Events Pre-1600 795 – Election of Pope Leo III. 887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.Reuter, Timothy (trans.) The Annals of Fulda. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992. p. 121 1481 – Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, attacks an armed mob of people from nearby Utrecht who were trying to avenge the massacre of the inhabitants of Westbroek.
1601–1900 1704 – Second Battle of Anandpur: In the Second Battle of Anandpur, Aurangzeb's two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan executed two children of Guru Gobind Singh, Zorawar Singh aged eight and Fateh Singh aged five, by burying them alive into a wall.; 1709 – The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice.Dean, Winton; and J. Merrill Knapp (1995), Handel's Operas, 1704–1726 (Revised edition). p. 128. Clarendon Press, Oxford. . 1723 – Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army under General George Washington executes a successful surprise attack and defeats a garrison of Hessian forces serving Great Britain. 1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution. 1793 – Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeats Austria. 1799 – Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen". 1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg. 1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon. 1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills 72 people, including the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable. 1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed. 1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date. 1860 – First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world. 1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus easing tensions between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins as Union General William T. Sherman starts landing his troops in an attempt to advance on Vicksburg, Mississippi. 1862 – Dakota War of 1862: The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history takes place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native American prisoners are hanged. 1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts. 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
1901–present 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition. 1926 – World premiere of Sibelius's tone poem Tapiola. 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. 1941 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. 1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces. 1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium. 1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy. 1948 – The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea. 1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level. 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. 1968 – The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930. 1968 – Pan Am Flight 799 crashes during takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base, killing three. 1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history. 1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service. 1978 – The inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally begins. 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell". 1989 – United Express Flight 2415 crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all six people on board. 1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War. 1993 – Kuban Airlines Flight 5719 crashes during a go-around at Gyumri Shirak International Airport, killing 35 of the 36 people on board. 1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers. 1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones. 1999 – The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage. 2003 – The 6.6 Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured. 2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis, it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898. 2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny. 2006 – Two earthquakes in Hengchun, Taiwan measuring 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale kill two and disrupt telecommunications across Asia. 2012 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou. 2013 – An Irkut-Avia Antonov An-12 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Northwest Airport, killing all nine people on board. 2015 – A violent EF-4 tornado hits Garland, Texas, killing nine and injuring almost 500 others. 2021 – Three people are killed when a 14-year-old opens fire on civilians at a Texaco convenience store in Garland, Texas. 2025 – Israel recognises Somaliland as an independent state, becoming the first country to do so.
Births Pre-1600 1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1250) 1446 – Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry, French noble (died 1472) 1526 – Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile (died 1613) 1532 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar and academic (died 1576) 1536 – Yi I, Korean philosopher and scholar (died 1584) 1537 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (died 1593) 1581 – Philip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach (died 1643)
1601–1900 1618 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (died 1680) 1628 – John Page, English Colonial politician (died 1692) 1646 – Robert Bolling, English/English Colonial merchant and planter (died 1709) 1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German violinist and composer (died 1755) 1716 – Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (died 1771) 1716 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier and philosopher (died 1803) 1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (died 1807) 1737 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (died 1815) 1751 – Lord George Gordon, English lieutenant and politician (died 1793) 1751 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian priest, missionary, and saint (died 1820) 1769 – Ernst Moritz Arndt, German writer and poet (died 1860) 1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (died 1872) 1782 – Philaret Drozdov, Russian metropolitan and saint (died 1867) 1785 – Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, Belgian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belgium (died 1871) 1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (died 1871) 1803 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (died 1882) 1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author and educator (died 1899) 1820 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (died 1890) 1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American soldier and politician, 54th governor of Connecticut (died 1922) 1837 – George Dewey, American admiral (died 1917) 1852 – Johannes François Snelleman, Dutch zoologist, orientalist, and ethnographer (died 1938) 1853 – René Bazin, French author and academic (died 1932) 1854 – José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (died 1935) 1859 – William Stephens, American lawyer and politician, 24th Governor of California (died 1944) 1863 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (died 1957) 1864 – Yun Chi-ho, Korean activist and politician (died 1945) 1867 – Phan Bội Châu, Vietnamese activist (died 1940) 1869 – Mathieu Cordang, Dutch cyclist (died 1942) 1870 – Virginia Bolten, Argentine feminist and trade unionist (died 1960) 1872 – Norman Angell, English journalist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967) 1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (died 1953) 1874 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and academic (died 1965) 1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French painter (died 1955) 1885 – Bazoline Estelle Usher, African-American educator (died 1992) 1887 – Arthur Percival, English general (died 1966) 1888 – Marius Canard, French orientalist and historian (died 1982) 1889 – Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (died 1949) 1890 – Konstantinos Georgakopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1973) 1890 – Percy Hodge, English runner (died 1967) 1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (died 1980) 1892 – Don Barclay, American actor and illustrator (died 1975) 1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (died 1976) 1894 – Jean Toomer, American author and poet (died 1967) 1900 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (died 1993)
1901–present 1901 – Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist and author (died 1941) 1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter and sculptor (died 1980) 1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (died 1995) 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (died 1980) 1905 – William Loeb III, American publisher (died 1981) 1907 – Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (died 1998) 1908 – Ralph Hill, American runner (died 1994) 1909 – Matt Gordy, American pole vaulter (died 1989) 1910 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine-Spanish actress and singer (died 2003) 1910 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (died 2000) 1912 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (died 1962) 1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (died 1958) 1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (died 2008) 1915 – Rolf Botvid, Swedish actor and screenwriter (died 1998) 1918 – Olga Lopes-Seale, Guyanese-Barbadian singer and radio host (died 2011)