Today in History in 2001 George W. Bush announces the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

The On This Day In History archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 84 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1075 – Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia.

1480 – Stand-off on the Ugra River, between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the 'Great Horde', and those of Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, resulting in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols.

1573 – End of the Spanish Siege of Alkmaar (Netherlands) - First Dutch victory in the Eighty Years' War.

1600 – San Marino adopts its own constitution.

1806 – Napoleonic Wars: Forces of the British Empire lay siege to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on France's English Channel coast.

1813 – The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.

1814 – The first election to Norway's Storting (Parliament) takes place.

1821 – The Government of Jose de San Martin creates the Peruvian Navy.

1822 – A volcanic eruption begins on the island of Java.

1856 – The Second Opium War between China and Western powers begins.

1860 – The telegraph line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, opens.

1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.

1871 – The Great Chicago Fire occurs.

1879 – War of the Pacific: In the naval Battle of Angamos, Chile defeats Peru.

1895 – Empress Myeongseong of Korea is murdered by Japanese forces at Geongbok Palace, before her corpse is burned.

1897 – Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera.

1904 – Edmonton, Alberta and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan become cities.

1912 – The First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

1918 – World War I: In the Argonne Forest, France, US Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132.

1928 – Joseph Szigeti gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella's violin concerto.

1932 – The Indian Air Force is created.

1939 – World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.

1941 – World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.

1952 – United Kingdom: The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash occurs. It is the UK's deadliest peacetime rail disaster.

1956 – The New York Yankees player Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series.

1962 – Algeria joins the UN.

1962 – Germany's Der Spiegel publishes an article on the Bundeswehr (German army), which leads to a major scandal.

1967 – Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia, leading to his execution the next day.

1973 – Yom Kippur War: Gabi Amir's armored brigade attack Egyptian-occupied positions on Israel's side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away. The attack fails, destroying over 150 Israeli tanks.

1974 – Baja California Sur becomes a state of Mexico.

1978 – Australian Ken Warby sets the a water speed record, which still stands.

1982 – Trade Unions, including Solidarity, are banned in Poland.

1982 – The musical Cats opens on Broadway.

1990 – Israel-Palestinian Conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinian and injure over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.

1991 – Croatia decides to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia.

1998 – In Oslo, Gardermoen Airport replaces Fornebu Airport.

2000 – Aleksander Kwasniewski is re-elected as President of Poland.

2001 – Two airplanes collide in heavy fog from take-off from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.

2001 – George W. Bush announces the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

2004 – Wangari Maathai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

2005 – 2005 Pakistan earthquake: At 03:50:38 UTC, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale happens in the Pakistan region of Kashmir, killing thousands of people.

2010 – Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

2013 – Peter Higgs and François Englert share the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the Higgs boson.

2015 – President Sepp Blatter is suspended from FIFA for ninety days, along with senior officials Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke, during a major corruption scandal.

2018 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases a special report, warning that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" would need to be made to prevent global warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the upcoming century.