| 3 October 1187 | Ayyubid Sultanate, Kingdom of Jerusalem [Crusades (1095–1272)] | Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria takes Jerusalem after a short siege. |
| 3 October 1226 | Italy [births and deaths] | St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan monastic orders and church reformer, principal patron saint of Italy, dies in Assisi, Italy (c. 44). |
| 3 October 1263 | Scotland, Norway, Iceland [wars] | King Alexander III of Scotland defeats King Haakon IV of Norway, in the Battle of Largs, after King Haakon IV attempts to subjugate the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, having already received the submission of Iceland and the colonists in Greenland. Alexander then subdues the Hebrides himself. |
| 3 October 1357 | Scotland [Anglo–Scottish Wars 1296–1371)] | Under the Treaty of Berwick, King Edward III of England releases King David II of Scotland for a ransom and makes a truce for ten years. However his time in England has set David at odds with the Scottish magnates. |
| 3 October 1735 | Austria, Habsburg Monarchy, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Spain [treaties] | A preliminary peace accord in the War of the Polish Succession is negotiated in Vienna, Austria. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI receives the Italian duchies of Parma and Piacenza; Don Carlos, son of King Philip V of Spain and Elizabeth Farnese, is to succeed as Charles III to Naples and Sicily – which are, however, not to be united under one crown with Spain; Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy is to hold Novara and Tortona (in Piedmont, northwestern Italy); France guarantees the Pragmatic Sanction (which sets out the right of the emperor's daughter, Maria Theresa of Austria, to succeed him as ruler of all the Habsburg domains); Stanislaw Leszczynski renounces his claims to Poland and is to receive the duchy of Lorraine (now in France), on the death of the Grand Duke of Tuscany (the duchy is to revert to France on Stanislaw's death); and the Duke of Lorraine, as compensation for the loss of his ducal patrimony, is to receive the duchy of Tuscany when the Grand Duke dies. |
| 3 October 1866 | Austrian Empire, Italy [treaties] | The war between Austria and Italy, arising from Italy's support of Prussia against Austria in the Seven Weeks War, is formally ended by the Treaty of Vienna, with Italy receiving Venice from Austria. |
| 3 October 1925 | [births and deaths] | Gore Vidal, US novelist, playwright, and essayist, born in West Point, New Hampshire. |
| 3 October 1929 | Kingdom of the Serbs Croats and Slovenes [political events] | The name of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes is changed to Yugoslavia as part of King Alexander I's attempts to end ethnic divisions within the country. |
| 3 October 1932 | UK, Iraq [colonies and mandate] | Britain terminates its mandate over Iraq, and it is admitted to the League of Nations as an independent state. |
| 3 October 1932 | United Kingdom [newspapers] | The Times introduces the Times New Roman font, in the UK. Designed by Stanley Morrison, it will become the most widely used font for newspapers and magazines. |
| 3 October 1935 | Italy, Ethiopia [wars] | Italy invades Ethiopia (Abyssinia), aiming to extend Italian territory in East Africa. |
| 3 October 1941 | USA [everyday life] | The US chemists Lyle D Goodhue and W N Sullivan patent the aerosol container. |
| 3 October 1942 | Germany [technology] | The V2 rocket, the ancestor of modern space rockets, is first launched, in Germany; weighing 40 tons it is 12 m/40 ft long, burns an alcohol-liquid oxygen mixture, can reach a distance of 200 km/125 mi, a height of 97 km/60 mi, and travels at 5,300kph/3,300 mph. |
| 3 October 1971 | USA [tennis] | US tennis player Billie Jean King is the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a year |
| 3 October 1972 | USA, USSR [political events] | The USA and the USSR sign the final SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) accords limiting submarine-carried and land-based missiles. |
| 3 October 1974 | USA [baseball] | Frank Robinson is named manager of the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black American to take charge of a major league baseball team. |
| 3 October 1981 | Northern Ireland [political events] | The Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger strike at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and 10 deaths. |
| 3 October 1988 | Chad, Libya [diplomacy] | Chad and Libya end their long-running war and establish diplomatic relations. |
