October 15Birthdays & History

On this day: October 15 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1066Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later.Europe
2. 1211Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.Middle EastEurope
3. 1529The Siege of Vienna ends when Austria routs the invading Ottoman forces, ending its European expansion.EuropeMiddle East
4. 1582Adoption of the Gregorian calendar begins, eventually leading to near-universal adoption.Europe
5. 1651Qing forces capture the island of Zhoushan. Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu, resident of the island and regent of the Southern Ming, flees to Kinmen.Asia
6. 1781The Battle of Raft Swamp marks the last battle fought in North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War with a Patriot victory. It occurred four days before the British surrender at Yorktown.North AmericaEurope
7. 1783The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.Europe
8. 1793Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason.Europe
9. 1815Napoleon begins his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.Europe
10. 1864American Civil War: The Union garrison of Glasgow, Missouri surrenders to Confederate forces.North America
11. 1888The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.Europe
12. 1910Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.North America
13. 1923The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.Europe
14. 1928The airship Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.North America
15. 1932Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.Asia
16. 1939The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.North America
17. 1940President Lluís Companys of Catalonia is executed by the Francoist government.Europe
18. 1944World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union.Europe
19. 1951Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completes the synthesis of norethisterone, the basis of an early oral contraceptive.Latin America
20. 1954Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.North America
21. 1956FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.North America
22. 1965Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.Asia
23. 1966The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.North America
24. 1970During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.Oceania
25. 1979Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.Europe
26. 1979A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.Latin America
27. 1987Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460 crashes near Conca di Crezzo, Italy, killing all 37 people on board.Europe
28. 1987A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.Africa
29. 1989Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.North America
30. 1990Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.Europe
31. 1991The "Oh-My-God particle", an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray measured at 40,000,000 times that of the highest energy protons produced in a particle accelerator, is observed at the University of Utah HiRes observatory in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.North America
32. 1991The leaders of the Baltic States, Arnold Rüütel of Estonia, Anatolijs Gorbunovs of Latvia and Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania, signed the OSCE Final Act in Helsinki, Finland.Europe
33. 1994The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.North AmericaLatin America
34. 1997The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.North America
35. 2001NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles (180 km) of Jupiter's moon Io.North America
36. 2003China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission.Asia
37. 2006The 6.7 Mw Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.North America
38. 2007Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.Oceania
39. 2008The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.North America
40. 2013The 7.2 Mw Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed.Asia
41. 2016One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.North America

Source: Wikipedia "October 15" / CC BY-SA 4.0