29 October on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand adventus in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body is fished out of the Tiber and beheaded.

Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople unifying the two branches of the House of Theodosius.

First trial for witchcraft in Paris leading to the death of three people.

Battle of Brustem: Charles the Bold defeats Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

Russian homage to the King of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa.

The London Pageant of 1621 celebrates the inauguration of Edward Barkham (Lord Mayor).

Second Northern War: Naval forces of the Dutch Republic defeat the Swedes in the Battle of the Sound.

Portuguese forces defeat the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitate King António I of Kongo, also known as Nvita a Nkanga.

Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.

Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who sighted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.

Rioting broke out in Bristol, England, after the Second Reform Bill failed to pass parliament, causing 250 casualties and £300,000 of damage.

American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant repel a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet in one of the few night battles of the war, protecting the Union's recently opened supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Eighteen countries meet in Geneva and agree to form the International Red Cross.

The Nanbu clan of Honshu surrendered to imperial forces during the Boshin War.

The San Francisco Mint signed a contract to produce the Kalākaua coinage for the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.

World War I : the Ottoman Empire enters the war on the side of the Central Powers.

World War I: the German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.

Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

Black Tuesday: The New York Stock Exchange crashes, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and eventually contributing to the Great Depression.

The Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto, over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".

World War II: The Dutch city of Breda is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.

World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Safsaf massacre: Israeli soldiers capture the Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee; afterwards, between 52 and 64 villagers are massacred by the IDF.

BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco.

The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk sinks after probably striking a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol, with a loss of more than 600 sailers.

Israeli Border Police massacred 48 Arab citizens of Kafr Qasim, among them women and children who were returning from work.

Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.

Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset.

An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio.

Biggest jewel heist in American history when Murph the Surf and gang burgle the American Museum of Natural History stealing the Star of India and other gems.

The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania.

Singaporean leftist opposition leader Chia Thye Poh was detained under the Internal Security Act, which allows for preventive detention, and held for 32 years.

Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.

The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.

The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.

Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.

Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.

The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton.

ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with live coverage of the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission.

Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.

In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.

Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time.

The Gothenburg discothèque fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures over 200.

A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India.

A fire destroys a luxurious department store in Ho Chi Minh City, where 1,500 people are shopping. More than 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for in the deadliest peacetime disaster in Vietnam.

The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

Bombings in Delhi, India kill 67 and injure over 200 people.

ADC Airlines Flight 053 crashes after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria killing 96 people and injuring nine.

Somali pirates hijacked a North Korean ship in the Indian Ocean northeast of Mogadishu.

A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215.

Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.

Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing hundreds, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages.

The first phase of the Marmaray project opened with an undersea rail tunnel across the Bosphorus strait.

A mud slide; the 2014 Badulla landslide, in south-central Sri Lanka, kills at least 16 people, and leaves hundreds of people missing.

China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years.

A Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board. This is the first of two crashes that will lead to the plane being grounded worldwide.

Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is suspended from the Labour Party following his response to findings from the EHRC on the issue of antisemitism within the party.

At least 100 people are killed and over 300 are injured by a double car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.

At least 156 die at a crowd crush during a Halloween celebration in Itaewon district, Seoul, South Korea.

Joseph Goebbels, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Nazi Germany (died 1945)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian politician, President of Liberia, Nobel Prize laureate

Abdullah Gül, Turkish academic and politician, 11th President of Turkey

Winona Ryder, American actress and producer

Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syrian revolutionary and military leader, President of Syria

Edwin van der Sar, Dutch footballer and sportscaster

Franz von Papen, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1969)

Richard Dreyfuss, American actor and activist

Dan Castellaneta, American actor, voice artist, comedian, singer and producer

John Magufuli, Tanzanian politician, 5th President of Tanzania (died 2021)

Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (died 1944)

Necmettin Erbakan, Turkish engineer and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Turkey (died 2011)

Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-American physician and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011)

Yevgeny Primakov, Ukrainian-Russian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Russia (died 2015)

Robert Pires, French footballer

Isao Takahata, Japanese director (died 2018)

Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and academic, first woman to have doctorate in science (died 1778)

A. J. Ayer, English philosopher and author (died 1989)

Phillip Cocu, Dutch footballer and manager

Lance Stroll, Canadian racing driver

Marie of Romania (died 1938)

Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Spanish general (died 1582)

James Boswell, Scottish lawyer and author (died 1795)

Niki de Saint Phalle, French sculptor and painter (died 2002)

Bob Ross, American painter and television host (died 1995)

Gabrielle Union, American actress and producer

Ben Foster, American actor

Tove Lo, Swedish singer

Eric Saade, Swedish singer

Abram Ioffe, Russian physicist and academic (died 1960)

Rufus Sewell, English actor

Peter Green, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2020)

Jérémy Mathieu, French footballer

Primož Roglič, Slovenian ski jumper and cyclist

Akim Tamiroff, Georgian-American actor (died 1972)

Fredric Brown, American author (died 1972)

Fabiola Gianotti, Italian physicist and academic

Frans de Waal, Dutch-American ethologist, author, and academic (died 2024)

Ralph Bakshi, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Vijender Singh, Indian boxer

Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (died 2015)

Robert Hardy, English actor (died 2017)

Klaus Roth, British mathematician (died 2015)

Johann Olav Koss, Norwegian speed skater and physician

Fanny Brice, American actress and singer (died 1951)

Shin Saimdang, South Korean painter and poet (died 1551)

Kate Jackson, American actress, director, and producer

Randy Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer

Thorsten Fink, German footballer and manager

Evan Fournier, French basketball player

Marcia Fudge, American lawyer and politician

Tracee Ellis Ross, American actress and producer

India Eisley, American actress

Jon Abrahams, American actor

Denny Laine, English singer-songwriter and musician (died 2023)

Astrid S, Norwegian singer and songwriter

Omara Portuondo, Cuban singer and dancer

Václav Neumann, Czech violinist and conductor (died 1995)

Ariel Lin, Taiwanese actress and singer

Cal Crutchlow, English motorcycle racer