On this day: October 15

Events on October 15

• 1066 Following 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. Wikipedia
• 1529 Ottoman–Habsburg wars: The siege of Vienna ended with Austrian forces repelling the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of conquest in Europe by the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1793 Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted of treason. Wikipedia
• 1815 Napoleon began his exile on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, which would encompass his final six years. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Confederate forces captured Glasgow, Missouri, although it had little long-term benefit as Price's Missouri Expedition was defeated a week later. Wikipedia
• 1888 The "From Hell" letter, allegedly from Jack the Ripper, was sent to George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in London. Wikipedia
• 1932 Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, began operations under the name Tata Airlines. Wikipedia
• 1939 The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Germany replaces the Hungarian government after Hungary announces an armistice with the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1954 Hurricane Hazel made landfall in the Carolinas in the United States before moving north to Toronto in Canada later the same day, killing 176 people in the two countries. Wikipedia
• 1956 FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community. Wikipedia
• 1965 Vietnam War protests: At an anti-war rally in New York City, David J. Miller burned his draft card, the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act. Wikipedia
• 1966 The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Wikipedia
• 1967 The Motherland Calls, a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, which commemorates the casualties of the Battle of Stalingrad, was dedicated, becoming the then-tallest statue in the world. Wikipedia
• 1979 President Carlos Humberto Romero of El Salvador was overthrown and exiled in a military coup d'état. Wikipedia
• 1989 Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL. Wikipedia
• 1990 Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation. Wikipedia
• 1991 The "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. Wikipedia
• 1996 The Irish Criminal Assets Bureau was established following the gangland murders of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. Wikipedia
• 1997 The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn. Wikipedia
• 2003 China launches Shenzhou 5, its first crewed space mission. Wikipedia
• 2006 An earthquake registering 6.7 Mw occurred off the northwestern coast of the island of Hawaiʻi. Wikipedia
• 2007 New Zealand Police conducted several anti-terrorism raids in relation to the discovery of an alleged paramilitary training camp in the Urewera mountain ranges, arresting 17 people and seizing four guns and 230 rounds of ammunition. Wikipedia
• 2011 Global demonstrations against economic inequality, corporate influence on government, and other issues, were held in more than 950 cities in 82 countries. Wikipedia
• 2013 A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol in the Philippines, resulting in 222 deaths. Wikipedia
• 2018 Thirteen-year-old Jayme Closs was kidnapped from her home in Barron, Wisconsin, and held captive for 88 days. Wikipedia

Born on October 15

• 70 BC Virgil, Roman poet (died 19 BC) Wikipedia
• 1542 Akbar, Mughal emperor (died 1605) Wikipedia
• 1608 Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (died 1647) Wikipedia
• 1814 Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (died 1841) Wikipedia
• 1829 Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1881 P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1894 Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1908 John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1914 Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1920 Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1923 Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1926 Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1931 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1943 Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1944 Sali Berisha, Albanian cardiologist and politician, 2nd President of Albania Wikipedia
• 1944 David Trimble, Northern Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1959 Sarah Ferguson Wikipedia
• 1968 Didier Deschamps, French footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1977 David Trezeguet, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1981 Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1988 Mesut Özil, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on October 15

• 55 BC Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (born 98 BC) Wikipedia
• 925 Rhazes, Persian polymath (born 864) Wikipedia
• 1240 Razia Sultana, sultan of Delhi (born 1205) Wikipedia
• 1389 Pope Urban VI (born 1318) Wikipedia
• 1564 Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (born 1514) Wikipedia
• 1817 Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (born 1746) Wikipedia
• 1917 Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1934 Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1945 Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France, convicted Vichy collaborator (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1946 Hermann Göring, German general and Nazi politician, convicted Nuremberg war criminal (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1959 Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1987 Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2012 Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2018 Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (born 1953) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Breast Health Day (Europe) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gundisalvus of Lagos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Magdalene of Nagasaki Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Teresa of Ávila Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thecla of Kitzingen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Shwmae Su'mae Day (Wales) Wikipedia
• White Cane Safety Day Wikipedia
• World Students' Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “October 15” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/October 15” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “October 15” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for October 15 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.