Browse Historical Events by Month:
Wars, expanding empires, and critical deaths. Explore significant events and milestones from November that have helped shape the world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
Note: Sources for the historical content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event.
We do our best to provide accurate information but would appreciate being notified if any incorrect information is found. You may do so by using our Feedback link.
US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested by the FBI for spying and passing classified information to Israel after he and his wife, Anne, sought to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy. He avoided a trial by pleading guilty in return for a promise of leniency for him and his wife. He received a life sentence on Nov. 1, 1987. He was paroled in 2015 after 30 years in prison and is now living in Israel. More
EgyptAir Flight 648, a Boeing 737-266 in route to Cairo from Athens on November 23, 1985, was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Organization and forced to land in Malta.
After negotiations failed, Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft. The hijackers fought back with grenades, and the resulting raid killed 56 of the 86 people on board, and two of the three hijackers,
The Iran-Contra scandal unravels - On a televised press conference, President Reagan assures viewers that he was “not fully informed on the nature of the activities undertaken in connection with this initiative” and announces that he was relieving the officials involved of their duties.
Prior to this, on October 5, a US aircraft loaded with materials for the Contras was shot down over Nicaragua by the Sandinista government. On November 3, the Lebanese weekly Al-Shiraa unveiled the whole affair which consisted of secretly selling weapons to Iran, and using the profits to fund the Contras. In 1985 the US made two shipments of arms to Iran via Israel. The following year, it handled the shipments itself. One was delivered to Tehran at the end of May 1986 by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a member of the NSC. North also delivered a bible signed by President Reagan. More
Benazir Bhutto is elected prime minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman in modern history to lead a Muslim country. She went on to serve as prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. Bhutto was murdered on 27 December 2007 by a 15-year-old suicide bomber. More
The first B-2 is displayed to the public as it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California. Its first flight was July 17, 1989. More
The Berlin Wall, which had divided East and West Berlin for nearly 30 years, is opened, leading to the eventual reunification of Germany. More
Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web, laying the foundation for the internet as we know it. More
Seattle's 50-year old, Lacey V. Murrow Bridge breaks apart and plunges into the mud beneath Lake Washington after a week of high winds and rain. The bridge was undergoing a $35.6 million renovation. It was later discovered later, that hatchways into the concrete pontoon air pockets were left open, allowing water to enter. A new Lacey V. Murrow Bridge opened the following year. More
The UN Security Council passes Resolution 678 by a vote of 12 to 2, on November 29, 1990, authorizing member states to use "all necessary means" to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, or face military action.
Only Cuba and Yemen voted against the resolution, with China abstaining. The last time a UN authorization of the use of force had occurred was in 1950, when the Security Council approved military action against North Korea after its unprovoked attack on South Korea. Iraq did not comply, leading to the Iraq war (Code name Operation Desert Storm) which started on January 17, 1991.
The European Union (EC), is officially created as the Maastricht Treaty, signed on February 7, 1992, becomes effective; establishing the beginning of a single market with free movement for people, goods, services and money.
The initial 12 EU member states were those that had ratified the Maastricht Treaty. These 12 nations were: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. (The UK formally left the EU effective on January 31, 2020) .
Note - The six countries who were the initial signatories of the Treaty of Paris (1951) and the Treaty of Rome (1957), which laid the groundwork for the EU's predecessors and the sharing of sovereignty among member states were: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These countries are referred to as EU “Founding Members” and also the "Inner Six".
View all current Members
Yitzhak Rabin, the fifth prime minister of Israel, is assassinated. The assassin, an Israeli ultra nationalist named Yigal Amir, radically opposed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's peace initiative, particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords. More
The first module of the International Space Station, named Zarya, is launched into orbit.
The Dashun, a 9,000-ton ferry carrying more than 300 people and 40 crew members catches fire during a storm on November 24, 199 and capsizes in the Yellow Sea, off the northeast coast of China.
The ferry had departed from the port city of Yantai in Shandong province on its way to the northeastern port of Dalian for what is normally a seven hours journey. Nearly everyone on board perished, including the captain with only 22 survivors accounted for.
NASA Astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev become the first crew to reside onboard the station. Expedition 1 spent four months onboard completing tasks necessary to bring the ISS "to life" and began what is now more than 20 years of continuous human presence in space. More
The United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore leads to a disputed result, eventually resolved by the Supreme Court in favor of Bush.
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300-600, N14053, crashes in Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport. All 260 people on board and five people on the ground died in the crash. More
The Turkish Grand National Assembly approves significant legal reforms making both spouses equal partners in family life and decision-making, thus making women equal to men before the law. The reforms repealed old codes that granted men supremacy in marriage and made the husband the head of the household. The new law went into effect in 2002.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratified changes to the country's legal code that made women equal to men before the law and no longer subject to their husbands. More
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a Joint Statement on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor – a deliberate famine inflicted in 1932-’33 by the Soviet regime that resulted in the starvation of millions of Ukrainians-
The Joint Statement read: “The Holodomor – The Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine – took life from 7 to 10 million innocent people and became a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people.” The Holodomor has been defined as an act of genocide by many nations around the world. It is commemorated on the 4th Saturday in November. More
The United States launches Operation Iron Hammer during the Iraq War.
