8 October 2024 (MIA)

1075 – Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia.

1200 – Isabella of Angoulême is crowned Queen consort of England.

1322 – Mladen II Šubić of Bribir, defeated in the battle of Bliska, is arrested by the Parliament.

1480 – Great stand on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which results in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and the eventual disintegration of the Horde.

1573 – End of the Spanish siege of Alkmaar, the first Dutch victory in Eighty Years’ War.

1806 – Napoleonic Wars: Forces of the British Empire lay siege to the port of Boulogne in France by using Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve.

1813 – The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.

1821 – The government of general José de San Martín establishes the Peruvian Navy.

1856 – The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.

1871 – Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan including the Great Chicago Fire, and the much deadlier Peshtigo Fire.

1879 – War of the Pacific: The Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamos, Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau is killed in the encounter.

1895 – Eulmi incident: Queen Min of Joseon, the last empress of Korea, is assassinated and her corpse burnt by Japanese infiltrators inside Gyeongbok Palace.

1912 – First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.

1918 – World War I: In action near Pittem, Belgium, USMC 2nd Lieutenant aviator Ralph Talbot of Weymouth, Massachusetts becomes the first-ever USMC aviator to earn the Medal of Honor.

1918 – World War I: In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132, for which he is awarded the Medal of Honor.

1932 – The Indian Air Force is established.

1939 – World War II: Germany annexes western Poland.

1941 – World War II: During the preliminaries of the Battle of Rostov, German forces reach the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.

1944 – World War II: The Battle of Crucifix Hill occurs just outside Aachen; Capt. Bobbie Brown receives a Medal of Honor for his heroics in this battle.

1962 – Spiegel scandal: Der Spiegel publishes the article “Bedingt abwehrbereit” (“Conditionally prepared for defense”) about a NATO manoeuvre called “Fallex 62”, which uncovered the sorry state of the Bundeswehr (Germany’s army) facing the perceived communist threat from the east at the time. The magazine is soon accused of treason.

1967 – Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.

1970 – Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon’s October 7 peace proposal as “a manoeuvre to deceive world opinion”.

1973 – Yom Kippur War: Gabi Amir’s armored brigade unsuccessfully attacks Egyptian-occupied positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away; more than 150 Israeli tanks are destroyed.

1973 – Greek military junta of 1967–74: Junta strongman George Papadopoulos appoints Spyros Markezinis as Prime Minister of Greece with the task to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.

1974 – Zoran Zaev, leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, is born. He was elected Prime Minister of Macedonia on 31 May 2017. In early 2015, he started releasing batches of illegally wiretapped phone conversations of top government officials implicating them of being involved in illegal activities. That same year, he signed the Przino Agreement with the other political leaders in Macedonia, which foresaw a caretaker government to organize a snap election in April 2016 and a Special Public Prosecution to investigate the wiretaps scandal. Early elections were held in December 2016, after which Zaev formed a coalition government with the Democratic Union for Integration and the Alliance of Albanians in May 2017.

1982 – Poland bans Solidarity and all trade unions.

1990 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount.

1991 – Croatia and Slovenia vote to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia.

1994 – The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Macedonia holds its founding assembly.

2001 – A twin engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.

2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.

2005 – The 7.6 Mw Kashmir earthquake strikes with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 86,000–87,351 people dead, 69,000–75,266 injured, and 2.8 million homeless.