November 2Birthdays & History

On this day: November 2 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 619A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu.Asia
2. 1410The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War.Europe
3. 1675Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip's War.North America
4. 1707Four British naval vessels run aground on the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation. In response, the first Longitude Act is enacted in 1714.Europe
5. 1795The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.Europe
6. 1868Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally.Oceania
7. 1882The great fire destroys a large part of Oulu's city center in Oulu Province, Finland.Europe
8. 1889North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.North America
9. 1899The Boers begin their 118-day siege of British-held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.AfricaEurope
10. 1912Bulgaria defeats the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opens her way to Constantinople.EuropeMiddle East
11. 1914World War I: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles is subsequently closed.EuropeMiddle East
12. 1917The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting.Europe
13. 1917The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".EuropeMiddle East
14. 1920The Ocoee massacre commences in Orange County, Florida on the day of the 1920 United States presidential election.North America
15. 1920In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the 1920 United States presidential election.North America
16. 1936The BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, "high-definition" (then defined as at least 200 lines) service begins. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day.Europe
17. 1940World War II: First day of Battle of Elaia–Kalamas between the Greeks and the Italians.Europe
18. 1947In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"), the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built until Scaled Composites rolled out their Stratolaunch in May 2017.North America
19. 1949The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference ends with the Netherlands agreeing to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia.EuropeAsiaNorth America
20. 1951Canada in the Korean War: A platoon of The Royal Canadian Regiment defends a vital area against a full battalion of Chinese troops in the Battle of the Song-gok Spur. The engagement lasts into the early hours the next day.North AmericaAsia
21. 1956Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip.Middle East
22. 1956Hungarian Revolution: Nikita Khrushchev meets with leaders of other Communist countries to seek their advice on the situation in Hungary, selecting János Kádár as the country's next leader on the advice of Josip Broz Tito.Europe
23. 1959Quiz show scandals: Twenty-One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.North America
24. 1959The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway.Europe
25. 1960Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.Europe
26. 1963South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.Asia
27. 1964King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother Faisal.Middle East
28. 1965Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.Asia
29. 1966The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.Latin AmericaNorth America
30. 1967Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "The Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.AsiaNorth America
31. 1973Aeroflot Flight 19 is hijacked and diverted to Vnukovo International Airport, where the aircraft is stormed by authorities.Europe
32. 1982Channel 4, the British free-to-air public broadcast television channel funded by its commercial activities, starts broadcasting.Europe
33. 1983U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day.North America
34. 1984Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.North America
35. 1986Lebanon hostage crisis: U.S. hostage David Jacobsen is released in Beirut after 17 months in captivity.Middle EastNorth America
36. 1988LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 crashes in Białobrzegi, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland, killing one person and injuring several more.Europe
37. 1988The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.North America
38. 1990British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television plc merge to form BSkyB as a result of massive losses.Europe
39. 1997Tropical Storm Linda makes landfall in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, causing more than 3,000 deaths.Asia
40. 1999Honolulu shootings: In the worst mass murder in the history of Hawaii, a gunman shoots at eight people in his workplace, killing seven.North America
41. 2000Expedition 1 arrived at the International Space Station for the first long-duration stay onboard. From this day to present, a continuous human presence in space on the station remains uninterrupted.World
42. 2008Lewis Hamilton secured his maiden Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by one point ahead of Felipe Massa at the Brazilian Grand Prix, after a pass for fifth place against the Toyota of Timo Glock on the final lap of the race.Latin AmericaAsia
43. 2016The Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, ending the longest Major League Baseball championship drought at 108 years.North America
44. 2020In Vienna's Innere Stadt district, an ISIL sympathizer shoots and kills four people and injures 23 more, before being shot and killed by the police.Europe
45. 2022A peace agreement is signed between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, ending the Tigray War.Africa

Source: Wikipedia "November 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0