This Day in History
16 Oct 1674
Emperor Leopold I fires chancellor Frst Wenzel Lobkowitz
16 Oct 1867
Alaska adopts Gregorian calendar crosses international date line
16 Oct 1951
1st Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated by Said Akbar in Rawalpindi
16 Oct 1964
US mens 4 100m medley relay team of Thompson Mann Bill Craig Fred Schmidt & Steve Clark swim world record 358.4 to beat Germany by 3.2s and win gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
More History
Stampede kills 84 at World Cup match
A stampede of soccer fans before a World Cup qualifying match in Guatemala City kills 84 people and seriously injures more than 100 on October 16 1996.The Guat...
Baby Jessica rescued from a well as the world watches
On October 16 1987 in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 5...
Nazi war criminals executed
At Nuremberg Germany 10 high-ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity crimes against peace and war crimes during Wor...
Marie Antoinette is beheaded
Nine months after the execution of her husband the former King Louis XVI of France Marie Antoinette follows him to the guillotine.The daughter of the Holy Rom...
The Long March
The embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist enemy lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China. Known as C...
Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris peace accords. Kissinger accepted but Tho...
Abraham Lincoln speaks out against slavery
On October 16 1854 an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebrask...
Celebrated writer Oscar Wilde is born
Oscar Wilde is born on October 16 1854 in Dublin Ireland. He grew up in Ireland and went to England to attend Oxford where he graduated with honors in 1878. ...
Charlotte Bront s Jane Eyre is published in London
On October 16 1847 Jane Eyre is published by Smith Elder and Co. Charlotte Bront the books author used the pseudonym Currer Bell. The book abo...
Twenty three diners massacred at Texas restaurant
George Jo Hennard drives his truck through a window in Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen Texas and then opens fire on a lunch crowd of over 100 people killi...
China joins A bomb club
The Peoples Republic of China joins the rank of nations with atomic bomb capability after a successful nuclear test on this day in 1964. China is the ...
John Brown s raid on Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry Virginia (now West Virginia) in an attempt to start an armed s...
Chevrolet introduces the El Camino
On October 16 1958 Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero which had already been on the marke...
Alfred Rosenberg is executed
On this day in 1946 Alfred Rosenberg the primary fabricator and disseminator of Nazi ideology is hanged as a war criminal.Born in Estonia in 1893 Rosenberg ...
Lenient Lion Remembered for 375 Years
October 16 1643 The ancient church of St Katharine Cree in the City of London was established in 1280 emerging from a priory of 1108 founded by...
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