October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 84 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Columbus Day can fall, while October 14 is the latest; observed on the second Monday of October (United States); and its related observance (see also October 12):
- Discoverer’s Day (Hawaii)
- Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a counter Columbus Day (United States)
- Piomingo Day (Chickasaw Nation)
- Earliest day on which International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction can fall, while October 14 is the latest; observed on the second Wednesday in October. (Hawaii)
- Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while October 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in October. (Malawi)
- Earliest day on which the first day of Fire Prevention Week can fall, while October 14 is the latest; observed on the second week in October. (United States and Canada)
- Earliest day on which Thanksgiving can fall, while October 14 is the latest; observed on the second week in October. (Canada)
- Earliest day on which White Sunday can fall, while October 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday in October. (Samoa, Tonga)
- Air Force Day (India)
- World Space Week (October 4-10)
- Arbor Day (Namibia)
- Children’s Day (Iran)
- Independence Day, celebrates the official separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia in 1991.
- Navy Day (Peru)
History
In 314, Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses his European territories.
In 451, At Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor, the first session of the Council of Chalcedon begins (ends on November 1).
In 876, Frankish forces led by Louis the Younger prevent a West Frankish invasion and defeat emperor Charles II (“the Bald”).
In 1075, Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia.
In 1200, Isabella of Angoulême is crowned Queen consort of England.
In 1322, Mladen II Šubić of Bribir, defeated in the battle of Bliska, is arrested by the Parliament.
In 1480, Great stand on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which results in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and the eventual disintegration of the Horde.
In 1573, End of the Spanish siege of Alkmaar, the first Dutch victory in Eighty Years’ War.
In 1582, Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
In 1600, San Marino adopts its written constitution.
In 1645, Jeanne Mance opened the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, the first lay hospital in North America.
In 1806, Napoleonic Wars: Forces of the British Empire lay siege to the port of Boulogne in France by using Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve.
In 1813, The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.
In 1821, The government of general José de San Martín establishes the Peruvian Navy.
In 1829, Rail transport: Stephenson‘s The Rocket wins The Rainhill Trials.
In 1856, The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.
In 1860, Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens.
In 1862, American Civil War: Battle of Perryville: Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell halt the Confederate invasion of Kentucky by defeating troops led by General Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky.
In 1871, Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan including the Great Chicago Fire, and the much deadlier Peshtigo Fire.
In 1879, War of the Pacific: The Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamos, Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau is killed in the encounter.
In 1895, Eulmi incident: Queen Min of Joseon, the last empress of Korea, is assassinated and her corpse burnt by Japanese infiltrators inside Gyeongbok Palace.
In 1904, Edmonton, Alberta is incorporated as a city.
In 1904 – Prince Albert, Saskatchewan is incorporated as a city.
In 1912, First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1918, World War I: In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132, for which he is awarded the Medal of Honor.
In 1921, KDKA in Pittsburgh‘s Forbes Field conducts the first live broadcast of a football game.
In 1928, Joseph Szigeti gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella‘s Violin Concerto.
In 1931, John Monash, Australian general and engineer (b. 1865) dies from a heart attack, and he was given a state funeral. An estimated 300,000 mourners, the nation’s largest funeral crowd to that time, came to pay their respects. He was a civil engineer and an Australian military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the war and then, shortly after its outbreak, became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt, with whom he took part in the Gallipoli campaign. In July 1916 he took charge of the newly raised 3rd Division in northwestern France and in May 1918 became commander of the Australian Corps, at the time the largest corps on the Western Front. The successful Allied attack at the Battle of Amiens on 8 August 1918, which expedited the end of the war, was planned by Monash and spearheaded by British forces including the Australian and Canadian Corps under Monash and Arthur Currie. Monash is considered one of the best Allied generals of the First World War and the most famous commander in Australian history.
In 1932, The Indian Air Force is established.
In 1939, World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
In 1941, World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
In 1943, World War II: Around 30 civilians are executed by Friedrich Schubert’s paramilitary group in Kallikratis, Crete.
In 1944, World War II: The Battle of Crucifix Hill occurs just outside Aachen. Capt. Bobbie Brown receives a Medal of Honor for his heroics in this battle.
In 1944, Wendell Willkie, American captain, lawyer, and politician (b. 1892) dies. He was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse candidate who became the Republican Party nominee for president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the party, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and anti-business. Willkie, an internationalist, needed the votes of the large isolationist element, so he waffled on the bitterly debated issue of America’s role in World War II, losing support from both sides. His opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the 1940 election with 55% of the popular vote and 85% of the electoral vote.
Afterward, Roosevelt found Willkie to be compatible politically with his plans and brought him aboard as an informal ambassador-at-large. Willkie criss-crossed the globe and brought home a vision of “One World” freed from imperialism and colonialism. Following his journeys, Willkie wrote One World; a bestselling account of his travels and meetings with the Allied heads of state, as well as ordinary citizens and soldiers in regions such as Russia and Iran. His liberalism lost him supporters in the Republican Party and he dropped out of the 1944 race, then several months later died of a heart attack.
In 1952, The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash kills 112 people.
In 1953, Nigel Bruce, Mexican-American actor and singer (b. 1895) dies from a heart attack in Santa Monica, California in 1953, aged 58. He was cremated, and his ashes stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. William Nigel Ernle Bruce, best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes). Bruce is also remembered for his roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films Rebecca and Suspicion.
In 1956, New York Yankees‘s Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series.
In 1962, Spiegel scandal: Der Spiegel publishes the article “Bedingt abwehrbereit” (“Conditionally prepared for defense”) about a NATO manoeuvre called “Fallex 62”, which uncovered the sorry state of the Bundeswehr (Germany’s army) facing the communist threat from the east at the time. The magazine is soon accused of treason.
In 1962, Algeria joins the United Nations.
In 1967, Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.
In 1968, Vietnam War: Operation Sealords: United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
In 1969, The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago.
In 1970, Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon‘s October 7 peace proposal as “a manoeuvre to deceive world opinion”.
In 1973, Yom Kippur War: Gabi Amir’s armored brigade attacks Egyptian occupied positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away. The attack fails, and over 150 Israeli tanks are destroyed.
In 1973, Greek military junta of 1967–74: Junta strongman George Papadopoulos appoints Spyros Markezinis as Prime Minister of Greece with the task to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.
In 1974, Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it is the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.
In 1978, Australia’s Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.60 mph at Blowering Dam, Australia.
In 1982, Poland bans Solidarity and all trade unions.
In 1982, Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.
In 1983, Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)n 1983 – Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934) dies in 1983 of ovarian cancer at Encino Hospital in Encino, in California. Both of her parents as well as her former husband Richard Mulligan also died of cancer. She is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where her epitaph reads “Go Away—I’m Asleep”, a reference to her love of beauty sleep. She was an American actress of film, stage and television. For the 1981 film Only When I Laugh, she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also received a Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award nomination for the 1966 film The Group.
In 1990, Israeli–Palestinian conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount.
In 1991, Croatia votes to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia, rendering the country fully independent.
In 2001, A twin engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
In 2005, Kashmir earthquake: Thousands of people are killed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
In 2014, Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola, dies.
In 2015, The Coast Guard ended the search for survivors from the U.S.-based cargo ship El Faro, which sank the week before after losing power in Hurricane Joaquin. There were 33 crew members on board. Containers and other debris, as well as one still-unidentified body, was recovered. The Navy sent USNS Apache to conduct an underwater search for El Faro on October 19, 2015. Apache identified wreckage on October 31 “consistent with the [El Faro] cargo ship … in an upright position and in one piece”. The next day, November 1, the Navy announced a submersible had returned images that identified the wreck as El Faro
In 2016, In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the death toll rises to nearly 900.
In 2018, Bob Krumm is running for governor!! “I am announcing that I’ve made up my mind to run for governor of the state of Tennessee.”
“In 2018, after current 4th District U.S. Representative, Lincoln Davis completes his second gubernatorial term (Tennesseans always reelect sitting governors eligible for reelection), it is my intention to serve the people of the Volunteer State as their 50th Governor!” He made this statement in 2007…. We are just waiting to see Note: After years of publishing online Mr. Krumm ceased posting to his blog in 2015. Mr. Krumm was the Republican nominee for the Tennessee Senate in 2006 losing to State Senator Douglass Henry (D). It was not close.”