| 24 October 996 | France [political events] | King Hugh of France, the founder of the Capetian dynasty, dies and is buried at Saint-Denis. He is succeeded by his son, Hugh Cape, Robert II the Pious. |
| 24 October 1071 | Byzantine Empire [administration] | Michael VII, the son of Constantine X, is proclaimed Byzantine emperor, and Romanus IV is deposed, imprisoned, and murdered. Michael unsuccesfully appeals to Western Europe for assistance against the Seljuk Turks. |
| 24 October 1360 | France, England [Hundred Years War (1337–1453)] | The Treaty of Calais confirms the terms made between England and France at Brétigny, France. |
| 24 October 1601 | Bohemia [births and deaths] | Tycho Brahe, leading Danish astronomer, teacher of Johannes Kepler, dies in Prague, Bohemia (54). |
| 24 October 1648 | Holy Roman Empire, Germany, France, Sweden, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Swiss Confederation, Saxony [treaties] | The Peace of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years' War and marking the failure of the Holy Roman Emperor's attempt to turn Germany into an absolute monarchy. By its terms: (1) France gains Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and Breisach and Phillipsburg on the east side of the Rhine, Pinerolo in Piedmont, Italy, and rights in Alsace which sow the seeds of later disagreements; (2) Sweden gains western Pomerania, including Stettin (modern Szczecin) and the Oder estuary, Wismar in Mecklenburg, Bremen and Verdun, which gives it control of the Elbe and Weser estuaries, and 5 million taler; (3) Bavaria retains the Upper Palatinate and the electoral dignity; (4) Brandenburg gains East Pomerania, Kammin, Halberstadt, Minden, and the succession to the archbishopric of Magdeburg; (5) the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III repeals the Edict of Restitution of 1629 and the Peace of Prague of 1635, agrees that all ecclesiastical disputes are to be settled in accordance with the situation on 1 January 1624, and grants the same rights to Calvinists as Lutherans possess, in effect giving full independent sovereignty to all German princes and cities; (6) the Swiss confederation is separated from the Holy Roman Empire; (7) Saxony keeps Lusatia (part of Bohemia). |
| 24 October 1795 | Poland, Prussia, Austria-HM, Russia [political events] | Prussia, Austria, and Russia occupy the remaining Polish territory in the so-called ‘Third Partition’; Prussia takes Warsaw and lands between the Bug and the Niemen rivers, Austria takes Kraków and Galicia, and Russia the area between Galicia and the River Dvina. |
| 24 October 1866 | Germany, Austrian Empire [political events] | The German Confederation is formally ended following Prussia's defeat of Austria for control of Germany. |
| 24 October–26 December 1917 | Italy [World War I (1914–18)] | At the Battle of Caporetto, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian and German forces under General Otto von Below break the Italian line and advance 16 km/10 mi. The Italian army regroups along the River Piave. |
| 24 October–4 November 1918 | Italy, Austria-Hungary [World War I (1914–18)] | The Battle of Vittorio Veneto on the Italian front leads to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian army. |
| 24–29 October 1929 | USA [banking and finance] | Share values crash on the Wall Street stock market, New York City, starting with ‘Black Thursday’ and continuing (after closure of the market from noon on 24 October until 28 October) on ‘Black Monday’ (28 October) and ‘Black Tuesday’ (29 October). Widespread panic results in the trading of some 16.4 million shares, a new record. The episode triggers still more panic in the days and weeks ahead, ultimately precipitating the Depression. |
| 24 October 1940 | USA [legislation] | The 40-hour work week, declared by Congress in a 1938 law, goes into effect in the USA. |
| 24–26 October 1942 | Pacific [World War II (1939–45)] | Two US aircraft carrier task forces engage the Japanese South Seas fleet under Vice-Admiral Nobutaki Kondo off the Santa Cruz Islands, near Guadalcanal. The Japanese aircraft carriers Zuiho and Shokaku are damaged, but the US carrier Hornet is sunk, leaving the damaged Enterprise the only operational Allied aircraft carrier in the Pacific. |
| 24 October 1945 | USA [international organizations] | The United Nations (UN), with headquarters in New York City, comes into formal existence on the ratification of its Charter by 29 nations. |
| 24 October 1948 | USA [political events] | In speech to a US Senate committee, Bernard Baruch popularizes the phrase ‘Cold War’. |
| 24 October 1958 | France, Algeria [diplomacy] | The French prime minister Charles de Gaulle says he is willing to discuss a ceasefire with nationalist rebels in Algeria, but his proposal is rejected by the Algerian Provisional Government on 25 October. |
| 24 October 1964 | Northern Rhodesia, Zambia [decolonization] | Northern Rhodesia, renamed Zambia, becomes an independent republic within the Commonwealth, with Kenneth Kaunda as president (Southern Rhodesia is now known as just Rhodesia). |
| 24 October 1972 | USA [births and deaths] | Jackie Robinson, US baseball player, the first black player in the major leagues, dies in Stamford, Connecticut (53). |
| 24 October 1973 | Syria, Israel [Yom Kippur War (1973)] | Syria accepts a ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War against Israel and fighting halts on both fronts. |
| 24 October 1978 | USA [aircraft] | The US Airline Deregulation Act provides for the phasing out of government control of the airline industry; routes are to be deregulated by 1982 and prices by 1 January 1985. The airlines respond by abandoning the less profitable shorter routes and competing on the longer, more profitable ones by cutting fares. |
| 24 October 1991 | USA [births and deaths] | Gene Roddenberry, US writer and film and television producer who created Star Trek, dies in Santa Monica, California (70). |
| 24 October 2003 | [business and economics] | British Airways' fleet of supersonic Concorde jets retires from commercial service after nearly 28 years. The occasion is marked by a triple landing at London's Heathrow airport. |
