On this day: October 27

Events on October 27

• 312 Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Wikipedia
• 1553 Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva. Wikipedia
• 1674 Franco-Dutch War: French forces surrender the fortress town of Grave to the Dutch army after a three month siege. Wikipedia
• 1726 J. S. Bach led the first performance of Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, one of few works he called a cantata. Wikipedia
• 1775 King George III expanded on his Proclamation of Rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies in his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament. Wikipedia
• 1806 The French Army under Napoleon enters Berlin following the Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. Wikipedia
• 1904 The first underground segment of the New York City Subway opened, connecting New York City Hall with Harlem. Wikipedia
• 1913 A rail workers' strike in Chile escalates into a general strike, organized by the Regional Workers' Federation of Chile. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The Royal Navy dreadnought HMS Audacious was sunk by a mine, but its loss was kept secret for four years. Wikipedia
• 1924 The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1936 Abdication Crisis: Mrs. Wallis Simpson obtains her divorce, which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Empire of Japan achieved a pyrrhic victory against the United States at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Wikipedia
• 1946 Inter-religious riots in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families began in the Indian state of Bihar, resulting in 2,000 to 30,000 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1962 Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down over Cuba by a Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile. Wikipedia
• 1964 Actor Ronald Reagan delivered a speech on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, launching his own political career, which culminated in him serving two full terms as U.S. president. Wikipedia
• 1967 American Catholic priest Philip Berrigan led a protest against the Vietnam War by pouring blood over Selective Service records in Baltimore, Maryland. Wikipedia
• 1980 The Chun Doo-hwan government arrested 153 people related to the Jogye Order, which is considered an abuse of state power. Wikipedia
• 1992 U.S. Navy Petty Officer Allen R. Schindler Jr. was killed in Sasebo, Japan, for being gay, which led to the U.S. Armed Forces' "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Wikipedia
• 1993 Widerøe Flight 744 suffered a controlled flight into terrain while on approach to Namsos Airport, Norway, killing two crew members and four passengers. Wikipedia
• 1997 The 1997 Asian financial crisis causes a crash in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Wikipedia
• 1999 Armed men led by Nairi Hunanyan carried out a mass shooting at the Armenian parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, National Assembly speaker Karen Demirchyan, and six others. Wikipedia
• 2004 The Boston Red Sox completed a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2004 World Series, breaking the so-called "Curse of the Bambino". Wikipedia
• 2011 Michael D. Higgins was elected President of Ireland with far more votes than any politician in the country's history. Wikipedia
• 2017 Catalonia declares independence from Spain. Wikipedia
• 2019 The Mocking of Christ by Cimabue sold at auction in France for €19.5 million, a record for a pre-1500 artwork. Wikipedia
• 2019 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi kills himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the U.S. military Barisha raid in northwestern Syria. Wikipedia

Born on October 27

• 1782 Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (died 1840) Wikipedia
• 1811 Isaac Singer, American actor and businessman, founded the Singer Corporation (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1842 Giovanni Giolitti, Italian politician, 13th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1844 Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1858 Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1894 Fritz Sauckel, German sailor and politician, convicted Nuremberg war criminal (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1914 Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and playwright (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1918 Teresa Wright, American actress and singer (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1920 K. R. Narayanan, Indian lawyer and politician, 10th President of India (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1923 Roy Lichtenstein, American painter and sculptor (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1931 Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, and author (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1932 Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1939 John Cleese, English actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1945 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian union leader and politician, 35 and 39th President of Brazil Wikipedia
• 1946 Ivan Reitman, Slovak-Canadian actor, director, and producer (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1952 Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1952 Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist, economist, and author Wikipedia
• 1952 Atsuyoshi Furuta, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1963 Marla Maples, American model and actress Wikipedia
• 1978 Vanessa-Mae, Singaporean-English violinist and skier Wikipedia
• 1981 Volkan Demirel, Turkish footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Stephan El Shaarawy, Italian footballer Wikipedia

Died on October 27

• 939 Æthelstan, English king Wikipedia
• 1430 Vytautas, Lithuanian ruler (born 1350) Wikipedia
• 1439 Albert II of Germany (born 1397) Wikipedia
• 1449 Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer, mathematician and sultan (born 1394) Wikipedia
• 1505 Ivan III of Russia (born 1440) Wikipedia
• 1553 Michael Servetus, Spanish physician and theologian (born 1511) Wikipedia
• 1605 Akbar, Mughal emperor (born 1542) Wikipedia
• 1968 Lise Meitner, Austrian-English physicist and academic (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1980 John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1992 David Bohm, American-English physicist and philosopher (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2010 Néstor Kirchner, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Argentina (born 1950) Wikipedia
• 2013 Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2019 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); suicide (born 1971) Wikipedia
• 2023 Li Keqiang, premier of China (born 1955) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abbán Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abraham the Poor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Frumentius (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gaudiosus of Naples Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Kaleb of Axum Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Namatius (Namace) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Oran of Iona Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Černová Tragedy Day (Slovakia) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Greece) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), celebrates the independence of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from United Kingdom in 1979. Wikipedia
• International Religious Freedom Day (United States) Wikipedia
• National Black Cat Day (United Kingdom)
• Navy Day (United States) (unofficial, official date is October 13) Wikipedia
• World Day for Audiovisual Heritage Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “October 27” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/October 27” — 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 27” 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 27 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.