On this day: October 8

Events on October 8

• 451 The Council of Chalcedon, a Christian ecumenical council, opened, and went on to repudiate the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed. Wikipedia
• 1480 The Great Stand on the Ugra River puts an end to Tatar rule over Moscow. Wikipedia
• 1829 Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials. 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
• 1871 The Great Chicago Fire, began and proceeded to destroy much of the city's central business district, killing 300 people and leaving 90,000 others homeless. 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
• 1932 The Indian Air Force was founded as an auxiliary air force of the British Royal Air Force. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: During the preliminaries of the Battle of Rostov, German forces reach the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol. Wikipedia
• 1952 Three trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London, killing 112 people and injuring 340 others. Wikipedia
• 1956 Major League Baseball pitcher Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history. Wikipedia
• 1967 Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was captured near La Higuera, Bolivia. Wikipedia
• 1969 Demonstrations organized by the Weather Underground known as the Days of Rage began in Chicago, aimed at ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 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
• 1990 First Intifada: Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock. Wikipedia
• 1991 Upon the expiration of the Brioni Agreement, Croatia and Slovenia sever all official relations with Yugoslavia. 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
• 2001 U.S. president George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security. Wikipedia
• 2005 The 7.6 Mw Kashmir earthquake leaves 86,000–87,351 people dead, 69,000–75,266 injured, and 2.8 million homeless. 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 Anti-government protests calling for free and fair elections began in Baku, Azerbaijan. Wikipedia

Born on October 8

• 319 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus (died 272 BC) Wikipedia
• 1850 Henry Louis Le Châtelier, French chemist and academic (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1883 Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) 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
• 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
• 1928 Didi, Brazilian footballer and manager (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1941 Jesse Jackson, American minister and activist (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1943 Chevy Chase, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1943 R. L. Stine, American author, screenwriter, and producer 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
• 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
• 1793 John Hancock, American merchant and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (born 1737) 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

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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “October 8” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/October 8” — 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 8” 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 8 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.