| 1 October 331 BC | Greece, Persian Empire [political events] | Alexander the Great of Macedon, having left Egypt earlier in the year, defeats the Persian king Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela (near present-day Mosul, Iraq). He is now master of the Persian Empire. After Gaugamela he advances to Babylon, which surrenders to him, then into Persia, where he finds vast treasure at Susa. |
| 1 October 959 | England [political events] | King Eadwig of England dies. He is succeeded by his brother, Edgar, who recalls Abbot Dunstan of Glastonbury from exile. |
| 1 October 965 | Italy, Holy Roman Empire [political events] | Following the death of Pope Leo VIII, the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I of Germany, refuses the request of the Romans for the restoration of the deposed pope Benedict V and secures the appointment of John XIII. |
| 1 October 1410 | Holy Roman Empire [political events] | Jošt, Margrave of Moravia, is elected Holy Roman Emperor, in competition with King Sigismund of Hungary who has also been elected. |
| 1 October–2 December 1572 | Holy Roman Empire, Spanish Netherlands [Dutch Revolt (1598–1609)] | The Spanish Habsburg army under Ferdinand, Duke of Alva (or Alba), successively takes the towns of Mechelen, Zutphen (14 November), and Naarden in the Netherlands from the Dutch rebels. In a reign of terror, the troops sack them with great brutality. The other rebel towns in Brabant surrender easily after Mechelen, a process repeated in the northeast after Zutphen; the utter destruction and massacre of the entire population of Naarden, however, merely strengthens resistance in Holland and Zeeland. |
| 1 October 1578 | Spanish Netherlands [births and deaths] | Don John of Austria, illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, who defeated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), dies at Bouges, near Namur, Spanish Netherlands (31). |
| 1 October 1801 | UK, France [treaties] | Preliminaries of peace are signed between Britain and France; Britain is to restore all maritime conquests, except Trinidad and Ceylon, to France, Spain, and the Netherlands; France agrees to evacuate Naples and the Papal States; the integrity of Portugal is recognized; the independence of the Ionian Islands is agreed upon; both French and British armies are to evacuate Egypt, which is to be restored to the Ottoman Empire, and Malta is to be restored to the Knights of St John by Britain. |
| 1 October 1823 | Spain [administration] | King Ferdinand VII of Spain, having been restored by the French who have crushed the Spanish rebellion, issues a decree for the execution of his enemies, and a reign of tyranny begins. |
| 1 October 1838 | UK, Afghanistan [wars] | Britain begins the First Anglo-Afghan War to consolidate its influence over the Afghans and to prevent Russia increasing its power in the region, which constitutes a threat to British interests in India. |
| 1 October 1870 | UK [postal services] | The British Post Office issues the world's first postcards. |
| 1 October 1890 | Germany [legislation] | The German antisocialist law of 1878 proscribing the Social Democratic Party (SPD) expires and is not renewed. |
| 1–13 October 1903 | USA [baseball] | The baseball World Series, between the winners of the American League and the National League, is inaugurated in the USA. The first title is won by the Boston Red Sox of the American League, who beat the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates by five games to three. |
| 1 October 1924 | [births and deaths] | Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the USA 1977–81, a Democrat, born in Plains, Georgia. |
| 1 October 1928 | USSR [political events] | The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ends the New Economic Policy and introduces state-directed economic planning and distribution, the development of industry, and collectivization of agriculture, in accordance with the first Five-Year Plan. |
| 1 October 1940 | USA [roads] | The first modern limited-access toll highway in the USA, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, officially opens. It creates an economic boom along its route and heralds a new era in transportation in the USA. Other states begin constructing highways soon afterwards. |
| 1 October 1946 | Germany [law and government] | The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany, announces its verdict on Nazi war criminals: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hermann Goering, and ten other leading Nazis (including Martin Bormann, tried in absentia) are sentenced to death, and Rudolf Hess, Walter Funk, and Erich Raeder to life imprisonment. Four others receive long sentences, but Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Hans Fritzsche are acquitted. |
| 1 October 1949 | China [legislation] | China's communist leader Mao Zedong proclaims the establishment of a People's Republic, with its government based in Beijing and with Zhou Enlai as prime minister and foreign minister. |
| 1 October 1950 | South Korea, North Korea, USA [Korean War (1950–53)] | South Korean and United Nations (UN) forces, moving north, cross the 38th parallel, the border line between North and South Korea. |
| 1 October 1963 | Nigeria [decolonization] | Nigeria becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Nnamdi Azikiwe as president. |
| 1 October 1964 | Japan [railways] | The ‘New Tokaido Line’ between Tokyo and Osaka opens. A 515-km/320-mi high-speed rail line, ‘bullet’ trains travel at an average speed of 166 kph/103 mph. |
| 1 October 1971 | USA [parks and recreation] | Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida: the development has cost an estimated $500 million. |
| 1 October 1974 | UK [food and drink] | The first McDonalds hamburger restaurant in the UK opens. |
| 1 October 2000 | Australia [Olympic Games] | The 27th Olympic Games close in Sydney, Australia. The USA wins 39 gold medals; Russia, 32; China, 28; Australia, 16; Germany, 14; France and Italy, 13 each; Netherlands, 12; Cuba and Great Britain, 11 each. |
