October 3 in history — What Happened Today in History

The German Democratic Republic is abolished and becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany; the event is afterwards celebrated as German Unity Day.

A coup in Panama City is suppressed and 11 participants are executed.

TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron at the Chalk River Laboratories in Canada, is officially opened.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight, carrying two DSCS-III Satellites on STS-51-J.

The hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths.

A violent coup in Honduras begins two decades of military rule.

Project Mercury: US astronaut Wally Schirra, in Sigma 7, is launched from Cape Canaveral for a six-orbit flight.

The California State Superior Court rules that the book Howl and Other Poems is not obscene.

The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon in the Montebello Islands, Western Australia, to become the world's third nuclear power.

Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San pits Commonwealth troops against communist Chinese troops.

WERD, the first black-owned radio station in the United States, opens in Atlanta.

An American Overseas Airlines Douglas DC-4 crashes near Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, killing 39.

World War II: German forces murder 92 civilians in Lingiades, Greece.

A German V-2 rocket reaches a record 85 km (46 nm) in altitude.

Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy invades Ethiopia.

The Kingdom of Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Yugoslavia by King Alexander I.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque becomes the first Latin American player to appear in a World Series.

Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria accedes to the throne.

U.S. forces defeat Nicaraguan rebels at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill.

Chief Kintpuash and companions are hanged for their part in the Modoc War of northern California.

The last Thursday in November is declared as Thanksgiving Day by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

American Civil War: The two-day Second Battle of Corinth begins as Confederate forces under General Earl Van Dorn attack Union defenses led by General William Rosecrans around Corinth, Mississippi.

A militia departs from the Spanish stronghold of Valdivia to quell a Huilliche uprising in southern Chile.

George Washington proclaims Thursday November 26, 1789 as Thanksgiving Day.

The Treaty of Niš is signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia ending the Russian–Turkish War.

The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.

Qing dynasty naval commander Shi Lang receives the surrender of the Tungning kingdom on Taiwan after the Battle of Penghu.

Seth Jones, American ice hockey player

Raffaele Di Gennaro, Italian footballer

Jenny McLoughlin, English sprinter

Aki Takajo, Japanese singer

Johan Le Bon, French cyclist

Nate Montana, American football player

Alex Trimble, Irish singer

Dustin Gazley, American ice hockey player

ASAP Rocky, American rapper and songwriter

Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress

Starley, Australian pop singer

Lewis Brown, New Zealand rugby league player

Jackson Martínez, Colombian footballer

Benedict Groeschel, American priest, psychologist, and talk show host (born 1933)

Jean-Jacques Marcel, French footballer (born 1931)

Kevin Metheny, American businessman (born 1954)

Ward Ruyslinck, Belgian author (born 1929)

Sari Abacha, Nigerian footballer (born 1978)

Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player and coach (born 1944)

Joan Thirsk, English cryptologist, historian, and academic (born 1922)

Abdul Haq Ansari, Indian theologian and scholar (born 1931)

Robert F. Christy, American physicist and astrophysicist (born 1916)

Albie Roles, English footballer (born 1921)

Ben Mondor, Canadian-American businessman (born 1925)

Abraham Sarmiento, Filipino lawyer and jurist (born 1921)

Vladimir Beekman, Estonian poet and translator (born 1929)