On this day: October 16

Events on October 16

• 1793 French Revolution: Queen Marie Antoinette is executed. Wikipedia
• 1813 The Sixth Coalition attacked French forces led by Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, with over 500,000 troops involved. Wikipedia
• 1817 Italian explorer and archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni, uncovered the Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings. Wikipedia
• 1834 Most of the Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed in a fire caused by the burning of wooden tally sticks. Wikipedia
• 1843 William Rowan Hamilton invents quaternions, a three-dimensional system of complex numbers. Wikipedia
• 1875 Brigham Young University was founded in Provo, Utah, United States. Wikipedia
• 1891 A diplomatic incident between the United States and Chile occurred after U.S. sailors were attacked in Valparaíso, nearly leading to war. Wikipedia
• 1905 Authorities of the British Raj partitioned the Bengal Presidency, separating the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. Wikipedia
• 1909 William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz hold the first summit between a U.S. and a Mexican president. They narrowly escape assassination. Wikipedia
• 1916 Margaret Sanger established the United States' first family planning clinic in Brooklyn, New York. Wikipedia
• 1923 Roy and Walt Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood, which eventually grew to become one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Wikipedia
• 1923 Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as The Walt Disney Company. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: The Gestapo conducted a raid on the Roman Ghetto, capturing 1,259 members of the Jewish community, most of whom were sent to Auschwitz. Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trials: Ten defendants found guilty by the International Military Tribunal are executed by hanging. Wikipedia
• 1950 The first novel of the The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was published in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1953 Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro delivers his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, and is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Fulgencio Batista government for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks. Wikipedia
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis begins: U.S. President John F. Kennedy is informed of photos taken on October 14 by a U-2 showing nuclear missiles (the crisis will last for 13 days starting from this point). Wikipedia
• 1964 Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government. Wikipedia
• 1968 Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wikipedia
• 1973 The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize would be jointly awarded to Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ, sparking international controversy. Wikipedia
• 1973 Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wikipedia
• 1978 Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523. Wikipedia
• 1984 Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wikipedia
• 1998 Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a murder extradition warrant. Wikipedia
• 2013 In Laos's deadliest air accident, Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashed into the Mekong River, resulting in the deaths of all 49 people aboard. Wikipedia

Born on October 16

• 1430 James II of Scotland (died 1460) Wikipedia
• 1840 Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1841 Itō Hirobumi, Japanese lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Japan (died 1909) Wikipedia
• 1854 Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1854 Karl Kautsky, Czech-German journalist, philosopher, and theologian (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1863 Austen Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1886 David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1888 Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1890 Michael Collins, Irish general and politician, 2nd Irish Minister for Finance (died 1922) Wikipedia
• 1908 Enver Hoxha, Albanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Albania (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1918 Louis Althusser, Algerian-French philosopher and academic (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1925 Angela Lansbury, English-American actress, singer, and producer (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1926 Charles Dolan, American businessman, founded Cablevision and HBO (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1927 Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1948 Hema Malini, Indian actress, director, producer, and politician Wikipedia
• 1958 Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1962 Flea, Australian-American bass player, songwriter, and actor Wikipedia
• 1977 John Mayer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Wikipedia
• 1983 Loreen, Swedish singer Wikipedia
• 1986 Inna, Romanian singer Wikipedia
• 1997 Naomi Osaka, Japanese tennis player Wikipedia
• 1997 Charles Leclerc, Monégasque racing driver Wikipedia

Died on October 16

• 1284 Shams al-Din Juvayni, Persian statesman, vizier and minister of finance of the Ilkhanate Wikipedia
• 1591 Gregory XIV, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1535) Wikipedia
• 1793 Marie Antoinette, Austrian-born queen consort of Louis XVI of France (born 1755) Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial: Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial: Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial: Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial: Wikipedia
• 1946 Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial: Wikipedia
• 1959 George Marshall, American general and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Defense, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1981 Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 2007 Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2023 Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 2024 Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas (born 1962) Wikipedia
• 2024 Liam Payne, English singer-songwriter from One Direction (born 1993) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Air Force Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• Boss's Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Balderic (Baudry) of Monfaucon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bercharius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bertrand of Comminges Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Colmán of Kilroot (Colman mac Cathbaid) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eliphius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fortunatus of Casei Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gall Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gerard Majella Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hedwig of Silesia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hugh Latimer (Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Junian (of Saint-Junien) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marguerite Marie Alacoque Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marie-Marguerite d'Youville Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicholas Ridley (Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Silvanus of Ahun Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Thevarparampil Kunjachan (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church / Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Victor III Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Pope John Paul II Day (Poland) Wikipedia
• Death anniversary of Liaquat Ali Khan (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day (Chile) Wikipedia
• World Food Day (International) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “October 16” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.