On This Day — 22 October

2019

Same-sex marriage is legalised, and abortion is decriminalised in Northern Ireland as a result of the Northern Ireland Assembly not being restored.

Same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland

2014

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacks the Parliament of Canada, killing a soldier and injuring three other people.

2014 shootings at Parliament Hill, Ottawa

2013

The Australian Capital Territory becomes the first Australian jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage with the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013.

Australian Capital Territory

2012

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after being charged for doping.

Lance Armstrong

2008

India launches its first uncrewed lunar probe mission Chandrayaan-1.

Exploration of the Moon

2007

A raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos, with all except one dying in this attack. Eight Sri Lanka Air Force planes are destroyed and ten damaged.

Raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base

2006

A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a national referendum.

Panama Canal expansion project

2005

Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season the most active Atlantic hurricane season until surpassed by the 2020 season.

Tropical Storm Alpha

2005

Bellview Airlines Flight 210 crashes in Nigeria, killing all 117 people on board.

Bellview Airlines Flight 210

1999

Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.

Maurice Papon

1997

Danish fugitive Steen Christensen kills two police officers, Chief Constable Eero Holsti and Senior Constable Antero Palo, in Ullanlinna, Helsinki, Finland during his prison escape.

Steen Christensen

1992

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-52 to deploy the LAGEOS-2 satellite and microgravity experiments.

Space Shuttle Columbia

1987

John Adams' opera Nixon in China premiered at the Houston Grand Opera.

John Adams (composer)

1983

Two correctional officers are killed by inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. The incident inspires the Supermax model of prisons.

Marion, Illinois

1981

The US Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for its strike the previous August.

Federal Labor Relations Authority

1975

The Soviet uncrewed space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus.

Venera 9

1964

Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he does not accept the prize.

Jean-Paul Sartre

1963

A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner crashes in UK with the loss of all on board.

BAC One-Eleven

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the Communist nation.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1946

Over twenty-two hundred engineers and technicians from eastern Germany are forced to relocate to the Soviet Union, along with their families and equipment.

Operation Osoaviakhim

1943

World War II: In the second firestorm raid on Germany, the British Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.

Bombing of Kassel in World War II

1941

World War II: French resistance member Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed by the Germans in retaliation for the death of a German officer.

World War II

1936

Dod Orsborne, captain of the Girl Pat is convicted of its theft and imprisoned, having caused a media sensation when it went missing.

Dod Orsborne

1934

In East Liverpool, Ohio, FBI agents shoot and kill the notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd.

East Liverpool, Ohio

1923

The royalist Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt fails in Greece, discrediting the monarchy and paving the way for the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.

Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup attempt

1910

Hawley Harvey Crippen (the first felon to be arrested with the help of radio) is convicted of poisoning his wife.

Hawley Harvey Crippen

1907

A run on the stock of the Knickerbocker Trust Company sets events in motion that will spark the Panic of 1907.

Knickerbocker Trust Company

1895

In Paris, an express train derails after overrunning the buffer stop, crossing almost 30 metres (100 ft) of concourse before crashing through a wall and falling 10 metres (33 ft) to the road below.

Montparnasse derailment

1884

The International Meridian Conference designates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich as the world's prime meridian.

International Meridian Conference

1883

The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opens with a performance of Charles Gounod's Faust.

Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)

1879

Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb; the bulb lasted 131⁄2 hours before burning out.

Thomas Edison

1877

The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.

Blantyre mining disaster

1866

A plebiscite ratifies the annexation of Veneto and Mantua to Italy, which had occurred three days before on October 19.

Veneto

1859

Spain declares war on Morocco.

Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–1860)

1844

The Millerites (followers of Baptist preacher William Miller) anticipate the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ. The following day becomes known as the Great Disappointment.

Baptists

1836

Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

Sam Houston

1797

André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump, from 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above Paris.

André-Jacques Garnerin

1790

Northwest Indian War: Native American forces defeat the United States, ending the Harmar Campaign.

Northwest Indian War

1777

American Revolutionary War: American defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware River repulse repeated Hessian attacks in the Battle of Red Bank.

American Revolutionary War

1746

The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) receives its charter.

Princeton University

1739

The War of Jenkins' Ear begins with the first attack on La Guaira.

War of Jenkins' Ear

1730

Construction of the Ladoga Canal is completed in Russia.

Ladoga Canal

1724

J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Adorn yourself, O dear soul) in Leipzig on the 20th Sunday after Trinity, based on the communion hymn of the same name.

Johann Sebastian Bach

1721

The Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

Russian Empire

1383

The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice. Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.

Portuguese House of Burgundy

906

Abbasid general Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh leads a raid against the Byzantine Empire, taking 4,000–5,000 captives.

Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh

794

Japanese Emperor Kanmu relocates his empire's capital to Heian-kyō (now Kyoto).

Emperor Kanmu

451

The Chalcedonian Creed, regarding the divine and human nature of Jesus, is adopted by the Council of Chalcedon, an ecumenical council.

Chalcedonian Definition

-2137

A solar eclipse occurs over China, one of the earliest recorded in human history, reportedly resulting in the executions of two astronomers who failed to predict it.

Solar eclipse of October 22, 2137 BC