On this day: October 8

Events on October 8

• 316 Constantine I defeats Licinius, who loses his European territories. Wikipedia
• 876 Frankish forces led by Louis the Younger prevent a West Frankish invasion and defeat emperor Charles II ("the Bald"). Wikipedia
• 1645 Jeanne Mance opens the first lay hospital of North America in Montreal. Wikipedia
• 1856 The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The Battle of Perryville was fought west of Perryville, Kentucky. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The Confederate invasion of Kentucky is halted at the Battle of Perryville. Wikipedia
• 1912 The First Balkan War begins when Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during the Meuse–Argonne offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a German machine gun nest; 25 German soldiers were killed and 132 captured. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Wikipedia
• 1932 The Indian Air Force was founded as an auxiliary air force of the British Royal Air Force. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: Germany annexes western Poland. Wikipedia
• 1956 Major League Baseball pitcher Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history. Wikipedia
• 1962 Der Spiegel publishes an article disclosing the sorry state of the Bundeswehr, leading to accusations of treason. Wikipedia
• 1967 Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was captured near La Higuera, Bolivia. Wikipedia
• 1967 Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia. Guevara would be executed the next day. Wikipedia
• 1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature. Wikipedia
• 1973 Yom Kippur War: Israel loses more than 150 tanks in a failed attack on Egyptian-occupied positions. Wikipedia
• 1982 Poland bans Solidarity and all other trade unions. Wikipedia
• 1986 An explosion occurs at the Cipel-Marco fur factory in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, killing 14 and injuring 10. Wikipedia
• 1995 The Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council launched Operation Southern Move, their last offensive in the Bosnian War. Wikipedia
• 1998 A new airport for Oslo, Norway, opened at Gardermoen, replacing a smaller one at the same location that had served as a backup to the city's previous main airport at Fornebu. Wikipedia
• 2001 At Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, Scandinavian Airlines Flight SK686 collided on take-off with a Cessna Citation II business jet, killing 118 people. Wikipedia
• 2016 Yemen War: A funeral in Sanaa was hit by two consecutive airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition, leaving 143–155 civilians dead and more than 525 injured. Wikipedia
• 2019 About 200 Extinction Rebellion activists block the gates of Leinster House (parliament) in the Republic of Ireland. Wikipedia
• 2019 Anti-government protests calling for free and fair elections began in Baku, Azerbaijan. Wikipedia
• 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijan twice targets the Church of the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots of Shusha. Wikipedia

Born on October 8

• 319 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus (died 272 BC) Wikipedia
• 1873 Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect and academic, designed Lenin's Mausoleum (died 1949) Wikipedia
• 1883 Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1889 Collett E. Woolman, American businessman, co-founded Delta Air Lines (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1892 Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet and author (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1895 Juan Perón, Argentinian general and politician, 29th President of Argentina (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1895 Zog I of Albania (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1917 Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1918 Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1919 Kiichi Miyazawa, Japanese politician, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1920 Frank Herbert, American journalist, photographer, and author (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1927 César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1941 Jesse Jackson, American minister and activist (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1948 Claude Jade, French actress (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1949 Sigourney Weaver, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1958 Ursula von der Leyen, Belgian-German physician and politician, Defense Minister of Germany, President of the European Commission Wikipedia
• 1960 Reed Hastings, American businessman, co-founded Netflix Wikipedia
• 1970 Matt Damon, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1970 Sadiq Khan, English lawyer and politician, Minister of State for Transport, Mayor of London Wikipedia
• 1985 Bruno Mars, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1993 Garbiñe Muguruza, Spanish tennis player Wikipedia
• 1997 Bella Thorne, American actress Wikipedia

Died on October 8

• 705 Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Umayyad caliph (born 646) Wikipedia
• 1469 Filippo Lippi, artist (born 1406) Wikipedia
• 1735 Yongzheng Emperor of China (born 1678) Wikipedia
• 1754 Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (born 1707) Wikipedia
• 1869 Franklin Pierce, American general, lawyer, and politician, 14th President of the United States (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1936 Premchand, Indian author and screenwriter (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1945 Felix Salten, Austrian author and critic (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1967 Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1970 Jean Giono, French author and poet (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1973 Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher, playwright, and critic (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1982 Philip Noel-Baker, English runner and politician, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1992 Willy Brandt, German lawyer and politician, 4th Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2008 George Emil Palade, Romanian-American biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2011 Al Davis, American football coach, general manager, and NFL team owner (born 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Evodus (or Yves) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed John Adams, John Lowe, and Robert Dibdale Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Palatias and Laurentia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pelagia (Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Reparata Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: San Ernesto, Che Guevara as a folk saint. (Bolivian campesinos) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Simeon (Gospel of Luke) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thaïs Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ugo Canefri Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William Dwight Porter Bliss and Richard T. Ely (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• World Space Week (October 4–10) Wikipedia
• Air Force Day (India) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Iran) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (Peru) Wikipedia
• International Lesbian Day Wikipedia
• National Fluffernutter Day Wikipedia
• World Octopus Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “October 8” 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.