Microsoft made a public release of Windows 8 and made it available on new PCs.
A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election.
Park Chung Hee, President of South Korea, is assassinated by Korean CIA head Kim Jae-gyu.
Space Race: The Soyuz 3 mission achieves the first Soviet space rendezvous.
Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.
Hungarian Revolution: In the towns of Mosonmagyaróvár and Esztergom, Hungarian secret police forces massacre civilians. As rebel strongholds in Budapest hold, fighting spreads throughout the country.
After the last Allied troops have left the country, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares that it will never join a military alliance.
Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims himself as President of the newly created Republic of Vietnam.
Partition of India: The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu signs the Instrument of Accession with India, beginning the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 and the Kashmir conflict.
World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.
World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another carrier is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.
The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
World War I: Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
World War I: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers.
First Balkan War: The Ottomans lose the cities of Thessaloniki and Skopje.
Malleco Viaduct in Chile, at the time "the highest railroad bridge in the world", is inaugurated by President José Manuel Balmaceda.
Liberian President Edward James Roye is deposed in a coup d'état.
American Revolution: The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Covenanter Scotland and King Charles I of England.