October 3 facts for kids

October 3rd is a special day around the world, filled with many important events from history! From ancient battles to modern discoveries, this date has seen lots of exciting things happen. It's also a day when many famous people were born and when some important holidays are celebrated.

October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 89 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Ancient Times and Middle Ages

• 2457 BC – Gaecheonjeol, a very old Korean holiday, celebrates when Hwanung supposedly came down from heaven. It's like South Korea's National Foundation Day!
• 52 BC – During the Gallic Wars, Vercingetorix, a brave leader of the Gauls, gave up to the Romans. This ended the big battle of Alesia led by Julius Caesar.
• 42 BC – In a Roman civil war, the armies of Mark Antony and Octavian fought against Caesar's killers, Brutus and Cassius. This was the first part of the Battle of Philippi. Cassius thought they had lost and took his own life.
• 382 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I made a peace deal with the Goths. He allowed them to settle in the Balkans.
• 1392 – Muhammed VII became the twelfth sultan of the Emirate of Granada.
• 1574 – The Siege of Leiden in the Netherlands was finally ended by the Watergeuzen, a group of Dutch rebels.

1600s to 1900s

• 1683 – The Qing dynasty naval commander Shi Lang received the surrender of the Kingdom of Tungning on Taiwan. This happened after the Battle of Penghu.
• 1739 – The Treaty of Niš was signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia. This agreement ended the Russian–Turkish War.
• 1789 – George Washington, the first U.S. President, declared Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a Thanksgiving Day.
• 1792 – A group of soldiers left the Spanish fort in Valdivia, Chile. They went to stop a Huilliche uprising in southern Chile.
• 1863 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln officially declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

1900s to Today

• 1912 – U.S. forces defeated Nicaraguan rebels at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill.
• 1918 – Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria became the new ruler of Bulgaria.
• 1919 – Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque became the first Latin American player to play in a World Series baseball game.
• 1929 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was renamed Yugoslavia by King Alexander I.
• 1932 – The Kingdom of Iraq became an independent country, free from the United Kingdom. This is celebrated as Iraq's National Day.
• 1935 – The Second Italo-Abyssinian War began when Italy invaded Ethiopia.
• 1942 – A German V-2 rocket reached a record height of 85 kilometers (46 nautical miles). This was a big step in rocket technology.
• 1943 – World War II: German forces committed a terrible act, murdering 92 civilians in Lingiades, Greece.
• 1946 – An American Overseas Airlines Douglas DC-4 plane crashed in Canada, killing 39 people.
• 1949 – WERD, the first radio station in the United States owned by Black people, opened in Atlanta.
• 1951 – Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San took place, where Commonwealth troops fought against Chinese troops.
• 1952 – The United Kingdom successfully tested a nuclear weapon in Australia. This made them the world's third country with nuclear power.
• 1962 – Project Mercury: US astronaut Wally Schirra was launched into space in Sigma 7 for a six-orbit flight around Earth.
• 1963 – A violent coup in Honduras started two decades of military rule in the country.
• 1981 – A hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ended after seven months.
• 1985 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis made its first flight, carrying two satellites into space.
• 1986 – TASCC, a special type of particle accelerator called a superconducting cyclotron, officially opened in Canada.
• 1989 – A coup attempt in Panama City was stopped.
• 1990 – The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was abolished and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. This event is now celebrated as German Unity Day.
• 1991 – Nadine Gordimer was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1993 – An American attack against a warlord in Mogadishu failed.
• 2008 – The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the U.S. financial system was signed by President George W. Bush.
• 2009 – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey joined together to form the Turkic Council.
• 2013 – At least 360 migrants died when their boat sank near the Italian island of Lampedusa.
• 2022 – Svante Pääbo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on human evolution.

Famous Births

Born Before 1900

• 85 BC – Gaius Cassius Longinus, a Roman politician.
• 1390 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, an important English duke.
• 1458 – Saint Casimir, a Prince of Poland and Duke of Lithuania.
• 1554 – Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, an English poet.
• 1610 – Gabriel Lalemant, a French-Canadian missionary and saint.
• 1631 – Sebastian Anton Scherer, a German organist and composer.
• 1790 – John Ross, an important leader of the Cherokee people in America.
• 1800 – George Bancroft, an American historian and politician.
• 1804 – Townsend Harris, an American diplomat who served as Ambassador to Japan.
• 1837 – Nicolás Avellaneda, an Argentinian journalist and politician who became the 8th President of Argentina.
• 1858 – Eleonora Duse, a famous Italian actress.
• 1867 – Pierre Bonnard, a well-known French painter.
• 1879 – Warner Oland, a Swedish-American actor.
• 1882 – A. Y. Jackson, a Canadian painter.
• 1889 – Carl von Ossietzky, a German journalist and activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1890 – Emilio Portes Gil, a Mexican politician who became President of Mexico.
• 1895 – Sergei Yesenin, a Russian poet.
• 1897 – Louis Aragon, a French author and poet.
• 1900 – Thomas Wolfe, an American novelist.

Born After 1900

• 1916 – James Herriot, an English veterinarian and author, famous for his books about animals.
• 1919 – James M. Buchanan, an American economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• 1925 – Gore Vidal, a famous American novelist and critic.
• 1931 – Glenn Hall, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1933 – Neale Fraser, an Australian tennis player.
• 1935 – Charles Duke, an American astronaut who walked on the Moon.
• 1936 – Steve Reich, an American composer.
• 1938 – Eddie Cochran, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1938 – Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a Peruvian politician who became President of Peru.
• 1941 – Chubby Checker, an American singer-songwriter, known for the "Twist" dance.
• 1949 – Lindsey Buckingham, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known from Fleetwood Mac.
• 1951 – Kathryn D. Sullivan, an American geologist and astronaut, the first American woman to walk in space.
• 1951 – Dave Winfield, an American baseball player.
• 1954 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.
• 1959 – Fred Couples, an American golfer.
• 1959 – Gwen Stefani, an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer.
• 1962 – Tommy Lee, a Greek-American singer and drummer.
• 1964 – Clive Owen, an English actor.
• 1969 – Gwen Stefani, an American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer.
• 1973 – Neve Campbell, a Canadian actress.
• 1973 – Lena Headey, a British actress.
• 1975 – India Arie, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1976 – Seann William Scott, an American actor.
• 1978 – Claudio Pizarro, a Peruvian footballer.
• 1981 – Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish footballer.
• 1984 – Ashlee Simpson, an American singer-songwriter and actress.
• 1988 – ASAP Rocky, an American rapper and songwriter.
• 1988 – Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress.
• 2004 – Noah Schnapp, an American actor.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1900

• 42 BC – Gaius Cassius Longinus, a Roman politician.
• 1226 – Francis of Assisi, an Italian friar and saint.
• 1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, a Welsh prince.
• 1568 – Elisabeth of Valois, Queen of Spain.
• 1656 – Myles Standish, an English captain who came to America on the Mayflower.
• 1795 – Tula, a leader of enslaved people in Curaçao.
• 1838 – Black Hawk, an American tribal leader.
• 1860 – Rembrandt Peale, an American painter.
• 1867 – Elias Howe, an American engineer who invented the sewing machine.
• 1896 – William Morris, an English author and poet.

Died After 1900

• 1929 – Gustav Stresemann, a German politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1931 – Carl Nielsen, a Danish composer.
• 1936 – John Heisman, an American football player and coach, for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.
• 1953 – Arnold Bax, an English composer.
• 1967 – Woody Guthrie, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1998 – Roddy McDowall, an English-American actor.
• 1999 – Akio Morita, a Japanese businessman who co-founded Sony.
• 2004 – Janet Leigh, an American actress.
• 2005 – Ronnie Barker, an English actor and screenwriter.
• 2006 – Peter Norman, an Australian runner.
• 2013 – Sergei Belov, a Russian basketball player and coach.
• 2015 – Denis Healey, an English politician.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Abd-al-Masih
  • Adalgott
  • Blessed Szilárd Bogdánffy
  • Dionysius the Areopagite
  • Ewald the Black and Ewald the Fair
  • Francis Borgia
  • John Raleigh Mott (Episcopal Church)
  • Gerard of Brogne
  • Hesychius of Sinai
  • Théodore Guérin
  • Maximian of Bagai
  • October 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• 3 October Festival (Leiden, Netherlands)
• German Unity Day (Germany)
• Mean Girls Day
• Morazán Day (Honduras)
• National Day, celebrates the independence of Iraq from the United Kingdom in 1932.
• National Foundation Day or Gaecheonjeol (South Korea)

See also

In Spanish: 3 de octubre para niños