| 1250 | BC | First day of the Tyrean Era |
| 202 | BC | Scipio defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama, effectively ending the Second Punic War [Astron] -- Learn More |
| 63 | BC | Cicero learns of Catiline's Conspiracy |
| 0 | | Feast of St. Peter of Alcantara, Patron of Brazil |
| 0 | | the Feast of St. Frithuswith, Princess of Eynsham, Abbess, Patron of Oxford and of Oxford University, and that of St. Cleopatra of Edra, Widow, and that of St. Peter of Alcantara, Patron of Brazil |
| 0 | | Roman Festival of the Armilustrum; the ritual purification of weapons and their storage for the winter |
| 439 | | Genseric's Vandals take Carthage from the Romans |
| 1298 | | Murder of 140 Jews in Heilbron, Germany |
| 1448 | | Second Battle of Kosovo: Ottomans defeat the Hungarians |
| 1453 | | French capture Bordeaux from the English: The Hundred Years' War ends |
| 1466 | | Second Peace of Thorn: Teutonic Knights submit to Polish sovereignty and cede Pomerania |
| 1469 | | Ferdinand II of Aragon (17) wed Isabella of Castile (18) at in Valladolid, leading to the unification Spain |
| 1540 | | Battle of Mobile: de Soto's Spaniards defeat the Choctaw |
| 1765 | | Stamp Act Congress meets |
| 1781 | | the British formally surrendered Yorktown to George Washington -- Learn More |
| 1793 | | Maj Napoleone Buonaparte, 24, is promoted to general of brigade for his role in organizing the grand battery during the Siege of Toulon |
| 1812 | | Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow |
| 1813 | | Napoleon was routed by the Austrians, Russians, & Prussians on the fourth day of the Battle of Leipzig -- Learn More |
| 1818 | | US & the Chicasaw sign a treaty |
| 1861 | | Skirmish at Big Hurricane Creek, Mo |
| 1863 | | Battle of Buckland Mills, Va |
| 1864 | | Battle of Cedar Creek: Phil Sheridan defeats Jubal Early |
| 1864 | | Battle of St. Albans, Vt.: Confederate raiders attack the town but are routed by local citizens |
| 1879 | | William Tecumseh Sherman says "War is hell" |
| 1888 | | Palestinian Arabs attacked the Jewish village of Moshav Gederah |
| 1912 | | Tripoli passes from Turkish to Italian control |
| 1915 | | Russia and Italy declare war on Bulgaria |
| 1915 | | USN establishes a submarine base at New London, Ct. |
| 1917 | | a German Zeppelin raid on London caused 36 deaths, but five of the eleven airships failed to return to base -- Learn More |
| 1921 | | Ticker tape parade on Broadway for Marshal Armando V. Diaz, who restored the Italian Army after Caporetto and led it to victory |
| 1925 | | the War of the Dog began between Greece & Bulgaria -- Learn More |
| 1926 | | Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Politburo of the Communist Party of the USSR. |
| 1935 | | Red Chinese "Long March" ends (from Oct 21, 1934) |
| 1950 | | UN forces enter Pyongyang, capital of North Korea |
| 1951 | | Pres Truman formally ends state of war with Germany |
| 1987 | | US warships destroy Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf |
| 1748 | | Thomas Graham, British general, Peninsular War, later 1st Baron Lynedoch, GCB GCMG, d. 1842 -- Learn More |
| 1810 | | Cassius Marcellus Clay, abolitionist, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1903 |
| 1821 | | Charles Jean Jacques Joseph Ardant du Picq, French officer and military theorist ("Battle Studies"), died-of-wounds 1870 |
| 1824 | | Rufus Saxton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1908 |
| 1834 | | Francis C. Barlow, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1896 |
| 1862 | | Bertram T. Clayton, in Alabama, led Brooklyn's cavalry in 1898, senior West Pointer kia in WW I, as a colonel in 1918 -- Learn More |
| 1871 | | Luigi Albertini, Italian statesman, journalist, and historian ("Origins of the War of 1914"), d. 1941 |
| 1901 | | Arleigh "31 Knot" Burke, destroyerman, CNO (1955-1961), d 1996 |
| 1934 | | Yakubu Gowon, general, dictator of Nigeria (1966-75) |
| 1950 | | Charles Marie Jérome Victor Napoléon Bonaparte, one of two pretenders to the Napoléonic throne of France VII |
| 1187 | | Pope Urban III - Uberto Crivelli (1185-1187) |
| 1216 | | King John of England (1199-1216), 49, who assented to 'Magna Carta' |
| 1587 | | Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1574-1587), at 46 |
| 1789 | | Rear Adm. of the Red Sir Francis William Drake, Bart., c. 60 -- Learn More |
| 1790 | | Lyman Hall, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. 1724 |
| 1813 | | Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski, 40, Marshal of France, drowned at Leipzig |
| 1863 | | John Tommy, 70th New York, at 20 of wounds from Gettysburg, the first Chinese American known to have died for his country -- Learn More |
| 1921 | | Machado Santos (46) and Carlos da Maia (43), among the founders of the Portuguese Republic, and Antonio Granjo (59), sometime PM of Portugal, murdered |