Today's 5 November Major Events in History

Photo for the article Today's 5 November Major Events

1228 Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, is compiled in China
1414 Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens

Columbus Learns About Corn

1492 Christopher Columbus learns how to grow and harvest maize (corn) from Cuba's Indigenous population

1499 Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany). Breton-French-Latin dictionary written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc was first Breton and French dictionary

Copernicus Observes Eclipse

1500 -6th Nov astronomer Copernicus observes a lunar eclipse in Rome

1530 St Felix Flood ravages Dutch coast and destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands

Second Battle of Panipat

1556 Second Battle of Panipat: Hindu Emperor of North India Hem Chandra Vikramaditya is defeated by forces of Mughal Emperor Akbar, who captures and later beheads Hem Chandra

Brahe Observes a Supernova

1572 Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observes a bright new object with the naked eye in the Cassiopeia constellation, which he believes to be a new star but is now known as a supernova, a massive explosion of a dying star [1]

Van den Bergh Imprisoned

1583 Dutch Count William IV van den Bergh, Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen and his family taken prisoner on suspicion of treason by forces of William I of Orange

1605 Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot. The plot is discovered, and Guy Fawkes is caught, tortured, and later executed along with seven others. Celebrated ever since as Guy Fawkes Day, his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, accompanied by fireworks.

1630 Spain and England sign The Treaty of Madrid, the peace treaty ending the Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630)
1639 First post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
1678 Sweden loses Greifswald to Brandenburg forces during Scanian War
1725 Spain and Austria sign a secret treaty

A Treatise of Human Nature

1740 The third volume of philosopher David Hume's seminal work "A Treatise of Human Nature" is published by Thomas Longman

1743 Coordinated scientific observations of the transit of Mercury were organized by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle
1757 Battle at Rossbach (7 year war/French & Indian War)

Boston Tea Declaration

1773 John Hancock is elected as moderator at a Boston town meeting that resolves that anyone who supports the Tea Act is an "Enemy to America"

1780 French-American force under Colonel LaBalme is defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle
1781 John Hanson elected first "President of US in Congress assembled"
1789 Fleeing slaves under Bonni attack military post on Suriname
1789 French National Meeting declares all citizens equal under law
1811 El Salvador's 1st battle against Spain for independence
1838 Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation

1854 Crimean War: British & French defeat Russian force of 50,000 at Inkerman

1862 Battle at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia: 51 casualties

Susan B. Anthony Votes Illegally

1872 American women's right to vote advocate Susan B. Anthony votes for Ulysses S. Grant

Pacific Scandal

1873 Due to the fallout from the Pacific Scandal, John A. Macdonald resigns as Prime Minister of Canada

1876 Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Nyangwe
1881 1,600 police and volunteers attack Māori settlement at Parihaka in western Taranaki which had become the symbol of protest against the confiscation of Māori land, New Zealand
1881 French government-Ferry resigns

Má Vlast

1882 Bedřich Smetana's complete "Má vlast" premieres, conducted by Adolf Čech, at Žofín Palace, in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia

1883 Battle at El Obeid Sudan: Mahdi's army destroys Egyptian army
1883 Edward Harrigan's musical farce "Cordelia's Aspirations" premieres at Theatre Comique, NYC
1887 Ottawa College (ORFU) defeats Montreal Football Club (QRFU) 10-5 to win the Dominion championship
1889 Louisa Woosley is the first woman ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination in the US (Cumberland Presbyterian Church)
1894 Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
1894 Richard Strauss' tone poem "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" premieres
1895 Edward, Prince of Wales, says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
1895 First US automobile patent is granted to George B. Selden for a gasoline-driven car
1895 US state Utah accepts female suffrage
1898 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Fuhrmann Henschel" premieres in Berlin

1900 Under US military control since the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Cuba now calls its own constitutional convention

1901 Debut concert of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Emil Młynarski; program features Zygmunt Stojowski's Symphony in D minor (Op. 21)

Amundsen Completes Northwest Passage

1905 Roald Amundsen reaches Eagle City, Alaska, to announce to the world by telegraph his is the first expedition, in 400 years of attempts, to complete a Northwest Passage [1]

1911 Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena, completing the first transcontinental airplane flight in 49 days after leaving Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17
1911 Italian forces take Tripoli & Cyrenaica, declaring suzerainty over Ottoman-controlled Libya
1912 Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
1912 Bulgarian troops in Constantinople blockade drinking water

Wilson Elected President

1912 Democrat candidate Woodrow Wilson is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt

1913 Ludwig III crowned king of Bavaria
1914 Britain declares war on Turkey and annexes Cyprus, occupied since 1878; the immediate reason is to keep it from being taken by Turkey

1916 Second Chamber accept initial impetus to general males/female suffrage
1916 The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between IWW organizers and local police.
1917 Gen Pershing & US troops see action on Western Front for 1st time
1917 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring backs & whites to live in separate areas
1919 Ir à Steringa Idzerda begins hosting "soirée-musical" on Dutch radio
1921 Soviet Russia signs a treaty with Mongolia, temporarily supporting the new government against China and Japanese incursions
1922 Demonstration for a Dutch University in Ghent
1925 British secret agent Sidney Reilly ('Ace of Spies') is executed in a forest near Moscow by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union

Socialists Disbanded

1925 Mussolini disbands Italian socialist parties

1930 Nobel for literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis for "Babbitt"
1932 Benito Mussolini frees 16,000 convicts
1933 Chicago Bears 30 game unbeaten streak ends to Patriots (10-0)
1933 Spanish Basques vote for autonomy
1935 Maryland Court of Appeals orders University of Maryland to admit Donald Murray, a Black man as a student
1935 Parker Brothers launches the board game Monopoly

Andre Gide Criticizes USSR

1936 French writer Andre Gide criticizes the Soviet regime in his "Return from the U. S. S. R" after his visit to the Soviet Union

Hitler Plans for War

1937 Adolf Hitler informs his military leaders in a secret meeting of his intention to go to war

1938 Ottawa Roughriders score on 5-man, 4-lateral, 65-yard punt return
1938 Rugers beats Princeton 1st time in 60 yrs as Rutgers Stad dedicated
1939 Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Symphony premieres in Leningrad
1940 Allied convoy of 38 ships encounters German cruiser Admiral Scheer in the north Atlantic, its escort HMS Jervis Bay sacrifices itself with the loss of 190 lives, five other convoy ships sunk
1940 Dutch submarine departs Dundee
1940 Former baseball player for the Washington Senators, Walter Johnson loses Maryland congressional race (R)

FDR Re-elected

1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected President of the United States for an unprecedented third term, defeating Republican candidate Wendell Willkie

1941 Japanese naval staff officers Suzuki and Maejima leave Pearl Harbor

1942 Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
1942 Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
1943 Vatican in Rome bombed by unknown source
1944 Allied troops reach Zoutelande, Walcheren
1944 Canadian & British troops liberate Dinteloord
1944 German troops blow-up Heusden North Brabant city hall, 134 die
1945 Colombia joins the United Nations.

JFK Elected to Congress

1946 John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) elected to US House of Representatives

1950 Cleveland Browns' Tommy James intercepts 3 passes, club record

1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

How to Marry a Millionaire

1953 First CinemaScope technology film, "How to Marry a Millionaire" directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe release is delayed to allow "The Robe" to debut the format

1953 Nobel prize for physics awarded to Frederik Zernicke
1953 Paul Searls saws a 32-inch (0.81 m) log in 86.4 seconds

1954 Montreal Canadien center Jean Béliveau scores 3 goals in 44 seconds on future Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk in 4-2 win v Boston Bruins; 2nd fastest NHL hat trick
1955 Date returned to in "Back to the Future" by Marty McFly
1955 The rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens after being destroyed in World War II with Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio"

The Nat King Cole Show

1956 "The Nat King Cole Show" debuts on NBC, the first variety program to be hosted by an African-American

1956 Britain and France land airborne forces at Port Said in Egypt, escalating the Suez Crisis
1956 Dutch Communist Party office of Felix Meritis seized
1956 Israel liberates Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba

Datis nuperrime

1956 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Datis nuperrime on the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution

1957 Mrs. Nellie McGrail wins $574,658 on a 2½-cent soccer pool ticket
1958 KGLD (now KSNG) TV channel 11 in Garden City, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
1959 AFL announced with 8 teams
1961 India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru arrives in NY
1961 NFL St Louis Cardinals' Bill Stacy, returns 2 interceptions for TDs vs Dallas Cowboys
1963 US VP Lyndon B. Johnson visits Netherlands
1964 US launches Mariner 3 toward Mars; no data returned

1966 BYU quarterback Virgil Carter sets new NCAA single-game records with 513 passing yards and 599 yards of total offence in 53-33 win against Texas Western in Provo, Utah
1966 The Monkees score their 1st Billboard No. 1 - ‘Last Train To Clarksville’, written by Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce
1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 ATS-3 launched by US to take first pictures of full Earth disc
1967 New Orleans Saints 1st NFL victory, beat Philadelphia Eagles 31-24

Hither Green Rail Crash

1967 The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people; survivors include Bee Gee Robin Gibb

1967 US troops conquer Loc Ninh South Vietnam
1967 Yemen president Sallal flees
1968 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. re-elected as congressman from New York in general election
1968 MLB Detroit Tigers Denny McLain 1st AL pitcher to win MVP, winning unanimously

1971 Bolivia passes death penalty for political kidnapping
1971 NBA's LA Lakers starts a 33 game consecutive victory streak
1972 Vice-President of Sinn Féin Maire Drumm is arrested in the Republic of Ireland
1973 Arab producers announce 25 percent cut in oil production
1973 BART starts SF-Daly City train shuttle service

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle

1973 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's second album "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle"

1974 Dmitri Shostakovich completes Michelangelo songs
1974 Ella Grasso (Ct) elected first woman US governor not related to previous governor
1974 Walter E Washington, becomes first elected mayor of Washington, D.C.
1975 British government sends troops to Belize
1975 Sao Tome & Principe adopts constitution
1976 New AL franchises in Seattle & Toronto fill up their rosters
1976 Pirates trade Manny Sanguillen & $100,000 to A's for mgr Chuck Tanner
1976 USSR performs nuclear test
1977 NCAA passing record set at 571 yards (Marc Wilson, Brigham Young)

Protesters Attack British Embassy

1978 Followers of Ayatollah Khomeini attack the British Embassy and the office of El Al Airlines in Tehran

PM Sharif-Emami Resigns

1978 Iranian PM Jafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi amidst escalating civil unrest and widespread strikes

1978 Oakland Raider's John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
1979 Iran government of Bazargan resigns
1979 Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini describes the United States as "The Great Satan" amid accusations of imperialism and the sponsoring of corruption
1981 Former NFL Miami Dolphins player Mercury Morris is sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, conspiracy, and possession of cocaine; reaches plea bargain while conviction was in appeal, serves only 3-1/2 years
1982 Cleveland Cavaliers lose 24th consecutive game (NBA record)

1983 NY Rangers & Quebec Nordiques both score in 1st 14 secs of 3rd period
1983 Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
1985 CBS premieres "Stone Pillow", a dramatic made-for-TV movie starring Lucille Ball as a homeless woman
1987 An iceberg twice the size of Rhode Island breaks from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf
1987 France performs nuclear test
1987 South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
1987 US Supreme Court nominee Douglas H. Ginsburg admits using marijuana, later withdraws from consideration
1988 "Kokomo" single by The Beach Boys from the film "Cocktail" goes to #1
1988 "Kokomo", single by the Beach Boys from the film "Cocktail" tops the charts, their first hit in 20 years, and to date their latest
1988 1st NBA game at Bradley Center, Milw Bucks lose to Atlnata Hawks 94-107
1988 1st NBA game at Miami Arena, Miami Heat loss to LA Clippers, 111-91
1988 1st NBA game at Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons beat Hornets 94-85
1988 Cornell confirms a graduate student is the source of a major computer sabotage known as the Morris Worm, initially created as an experiment but spreading rapidly due to a programming error
1988 France performs nuclear test
1988 Gulch wins Breeder's Cup
1988 Japan beats MLB all stars 2-1 in Tokyo (Game 1 of 7)
1989 Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions
1989 French McLaren driver Alain Prost withdraws early in wet Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide but wins his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 16 points from teammate Ayrton Senna
1989 US plays El Salvador in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1990 Reports of increasing Saudi petroleum production and lower world demand
1991 Kiichi Miyazawa elected premier of Japan
1991 Richard J Kerr ends term as acting director of CIA

Revenge Match of the 20th Century

1992 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky in an unofficial match in Belgrade dubbed the "Revenge Match of the 20th Century"

1993 1st NBA game in Alamodome, San Antonio Spurs beat Warriors 91-85

1994 Space probe Ulyssus completes the first passage behind the Sun
1994 Tony Rominger bicycles a world record for distance covered in one hour for the second time (55.291 km)
1994 Yak-40 accident in north of Peru, 8 killed

Attempt on Jean Chrétien

1995 André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; he is thwarted when the PM's wife locks the door.

1995 First NBA game at General Motors Place in Vancouver; Grizzlies beat Minnesota Timberwolves, 100-98 in OT
1995 STS 73 (Columbia 18), lands

Bill Clinton Re-elected

1996 Bill Clinton is re-elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Bob Dole

Sonny Bono Re-Elected

1996 Voters in California re-elect entertainer Sonny Bono to US Congress

1996 Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is the unanimous choice as AL Rookie of the Year
1997 Davey Johnson is named AL Manager of Year two hours after resigning from the Baltimore Orioles
1997 French court orders producer Jacques Charrier, ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, to pay the former screen star $8,300 in damages

Selassie Laid to Rest

2000 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie is laid to rest 25 years after his death after a funeral procession through Addis Ababa

Saddam Hussein Sentenced

2006 Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, along with co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for their role in the 1982 massacre of 148 Shiites from Dujail

2007 China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon.
2009 US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan (US Army Medical Corps) killed 13 and wounded 43 at Fort Hood, Texas in the largest mass shooting ever at a US military installation.

Ai Weiwei Under House Arrest

2010 Ai Weiwei is reportedly placed under house arrest by Chinese authorities because of a planned party to mark the demolition of his new studio in Shanghai

2012 50 Syrian military personnel are killed by a suicide car bomb in Hama
2012 Widespread flooding in Nigeria kills 363 people and displaces 2.1 million
2013 4 people are killed after a 4-story building under construction collapses in Lagos, Nigeria
2013 Bill de Blasio is elected New York City Mayor
2014 New Zealand Prime Minister John Key rules out sending troops to fight against Islamic State, but claims there are 40 New Zealanders on 'terror watchlist'
2015 Collins Dictionary name "binge-watch" the word of the year, followed by "transgender"
2015 Fundão dam in Brazil collapses, killing about 23, causing a second dam to fail, releasing a massive flood of mud down the Rio Dulce
2015 Japan's 1st officially recognized same-sex couple union - Koyuki Higashi and Hiroko Matsuhara in Tokyo
2017 Bodies of 26 migrant teenage girls recovered from the Mediterranean, another 400 migrants rescued
2017 French-American rock climber Brooke Raboutou wins 3 medals (2 silver, 1 bronze) at the Pan American Youth Championship in Montreal, Canada
2017 Gunman shoots 26 dead and injures 20 at a church in Sunderland Springs, Texas
2017 New York City Marathon: Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya wins men's race in 2:10:53, 3 seconds ahead of Wilson Kipsang; Shalane Flanagan (2:26:53) first American to win women's race since 1977
2017 Paradise Papers are leaked; 13.4 million documents from offshore investment firm Appleby, mentioning Queen Elizabeth and Wilbur Ross US Secretary of Commerce
2017 Typhoon Damrey strikes Vietnam's south-central coast killing at least 27, leaving others missing
2017 US President Donald Trump begins a 12-day trip to Asia in Toyko, Japan
2018 "Big Brother" reality show has its last episode in the UK on Channel 5, having run since 2000; series revived in 2023
2018 BBC opens its largest news bureau outside the UK in Nairobi, Kenya with 300 journalists
2018 Child suicide rate in Japan at 30-year high with 250 taking their lives 2016/17 according to Government Ministry
2018 More than 80 students and teachers kidnapped from a boarding school in Bamenda, Cameroon

2018 NASA's Voyager 2 probe leaves the solar system, becoming the second human-made object to reach interstellar space

2018 Spice Girls announce a new tour, without "Posh Spice" Victoria Beckham
2018 Taskforce set up to identify and punish LGBT people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2019 Actress Emma Watson, interviewed in Vogue magazine, says she is happy to be single, stating, "I call it being self-partnered," launching a worldwide discussion on the term
2019 Chinese government set new rules for gaming for young people to try to curb gaming addiction, including maximum 90 mins a day
2021 Eight people crushed to death and 13 hospitalized in a crowd surge during a Travis Scott performance at Astroworld Festival, Houston, Texas [1]
2021 NFL Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers admits in interview he is unvaccinated and taking unapproved treatment after testing positive for COVID-19 and in isolation [1]
2021 Rashid Khan becomes youngest bowler to take 400 T20 wickets during a match against New Zealand in Dubai

2022 Iranian government acknowledges sending a limited number of military drones to Russia in the months before the invasion of Ukraine [1]
2022 Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin scores 787th career goal, surpassing Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, for all-time NHL record for most goals scored for a single team, in 3-2 loss to Arizona Coyotes

Trump Re-Elected

2024 Former Republican President Donald Trump is re-elected, defeating sitting Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to become only the second president elected to non-consecutive terms after Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892, and the oldest elected [1]

2024 World's first wooden satellite, named LignoSat, which will burn up on re-entry, is developed by Kyoto University to address space junk and launched from Kennedy Space Center [1]