* 1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice’s Day massacre.
* 1160 – Louis VII of France marries Adele of Champagne.
* 1642 – First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green – the Royalist forces withdraw in the face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.
* 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot revolutionary forces under Col. Ethan Allen attack Montreal, Quebec, defended by British General Guy Carleton.
* 1841 – James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism.
* 1851 – The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers in what would become Seattle, Washington.
* 1864 – The new Constitution of Greece is adopted.
* 1887 – Bloody Sunday clashes in central London.
* 1901 – The 1901 Caister Lifeboat Disaster.
* 1916 – Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.
* 1918 – Allied troops occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
* 1927 – The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
* 1941 – World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is torpedoed by U-81, sinking the following day.
* 1942 – World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal – U.S. and Japanese ships engage in an intense, close-quarters surface naval engagement during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
* 1947 – Russia completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles
* 1950 – General Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, President of Venezuela, is assassinated in Caracas.
* 1954 – Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators.
* 1956 – The United States Supreme Court declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
* 1965 – The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives.
* 1966 – In response to Fatah raids against Israelis near the West Bank border, Israel launches an attack on the village of As-Samu.
* 1969 – Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death.
* 1970 – Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century’s worst natural disaster.
* 1971 – The American space probe, Mariner 9, becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet successfully, swinging into its planned trajectory around Mars.
* 1982 – Ray Mancini defeats Duk Koo Kim in a boxing match held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kim’s subsequent death (on November 17) leads to significant changes in the sport.
* 1982 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.
* 1985 – The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buries Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people.
* 1985 – Xavier Suarez is sworn in as Miami, Florida’s first Cuban-born mayor.
* 1988 – Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
* 1990 – In Aramoana, New Zealand, David Gray shoots dead 13 people, in what becomes known as the Aramoana Massacre.
* 1992 – The High Court of Australia rules in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented.
* 1994 – In a referendum voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union.
* 1995 – A truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claims responsibility.
* 2000 – Philippine House Speaker Manuel B. Villar, Jr. passes the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.
* 2001 – War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
* 2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
* 2002 – The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill
Histories of 13 November (Events)
Histories of 13 November (Deaths)
* 867 – Pope Nicholas I
* 1004 – Abbon of Fleury
* 1093 – King Malcolm III of Scotland (b. 1041)
* 1143 – King Fulk of Jerusalem
* 1170 – Albert I of Brandenburg
* 1314 – Albert II, Margrave of Meissen (b. 1240)
* 1345 – Constance of Penafiel, wife of Pedro I of Portugal (b. 1323)
* 1359 – Ivan II of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1326)
* 1460 – Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese patron of exploration (b. 1394)
* 1606 – Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist and physician (b. 1530)
* 1619 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (b. 1555)
* 1650 – Thomas May, English poet and historian (b. 1595)
* 1726 – Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle (b. 1666)
* 1770 – George Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1712)
* 1771 – Konrad Ernst Ackermann, German actor (b. 1712)
* 1777 – William Bowyer (printer), English printer (b. 1699)
* 1862 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet (b. 1787)
* 1867 – Adolphe Napoleon Didron, French archaeologist (b. 1806)
* 1868 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (b. 1792)
* 1883 – James Marion Sims, American physician (b. 1813)
* 1903 – Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
* 1929 – Princess Viktoria of Prussia (b. 1866)
* 1942 – Daniel J. Callaghan, United States Naval Officer (b. 1890)
* 1952 – Margaret Wise Brown, American children’s author (b. 1910)
* 1954 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (b. 1881)
* 1961 – Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1897)
* 1963 – Margaret Murray, English anthropologist and Egyptologist (b. 1863)
* 1967 – Harriet Cohen, English pianist (b. 1895)
* 1973 – Lila Lee, American actress (b. 1901)
* 1973 – Bruno Maderna, Italian/German conductor and composer (b. 1920)
* 1974 – Vittorio De Sica, Italian film director (b. 1901)
* 1974 – Karen Silkwood, American activist (b. 1946)
* 1975 – Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (b. 1910)
* 1977 – Ingrid Schubert, German terrorist (b. 1944)
* 1979 – Dimitris Psathas, Greek playwright (b. 1907)
* 1982 – Hugues Lapointe, Canadian politician (b. 1911)
* 1983 – Junior Samples, American comedian (Hee Haw) (b. 1926)
* 1985 – George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
* 1986 – Thierry Le Luron, French humourist (b. 1952)
* 1988 – Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (b. 1906)
* 1988 – Jaromír Vejvoda, Czech composer (b. 1902)
* 1989 – Victor Davis, Canadian swimmer (b. 1964)
* 1990 – Stewart Graeme Guthrie, New Zealand Police officer (b.1948)
* 1991 – Paul-Émile Léger, cardinal archbishop of Montreal (b. 1904)
* 1993 – Carey Lloyd, American professional wrestler (b. 1933)
* 1994 – Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist (b. 1924)
* 1996 – Bill Doggett, American pianist and organist (b. 1916)
* 1996 – Swami Rama, Himalayan yoga master (b. 1925)
* 1997 – André Boucourechliev, French composer (b. 1925)
* 1997 – Dawud M. Mu’Min, American murderer (b. 1953)
* 1998 – Edwige Feuillère, French actress (b. 1907)
* 1998 – Valerie Hobson, British actress (b. 1917)
* 1998 – Red Holzman, American basketball coach (b. 1920)
* 1998 – Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman, son of Pierre Trudeau (b. 1975)
* 1999 – Donald Mills, American singer (Mills Brothers) (b. 1915)
* 2001 – Peggy Mount, English actress (b. 1915)
* 2002 – Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1925)
* 2002 – Rishikesh Shaha, Nepalese politician and writer (b. 1925)
* 2003 – Kellie Waymire, American actress (b. 1967)
* 2004 – John Balance, English musician and artist (b. 1962)
* 2004 – Thomas Foglietta, American politician (b. 1928)
* 2004 – Ol’ Dirty Bastard, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan) (b. 1968)
* 2005 – Eddie Guerrero, American/Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1967)
* 2005 – Vine Deloria, Jr., Native American author, theologian, historian, and activist (b. 1933)
* 2007 – Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician and Congressman (b. 1960)
* 2007 – John Doherty, English footballer (b. 1935)
* 2007 – Kazuhisa Inao, Japanese baseball player (b. 1937)
* 2007 – Monty Westmore, American make-up artist (b. 1923)
* 2008 – Jules Archer, American historian (b. 1915)
* 2010 – Luis García Berlanga, Spanish filmmaker (b. 1921)
* 2010 – Ken Iman, American football player (b. 1939)
* 2010 – Allan Sandage, American astronomer (b. 1926)
Histories of 13 November (Births)
* 354 – Saint Augustine of Hippo, North African theologian (d. 430)
* 532 – Augustine of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 604)
* 1312 – King Edward III of England (d. 1377)
* 1486 – Johann Eck, German theologian (d. 1543)
* 1504 – Philipp I of Hesse (d. 1567)
* 1572 – Cyril Lucaris, Greek theologian (d. 1638)
* 1699 – Jan Zach, Czech composer and musician (d. 1773)
* 1710 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (d. 1792)
* 1714 – William Shenstone, English poet (d. 1763)
* 1715 – Dorothea Erxleben, German, first female medical doctor (d. 1762)
* 1732 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (d. 1808)
* 1760 – Jiaqing Emperor of China (d. 1820)
* 1761 – John Moore, British general (d. 1809)
* 1768 – Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish sculptor (d. 1844)
* 1782 – Esaias Tegnér, Swedish writer, professor of Greek language, and bishop (d. 1846)
* 1801 – Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, queen of Prussia (d. 1873)
* 1801 – Amalie Auguste of Bavaria, queen of Saxony (d. 1877)
* 1809 – John A. Dahlgren, American Navy admiral (d. 1870)
* 1814 – Joseph Hooker, American General (d. 1879)
* 1826 – Charles Frederick Worth, English-born couturier (d. 1895)
* 1833 – Edwin Booth, American actor (d. 1893)
* 1837 – James T. Rapier, American politician (d. 1883)
* 1838 – Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (d. 1918)
* 1841 – Edward Burd Grubb, Jr., American Civil War Brevet Brigadier General (d. 1913)
* 1848 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (d. 1922)
* 1850 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (d. 1894)
* 1853 – John Drew Jr., American actor (d. 1927)
* 1856 – Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1941)
* 1866 – Abraham Flexner, American educator (d. 1959)
* 1869 – Helene Stöcker, German feminist, pacifist and publicist (d. 1943)
* 1869 – Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian feminist (d. 1962)
* 1872 – Leon Leonwood Bean, American inventor, author, outdoor enthusiast, founder of L.L.Bean (d. 1967)
* 1878 – Max Dehn, German mathematician (d. 1952)
* 1886 – Mary Wigman, German dancer and choreographer (d. 1973)
* 1894 – Artur Nebe, German SS officer (d. 1945)
* 1897 – Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (d. 1975)
* 1899 – Iskander Mirza, First President of Pakistan (d. 1969)
* 1899 – Huang Xianfan, Chinese historian (d. 1982)
* 1900 – Edward Buzzell, American film director (d. 1985)
* 1904 – H. C. Potter, American film and theater director (d. 1977)
* 1906 – Hermione Baddeley, English actress (d. 1986)
* 1906 – Eva Zeisel, American industrial designer
* 1907 – Giovanna of Italy, tsaritsa of Bulgaria (d. 2000)
* 1908 – C. Vann Woodward, American historian (d. 1999)
* 1910 – William Bradford Huie, American writer and publisher (d. 1986)
* 1910 – Pat Reid, British Army officer and Colditz escapee (d. 1990)
* 1911 – Buck O’Neil, American baseball player (d. 2006)
* 1913 – Jack Dyer, Australian rules footballer (d. 2003)
* 1913 – Lon Nol, Cambodian politician (d. 1985)
* 1913 – Helen Mack, American actress (d. 1986)
* 1913 – Alexander Scourby, American actor (d. 1985)
* 1914 – Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (d. 2005)
* 1917 – Robert Sterling, American actor (d. 2006)
* 1917 – Vasantdada Patil, Indian politician (d. 1989)
* 1922 – Jack Narz, American game show host (d. 2008)
* 1922 – Oskar Werner, Austrian actor (d. 1984)
* 1924 – Linda Christian, Mexican-born actress
* 1924 – Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist (d. 1994)
* 1926 – Harry Hughes, 57th Governor of Maryland
* 1927 – Billy Klüver, American scientist (d. 2004)
* 1928 – Steve Bilko, American baseball player (d. 1978)
* 1929 – Fred Phelps, American pastor
* 1929 – Asashio Taro III, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 46th Yokozuna (d. 1988)
* 1931 – Andrée Lachapelle, French Canadian actress
* 1932 – Willie Edwards, Murder victim/killed by KKK members (d. 1957)
* 1932 – Richard Mulligan, American actor (d. 2000)
* 1934 – Peter Arnett, New Zealand-born American journalist
* 1934 – Jimmy Fontana, Italian actor, composer and singer
* 1934 – Garry Marshall, American producer, director, writer, and actor
* 1935 – Tom Atkins, American actor
* 1935 – P. Susheela, Indian singer
* 1935 – George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury
* 1938 – Gérald Godin, French Canadian poet and politician (d. 1994)
* 1938 – Jean Seberg, American actress (d. 1979)
* 1939 – Karel Brückner, Czech football manager
* 1939 – Idris Muhammad, American jazz drummer
* 1940 – Saul Kripke, American philosopher and logician
* 1940 – Daniel Pilon, Canadian actor
* 1941 – Eberhard Diepgen, German politician
* 1941 – David Green, entrepreneur
* 1941 – Dack Rambo, American actor (d. 1994)
* 1941 – Mel Stottlemyre, American baseball player and coach
* 1942 – John Hammond, American musician
* 1943 – André-Gilles Fortin, Canadian politician (d. 1977)
* 1943 – Roberto Boninsegna, Italian footballer
* 1943 – Jay Sigel, American golfer
* 1944 – Timmy Thomas, American musician
* 1945 – John B. Craig, American diplomat
* 1945 – Masahiro Hasemi, Japanese racing driver
* 1947 – Toy Caldwell, American guitarist (The Marshall Tucker Band) (d. 1993)
* 1947 – Gene Garber, American baseball player
* 1947 – Amory Lovins, American environmentalist and author
* 1947 – Joe Mantegna, American actor
* 1948 – Humayun Ahmed, Bangladeshi novelist and film-maker
* 1949 – Yoshimi Ishibashi, Japanese racing driver
* 1949 – Terry Reid, English singer
* 1950 – Mary Lou Metzger, American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
* 1950 – Gilbert Perreault, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1951 – Pini Gershon, Israeli basketball coach
* 1952 – Art Malik, Pakistani-born English actor
* 1953 – Frances Conroy, American actress
* 1953 – Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexican politician
* 1953 – Andrew Ranken, English musician (The Pogues)
* 1953 – Tracy Scoggins, American actress
* 1954 – Scott McNealy, American businessman
* 1954 – Chris Noth, American actor
* 1955 – Whoopi Goldberg, American actress, comedienne, and singer
* 1956 – Ginger Alden, American actress
* 1956 – Rex Linn, American actor
* 1957 – Stephen Baxter, English author
* 1957 – Roger Ingram, American trumpeter, educator, and author
* 1959 – Caroline Goodall, English actress
* 1960 – Neil Flynn, American actor
* 1960 – Teodora Ungureanu, Romanian gymnast and Olympic medalist
* 1963 – Vinny Testaverde, American football player
* 1964 – Steve Wong Ka-Keung, Hong Kong musician (Beyond)
* 1967 – Juhi Chawla, Indian actress
* 1967 – Jimmy Kimmel, American comedian and talk-show host
* 1967 – Steve Zahn, American actor
* 1968 – Pat Hentgen, American baseball player
* 1969 – Lori Berenson, American criminal
* 1969 – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
* 1969 – Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch author
* 1971 – Noah Hathaway, American actor
* 1971 – Buddy Zabala, Filipino bassist (Eraserheads)
* 1972 – Takuya Kimura, Japanese singer and actor
* 1973 – Ari Hoenig, American jazz drummer
* 1974 – Joe Principe, American bassist, Rise Against
* 1975 – Tom Compernolle, Belgian athlete (d. 2008)
* 1975 – Alain Digbeu, French basketball player
* 1975 – Ivica Dragutinovic, Serbian footballer
* 1975 – Quim, Portuguese footballer
* 1976 – Hiroshi Tanahashi, Japanese professional wrestler
* 1976 – Kelly Sotherton, English heptathlete
* 1977 – Chanel Cole, Australian singer
* 1977 – Huang Xiaoming, Chinese actor and singer
* 1978 – Nikolai Fraiture, American bassist (The Strokes)
* 1979 – Ron Artest, American basketball player
* 1979 – Subliminal, Israeli rapper and producer
* 1980 – Monique Coleman, American actress
* 1980 – François-Louis Tremblay, Canadian speed skater
* 1981 – Mark Cardona, Filipino basketball player
* 1981 – Rivkah, American cartoonist
* 1981 – Shawn Yue, Hong Kong actor and singer
* 1981 – Ryan Bertin, American amateur wrestler
* 1982 – Samkon Gado, Nigerian/American football player
* 1982 – Kumi Koda, Japanese singer
* 1982 – Michael Copon, American actor and singer
* 1984 – Lucas Barrios, Paraguayan footballer
* 1984 – Kurt Morath, Tongan rugby player
* 1985 – Asdrúbal Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
* 1987 – Dana Vollmer, American swimmer
* 1991 – Devon Bostick, Canadian actor
* 1996 – Austin Williams, American actor
Histories of 12 November (Events)
* 764 – Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
* 1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanus Argyrus.
* 1439 – Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
* 1555 – The English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism.
* 1602 – Sebastian Viscaino lands at and names San Diego, California.
* 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.
* 1892 – William “Pudge” Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
* 1893 – The treaty of the Durand Line is signed between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Durand Line has gained international recognition as an international border between the two nations.
* 1905 – Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic.
* 1912 – The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
* 1918 – Austria becomes a republic.
* 1920 – Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
* 1927 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
* 1928 – SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.
* 1933 – Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster.
* 1936 – In California, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
* 1938 – Hermann Göring proposes plans to make Madagascar the “Jewish homeland”, an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
* 1940 – World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy France forces.
* 1941 – World War II: temperatures around Moscow drop to -12° C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
* 1941 – World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
* 1942 – World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days.
* 1944 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.
* 1948 – In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
* 1956 – Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.
* 1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
* 1968 – Equatorial Guinea joins the United Nations.
* 1969 – Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
* 1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous “exploding whale” incident.
* 1970 – The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
* 1971 – Vietnam War: as part of Vietnamization, US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
* 1975 – The Comoros joins the United Nations.
* 1978 – Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop of Rome.
* 1979 – Iran hostage crisis: in response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
* 1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
* 1981 – Space Shuttle program: mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.
* 1982 – In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov becomes the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party’s Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
* 1990 – Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
* 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
* 1991 – Dili Massacre: Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
* 1996 – A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date.
* 1997 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
* 1999 – The Düzce earthquake strikes Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
* 2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
* 2001 – Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
* 2003 – Iraq war: in Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
* 2003 – Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
Histories of 12 November (Deaths)
* 607 – Pope Boniface III, Roman-born (birth date unknown)
* 1035 – King Cnut the Great, Danish-born King of Denmark, England and Norway (b. 985 or 995)
* 1094 – King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
* 1434 – King Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
* 1555 – Stephen Gardiner, English statesman (b. 1497)
* 1567 – Anne de Montmorency, Marshal and Constable of France (b. 1493)
* 1595 – John Hawkins, English shipbuilder and trader (b. 1532)
* 1606 – St. Nicholas Owen, English Jesuit and martyr (b. c. 1550)
* 1667 – Hans Nansen, Danish statesman (b. 1598)
* 1671 – Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
* 1742 – Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
* 1757 – Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
* 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, first Mayor of Paris (b. 1736)
* 1836 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
* 1865 – Elizabeth Gaskell, English novelist (b. 1810)
* 1916 – Percival Lowell, American amateur astronomer (b. 1855)
* 1933 – F. Holland Day, American photographer and publisher (b. 1864)
* 1939 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
* 1941 – Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, American mobster (b. 1907)
* 1944 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
* 1948 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
* 1955 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
* 1965 – Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Indian-born Bohra Spiritual Leader (b. 1888)
* 1969 – Liu Shaoqi, Chinese revolutionary, and statesman (b. 1898)
* 1972 – Rudolf Friml, Czech composer (b. 1879)
* 1976 – Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
* 1976 – Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1893)
* 1981 – William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
* 1984 – Chester Himes, American writer (b. 1909)
* 1987 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish musician (b. 1937)
* 1990 – Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
* 1993 – H. R. Haldeman, American White House Chief of Staff (b. 1926)
* 1994 – Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
* 1997 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
* 2000 – Leah Rabin (née Schlossberg), German-born widow of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)
* 2000 – Franck Pourcel, French popular orchestra leader (b. 1913)
* 2001 – Tony Miles, English chess player (b. 1955)
* 2001 – Albert Hague, German-born American actor and songwriter (b. 1920)
* 2003 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (b. 1986)
* 2003 – Kay E. Kuter, American actor (b. 1925)
* 2003 – Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
* 2003 – Tony Thompson, American drummer (Chic, Power Station) (b. 1954)
* 2003 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
* 2005 – William G. Adams, Canadian politician (b. 1923)
* 2006 – General Jacob E. Smart, American World War II figure (b. 1909)
* 2007 – Khanmohammed Ibrahim, Indian cricketer (b. 1919)
* 2007 – Ira Levin, American novelist (b. 1929)
* 2008 – Catherine Baker Knoll, American politician (b. 1930)
* 2008 – Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1947)
* 2010 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
* 2010 – Karl Plutus, Estonian jurist and centenarian (b. 1904)
Histories of 12 November (Births)
* 1528 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
* 1547 – Claude of Valois, French princess (d. 1575)
* 1606 – Jeanne Mance, French settler of New France (d. 1673)
* 1615 – Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
* 1651 – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican mystic and author (d. 1695)
* 1684 – Edward Vernon, English Royal Navy admiral (d. 1757)
* 1729 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
* 1755 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
* 1790 – Letitia Christian Tyler, US First Lady (d. 1842)
* 1795 – Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (d. 1856)
* 1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American suffragette (d. 1902)
* 1817 – Bahá’u'lláh, Persian spiritual figure (d. 1892)
* 1833 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist (d. 1887)
* 1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
* 1842 – John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1919)
* 1848 – Eduard Müller, Swiss politician (d. 1919)
* 1850 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
* 1866 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (d. 1925)
* 1872 – William Fay, Irish actor and theatre producer (d. 1947)
* 1881 – Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
* 1881 – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (d. 1954)
* 1886 – Günther Dyhrenfurth, German geologist, and mountineer (d. 1975)
* 1886 – Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
* 1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (d. 1981)
* 1890 – Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
* 1892 – Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (d. 1958)
* 1896 – Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist (d. 1987)
* 1896 – Nima Yooshij , Iranian contemporary poet (d. 1960)
* 1897 – Karl Marx, German composer (d. 1985)
* 1898 – Leon Štukelj, Slovene gymnast (d. 1999)
* 1901 – James Luther Adams, American theologian (d. 1994)
* 1903 – Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
* 1908 – Harry Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1999)
* 1910 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (d. 1981)
* 1911 – Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1991)
* 1915 – Roland Barthes, French critic and writer (d. 1980)
* 1916 – Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (d. 1986)
* 1916 – Paul Emery, English racing driver (d. 1993)
* 1916 – Jean Papineau-Couture, French-Canadian composer (d. 2000)
* 1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008)
* 1919 – Jackie Washington, Canadian blues musician (d. 2009)
* 1920 – Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
* 1922 – Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
* 1923 – Vicco von Bülow, German film director (d. 2011)
* 1924 – Sam Jones, American jazz bassist and cellist (d. 1981)
* 1927 – Yutaka Taniyama, Japanese mathematician (d. 1958)
* 1928 – Bob Holness, English presenter and actor
* 1929 – Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
* 1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress and Princely consort of Monaco (d. 1982)
* 1930 – Ann Flood, American actress
* 1931 – Bob Crewe, American songwriter and producer (The Four Seasons)
* 1933 – Jalal Talabani, Iraqi politician
* 1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader and convicted murderer
* 1936 – Mills Lane, American jurist, TV personality, and boxing referee
* 1936 – Mort Shuman, American songwriter and singer (d. 1991)
* 1937 – Jack Betts, American actor
* 1938 – Denis DeJordy, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1938 – Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian politician
* 1939 – Ruby Nash Curtis, American singer (Ruby & the Romantics)
* 1939 – Terry McDonald, English footballer
* 1939 – Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
* 1940 – Michel Audet, Quebec economist and politician
* 1940 – Jürgen Todenhöfer, German politician
* 1941 – Carol Gluck, American academic and Japanologist
* 1943 – Julie Ege, Norwegian actress (d. 2008)
* 1943 – Brian Hyland, American singer
* 1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
* 1943 – Björn Waldegård, Swedish rally driver
* 1944 – Booker T. Jones, American musician and songwriter (Booker T and the MG’s)
* 1944 – Al Michaels, American television sportscaster
* 1945 – Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
* 1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer and guitarist (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
* 1946 – Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
* 1947 – Ron Bryant, American baseball player
* 1947 – Buck Dharma (born Donald Roeser), American vocalist and guitarist (Blue Öyster Cult)
* 1947 – Patrice Leconte, French film director and screenwriter
* 1948 – Errol Brown, English singer (Hot Chocolate)
* 1948 – Cliff Harris, American football player
* 1949 – Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey coach (d. 1992)
* 1949 – Jack Reed, American politician
* 1949 – Sinyan Shen, American physicist and composer
* 1950 – Barbara Fairchild, US country music/Gospel singer
* 1952 – Ronald Burkle, American entrepreneur
* 1953 – Vasilis Karras, Greek singer
* 1953 – Baaba Maal, Senegalese singer and guitarist
* 1954 – Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 2010)
* 1955 – Katharine Weber, American novelist
* 1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress and singer
* 1958 – Nick Stellino, Italian-born American television chef
* 1959 – Vincent Irizarry, American actor
* 1959 – Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
* 1960 – Ismo Alanko, Finnish musician (Hassisen Kone, Sielun Veljet, Ismo Alanko Säätiö)
* 1960 – Maurane, Belgian singer
* 1961 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
* 1961 – Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
* 1961 – Jonathan Nossiter, American film director
* 1961 – Michaela Paetsch, American violinist
* 1962 – Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian journalist and television presenter
* 1962 – Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1962 – Neal Shusterman, American writer
* 1962 – Brix Smith, American singer and guitarist (The Fall, The Adult Net)
* 1962 – Naomi Wolf, American author and feminist
* 1963 – Sam Lloyd, American actor
* 1963 – Susumu Terajima, Japanese actor
* 1964 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
* 1964 – Dave Ellefson, American bassist (Megadeth)
* 1965 – Lex Lang, American voice actor
* 1967 – Michael Moorer, American boxer
* 1967 – Grant Nicholas, British singer (Feeder)
* 1968 – Glenn Gilbertti, American professional wrestler
* 1968 – Kathleen Hanna, American singer and songwriter
* 1968 – Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
* 1968 – Sharon Shannon, Irish musician, known for playing the accordion
* 1968 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball player
* 1968 – Aaron Stainthorpe, British singer (My Dying Bride)
* 1969 – Ian Bremmer, American political scientist
* 1969 – Jason Cundy, English footballer and broadcaster
* 1969 – Johnny Gosch, American kidnap victim
* 1970 – Donna Adamo, American professional wrestler
* 1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
* 1970 – Sarah Harmer, Canadian singer-songwriter and activist
* 1970 – Craig Parker, New Zealand actor
* 1970 – Harvey Stephens, British actor
* 1972 – Vassilis Tsiartas, Greek footballer
* 1973 – Mayte Garcia, American dancer
* 1973 – Radha Mitchell, Australian actress
* 1973 – Ethan Zohn, American footballer and reality show contestant
* 1974 – Tamala Jones, American actress
* 1975 – Nina Brosh, Israeli model and actress
* 1975 – Jason Lezak, American swimmer
* 1975 – Angela Watson, American actress
* 1976 – Tevin Campbell, American R&B singer
* 1976 – Judith Holofernes, German singer (Wir sind Helden)
* 1976 – Richelle Mead, American writer
* 1976 – Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
* 1977 – Dalene Kurtis, American model
* 1977 – Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
* 1977 – Lee Murray, English mixed martial artist
* 1978 – Aaron Heilman, American baseball player
* 1978 – Alexandra Maria Lara, Romanian-born German actress
* 1978 – Andrew Kinlochan, British singer (Phixx)
* 1978 – Ashley Williams, American actress
* 1978 – Lena Yada, American actress, model, surfer and professional wrestler
* 1979 – Matt Cappotelli, American professional wrestler
* 1979 – Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
* 1979 – Lucas Glover, American professional golfer
* 1979 – Crown J, South Korean hip hop singer and rapper
* 1979 – Corey Maggette, American basketball player
* 1980 – Trent Acid, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
* 1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
* 1981 – D. J. Campbell, English footballer
* 1981 – Sergio Floccari, Italian footballer
* 1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress
* 1982 – Mikele Leigertwood, English footballer
* 1983 – Carlton Cole, English footballer
* 1983 – Charlie Morton, American baseball player
* 1984 – Sepp De Roover, Belgian footballer
* 1984 – Omarion, American R&B singer, pianist and songwriter (B2K)
* 1984 – Sandara Park, South Korean actor, singer/rapper of (2NE1)
* 1984 – Conrad Rautenbach, Zimbabwean rally driver
* 1985 – Arianny Celeste, American model
* 1986 – Evan Yo, Taiwanese pop singer
* 1987 – Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1988 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
* 1992 – Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
Histories of 11 November (Events)
* 308 – At Carnuntum, Emperor emeritus Diocletian confers with Galerius, Augustus of the East, and Maximianus, the recently returned former Augustus of the West, in an attempt to restore order to the Roman Empire.
* 1215 – The Fourth Lateran Council meets, defining the doctrine of transubstantiation, the process by which bread and wine are, by that doctrine, said to transform into the body and blood of Christ.
* 1500 – Treaty of Granada – Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them.
* 1620 – The Mayflower Compact is signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.
* 1634 – Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery.
* 1673 – Second Battle of Khotyn in Ukraine: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under the command of Jan Sobieski defeat the Ottoman army. In this battle, rockets made by Kazimierz Siemienowicz are successfully used.
* 1675 – Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x).
* 1724 – Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, a highwayman known for attacking “Thief-Taker General” (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, is hanged in London.
* 1750 – riots break out in Lhasa after the murder of the Tibetan regent.
* 1750 – The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, is formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the first college fraternity.
* 1778 – Cherry Valley Massacre: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attack a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.
* 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Dürenstein – 8000 French troops attempt to slow the retreat of a vastly superior Russian and Austrian force.
* 1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Crysler’s Farm – British and Canadian forces defeat a larger American force, causing the Americans to abandon their Saint Lawrence campaign.
* 1831 – In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner is hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising.
* 1839 – The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
* 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman’s March to the Sea – Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south.
* 1865 – Treaty of Sinchula is signed by which Bhutan cedes the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.
* 1869 – The Victorian Aboriginal Protection Act is enacted in Australia, giving the government control of indigenous people’s wages, their terms of employment, where they could live, and of their children, effectively leading to the Stolen Generations.
* 1880 – Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol.
* 1887 – Anarchist Haymarket Martyrs August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are executed.
* 1887 – Construction of the Manchester Ship Canal begins at Eastham.
* 1889 – The State of Washington is admitted as the 42nd State of the United States.
* 1911 – Many cities in the Midwestern United States break their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolls through.
* Front page of The New York Times on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.
* 1918 – World War I: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne, France. The fighting officially ends at 11:00 (The eleventh hour in the eleventh month on the eleventh day) and this is annually honoured with a two-minute silence. The war officially ends on the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th 1919.
* 1918 – Józef Pilsudski assumes supreme military power in Poland – symbolic first day of Polish independence.
* 1918 – Emperor Charles I of Austria relinquishes power.
* 1919 – The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington results the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.
* 1919 – Lacpleša day – Latvian forces defeat the Freikorps at Riga in the Latvian War of Independence.
* 1921 – The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.
* 1924 – Prime Minister Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaims the first recognized Greek Republic.
* 1926 – U.S. Route 66 is established.
* 1930 – Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
* 1934 – The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia is opened.
* 1940 – World War II: Battle of Taranto – The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
* 1940 – The German cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
* 1940 – Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in the U.S. Midwest.
* 1942 – World War II: Nazi Germany completes its occupation of France.
* 1942 – World War II: The Second Battle of El Alamein is won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.
* 1944 – Dr. jur. Erich Göstl, a member of the Waffen SS, is presented with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, to recognise extreme battlefield bravery, after losing his face and eyes during the Battle of Normandy.
* 1960 – A military coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam is crushed.
* 1962 – Kuwait’s National Assembly ratifies the Constitution of Kuwait.
* 1965 – In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.
* 1966 – NASA launches Gemini 12.
* 1967 – Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to “new left” antiwar activist Tom Hayden.
* 1968 – Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam.
* 1968 – A second republic is declared in the Maldives.
* 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
* 1975 – Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam, appoints Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and announces a general election to be held in early December.
* 1975 – Independence of Angola.
* 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda joins the United Nations.
* 1992 – The General Synod of the Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.
* 1993 – A sculpture honoring women who served in the Vietnam War is dedicated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
* 1999 – The House of Lords Act is given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
* 2000 – Kaprun disaster: 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel in Kaprun, Austria.
* 2001 – Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton and Volker Handloik are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they are traveling in.
* 2004 – New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington.
* 2004 – The Palestine Liberation Organization confirms the death of Yasser Arafat from unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.
* 2006 – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveils the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army.
* 2008 – RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) sets sail on her final voyage to Dubai.
Histories of 11 November (Deaths)
* 405 – Arsacius of Tarsus, Tarsian religious figure (before 324)
* 537 – Pope Silverius (date of birth unknown)
* 826 – (feast day) Theodore the Studite, Byzantine monk (b. 759)
* 865 – Petronas the Patrician, Byzantine General
* 1623 – Philippe de Mornay, French writer (b. 1549)
* 1638 – Cornelis van Haarlem, Dutch painter (b. 1562)
* 1675 – Guru Tegh Bahadur, Indian religious figure (b. 1621)
* 1686 – Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, French general (b. 1621)
* 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German scientist, inventor, and politician (b. 1602)
* 1724 – Joseph Blake, English highwayman (b. c. 1700)
* 1812 – Platon Levshin, Metropoitan of Moscow (b. 1737)
* 1831 – Nat Turner, American slave rebel (b. 1800)
* 1855 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (b. 1813)
* 1861 – King Pedro V of Portugal (b. 1837)
* 1862 – James Madison Porter, American politician (b. 1793)
* 1880 – Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger (b. c.1855)
* 1880 – Lucretia Mott, American feminist and abolitionist (b. 1793)
* 1884 – Alfred Brehm German zoologist (b. 1827)
* 1887 – Haymarket defendants:
* * George Engel (b. 1836)
* * Adolph Fischer (b. 1858)
* * Albert Parsons (b. 1848)
* * August Spies (b. 1855)
* 1917 – Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii (b. 1838)
* 1918 – George Lawrence Price, Canadian WWI soldier (b. 1892)
* 1919 – Pavel Chistyakov, Russian painter (b. 1832)
* 1931 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
* 1938 – Mary Mallon, Irish-born American carrier of typhoid (b. 1869)
* 1939 – Bob Marshall, American conservationist (b. 1901)
* 1939 – Jan Opletal, Czech student and anti-Nazi demonstrator (b. 1915)
* 1945 – Jerome Kern, American composer (b. 1885)
* 1949 – Loukas Kanakaris-Roufos, Greek politician (b. 1878)
* 1950 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and statesman (b. 1875)
* 1953 – Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1866)
* 1972 – Berry Oakley, American musician (Allman Brothers Band) (b. 1948)
* 1973 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
* 1974 – Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer (b. 1894)
* 1976 – Alexander Calder, American artist (b. 1898)
* 1977 – Greta Keller, Austrian cabaret singer and actress (b. 1903)
* 1977 – Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., Filipino journalist and political activist (b. 1950)
* 1979 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born American film composer (b. 1894)
* 1984 – Martin Luther King, Sr., American civil rights figure (b. 1899)
* 1985 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1959)
* 1988 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist (b. 1900)
* 1990 – Alexis Minotis, Greek actor (b. 1898)
* 1990 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (b. 1909)
* 1990 – Attilio Demaría, Argentinian footballer (b. 1909)
* 1993 – Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter and big band leader (b. 1914)
* 1994 – John A. Volpe, American politician and Nixon administration cabinet member (b. 1908)
* 1994 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American TV personality and AIDS activist (b. 1972)
* 1994 – Tadeusz Zychiewicz, Polish journalist, art historian and publicist (b. 1922)
* 1997 – Rod Milburn, American athlete (b. 1950)
* 1998 – Frank Brimsek, American ice hockey player (b. 1913)
* 1999 – Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (b. 1961)
* 1999 – Jacobo Timerman, Argentine writer and journalist (b. 1923)
* 2003 – Miquel Martí i Pol, Catalan poet (b. 1929)
* 2004 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1929)
* 2004 – Richard Dembo, French director and screenwriter (b. 1948)
* 2005 – Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, British photographer (b. 1939)
* 2005 – Peter Drucker, American management theorist (b. 1909)
* 2005 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American film producer and director (b. 1930)
* 2005 – Keith Andes, American actor (b. 1920)
* 2006 – Belinda Emmett, Australian actress (b. 1974)
* 2006 – Harry Lehotsky, American-born Canadian pastor and activist (b. 1957)
* 2007 – Delbert Mann, American film director (b. 1920)
* 2008 – Herb Score, American baseball player (b. 1933)
* 2009 – Dhanpat Rai Nahar, Indian labour leader (b. 1919)
* 2010 – Baby Marie Osborne, American actress (b. 1911)
* 2010 – William Edwin Self, American actor and television producer (b. 1921)
Histories of 11 November (Births)
* 995 – Gisela of Swabia, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1041)
* 1050 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1106)
* 1154 – King Sancho I of Portugal (d. 1212)
* 1155 – King Alfonso VIII of Castile (d. 1214)
* 1220 – Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (d. 1271)
* 1493 – Paracelsus, physician (d. 1541)
* 1493 – Bernardo Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1569)
* 1569 – Martin Ruland the Younger, German physician and alchemist (d. 1611)
* 1599 – Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian-Italian field marshal (d. 1656)
* 1599 – Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Queen of Sweden (d. 1655)
* 1633 – George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, British statesman (d. 1695)
* 1668 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and bibliographer (d. 1736)
* 1743 – Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish naturalist (d. 1828)
* 1744 – Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (d. 1818)
* 1748 – King Charles IV of Spain (d. 1819)
* 1791 – Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1855)
* 1792 – Mary Anne Evans, Welsh wife of Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1872)
* 1821 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (d. 1881)
* 1836 – Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American poet and novelist (d. 1907)
* 1852 – Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1925)
* 1857 – Janet Erskine Stuart, Sacred Heart educator (d. 1914)
* 1858 – Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian painter (d. 1884)
* 1863 – Paul Signac, French painter (d. 1935)
* 1864 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1921)
* 1869 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist (d. 1901)
* 1869 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (d. 1947)
* 1872 – David I. Walsh, 46th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1947)
* 1882 – King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (d. 1973)
* 1883 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (d. 1969)
* 1885 – George Smith Patton, Jr., American general (d. 1945)
* 1887 – Roland Young, American actor (d. 1953)
* 1888 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian independence movement leader (d. 1958)
* 1891 – Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (d. 1954)
* 1898 – René Clair, French film director (d. 1981)
* 1899 – Pat O’Brien, American film actor (d. 1983)
* 1900 – Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
* 1901 – F. Van Wyck Mason, American author (d. 1978)
* 1901 – Magda Goebbels, wife of Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels (d. 1945)
* 1901 – Sam Spiegel, Austrian-born American film producer (d. 1985)
* 1904 – Alger Hiss, American government official and spy (d. 1996)
* 1904 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960)
* 1907 – Orestis Laskos, Greek film director, screenwriter and poet (d. 1992)
* 1909 – Robert Ryan, American actor (d. 1973)
* 1911 – Roberto Matta, Chilean painter (d. 2002)
* 1912 – Thomas C. Mann, American diplomat (d. 1999)
* 1914 – Howard Fast, American author (d. 2003)
* 1914 – James G. Baker, American astronomer and optician (d. 2005)
* 1914 – Henry Wade, American lawyer (d. 2001)
* 1914 – Taslim Olawale Elias, Nigerian jurist and former ICJ president (d. 1991)
* 1915 – William Proxmire, American politician (d. 2005)
* 1916 – Robert Carr, British conservative politician
* 1918 – Stubby Kaye, American comic actor (d. 1997)
* 1919 – Kalle Päätalo, Finnish novelist (d. 2000)
* 1920 – Roy Jenkins, British politician (d. 2003)
* 1921 – Terrel Bell, American politician (d. 1996)
* 1922 – Kurt Vonnegut Jr., American novelist (d. 2007)
* 1925 – June Whitfield, British comedian
* 1925 – Jonathan Winters, American comedian and actor
* 1926 – Harry Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
* 1927 – Mose Allison, American jazz pianist and singer
* 1928 – Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer
* 1928 – Gracita Morales, Spanish actress (d. 1995)
* 1929 – Hans Magnus Enzensberger, German writer
* 1929 – LaVern Baker, American singer (d. 1997)
* 1930 – Hank Garland, American guitar virtuoso (d. 2004)
* 1930 – Hugh Everett, American physicist (d. 1982)
* 1930 – Vernon Handley, English conductor (d. 2008)
* 1931 – Veronica Hurst, British actress
* 1932 – Germano Mosconi, Italian journalist and former-anchorman
* 1936 – Jack Keller, American songwriter (d. 2005)
* 1936 – Susan Kohner, American actress
* 1936 – Mala Sinha, Bollywood film actress
* 1937 – Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician and diplomat
* 1938 – Ants Antson, Estonian speed skater
* 1938 – Haruhiro Yamashita, Japanese gymnast
* 1939 – Denise Alexander, American actress
* 1940 – Barbara Boxer, American politician
* 1943 – Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
* 1944 – Kemal Sunal,Turkish actor
* 1945 – Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua
* 1945 – Vince Martell, American guitarist (Vanilla Fudge)
* 1946 – Chris Dreja, British musician (The Yardbirds)
* 1946 – Al Holbert, American racing driver and team owner (d. 1988)
* 1948 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor d.2005
* 1950 – Mircea Dinescu, Romanian poet
* 1950 – Jim Peterik, American musician and songwriter (Survivor)
* 1950 – Ed Ordynski, Australian rally driver
* 1951 – Kim Peek, American megasavant (d. 2009)
* 1951 – Marc Summers, American game show host
* 1951 – Bill Moseley, American actor
* 1953 – Marshall Crenshaw, American musician
* 1953 – Andy Partridge, English musician (XTC)
* 1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek politician
* 1954 – Mary Gaitskill, American novelist
* 1955 – Dave Alvin, American songwriter and guitarist
* 1956 – Ian Craig Marsh, British musician
* 1957 – Oleg Vishnepolsky, American aphorist, software developer
* 1958 – Luz Casal, Spanish singer
* 1958 – Carlos Lacamara, Cuban-born American actor
* 1959 – Lee Haney, American bodybuilder
* 1960 – Chuck Hernandez, American baseball coach
* 1960 – Peter Parros, American actor
* 1960 – Stanley Tucci, American actor and director
* 1960 – Lawrence Bayne, Canadian actor
* 1961 – Jan Kuehnemund, American guitarist
* 1962 – Mic Michaeli, Swedish keyboardist
* 1962 – Georgios Mitsibonas, Greek footballer (d. 1997)
* 1962 – Demi Moore, American actress
* 1962 – James Morrison, Australian musician
* 1963 – Monty Sopp, American professional wrestler
* 1964 – Anabel Alonso, Spanish actress
* 1964 – Calista Flockhart, American actress
* 1965 – Max Mutchnick, American TV writer and producer
* 1966 – Alison Doody, Irish actress
* 1967 – Gil de Ferran, Brazilian racing driver
* 1968 – David L. Cook, American singer and comedian
* 1969 – Carson Kressley, American television personality
* 1969 – Kristen Wilson, American actress
* 1970 – Lee Battersby, Australian author
* 1971 – Jennifer Celotta, American TV producer and writer
* 1971 – Paul Chaloner, English TV e-sports commentator
* 1971 – David DeLuise, American actor
* 1972 – Adam Beach, Canadian actor
* 1972 – Tyler Christopher, American actor
* 1973 – Jason White, American musician (Green Day)
* 1973 – Melissa Stark, American sportscaster/journalist
* 1974 – Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
* 1974 – Static Major, American singer (d. 2008)
* 1974 – Wajahatullah Wasti, Pakistani cricketer
* 1975 – Angelica Vale Mexican actress
* 1975 – Denisa Legac, sex therapist and hypnotherapist, active in Austria, Croatia and the United States of America
* 1976 – Lisa Gleave, Australian-American actress and model
* 1976 – Jason Grilli, American baseball player
* 1976 – Jesse F. Keeler, Canadian musician
* 1977 – Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (d. 2002)
* 1977 – Maniche, Portuguese footballer
* 1978 – Lou Vincent, New Zealand cricketer
* 1980 – Jaeson Ma, Pastor, Artist, Missionary
* 1980 – Willie Parker, American football player
* 1980 – Edmoore Takaendesa, Zimbabwean-born German rugby player
* 1981 – Natalie Glebova, Russian/Canadian beauty queen, Miss Universe 2005
* 1981 – Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
* 1982 – Gonzalo Canale, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
* 1982 – Jeremy Williams, British Actor
* 1983 – Brittny Gastineau, American socialite
* 1983 – Philipp Lahm, German footballer
* 1985 – Austin Collie, American football player
* 1985 – Kalan Porter, Canadian singer-songwriter
* 1985 – Jessica Sierra, American singer
* 1985 – Robin Uthappa, Indian cricketer
* 1986 – Mark Sanchez, American football player
* 1986 – Victor Cruz, American football player
* 1986 – François Trinh-Duc, French rugby player
* 1987 – Yuya Tegoshi, Japanese singer (NEWS, Tegomass)
* 1987 – Chanelle Hayes, British reality TV star
* 1988 – Kyle Naughton, English footballer
* 1989 – Reina Tanaka, Japanese pop singer (Morning Musume)
* 1989 – Lewis Williamson, British racing driver
* 1991 – Christa B. Allen, American actress
* 1994 – Connor Price, Canadian actor
Histories of 10 November (Events)
* 1293 – Raden Wijaya is crowned as the first monarch of Majapahit kingdom of Java, taking throne name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana.
* 1444 – Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw III of Poland) are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II and Vladislaus is killed.
* 1520 – Danish King Christian II executes dozens of people in the Stockholm Bloodbath after a successful invasion of Sweden.
* 1619 – René Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy.
* 1659 – Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maratha King kills Afzal Khan, Adilshahi in the battle popularly known as Battle of Pratapgarh. This is also recognised as the first defence of Swarajya
* 1674 – Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England.
* 1702 – English colonists besiege Spanish St. Augustine in Queen Anne’s War.
* 1766 – The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen’s College (later renamed Rutgers University).
* 1775 – The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas.
* 1793 – A Goddess of Reason is proclaimed by the French Convention at the suggestion of Chaumette.
* 1821 – Cry of Independence by Rufina Alfaro at La Villa de Los Santos, Panama setting into motion a revolt which lead to Panama’s independence from Spain and to it immediately becoming part of Colombia
* 1847 – The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
* 1865 – Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes.
* 1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”.
* 1898 – Beginning of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in US history.
* 1910 – The date of Thomas A. Davis’ opening of the San Diego Army and Navy Academy, though the official founding date is November 23, 1910.
* 1918 – The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa, Ontario and Washington, DC) that said on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.
* 1919 – The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ending on November 12.
* 1942 – World War II: Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan’s agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
* 1944 – The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood explodes at Seeadler Harbour, Manus, Admiralty Islands, killing at least 432 and wounding 371.
* 1945 – Heavy fighting in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and returning colonialists after World War II, is celebrated as Heroes’ Day (Hari Pahlawan).
* 1951 – Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
* 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.
* 1958 – The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.
* 1969 – National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts the children’s television program Sesame Street.
* 1970 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – For the first time in five years, an entire week ends with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
* 1970 – The Soviet Lunar probe Lunokhod 1 is launched.
* 1971 – In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.
* 1972 – Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.
* 1975 – The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
* 1975 – United Nations Resolution 3379: United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution is repealed in December 1991 by Resolution 4686).
* 1979 – A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.
* 1984 – The first Breeders’ Cup takes place at Hollywood Park Racetrack.
* 1989 – Longtime leader of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov is removed from office and replaced by Petar Mladenov.
* 1995 – In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), are hanged by government forces.
* 1997 – WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time).
* 2006 – Sri Lankan Tamil Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj is assassinated in Colombo.
* 2006 – The National Museum of the Marine Corps is opened and dedicated by U.S. President George W. Bush and annonces that Marine Corporal Jason Dunham will receive the Medal of Honor in Quantico, Virginia.
* 2007 – ¿Por qué no te callas? incident between King Juan Carlos of Spain and Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez.