This date in history

[Jimbuna]

1915 An Austrian-Hungarian submarine (U-38) torpedos and sinks the Italian liner 'Ancona' without warning; over 200 lives lost.

1923 Hitler stages unsuccessful "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich.

1939 Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich.

1942 Hitler proclaims fall of Stalingrad from Munich beer hall.

1950 First jet-plane battle ever, in Korean War.

2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences"

[Jimbuna]

1918 Emperor Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WW I.

1918 Republic of Germany proclaimed.

1921 Partito Nazionalista Fascista formed in Italy by Mussolini.

1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Munich; Nazis fail to overthrow government, 16 die, Hitler flees.

1925 German NSDAP (Nazi party) forms Schutzstaffel (SS).

1938 Kristallnacht begins: pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria - first large-scale physical act of anti-Jewish violence, begins.

1939 Venlo-incident: German Abwehr kills 2 British agents.

1942 Transport number 44 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany.

1961 The X-15 rocket plane achieved a world record speed of 4,093 mph (Mach 6.04) and reached 101,600 feet (30,970 m or over 19 miles) altitude.

1966 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an avante-garde art exposition at Indica Gallery in London.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1872 Cargo ship Mary Celeste sails from Staten Island for Genoa; mysteriously found abandoned 4 weeks later.

Always fascinating and the source of books, stories(incl. Arthur Conan Doyle) and movies. http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/why-they-might-abandon-ship/13277 35 knot winds, a faulty pump, and within sight of land...not such a mystery perhaps. The always careful captain and his wife, child, and seven seamen took to a life boat (One was missing) mistakenly in the belief their vessel was foundering.

...in the Admiralty inquiry that the main halyard, a sturdy rope about 8cm in circumference, was found to be broken and hanging over the side of the Mary Celeste . From these bits of evidence, a possible scenario may be pieced together: Something happened on the Mary Celeste that made the captain panic, and he ordered the crew to get into the lifeboat, and abandon ship. The halyard was used then tied to the lifeboat, and the captain and his crew trailed behind the Mary Celeste to see what would happen to her. The panic turned out to be a false alarm. Unfortunately for Captain Briggs, his family and crew, the halyard snapped during the raging storm, and they were unable to get themselves back to the Mary Celeste .

The captain and his first officer were known to be reliable, capable seamen, so panic is perhaps not the best word.

[Jimbuna]

1871 Henry Morton Stanley encounters David Livingstone at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, with the immortal words 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?'

1885 German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveils the world's first motorcycle.

1918 Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe stating on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.

1938 Second day of Kristallnacht: pogrom against the Jews in Germany and Austria after assassination of a German diplomat in Paris.

1940 Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives.

1980 Iraq captures southern port of Khorramshahr (I was working there in 1977/78).

[Jimbuna]

1918 Armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect, WW I hostilities end at 11.00 am.

1920 Great Britain's monument to her war dead, the Cenotaph in Whitehall, designed by Edwin Lutyens, unveiled.

1920 The burials of unknown soldiers take place simultaneously in Westminster Abbey, London, and at the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

1921 President Harding dedicates Tomb of Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery.

1923 Eternal flame lit for tomb of unknown solder, Arc de Triumph.

1940 Thousands of Paris students lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier.

1940 British Fleet Air Arm attack destroys half of Italian fleet at Taranto.

[Jimbuna]

1912 British explorer Robert Scott's diary & body found in Antarctica.

1923 In Germany, Adolf Hitler is arrested for attempt to sieze power Nov 8.

1926 The first recorded aerial bombing on US soil took place in Williamson County, Illinois, during a feud between rival liquor gangs, the Sheltons and the Birgers.

1933 Nazis receive 92% of vote in Germany.

1938 Hermann Goering announces he wants Madagascar as a Jewish homeland.

1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins between Allied and Japanese forces in Solomon Islands (WWII).

1944 RAF sinks German battleship "Tirpitz" at Tromso Fjord, Norway.

1948 Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo sentenced to death by war crimes tribunal.

1990 Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

[Jimbuna]

1982 Vietnam War Memorial dedicated in Washington, D.C.

2015 Terror attacks in Paris at 3 locations leave at least 129 dead. Isis claim responsibility.

[Jimbuna]

1941 British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank in Mediterranean, having been torpedoed by a German submarine (U-81) the day before.

[Aktungbby]

1940: Coventry blitzed
The raid of 14 November combined several innovations which influenced all future strategic bomber raids during the war.These were:

• The use of pathfinder aircraft with electronic aids to navigate, to mark the targets before the main bomber raid.
• The use of high explosive bombs and air-mines (blockbuster bombs) coupled with thousands of incendiary bombs intended to set the city ablaze in a firestorm.

[Jimbuna]

1899 Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill captured by Boers in Natal.

1916 Canadian pilot William George Barker flying over Ancre River, spots concentration of German troops massing for counter-attack on Beaumont Hamel, sends emergency Zone Call to break up German infantry apart. Barker later receives Military Cross.

1942 World War II: First flight of the Heinkel He 219.

1960 USS G Washington, 1st sub with nuclear ballistic missiles, launched.

1961 UN bans nuclear arms.

[Jimbuna]

1776 First gun salute for an American warship in a foreign port - US Andrew Doria at Fort St Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean isalnd).

1776 British troops capture Fort Washington during American Revolution.

1841 Life preservers made of cork are patented by Napoleon Guerin (NYC).

1939 German U-boat (U-28) torpedoes neutral tanker Sliedrecht near Ireland.

1940 In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

1981 President Reagan decides on a covert plan to block the Cuban aid to Nicaragua and El Salvador.

[Jimbuna]

1307 William Tell reputedly shoots apple off his son's head.

1852 State funeral of Duke of Wellington (St Paul's Cathedral, London).

1916 General Douglas Haig finally calls off 1st Battle of the Somme (WWI) - over 1 million killed or wounded.

1939 Dutch KNSM passenger ship Simon Bolivar hits German mine, 86 die.

1943 U-211 sinks in Atlantic Ocean.

1955 Bell X-2 rocket plane taken up for 1st powered flight.

2015 French police raid terrorist cell in Saint Denis, killing 2 including the leader of the Paris terror attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

[Jimbuna]

1943 U-536 sinks in Atlantic Ocean.

1950 US General Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe.

1952 North American F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record, 1124 KPH.

[Jimbuna]

1815 2nd Treaty of Paris: France & her allies agree France pay indemnities after Battle of Waterloo, ending Napoleonic Wars. Russia, Prussia, Austria & England signs Alliance "for the maintenance of peace in Europe" same day as Treaty of Paris.

1917 First successful tank use in battle (Britain breaks through German lines) at Battle of Cambrai WWI.

1941 Adm Nomura & Kurusu hands over Japanese last diplomatic note.

1941 German "auxiliary cruiser" (armed merchant raider) Kormoran sinks near Australia.

1943 U-538 sinks in Atlantic Ocean.

1944 First Japanese suicide submarine attack (Ulithi Atol, Carolines).

1945 24 Nazi leaders put on trial at Nuremberg, Germany.

1962 USSR agrees to remove bombers from Cuba, & US lifts blockade.

1969 Brazilian soccer icon Pele scores his 1,000th goal.

[Aktungbby]

1620: The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, consisting of separatistCongregationalists who called themselves "Saints", and adventurers and tradesmen, most of whom were referred to by the Separatists as "Strangers". Later both groups were referred to as Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers. The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620 by the Pilgrims. They used the Julian Calendar, also known as Old Style dates, which, at that time, was ten days behind the Gregorian Calendar. So one way or another: today's the day!

Originally Posted by Mayflower Compact

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

41 male persons ( the actual religious separatists and not the 'civilian 'strangers'-They apparently argued that, since the Cape Cod area was outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company,(due to bad weather and mis-navigation) its rules and regulations no longer applied. The troublemakers threatened to do as they pleased "for none had power to command them," wrote William Bradford. Three thousand miles from home, a real crisis faced the colonists even before they stepped ashore.) signed the document aboard the Mayflower...and the rest is history. The English Magna Carta, written more than 400 years before the Mayflower Compact, established the principle of the rule of law. In England this still mostly meant the king's law. The Mayflower Compact continued the idea of law made by the people...3000 miles away from it all ( incl. dread King James) . This idea lies at the heart of democracy.

From its crude beginning in Plymouth, self-government evolved into the town meetings of New England and larger local governments in colonial America. By the time of the Constitutional Convention, the Mayflower Compact had been nearly forgotten, but the powerful idea of self-government had not. Born out of necessity on the Mayflower, the Compact made a significant contribution to the creation of a new democratic nation. Having been raised a Congregationalist, I will enjoy the Thanksgiving Day feast my wife (an actual Massachusetts descendant of the pilgrims) and daughter are already preparing all the more :
wiki: According to what traditionally is known as "The First Thanksgiving," the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony contained waterfowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford noted that, "besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many. Many of the foods that were included in the first feast have since gone on to become staples of the modern Thanksgiving dinner...