November 8

Historic Events

2020

Myanmar holds the 2020 general election, re-electing a government led by the National League for Democracy, which is deposed by the Burmese military the following February during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. ›

2017

The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by the French president Emmanuel Macron and then-crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. ›

2016

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly announces the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1000 denomination banknotes. ›

2016

Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever to receive a major party's nomination. ›

2013

Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, strikes the Visayas region of the Philippines; the storm left at least 6,340 people dead with over 1,000 still missing, and caused $2.86 billion (2013 USD; equivalent to $3.95 billion in 2025) in damage. ›

2011

The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passes 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976. ›

2006

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Israeli Defense Force kill 19 Palestinian civilians in their homes during the shelling of Beit Hanoun. ›

2004

Iraq War: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. ›

2002

Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences". ›

1999

Bruce Miller is killed at his junkyard near Flint, Michigan. His wife Sharee Miller, who convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him (before later killing himself) was convicted of the crime, in what became the world's first Internet murder. ›

1997

Eritrea adopts the nakfa as its official currency. ›

1994

Republican Revolution: On the night of the 1994 United States midterm elections, Republicans make historic electoral gains by securing massive majorities in both houses of Congress (54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate, additionally), thus bringing to a close four decades of Democratic domination. ›

1988

U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected as the 41st president. ›

1987

Remembrance Day bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded. ›

1983

TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 crashes after takeoff from Lubango Airport killing all 130 people on board. UNITA claims to have shot down the aircraft, though this is disputed. ›

1981

Aeroméxico Flight 110 crashes near Zihuatanejo, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board. ›

1977

Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina. ›

1973

The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper outlet along with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million. ›

1972

American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches. ›

1968

The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories. ›

1966

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction. ›

1966

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League. ›

1965

The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands. ›

1965

The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom for almost all crimes. ›

1965

The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Viet Cong at the Battle of Gang Toi. ›

1965

American Airlines Flight 383 crashes in Constance, Kentucky, killing 58. ›

1963

Finnair's Aero Flight 217 crashes near Mariehamn Airport in Jomala, Åland, killing 22 people. ›

1960

John F. Kennedy is elected as the 35th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, who would later be elected president in 1968 and 1972. ›

1957

Pan Am Flight 7 disappears between San Francisco and Honolulu. Wreckage and bodies are discovered a week later. ›

1957

Operation Grapple X, Round C1: The United Kingdom conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific. ›

1950

Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history. ›

1942

World War II: French Resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyist generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers. ›

1940

Greco-Italian War: The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas. ›

1939

Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans. ›

1939

In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. ›

1937

The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich. ›

1936

Spanish Civil War: Francoist troops fail in their effort to capture Madrid, but begin the three-year Siege of Madrid afterwards. ›

1933

Great Depression: New Deal: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed. ›

1932

Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected as the 32nd President of the United States, defeating incumbent president Herbert Hoover. ›

1923

Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government. ›

1920

Rupert Bear, illustrated by Mary Tourtel makes his first appearance in print. ›

1919

Eichenfeld massacre: Members of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine murder 136 Mennonite colonists at Jaskyowo, initiating a series of massacres that resulted in the deaths of 827 Ukrainian Mennonites. ›

1917

The first Council of People's Commissars is formed, including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. ›

1901

Gospel riots: Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek. ›

1895

While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray. ›

1892

The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time. ›

1892

The Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing marks the start of Émile Henry's attacks into the Ère des attentats (1892–1894). ›

1889

Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state. ›

1861

American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US. ›

1837

Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College. ›

1745

Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of approximately 5,000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden. ›

1644

The Shunzhi Emperor, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, is enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over China. ›

1620

The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours. ›

1614

Japanese daimyō Dom Justo Takayama is exiled to the Philippines by shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu for being Christian. ›

1605

Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed. ›

1602

The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public. ›

1576

Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent: The States General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation. ›

1520

After being crowned king of Sweden, Christian II gave the order to execute nearly 100 people, mostly noblemen, despite promises of general amnesty. ›

1519

Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration. ›

1291

The Republic of Venice enacts a law confining most of Venice's glassmaking industry to the "island of Murano". ›

1278

Trần Thánh Tông, the second emperor of the Trần dynasty, decides to pass the throne to his crown prince Trần Khâm and take up the post of Retired Emperor. ›

960

Battle of Andrassos: Byzantines under Leo Phokas the Younger score a crushing victory over the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla. ›