1918 – WWI Armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” This day became recognized as Veteran’s Day in the United States.
308 – The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Maxentius and Licinius to be Augusti, while rival contender Constantine I is declared Caesar of Britain and Gaul.
725 – English pilgrim Willibald (later St. Willibald) arrives in Jerusalem. One of the first known Europeans to visit the Holy Land.
1158 – Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa declares himself ruler of North Italy
1400 – Battle of Aleppo: Timur and his army defeat the forces of Sultan Faraj, Mameluke ruler of Egypt, 20,000 people reportedly massacred and a pyramid of their skulls built
1620 – The Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower when they landed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The compact called for “just and equal laws.”
1640 – Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, impeached by the House of Lords on the evidence of John Pym, and imprisoned in the Tower of London; he was later executed.
1647 – Massachusetts passes first compulsory school attendance law in the American colonies
1750 – The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, was formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the first college fraternity.
1775 – Mohawk military leader Joseph Brant goes to London to solicit more support from the government and to persuade the Crown to address past Mohawk land grievances in exchange for their participation as allies in the impending war
1778 – British Soldiers and Loyalists, allied with Iroquois and Seneca raiders, slaughter 40 in the “Cherry Valley Massacre” in central New York
1831 – Nat Turner, a slave and educated minister, was hanged in Jerusalem, VA, after inciting a violent slave uprising.
1851 – The telescope was patented by Alvan Clark.
1868 – War of the Triple Alliance: Allied victory in the Battle of Avay leaves 3,000 Paraguayan soldiers dead, 600 wounded and the road to Asunción open
1880 – Australian outlaw and bank robber Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne jail at age 25.
1887 – Labor Activists were hanged in Illinois after being convicted of being connected to a bombing that killed eight police officers.
1889 – Washington became the 42nd state of the United States.
1905 – High Commissioner Prince George declares amnesty for all leaders of the insurrection that has been disturbing Crete during the recent months – but which never gained mass support
1911 – Russia issues an ultimatum to Persia and follows it with an invasion of North Persia to impose political control
1918 – WWI Armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect and World War I hostilities end at 11am, “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” This day became recognized as Veteran’s Day in the United States.
1918 – Poland was reestablished shortly after the surrender of Germany.
1920 – The body of an unknown British soldier was buried in Westminster Abbey. The service was recorded with the first electronic recording process developed by Lionel Guest and H.O. Merriman.
1921 – The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia by U.S. President Harding.
1923 – Eternal flame lit for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
1926 – U.S. Route 66 is established from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California 2,448 miles
1938 – Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” on network radio.
1940 – Willys unveiled its General Purpose vehicle (“Jeep”)
1942 – During World War II, Germany completed its occupation of France.
1942 – 745 French Jews deported to Auschwitz
1961 – Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian UN pilots
1965 – The government of Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain. The country later became known as Zimbabwe.
1966 – The U.S. launched Gemini 12 from Cape Kennedy, FL. The craft circled the Earth 59 times before returning.
1972 – The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Bihn to the South Vietnamese army. The event symbolized the end of direct involvement in the Vietnam War by the U.S. military.
1975 – Civil war broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal.
1981 – The U.S.S. Ohio was commissioned at the Electric Boat Division in Groton, CT. It was the first Trident class submarine.
1984 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan accepted the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a gift to the nation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
1987 – Judge Anthony Kennedy nominated to Supreme Court
1988 – Police in Sacramento, CA, found the first of seven bodies buried on the grounds of a boardinghouse. Dorothea Puente was later charged in the deaths of nine people, convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison.
1989 – Romanian students protest in Bucharest before the Communist Party congress, shouting “we want reforms”, in a sign of the revolution to come
1990 – Stormie Jones, the world’s first heart-liver transplant recipient, died at a Pittsburgh hospital at age 13.
1991 – The U.S. stationed its first diplomat in Cambodia in 16 years to help the nation arrange democratic elections.
1992 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin told U.S. senators in a letter that Americans had been held in prison camps after World War II. Some were “summarily executed,” but others were still living in his country voluntarily.
1992 – The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.
1993 – In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated to honor the more than 11,000 women who had served in the Vietnam War.
1994 – In Gaza, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at an Israeli military checkpoint killing three soldiers.
1996 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund unveiled “The Wall That Heals.” The work was a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that would tour communities throughout the United States.
1998 – Israel’s Cabinet ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.
1999 – House of Lords Act 1999 passed, The act removed the right to a place in the House of Lords based on peerage and hereditary rights.
2001 – Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton and Volker Handloik are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they were traveling on top off.
2014 – An Italian appeals court overturns a manslaughter conviction against 6 scientists for failing to give adequate warning of a deadly earthquake
2015 – Montreal begins a controversial dumping of raw sewage (2.1bn gallons) into the St Lawrence River
2018 – Democratic Republic of Congo announces its worst-ever outbreak of Ebola with 198 deaths
2018 – On centenary of WWI Armistice Day French President Macron urges world to reject Nationalism in speech to under Arc de Triomphe in Paris
2019 – Violent day in Hong Kong as protests continue with person set alight and another shot amid general strike
2020 – UK becomes the first European country to record over 50,000 Covid-19 related 50,000; 5fth country, after the US, Brazil, India, and Mexico
2021 – Near-earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa, the size of a ferris wheel, very likely a fragment of the moon, according to a new study
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
