Today in History: Oct. 5

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539 BC – The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon (Gregorian calendar) 456 – The Visigoths under king Theodoric II, acting on orders of the Roman emperor Avitus, invade Iberia with an army of Burgundians, Franks and Goths, led by the kings Chilperic I and Gondioc. They defeat the Suebi under king Rechiar on the river Urbicus near Astorga (Gallaecia). 610 – Coronation of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. 816 – King Louis the Pious is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Stephen IV at Reims. 869 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about patriarch Photius of Constantinople. 1143 – King Alfonso VII of León and Castile recognises Portugal as a Kingdom. 1450 – Jews are expelled from Lower Bavaria by order of Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria. 1550 – Foundation of Concepción, city in Chile. 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. 1607 – Assassins sent by Pope Paul V attempt to kill Venetian statesman and scientist Paolo Sarpi, who survives fifteen stiletto thrusts. 1665 – The University of Kiel is founded. 1789 – French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI of France about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris. 1793 – French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France. 1813 – Battle of the Thames in Canada; Americans defeat British and kill Shawnee leader Tecumseh. 1857 – The City of Anaheim, California is founded. 1864 – The Indian city of Calcutta is almost totally destroyed by a cyclone; 60,000 die. 1869 – The Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region of Maritime Canada. The storm had reportedly been predicted over a year before by a British naval officer. 1869 – During construction, the Hennepin Island tunnel has a limestone cap breached and the rushing water breaks large chunks of land away and the St. Anthony Falls are nearly destroyed. 1877 – Chief Joseph surrenders his Nez Perce band to General Nelson A. Miles. 1905 – Wilbur Wright pilots Wright Flyer III in a flight of 24 miles in 39 minutes, a world record that stood until 1908. 1910 – In a revolution in Portugal the monarchy is overthrown and a republic is declared. 1911 – The Kowloon–Canton Railway (split into MTR East Rail Line and Guangshen Railway now) commences service between Kowloon and Canton. 1914 – World War I: First aerial combat resulting in an intentional fatality. 1915 – Bulgaria enters World War I as one of the Central Powers. 1921 – The World Series is the first to be broadcast on radio. 1930 – British airship R101 crashes in France en route to India on its maiden voyage. 1936 – The Jarrow March sets off for London. 1938 – In Nazi Germany, Jews' passports are invalidated; those who needed a passport for emigration purposes are given one marked with the letter "J" (for "Jude", or Jew). 1943 – Ninety-eight American POWs are executed by Japanese forces on Wake Island. 1944 – Suffrage is extended to women in France. 1945 – Hollywood Black Friday: A six-month strike by Hollywood set decorators turns into a bloody riot at the gates of Warner Brothers' studios. 1947 – The first televised White House address is given by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. 1948 – The Ashgabat earthquake kills between 10,000 and 110,000 people. 1955 – Disneyland Hotel opens to the public in Anaheim, California. 1962 – Dr. No, the first in the James Bond film series, is released. 1962 – The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You", is released in the United Kingdom. 1966 – Near Detroit, Michigan, there is a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration nuclear breeder reactor. 1968 – Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland – considered to mark the beginning of The Troubles. 1970 – The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is founded. 1970 – British Trade Commissioner James Cross is kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group, triggering the October Crisis in Canada. 1974 – Guildford pub bombings: Bombs planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) kill four British soldiers and one civilian. 1982 – Chicago Tylenol murders: Johnson & Johnson initiates a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths. 1984 – Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. 1986 – Israeli secret nuclear weapons are revealed. The British newspaper The Sunday Times runs Mordechai Vanunu's story on its front page under the headline: "Revealed — the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal". 1988 – The Chilean opposition coalition Concertación (center-left) defeats Augusto Pinochet in his re-election attempt and a general election is called the following year. 1990 – After one hundred and fifty years The Herald broadsheet newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, is published for the last time as a separate newspaper. 1991 – An Indonesian military transport crashes after takeoff from Jakarta killing 137. 1999 – The Ladbroke Grove rail crash in west London kills 31 people. 2000 – Mass demonstrations in Belgrade lead to resignation of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević. These demonstrations are often called the Bulldozer Revolution. 2001 – Barry Bonds surpasses Mark McGwire's single-season home run total with his milestone 71st and 72nd home runs. 2011 – In the Mekong River massacre, two Chinese cargo boats are hijacked and 13 crew members murdered in the lawless Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia.