This is a list of selected October 31 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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Images
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Emperor Agustín de Iturbide of Mexico -
USS Reuben James (DD-245) -
Mount Rushmore -
Indira Gandhi -
Benito Mussolini -
Martin Luther -
Metrojet Flight 9268 -
Strikers surrounding a streetcar in Indianapolis
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| ; Reformation Day (Protestantism) | refimprove |
| 802 – Irene of Athens, the first empress regnant of the Byzantine Empire, was deposed and exiled to the island of Lesbos. | refimprove |
| 1587 – Leiden University Library in Leiden in the Netherlands opened its doors, becoming one of the significant cultural centres in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. | unreferenced section |
| 1822 – Emperor Agustín de Iturbide of the First Mexican Empire dissolved the Mexican Congress and replaced it with a military junta answerable only to him. | refimprove section |
| 1864 – Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state, in part to help ensure Abraham Lincoln's re-election as President of the United States eight days later. | refimprove section |
| 1922 – Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy; three years later he set up a legal dictatorship. | refimprove section |
| 2000 – Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collided with construction equipment while attempting to take off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport during heavy rain, killing 79 passengers and 4 crew members. | refimprove sections |
| 2003 – After 22 years in power, Tun Mahathir Mohamad retired as Prime Minister of Malaysia. | featured on July 16 |
| 2011 – The United Nations declared that the world's population had exceeded seven billion. | refimprove |
| Charles Taze Russell |d|1916 | refimprove section |
Eligible
- 683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba, considered the holiest site in Islam, was severely damaged by fire.
- 1913 – Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike, shutting down mass transit in the city.
- 1917 – World War I: Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba, with the battle involving one of the last successful cavalry charges.
- 1941 – More than 101 crew members of the USS Reuben James perished when their vessel became the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552.
- 1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison's exercise yard.
- 1999 – All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 perished when the aircraft suddenly crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
- 1999 – Australian sailor Jesse Martin arrived in Melbourne, becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop, and unassisted.
- Born/died: | Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile |d|1214| Cornelis Jol |d|1641| Anne Claude de Caylus |b|1692| Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |d|1723| Marie Louise Andrews |b|1849| Natalie Clifford Barney |b|1876| Charles A. Wickliffe |d|1869| Muriel Duckworth |b|1908| William Evans-Gordon |d|1913| Gordon Steege |b|1917| Michael Collins |b|1930| Bill Kibby |d|1942| Dave McNally |b|1942| Greg Moore |d|1999
- 475 – Romulus Augustulus took the throne as the last effective ruling emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
- 1517 – According to one account, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses onto the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, present-day Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
- 1941 – Approximately 400 workers completed the 60-foot (18 m) busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
- 1984 – Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (pictured) was assassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Sikhs.
- 2015 – Shortly after takeoff, Metrojet Flight 9268 exploded and then crashed into the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.
- John Keats (b. 1795)
- Juliette Gordon Low (b. 1860)
- Larry Mullen Jr. (b. 1961)