On this day in history

October 16

27 births · 26 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

213

Battle of Leipzig

213 years ago

Born this day

1927

Günter Grass

Would be 99

Oldest record

596th

James II of Scotland

birth anniversary

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Famous births27

1430 · 596 yrs

James II of Scotland

James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 29

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Photo: anonymous · Public domain

1758 · 268 yrs

Noah Webster

Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 84

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Photo: James Herring · Public domain

1827 · 199 yrs

Arnold Böcklin

Arnold Böcklin (16 October 1827 – 16 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolist painter. His five versions of the Isle of the Dead inspired works by several late Romantic composers.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 73

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Photo: Arnold Böcklin · Public domain

1841 · 185 yrs

Itō Hirobumi

Prince Itō Hirobumi (Japanese: 伊藤博文; born Hayashi Risuke (林利助); 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909) was a Japanese statesman who served as the first prime minister of Japan from 1885 to 1888. Itō held office again as prime minister three times between 1892 and 1901.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 68

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1854 · 172 yrs

Karl Kautsky

Karl Johann Kautsky (German:; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was an Austrian-born Marxist theorist. One of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism, he was for decades the leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 84

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Photo: Unknown · Public domain

1863 · 163 yrs

Austen Chamberlain

Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, Nobel Peace Prize winner, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 73

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Photo: Georges Chevalier · CC BY 4.0

1886 · 140 yrs

David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion ( ben GOOR-ee-ən; Hebrew: דָּוִד בֶּן־גּוּרִיּוֹן; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder and first prime minister of the State of Israel.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 140

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Photo: Fritz Cohen · Public domain

1888 · 138 yrs

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill Sr. (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 138

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Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1890 · 136 yrs

Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish: Mícheál Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician who was a leading figure in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence. During the War of Independence he was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 136

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Photo: Agence de presse Meurisse · Public domain

1905 · 121 yrs

Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Félix Houphouët-Boigny (French:; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("the old one"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first president of Ivory Coast, from 1960 until his death in 1993.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 121

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Photo: GPO · Public domain

1906 · 120 yrs

Dino Buzzati

Dino Buzzati-Traverso (Italian pronunciation:; 16 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 120

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1918 · 108 yrs

Louis Althusser

Louis Pierre Althusser (UK:, US:; French:; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became professor of philosophy. Althusser's life was marked by periods of intense mental illness.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyWould be 108

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Photo: Arturo Espinosa from barcelona, Cataluña (España) · CC BY 2.0

Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths26

1553 · 473 yrs

Lucas Cranach the Elder

Lucas Cranach the Elder (German: Lucas Cranach der Ältere; c. 1472 – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 81

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Photo: Lucas Cranach the Younger · Public domain

1564 · 462 yrs

Andreas Vesalius

Andries van Wezel (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564), Latinized as Andreas Vesalius, was an anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (On the fabric of the human body in seven books), which is considered one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major advance over the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 49

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Photo: Attributed to Jan van Calcar · Public domain

1793 · 233 yrs

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette (Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 10 May 1774 until the abolition of the French monarchy in 1792 during the French Revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 37

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Photo: Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · Public domain

1893 · 133 yrs

Patrice de MacMahon

Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (French:; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893), was a French general and politician who served as President of France from 1873 to 1879. He was elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France by Napoleon III.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 85

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Photo: Mayer et Pierson · Public domain

1946 · 80 yrs

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian lawyer, high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust, and convicted war criminal.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 123

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Photo: Unknown photographer (for the NSDAP) · Public domain

1946 · 80 yrs

Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Arthur Seyss-Inquart (German: Seyß-Inquart; Austrian German pronunciation:; 22 July 1892 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician and convicted war criminal who served as Chancellor of Austria in 1938 for two days before the Anschluss.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 134

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1946 · 80 yrs

Alfred Jodl

Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (German:; born Alfred Josef Baumgärtler; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German military officer and convicted war criminal who served as the chief of the operations staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 136

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Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1946 · 80 yrs

Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Ernst Rosenberg (12 January 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi philosopher and convicted war criminal. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart, and he held several important posts in the Nazi government.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 133

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Photo: United States Army Signal Corps photographer · Public domain

1946 · 80 yrs

Hans Frank

Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, lawyer and convicted war criminal who served as the head of the General Government, an entity created by Germany on part of the German-occupied Polish lands during the Second World War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LawWould be 126

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Photo: Unknown · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1946 · 80 yrs

Julius Streicher

Julius Sebastian Streicher (12 February 1885 – 16 October 1946) was a German publicist, politician, and convicted war criminal. A member of the Nazi Party, he served as the Gauleiter (regional leader) of Franconia and a member of the Reichstag, the national legislature.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 141

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1946 · 80 yrs

Wilhelm Keitel

Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (German pronunciation:; 22 September 1882 – 16 October 1946) was a German field marshal who held office as chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's armed forces, during World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 144

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Photo: Unknown · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1946 · 80 yrs

Wilhelm Frick

Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and convicted war criminal. He served as Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 149

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Showing 12 of 26

Events5

1813 · 213 yrs

Battle of Leipzig

The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1925 · 101 yrs

Locarno Treaties

The Locarno Treaties, known collectively as the Locarno Pact, were seven post–World War I agreements negotiated amongst Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia in late 1925.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1934 · 92 yrs

Long March

The Long March (Chinese: 长征; pinyin: Chángzhēng; lit. 'Long Expedition') was a military retreat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese Red Army from advancing Kuomintang (KMT) National Revolutionary Army during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and October 1935.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1973 · 53 yrs

1973 oil crisis

In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Egypt and Syria launched a large-scale surprise attack in an ultimately…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

2020 · 6 yrs

Murder of Samuel Paty

On 16 October 2020, Samuel Paty (French:), a French secondary school teacher, was attacked and killed in Éragny, Val-d'Oise, Île-de-France, France, by an Islamic terrorist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

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