeton students embrace a wide variety of traditions from both the past and present. The university is an NCAA Division I school and competes in the Ivy League. The school's athletic team, the Princeton Tigers, has won the most titles in its conference and has sent many students and alumni to the Olympics. As of October 2025, 81 Nobel laureates, 16 Fields Medalists and 17 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with Princeton University as alumni, faculty members, or researchers. In addition, Princeton has been associated with 21 National Medal of Science awardees, five Abel Prize awardees, a Dan David Prize awardee, 11 National Humanities Medal recipients, 217 Rhodes Scholars, 137 Marshall Scholars, and 62 Gates Cambridge Scholars. Two U.S. presidents, twelve U.S. Supreme Court justices (three of whom serve on the court as of 2026) and numerous living industry and media tycoons and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princeton's alumni body. Princeton has graduated many members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Cabinet, including eight secretaries of state, three secretaries of defense and two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Princeton alumni also include 113 athletes who competed in the Olympics, winning 19 gold medals, 24 silver medals, and 23 bronze medals.
1777 American_Revolutionary_War

American Revolutionary War: American defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware River repulse repeated Hessian attacks in the Battle of Red Bank.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and, commanded by George Washington, defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.
1790 Northwest Indian War

Northwest Indian War: Native American forces defeat the United States, ending the Harmar Campaign.

The Northwest Indian War was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory between the United States and a loose confederation of Native American peoples who called themselves the United Indian Nations but are better known today as the Northwestern Confederacy. The United States Army considers the conflict to be the first of the American Indian Wars. Following centuries of conflict involving Native Americans and Europeans for control of the region, the lands comprising the Northwest Territory were ceded by Great Britain to the newly formed United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The treaty used the Great Lakes as a border between British North America and the US, and led to the Americans assuming control over the Ohio Country and Illinois Country, which had previously been prohibited to European settlement. As US settlers moved into the Northwest Territory, they were resisted by local Native Americans, and a Wyandot-led confederacy was formed in 1785 to resist American expansion onto their lands. Four years after the confederacy was formed, the Constitution of the United States went into effect; George Washington was sworn in as president, which made him the commander-in-chief of all U.S. military forces. Washington subsequently directed the United States Army to enforce American sovereignty over the Northwest Territory. The U.S. Army, mainly consisting of untrained recruits and bolstered by volunteer militiamen, suffered a series of significant defeats, including the 1790 Harmar campaign and St. Clair's defeat in 1791, which are among the worst defeats ever suffered in the history of the United States Army. St. Clair's defeat destroyed most of the U.S. Army and left white settlers on the American frontier vulnerable to attack. Washington appointed General Anthony Wayne to rebuild the U.S. Army, with Wayne reorganizing it into the Legion of the United States in 1792 and spending a year training and supplying the Legion. He proceeded to lead a methodical campaign up the Great Miami and Maumee river valleys in the Ohio Country before leading the Legion to a decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers near the Lake Erie in 1794. Wayne subsequently established Fort Wayne at the Miami capital of Kekionga, and the defeated Northwestern Confederacy was forced to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio, to the US in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. The war confirmed American control over the Northwest Territory, although the region would be invaded by British forces during the War of 1812.
1797 André-Jacques_Garnerin

André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump, from 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above Paris.

André-Jacques Garnerin was a French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France.
1844

The Millerites (followers of Baptist preacher William Miller) anticipate the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ.

The following day becomes known as the Great Disappointment.
Baptists are a Protestant tradition of Christianity distinguished by baptizing only believers and doing so by total immersion. Modern Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul competency, sola fide, sola scriptura and congregationalist ecclesiastical polity. Baptists generally recognize at least two sacraments or ordinances: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
1859

Spain declares war on Morocco.

The Hispano-Moroccan War, also known as the Spanish–Moroccan War, the First Moroccan War, the Tetuán War, or, in Spain, as the War of Africa, was fought from Spain's declaration of war on Morocco on 22 October 1859 until the Treaty of Wad-Ras on 26 April 1860. It began with a conflict over the borders of the Spanish city of Ceuta and was fought in northern Morocco. Morocco sued for peace after the Spanish victory at the Battle of Tetuán.
1866 Veneto

A plebiscite ratifies the annexation of Veneto and Mantua to Italy, which had occurred three days before on October 19.

Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the north-east of the country. It is the 4th most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,857,460 as of 2026. Venice is the region's capital while Verona is the largest city.
1877

The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.

The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, Scotland, was Scotland's worst ever mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, possibly more, with the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that firedamp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children. Blantyre was also the scene of two further disasters in 1878 and 1879. There was a succession of lesser fatalities, some of which—particularly in the earlier years—were caused by firedamp.
1879 Thomas Edison

Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb; the bulb lasted 131⁄2 hours before burning out.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman known for his work on the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, electric power distribution and early motion pictures. The merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the competitor Thomson-Houston Electric Company resulted in the formation of General Electric. Edison registered 1,093 patents in the United States. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, but grew up in Michigan with little formal schooling. He became deaf as a child and learned through books and tinkering. Edison began working at a young age; as a railroad telegrapher, he spent much of his time inventing improvements to telegraph systems. By the age of 22, he had sold a few of his early inventions and moved to New York City to focus on engineering. He had three children with his first wife, Mary, but Edison was neglectful. She died at 29 years old. Edison had troubled relationships with his children for the rest of his life. With the help of friends, the inventor attracted investment and grew his company. By the age of 29, he owned a telegraph recorder factory in Newark with over one hundred employees. Edison expanded, developing Menlo Park, now considered the first industrial research laboratory. Edison, known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park", drove his staff extremely hard and constantly worked himself and his associates to exhaustion. The inventor also drove up investment and publicity. He rose to international fame with the invention of the phonograph which took many years to turn into a commercial success. He later built a larger research lab in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1878, Edison began working on an electrical lighting system which he hoped would replace the common gas lamp. Going from electrical light bulb to the modern electric grid took decades of invention, investment, and influence. Edison and his colleagues had the opportunity to get enormously wealthy as they designed and built a nation of light bulbs, generators, and electric distribution systems. Competition with Westinghouse's AC system forced Edison to yield and resulted in the creation of General Electric. Edison simultaneously created a mining company, which was never profitable, and he nearly went bankrupt. As his role in the illumination business declined, he established a cement company and began work on a motion picture camera. The motion picture camera went from an invention to the first movie production studio. He traveled around the United States and Europe promoting his many innovations, during which he met Mina, his second wife. They had three children together, and Edison was again neglectful. During their adulthood, he began to take more interest in his sons and they eventually worked for him. Charles Edison took over his father's business when he died. In addition to acute health issues from handling toxic and radioactive chemicals during his various experiments, Thomas faced a lifelong battle against diabetes. He worked vigorously until his death. Following the success of the illumination business, he ran several companies which produced batteries, movies, musical records, and phenol. His last obsession was the search for domestic rubber production.
1883 Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)

The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Charles Gounod's Faust.

The Metropolitan Opera House, also known as the Old Metropolitan Opera House and Old Met, 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.
1884 International Meridian Conference

The International Meridian Conference designates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich as the world's prime meridian.

The International Meridian Conference was a conference held in October 1884 in Washington, D.C., in the United States, to determine a prime meridian for international use. The conference was held at the request of U.S. president Chester A. Arthur. The subject to discuss was the choice of "a meridian to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time reckoning throughout the world". It resulted in the recommendation of the Greenwich Meridian as the international standard for zero degrees longitude.
1895 Montparnasse derailment

In Paris, an express train derails after overrunning the buffer stop, crossing almost 30 metres (100 ft) of concourse before crashing through a wall and falling 10 metres (33 ft) to the road below.

The Granville–Paris Express overran the buffer stop and derailed at its Gare Montparnasse terminus at 16:00 on 22 October 1895. With the train several minutes late and the driver trying to make up for lost time, the train approached the station too quickly and the driver's application of the railway air brake was ineffective. After running through the buffer stop, the train crossed the station concourse and crashed through the station wall. The locomotive fell onto the Place de Rennes below, where it stood on its nose. Although all passengers survived, a woman in the street below was killed by falling masonry.
1907 Knickerbocker Trust Company

A run on the stock of the Knickerbocker Trust Company sets events in motion that will spark the Panic of 1907.

The Knickerbocker Trust was a bank based in New York City that was, at one time, among the largest banks in the United States. It was a central player in the Panic of 1907.
1910 Hawley Harvey Crippen

Hawley Harvey Crippen (the first felon to be arrested with the help of radio) is convicted of poisoning his wife.

Hawley Harvey Crippen (11 September 1862 – 23 November 1910), colloquially known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser who was hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, for the murder of his second wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen. He was the first criminal to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy.
1923

The royalist Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt fails in Greece, discrediting the monarchy and paving the way for the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.

The Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup attempt (Greek: Κίνημα Λεοναρδόπουλου-Γαργαλίδη) was a failed military coup launched on 22 October 1923 (9 October O.S.) in the Kingdom of Greece by pro-royalist military officers under the Lieutenant Generals Georgios Leonardopoulos and Panagiotis Gargalidis, and the Colonel Georgios Ziras. Its failure discredited the monarchy and contributed decisively to the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic in March 1924.
1934 East_Liverpool,_Ohio

In East Liverpool, Ohio, FBI agents shoot and kill the notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd.

East Liverpool is a city in Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,958 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Ohio River at the convergence of the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia borders, about 30 miles (48 km) from both Pittsburgh and Youngstown. The city is most notable for its pottery industry, which was at one time the largest in the US.
1936

Dod Orsborne, captain of the Girl Pat is convicted of its theft and imprisoned, having caused a media sensation when it went missing.

George Black "Dod" Orsborne (4 July 1902 – 23 December 1957) was a British trawler captain and seafarer, who acquired notoriety in 1936 when he took the trawler Girl Pat on an unauthorised voyage across the Atlantic. The escapade attracted much press attention, and Orsborne and his crew were briefly hailed as heroes. Orsborne was tried and imprisoned for the theft of the trawler; subsequently he claimed that the voyage had been part of an undercover operation organised by British Naval Intelligence. Orsborne served in the Royal Navy in both world wars. He published an account of his adventurous life in 1949.
1941 World_War_II

World War II: French resistance member Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed by the Germans in retaliation for the death of a German officer.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
1943 Bombing of Kassel in World War II

World War II: In the second firestorm raid on Germany, the British Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.

The Kassel World War II bombings were a set of Allied strategic bombing attacks which took place from February 1942 to March 1945. In a single deadliest raid on 22–23 October 1943, 150,000 inhabitants were bombed-out, at least 6,000 people died, the vast majority of the city center was destroyed, and the fire of the most severe air raid burned for seven days. When the US First Army captured Kassel on 3 April 1945, only 50,000 inhabitants remained of its 1939 population of 236,000.
1946

Over twenty-two hundred engineers and technicians from eastern Germany are forced to relocate to the Soviet Union, along with their families and equipment.

Operation Osoaviakhim (Russian: Операция «Осоавиахим», romanized: Operatsiya "Osoaviakhim") was a secret Soviet operation in which more than 2,500 German scientists, engineers and technicians, who worked in several areas from companies and institutions relevant to military and economic policy in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany (SBZ) and Berlin, as well as around 4,000 more family members, totalling more than 6,000 people, were taken from former Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union. It took place in the early morning hours of October 22, 1946 when MVD (previously NKVD) and Soviet Army units under the direction of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), headed by Ivan Serov, rounded up German scientists and transported them by rail to the USSR. Much related equipment was also moved, the aim being to literally transplant research and production research centers such as the V-2 rocket center of Mittelwerk, from Germany to the Soviet Union, and collect as much material as possible from test centers such as the Luftwaffe's central military aviation test center at Erprobungstelle Rechlin, taken by the Red Army on 2 May 1945. The codename Osoaviakhim is the acronym of the then large Soviet organization OSOAVIAKhIM ('Society for the Assistance of Defense, Aircraft and Chemical Construction'), which recruited civilian specialists for the Red Army during World War II (and later reconstituted as DOSAAF) which was mistakenly used as "Aktion Ossawakim" for the first time on October 23, 1946, by the broadcaster Deutsche Nachrichtenagentur (DENA) of the US occupying power and adapted by the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), a predecessor of the CIA, as Operation Ossavakim. Another predecessor organization of the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) used the term Operation Ossavakim for the first time on January 13, 1947. The usage of the codename was not identified in Soviet archives. The Osoaviakhim campaign served to secure the transfer of know-how and is described in Russia as "Foreign Specialists in the USSR" (Иностранные специалисты в СССР). In some cases, the families of those affected and their furniture were also relocated. In most cases the years in the Soviet Union passed without employment contracts and legitimization through personal documents. Although much larger in scale, it had some parallels with earlier Allied operations such as the Alsos Mission, Operation Paperclip and Russian Alsos, which forcibly moved military specialists between German occupation zones or abducted them to the United Kingdom, United States and the Soviet Union, respectively.
1947 India–Pakistan_war_of_1947–1948

The first Kashmir war begins after Pakistani forces invade Kashmir, allegedly to suppress a tribal rebellion.

The India–Pakistan war of 1947–1948, also known as the first Kashmir war, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of the India–Pakistan wars between the two newly independent nations; both were dominions within the British Commonwealth of Nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after its independence by launching tribal lashkar (militias) from Waziristan, in an effort to capture Kashmir and to preempt the possibility of its ruler joining India.
1962 Cuban_Missile_Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D.

Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the Communist nation.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis, was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.
1963 BAC_One-Eleven

A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner crashes in UK with the loss of all on board.

The BAC One-Eleven is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airliner with a British United Airways (BUA) order on 9 May 1961. The prototype conducted its maiden flight on 20 August 1963, and it was first delivered to BUA on 22 January 1965. The 119-seat, stretched 500 series was introduced in 1967. Total production amounted to 244 until 1982 in the United Kingdom including 1982 to 1989 in Romania where nine Rombac One-Elevens were licence-built by Romaero.
1964 Jean-Paul_Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he does not accept the prize.

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, political activist, and writer, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and was a proponent of Libertarian Marxism. His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution".
1975 Venera_9

The Soviet uncrewed space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus.

Venera 9, manufacturer's designation: 4V-1 No. 660, was a Soviet uncrewed space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It was launched on June 8, 1975, at 02:38:00 UTC and had a mass of 4,936 kilograms (10,882 lb). The orbiter was the first spacecraft to orbit Venus, while the lander was the first to return images from the surface of another planet.
1981 Federal_Labor_Relations_Authority

The US Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for its strike the previous August.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is an independent agency of the United States government that governs labor relations between the federal government and its employees.
1983 Marion,_Illinois

Two correctional officers are killed by inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.

The incident inspires the Supermax model of prisons.
Marion is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,855 according to the 2020 census. It is part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of early 20th-century coal fields.
1987 John_Adams_(composer)

John Adams' opera Nixon in China premiered at the Houston Grand Opera.

John Coolidge Adams is an American composer and conductor. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, many of which center around historical events. Apart from opera, his oeuvre includes orchestral, concertante, vocal, choral, chamber, electroacoustic, and piano music.
1992 Space_Shuttle_Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-52 to deploy the LAGEOS-2 satellite and microgravity experiments.

Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and becoming the first spacecraft to be re-used after its first flight when it launched on STS-2 on November 12, 1981. As only the second full-scale orbiter to be manufactured after the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Enterprise, Columbia retained unique external and internal features compared with later orbiters, such as test instrumentation and distinctive black chines. In addition to a heavier aft fuselage and the retention of an internal airlock throughout its lifetime, these made Columbia the heaviest of the five spacefaring orbiters: around 1,000 kilograms heavier than Challenger and 3,600 kilograms heavier than Endeavour when originally constructed. Columbia also carried ejection seats based on those from the SR-71 during its first six flights until 1983, and from 1986 onwards carried an imaging pod on its vertical stabilizer.
1996 Millon_Air_Flight_406

Millon Air Flight 406 crashes after takeoff from Eloy Alfaro International Airport in Manta, Ecuador, killing 34 people.

Millon Air Flight 406 was an international cargo flight from Manta, Ecuador, to Miami, Florida. On October 22, 1996, the Boeing 707 crashed shortly after takeoff from Manta Airport, killing all four people on-board and 30 more people on the ground.
1997

Danish fugitive Steen Christensen kills two police officers, Chief Constable Eero Holsti and Senior Constable Antero Palo, in Ullanlinna, Helsinki, Finland during his prison escape.

Steen Viktor Christensen is a Danish criminal, who was sentenced in Denmark in 1992 to twelve years in prison for numerous bank robberies, hostage taking, and rape. In autumn 1997, Christensen was allowed to go on an unguarded prison furlough, during which he escaped to Finland.
1999 Maurice_Papon

Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.

Maurice Papon was a French civil servant, mass murderer and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the occupation of France. Papon led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s, before he became a Gaullist politician. When he was secretary general for the police in Bordeaux during World War II, he participated in the deportation of more than 1,600 Jews. He is also known for his activities in the Algerian War (1954–1962), during which he tortured insurgent prisoners as prefect of the Constantinois department, and ordered, as prefect of the Paris police, the 1961 Paris massacre of pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) demonstrators for violating a curfew that he had "advised".
2005 Tropical_Storm_Alpha

Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season the most active Atlantic hurricane season until surpassed by the 2020 season.

Tropical Storm Alpha was the 23rd tropical storm of the extremely active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It developed from Tropical Depression Twenty-Five in the eastern Caribbean Sea on October 22, 2005. As the 21 pre-designated storm names had been exhausted, it was given the first name on the auxiliary list, which utilized the letters of the Greek alphabet. This was the first hurricane season ever to trigger this naming protocol, and the only one until the 2020 season.
2005 Bellview_Airlines_Flight_210

Bellview Airlines Flight 210 crashes in Nigeria, killing all 117 people on board.

Bellview Airlines Flight 210 was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight of a Boeing 737-200 airliner from Lagos to Abuja, operated by Lagos-based Bellview Airlines. On 22 October 2005, the aircraft nose-dived and crashed at high speed a few minutes after takeoff, killing all 117 people on board.
2006 Panama_Canal_expansion_project

A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a national referendum.

The Panama Canal expansion project, also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new traffic lane, enabling more ships to transit the waterway, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks, allowing larger ships to pass. The new ships, called New Panamax, are about one and a half times larger than the previous Panamax size and can carry over twice as much cargo. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016.
2007

A raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos, with all except one dying in this attack.

Eight Sri Lanka Air Force planes are destroyed and ten damaged.
The Raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base, code-named Operation Ellaalan, was a commando raid conducted on SLAF Anuradhapura an Air Force Base in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The attack happened on 22 October 2007.
2008 Exploration_of_the_Moon

India launches its first uncrewed lunar probe mission Chandrayaan-1.

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on 14 September, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609. The mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations.
2012 Lance_Armstrong

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after being charged for doping.

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles in 2012 after an investigation into doping allegations found that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. Armstrong has been banned for life from all sanctioned bicycling events since 2012, though he retired from professional cycling in 2011.
2013 Australian_Capital_Territory

The Australian Capital Territory becomes the first Australian jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage with the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory and is the territory's primate city. The Australian Capital Territory is located in southeastern Australia as an enclave surrounded by the state of New South Wales. The territory was excised from New South Wales in 1911 to serve as the seat of government for the Commonwealth, in accordance with Section 125 of the Australian Constitution. Today, the ACT hosts important institutions, such as the Parliament of Australia and High Court of Australia, as well as the headquarters of many federal departments and agencies.
2014

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacks the Parliament of Canada, killing a soldier and injuring three other people.

The 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill occurred on 22 October 2014, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier, and reservist on ceremonial sentry duty, was fatally shot at the National War Memorial, followed by an attack on the nearby Centre Block parliament building, where members of the Parliament of Canada were attending caucuses. The attack ended with a shootout when the perpetrator, 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, ran inside the parliament buildings and was shot 31 times by six Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers and died on scene. Following the shootings, the downtown core of Ottawa was placed on lockdown and majority of schools in Ottawa were on lockdown while police searched for any potential additional threats.
2015 2015_Trollhättan_school_attack

Anton Lundin Pettersson attacks a school in Trollhättan, killing three people and injuring two others.

On 22 October 2015, a mass stabbing occurred at Kronan Primary School in Trollhättan, Sweden. 21-year-old Anton Lundin Pettersson killed three people and wounded another two with a sword, later dying from gunshot wounds sustained after charging police.
2019

Same-sex marriage is legalised, and abortion is decriminalised in Northern Ireland as a result of the Northern Ireland Assembly not being restored.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Northern Ireland since 13 January 2020, following the enactment of the Northern Ireland Act 2019. The first marriage ceremony took place on 11 February 2020. Civil partnerships have also been available for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland since their introduction by the Government of the United Kingdom in 2005.

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