October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 84 days remain until the end of the year.
1200 – Isabella of Angoulême is crowned Queen consort of England.
1480 – The Great Stand on the Ugra River puts an end to Tatar rule over Moscow 1645 – Jeanne Mance opens the first lay hospital of North America in Montreal.
1821 – The Peruvian Navy is established during the War of Independence.
1856 – The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident.
1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate invasion of Kentucky is halted at the Battle of Perryville.
1871 – Slash-and-burn land management, months of drought, and the passage of a strong cold front cause the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Chicago Fire and the Great Michigan Fires to break out. In Chicago, the fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles. including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. The fire leapt the south branch of the Chicago River and destroyed much of central Chicago and then crossed the main stem of the river, consuming the Near North Side.
1912 – The First Balkan War begins when Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.
1918 – World War I: Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132 for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field conducts the first live broadcast of a football game.
1939 – World War II: Germany annexes western Poland.
1941 – World War II: During the preliminaries of the Battle of Rostov, German forces reach the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
1943 – World War II: Around 30 civilians are executed by Friedrich Schubert's paramilitary group in Kallikratis, Crete.
1944 – World War II: Captain Bobbie Brown earns a Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Crucifix Hill, just outside Aachen.
1956 – The New York Yankees's Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series.
1967 – Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.
1969 – The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago.
1970 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature.
1973 – Yom Kippur War: Israel loses more than 150 tanks in a failed attack on Egyptian-occupied positions.
1973 – Spyros Markezinis begins his 48--day term as prime minister in an abortive attempt to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.
1974 – Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it is the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.
1982 – Poland bans Solidarity and all other trade unions.
1982 – After its London premiere, Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.
1990 – First Intifada: Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.
2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
2014 – Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola, dies.
2016 – In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the death toll rises to 900.