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
• 1275 Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam. Wikipedia
• 1682 Philadelphia is founded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 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
• 1726 J. S. Bach leads 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
• 1775 King George III expands on his Proclamation of Rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies in his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Union forces led by General William F. Smith defeat Confederate forces in the Battle of Brown's Ferry, opening up a supply line to the besieged city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. 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
• 1914 World War I: The new British battleship HMS Audacious is sunk by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1919 The Fourth Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Oleksandrivsk. 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
• 1944 World War II: German forces capture Banská Bystrica during Slovak National Uprising thus bringing it to an end. 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
• 1954 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. 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
• 1964 Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of the Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launches his political career and comes to be known as "A Time for Choosing". 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
• 1979 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1981 Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden. Wikipedia
• 1991 Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 2017 Catalonia declares independence from Spain. Wikipedia
• 2018 Leicester City F.C. owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash along with four others after a Premier League match against West Ham United at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England. 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
• 1858 Saitō Makoto, Japanese admiral and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1936) 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
• 1925 Warren Christopher, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1926 Henri Fertet, French Resistance fighter (died 1943) 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
• 1952 Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1952 Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist, economist, and author Wikipedia
• 1963 Marla Maples, American model and actress Wikipedia
• 1978 Vanessa-Mae, Singaporean-English violinist and skier Wikipedia
• 1992 Stephan El Shaarawy, Italian footballer Wikipedia

Died on October 27

• 939 Æthelstan, English king Wikipedia
• 1327 Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert the Bruce Wikipedia
• 1430 Vytautas, Lithuanian ruler (born 1350) Wikipedia
• 1449 Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer, mathematician and sultan (born 1394) Wikipedia
• 1505 Ivan III of Russia (born 1440) Wikipedia
• 1513 George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros, English nobleman 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
• 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

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 2026-10-09 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.