October in history: A world war, a man of peace
100 years ago, October 1914: In the opening months of World War I, a French offensive at Arras was halted by the Germans (on Oct. 1); Germans suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Langemarck (Oct. 22); and the British Royal Navy’s dreadnought HMS Audacious was sunk by a mine (Oct. 27), according to the Smithsonian’s World War I: The Definitive Visual History (DK Publishing, 2014).
90 years ago, Oct. 27, 1924: The cover of Time magazine featured a drawing of Sigmund Freud. The article, "Freud and Freudism," noted the translation of two of Freud’s works, Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.
80 years ago, October 22, 1934: In a shootout, FBI agents killed gangster Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd on an Ohio farm.
70 years ago, Oct. 2, 1944: The Warsaw uprising ended with Poles suffering a brutal defeat at the hands of the Germans. An estimated 180,000-200,000 died.
60 years ago, Oct. 9-10 1954: French troops pulled out of Hanoi, Vietnam – ending colonial rule in that country.
50 years ago, Oct. 14, 1964: Martin Luther King Jr., who spearheaded peaceful Civil Rights marches across the nation, won the Noble Peace prize. He was 35 – the youngest man to have received it.
40 years ago, Oct. 2, 1974: Nancy Wilcox, 16, disappeared from her home in Salt Lake City. Her body was never found. Serial killer Ted Bundy confessed to kidnapping and murdering Wilcox in January 1989, 36 hours before he was put to death for killing a Florida girl. In 1990, the family held a memorial service for her.
30 years ago, Oct. 31, 1984: Sikh separatists gunned down Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi outside of her home. Gandhi had served as prime minister for three terms. Her assassination was in retaliation for an attack she ordered on the Sikh’s holiest shrine.
20 years ago, Oct. 25, 1994: In what began as a local police case, a young mother named Susan Smith contended that her car had been carjacked by an African-American man. In fact, she killed her two children by allowing her car to roll into a lake. The case quickly became a media sensation.
10 years ago, Oct. 8, 2004: Martha Stewart, found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings regarding a stock trade, reported to prison. Although she had appealed the decision, Stewart opted to begin serving her sentence as the legal case moved forward.
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