October 22

Events

202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama.
362 - The temple of Apollo at Daphne, outside of Antioch, is destroyed in a mysterious fire.
1784 - Russia founds a colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
1836 - Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Aachen: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.
1953 - Laos gains independence from France.
1957 - Vietnam War: First United States casualties in Vietnam.
1960 - Independence of Mali from France.
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American spy planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.