* 1940 – An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.

The Great Dictator spent a year in production, and was released in October 1940.

The Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940 saw mounted cavalry used effectively by the Greek defenders along the mountainous frontier with Albania.

The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, from whom it was adopted by others.

The term " fanzine " was coined by Russ Chauvenet in the October 1940 edition of his fanzine Detours.

On 28 October 1940 Wells was interviewed by Orson Welles, who two years previously had performed an infamous radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, on KTSA radio in San Antonio, Texas.

Italian troops crossed the border on 28 October 1940, beginning the Greco-Italian War, but were stopped by determined Greek defence, and ultimately driven back into Albania.

In October 1940 Holt was elevated to Cabinet, becoming Minister for Labour and National Service, and one of his most significant achievements in this portfolio was the introduction of the Child Endowment Act, passed in April 1941.

Mussolini, in October 1940, used his Albanian base to launch an attack on Greece, which led to the defeat of the Italian forces and the Greek occupation of Southern Albania in what was seen by the Greeks as the liberation of Northern Epirus.

In October 1940, during the Greco-Italian War, Albania served as a staging-area for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's unsuccessful invasion of Greece.

After the Tripartite Pact was signed by Axis Powers Germany, Japan and Italy, in October 1940, Stalin traded letters with Ribbentrop, with Stalin writing about entering an agreement regarding a " permanent basis " for their " mutual interests.

John Ono Lennon, MBE, born John Winston Lennon ( 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980 ) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member

In March 1940 Jinnah passed what would come to be known as the “ Pakistan Resolution ,” declaring “ Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State .” This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning “ Land of the Pure .” Nehru angrily declared that “ all the old problems ... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore .” Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940.

In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one.

They crossed into Portugal and subsequently traveled to the United States in two groups: on the USS Trenton from Lisbon to Baltimore in July 1940, and on the Pan American airliner Yankee Clipper in October 1940.

Over the next five years, according to Sayers ' short stories, the Wimseys have three sons: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey ( born in October 1936 in the story " The Haunted Policeman "); Roger Wimsey ( born 1938 ), and Paul Wimsey ( born 1940 ).

In October 1940 – February 1942, the NKVD under Beria carried out a new purge of the Red Army and related industries.

The coalition was re-formed under Archie Cameron in 1940, and continued until October 1941 despite the election of Arthur Fadden as leader after the 1940 Election.

Hitler initially declined any such aid but eventually allowed a small contingent of Italian fighters and bombers, the Italian Air Corps ( Corpo Aereo Italiano or CAI ), to assist in the Luftwaffe's aerial campaign over Britain in October / November 1940.

* Greiner, H. ' Operation Seelowe and Intensified Air Warfare Against England up to the 30 October 1940 ', in Detweiler, D. World War II German Military Studies, Volume 7 of 24 ( New York, 1979 )

Brazzaville hereby became the capital of the so-called Free French in Africa, ruled in theory by a Conseil de défense de l ' Empire set up by De Gaulle on 27 October 1940.

The Posen Conference was a meeting attended by Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, high ranking German Nazi Party officials and Gauleiters on October 6, 1943 in the city of Posen in Reichsgau Posen ( Poznań, Poland ).

* 19 October 1955 – Franz Josef Strauss ( CSU ) becomes Minister of Atomic Affairs

* 16 October 1956 – Franz Josef Strauss ( CSU ) succeeds Blank as Minister of Defense.

The Bürger Brauerei recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll ( 1813 – 1887 ) who, using new techniques and paler malts, presented his first batch of modern pilsner on 5 October 1842.

Josef Locke was the stage name of Joseph McLaughlin ( 23 March 1917 – 15 October 1999 ), an Irish tenor.

Franz Josef Strauss (, ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988 ) was a German politician.

Josef Felder ( 24 August 1900-28 October 2000 ) was a German politician.

Ludwig III ( Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried ; ), ( 7 January 1845 – 18 October, 1921 ) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.

1 May 1939-1 April 1940 Josef Bürckel ( b. 1895-d. 1944 ) NSDAP, in fact the maintained last Austrian Premier of 15 October 1938 constituted metropolitan capital city-entity Gross-Wien ( Great Vienna ), is in transitional office, then the same is made the first of two Reichsstatthalter ( he till 10 August 1940 ), equivalent to a Gauleiter in Germany proper.

* Josef Meisenzahl ( b. 19 October 1876 ; d. 15 October 1952 ), Papal House Prelate, Canon, conferred 5 May 1930: Meisenzahl ’ s furthering of the town ’ s interests by building an episcopal boys ’ seminary was recognized.

* October 2-Berlin urologist Maximilian Nitze and Viennese instrument-maker Josef Leiter introduce the first practical cystourethroscope with an electric light source.

The Battle of Hochkirch was a battle fought on October 14, 1758 during the Seven Years ' War between a Prussian army of 30, 000-36, 000 commanded by Frederick the Great and an Austrian army of 80, 000 commanded by Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun.

After the sudden death of Franz Josef Strauß in 1988, Max Streibl succeeded him as Ministerpräsident of Bavaria on 19 October 1988.

* October 8 – Josef František, a Czechoslovakian ace ( 17 victories ) and the most efficient Allied pilot of the Battle of Britain, dies in an air crash.

Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch ( 25 February 1806 – 20 October 1872 ) was an Austrian explorer and botanist who in Angola discovered the plant Welwitschia mirabilis.

On October 29, 1983 he was driving his Mercedes 380 while drunk ( 1. 75 promille ) and killed Polish citizen Josef Rubinfeld in his Fiat and severely injured another man.

Josef Abel ( 22 August 1768 – 4 October 1818 ) was an Austrian historical painter and etcher.

Franz Josef Jonas ( October 4, 1899, Vienna – April 24, 1974, Vienna ) was an Austrian political figure.

Josef Jireček ( 9 October 1825 in Vysoké Mýto – 25 November 1888 in Prague ) was a Czech scholar.

* 15 October – Josef Locke, tenor ( b. 1917 ).

* Jonah Corne, " Gods and Nobodies: The Extra, The October Jubilee, and Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command " in the Late Hollywood Silent Film Melodrama special issue, Jeffrey Crouse ( editor ), in Film International, Issue 54, Volume 9, Number 6, 2011, pp. 41-58.

Inspired by an article about the conversion of Bartolo Longo and the place of pilgrimage that had grown from the Marian shrine he had begun, Josef guided the young men in his care into a Covenant of Love with the Blessed Virgin Mary, on October 18, 1914, a day that would prove to be the most important in his life.

Hermann Josef Abs ( October 15, 1901 – February 5, 1994 ) was a German banker.

Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Franz Josef Beiglböck ( born October 10, 1905, Hochneukirchen, Lower Austria, Austria – November 22, 1963, Buxtehude, Lower Saxony, Germany ) was an internist and held the title of Consulting Physician to the German Luftwaffe during World War II.