Human Saga

On October 9

No pivotal events are recorded on exactly October 9 in the Human Saga — here is the surrounding week in history.

This week in history (Oct 6 – Oct 12)

8 October - 1 November 451 CECouncil of Chalcedon and the First Permanent Christian SchismReligion & ideology

The Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, convened from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon in Bithynia (modern Kadikoy, Istanbul), summoned by the Eastern Roman emperor Marcian and attended by roughly 520 bishops, the…

12 October 1492Columbus's first voyage reaches the AmericasExploration & colonisation

On 12 October 1492 an expedition led by the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus, financed by the Crown of Castile, made landfall on an island in the Bahamas that its Lucayan inhabitants called Guanahani and that Columbus renamed San…

1911–1912 (Wuchang Uprising 10 October 1911; abdication 12 February 1912)The Xinhai Revolution and the fall of the QingPolitics & governance

The Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and ended more than two thousand years of imperial rule in China.

On 7 October 2023 the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a large-scale surprise assault from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, breaching the border barrier and attacking military bases and civilian communities.

10 October 680 CEBattle of Karbala and the Sunni–Shia divideReligion & ideology

On 10 October 680 CE, near Karbala in present-day Iraq, a small band of relatives and supporters of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was surrounded and massacred by the far larger army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I.

7 October 1571Battle of LepantoMilitary & conflict

On 7 October 1571 a fleet of the Holy League, a Catholic coalition assembled by Pope Pius V and led by Spain and Venice under Don Juan of Austria, defeated the Ottoman navy in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece.

6 October 1927The Jazz Singer Inaugurates the Sound Film EraCulture, arts & philosophy

On 6 October 1927 Warner Bros. premiered The Jazz Singer in New York City, the first feature-length motion picture with synchronised recorded music and passages of lip-synchronous singing and speech.

11 October 1962 – 8 December 1965The Second Vatican CouncilReligion & ideology

The Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII and continued under Pope Paul VI, met in St. Peter's Basilica in four sessions from 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1965.

6–25 October 1973 (war); embargo Oct 1973 – Mar 1974Yom Kippur War and the Arab oil embargoMilitary & conflict

On 6 October 1973, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria under Anwar Sadat and Hafez al-Assad launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israeli forces in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, seeking to recover territory lost in…

On 7 October 2001 a US-led coalition launched air strikes on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, opening Operation Enduring Freedom less than a month after the September 11 attacks.

12 October 2002The Bali bombingsMilitary & conflict

On 12 October 2002 militants linked to the Southeast Asian jihadist network Jemaah Islamiyah detonated bombs in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali.

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