October 29Birthdays & History

On this day: October 29 in history

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

1. 312Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand adventus in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body is fished out of the Tiber and beheaded.Europe
2. 437Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople unifying the two branches of the House of Theodosius.EuropeMiddle East
3. 1390First trial for witchcraft in Paris leading to the death of three people.Europe
4. 1467Battle of Brustem: Charles the Bold defeats Prince-Bishopric of Liège.Europe
5. 1611Russian homage to the King of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa.Europe
6. 1621The London Pageant of 1621 celebrates the inauguration of Edward Barkham (Lord Mayor).Europe
7. 1658Second Northern War: Naval forces of the Dutch Republic defeat the Swedes in the Battle of the Sound.Europe
8. 1665Portuguese forces defeat the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitate King António I of Kongo, also known as Nvita a Nkanga.Europe
9. 1675Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.Europe
10. 1792Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who sighted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.North America
11. 1863American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant repel a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet in one of the few night battles of the war, protecting the Union's recently opened supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.North America
12. 1863Eighteen countries meet in Geneva and agree to form the International Red Cross.Europe
13. 1888The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.Middle East
14. 1914World War I : the Ottoman Empire enters the war on the side of the Central Powers.Middle East
15. 1918World War I: the German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.Europe
16. 1923Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.Middle East
17. 1929Black Tuesday: The New York Stock Exchange crashes, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and eventually contributing to the Great Depression.North America
18. 1941The Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto, over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".Europe
19. 1944World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.Europe
20. 1944World War II: The Dutch city of Breda is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.Europe
21. 1948Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Safsaf massacre: Israeli soldiers capture the Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee; afterwards, between 52 and 64 villagers are massacred by the IDF.Middle East
22. 1953BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco.North America
23. 1955The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk sinks after probably striking a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol, with a loss of more than 600 sailers.Europe
24. 1956Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.Middle East
25. 1957Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset.Middle East
26. 1960An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio.North America
27. 1964The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania.Africa
28. 1964Biggest jewel heist in American history when Murph the Surf and gang burgle the American Museum of Natural History stealing the Star of India and other gems.North AmericaAsia
29. 1967Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.North America
30. 1969The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.North America
31. 1972The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.Europe
32. 1980Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.Middle EastNorth America
33. 1985Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.Africa
34. 1986British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.Europe
35. 1991The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.North America
36. 1994Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton.North America
37. 1998The Gothenburg discothèque fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures over 200.Europe
38. 1998Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time.North America
39. 1998ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with live coverage of the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission.North America
40. 1998Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.Latin America
41. 1998In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.Africa
42. 1999A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India.Asia
43. 2002A fire destroys a luxurious department store in Ho Chi Minh City, where 1,500 people are shopping. More than 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for in the deadliest peacetime disaster in Vietnam.Asia
44. 2004The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.North America
45. 2005Bombings in Delhi, India kill 67 and injure over 200 people.Asia
46. 2006ADC Airlines Flight 053 crashes after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria killing 96 people and injuring nine.Africa
47. 2008A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215.Asia
48. 2008Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.North America
49. 2012Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing hundreds, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages.North America
50. 2014A mud slide; the 2014 Badulla landslide, in south-central Sri Lanka, kills at least 16 people, and leaves hundreds of people missing.Asia
51. 2015China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years.Asia
52. 2018A Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board. This is the first of two crashes that will lead to the plane being grounded worldwide.Asia
53. 2020Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is suspended from the Labour Party following his response to findings from the EHRC on the issue of antisemitism within the party.Europe
54. 2022At least 156 die at a crowd crush during a Halloween celebration in Itaewon district, Seoul, South Korea.Asia
55. 2022At least 100 people are killed and over 300 are injured by a double car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.Africa

Source: Wikipedia "October 29" / CC BY-SA 4.0