November 2

Historic Events

2022

A peace agreement is signed between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, ending the Tigray War. ›

2020

In 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. ›

2016

The Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, ending the longest Major League Baseball championship drought at 108 years. ›

2008

Lewis 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. ›

2000

Expedition 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. ›

1999

Honolulu shootings: In the worst mass murder in the history of Hawaii, a gunman shoots at eight people in his workplace, killing seven. ›

1997

Tropical Storm Linda makes landfall in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, causing more than 3,000 deaths. ›

1990

British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television plc merge to form BSkyB as a result of massive losses. ›

1988

The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT. ›

1988

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 crashes in Białobrzegi, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland, killing one person and injuring several more. ›

1986

Lebanon hostage crisis: U.S. hostage David Jacobsen is released in Beirut after 17 months in captivity. ›

1984

Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962. ›

1983

U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. ›

1982

Channel 4, the British free-to-air public broadcast television channel funded by its commercial activities, starts broadcasting. ›

1973

Aeroflot Flight 19 is hijacked and diverted to Vnukovo International Airport, where the aircraft is stormed by authorities. ›

1967

Vietnam 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. ›

1966

The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States. ›

1965

Norman 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. ›

1964

King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother Faisal. ›

1963

South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup. ›

1960

Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, the Lady Chatterley's Lover case. ›

1959

Quiz 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. ›

1959

The 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. ›

1956

Hungarian 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. ›

1956

Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip. ›

1951

Canada 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. ›

1949

The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference ends with the Netherlands agreeing to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia. ›

1947

In 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. ›

1940

World War II: First day of Battle of Elaia–Kalamas between the Greeks and the Italians. ›

1936

The 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. ›

1920

The Ocoee massacre commences in Orange County, Florida on the day of the 1920 United States presidential election. ›

1920

In 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. ›

1917

The 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". ›

1917

The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting. ›

1914

World War I: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles is subsequently closed. ›

1912

Bulgaria defeats the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opens her way to Constantinople. ›

1899

The Boers begin their 118-day siege of British-held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War. ›

1889

North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states. ›

1882

The great fire destroys a large part of Oulu's city center in Oulu Province, Finland. ›

1868

Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally. ›

1795

The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created. ›

1707

Four British naval vessels run aground on the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation. In response, the first Longitude Act is enacted in 1714. ›

1675

Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip's War. ›

1410

The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. ›

619

A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu. ›