On October 14

Approximately 10,000 John Deere employees went on strike in one of the largest private-sector strikes in the United States.

A snowstorm and series of avalanches occurred on and around the Himalayan peaks of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, resulting in the deaths of at least 43 people.

Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon in the stratosphere to become the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.

Michael Woodford was dismissed as the CEO of the optics manufacturer Olympus after uncovering internal financial misconduct, escalating the corporate scandal into one of the largest in Japanese business history.

The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party concluded, having anointed North Korean president Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor.

At least 75,000 people attended the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C., to demand equal civil rights for LGBT people.

Members of the Politburo voted to remove Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and replace him with Leonid Brezhnev.

After three days of heavy rain, the Turia overflowed and flooded the city of Valencia, Spain, causing at least 81 deaths.

B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste, publicly converted to Buddhism and became the leader of the Dalit Buddhist movement.

The Queen Elizabeth Way, North America's first intercity divided highway, opens.

Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit 101 special forces attacked the village of Qibya on the West Bank, destroying 45 buildings, killing 42 villagers, and wounding 15 others.

The first of the Smith Act trials concluded in New York City, with eleven leaders of the Communist Party of the United States found guilty of violating the Smith Act.

American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.06 on board the Bell X-1, an experimental rocket-powered aircraft.

The Second Philippine Republic, a Japanese puppet state, was established with Jose P. Laurel as its first president.

The Holocaust: Prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp revolted, killing 11 SS officers and staging a mass escape.

World War II: During the second raid on Schweinfurt, the U.S. 8th Air Force suffered so many losses that it lost air supremacy over Germany for several months.

Second World War: During the Blitz, a semi-armour-piercing fragmentation bomb fell on the road above Balham station in London, which was being used as an air raid shelter, killing at least 64 people.

Second World War: The German submarine U-47 torpedoed and sank the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak while the latter was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland.

The first book featuring English author A. A. Milne's fictional bear Winnie-the-Pooh was published.

The worst mining accident in the United Kingdom's history took place when an explosion resulted in 440 deaths at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, Wales.