History of 5th November

1228 - Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China
1414 - Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens
1492 - Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from Indians of Cuba
1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany). This Breton-French-Latin dictionary was written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc. It is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary.
1530 - St Felix Flood ravages Dutch coast
1530 - St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands
1556 - Akbar (14) succeeds his father Humajun on as Sultan of Delhi
1556 - Battle at Panipat: Mogollegers beat hindu leader Hemu
1605 - Gunpowder Plot; Catholics try to blow up English Parliament. Plot uncovered & leader Guy Fawkes hanged
1630 - Spain & England sign peace treaty
1639 - 1st post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
1678 - Brandenburgse troops occupy Greifswald in Sweden
1725 - Spain & Austria sign secret treaty
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)
1780 - French-American force under Colonel LaBalme is defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.
1781 - John Hanson elected 1st "Pres 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
1846 - Robert Schumann's 2nd Symphony in C, premieres
1854 - Crimean War: British & French defeat Russian force of 50,000
1862 - Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellen as head of Army of Potomac
1862 - Battle at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia: 51 casualties
1871 - Susan B Anthony arrested trying to vote in Rochester NY
1872 - Susan B Anthony fined $100 for trying to vote for Ulysses S Grant
1872 - Ulysses S Grant re-elected US president
1876 - Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Nyangwe
1881 - French government-Ferry resigns
1882 - Bedrich Smetana's "Ma Vlast," premieres
1883 - Battle at El Obeid Sudan: Mahdi's army destroys Egyptian army
1883 - Musical "Cordelia's Aspirations" premieres in NYC
1887 - Ottawa College (ORFU) defeats Montreal Football Club (QRFU) 10-5 to win the Dominion championship
1894 - Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
1894 - Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegels," premieres
1895 - 1st US patent granted for auto (George B Selden)
1895 - George Selden patents 1st gasoline-driven car
1895 - King Edward VII says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
1895 - US state Utah accepts female suffrage
1898 - Gerhart Hauptmanns "Fuhrmann Henschel," premieres in Berlin
1911 - Italy attacks Turkish North-Africa (Libya), takes Tipoli & Cyrenaica
1911 - Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena completing 1st transcontinental airplane flight (49 days) (left Sheepshead Bay, NY, Sept 17)
1912 - Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
1912 - Bulgarian troops in Constantinople blockade drinking water
1912 - Woodrow Wilson (D) defeats Theodore Roosevelt (Prog) & Pres Taft (R)
1913 - Ludwig III crowned king of Bavaria
1914 - Britain annexes Cyprus
1914 - Great Britain & France & Russia declares war on Turkey
1916 - Emperor Wilhelm II & French Jozef I establishes kingdom of Poland
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 Lousiville Ky ordiance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas
1919 - Ir à Steringa Idzerda begins hosting "soirée-musical" on Dutch radio
1922 - Demonstration for a Dutch University in Ghent
1925 - Mussolini disbands Italian socialist parties
1927 - 10th PGA Championship: Water Hagen at Cedar Crest CC Dallas
1927 - Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa for 4th consecutive PGA title
1930 - Nobel for literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis for "Babbitt"
1932 - Mussolini frees 16,000 criminals
1933 - Chicago Bears 30 game unbeaten streak ends to Patriots (10-0)
1933 - Spanish Basques vote for autonomy
1935 - Maryland Court of Appeals orders U of M to admit (black) Donald Murray
1935 - Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly
1936 - French writer Andre Gide criticizes Soviet regime
1937 - Hitler informs his military leader of his intentions of going to war
1937 - World War II: Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
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
1940 - Dutch submarine departs Dundee
1940 - Pres FDR (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)
1940 - Walter Johnson, won 416 games for Wash Senators, loses Maryland congressional race (R)
1941 - Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima leave Pearl Harbor
1942 - Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
1942 - Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
1943 - -6] Vatican bombed
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.
1946 - John F Kennedy (D-Mass) elected to House of Representatives
1950 - Cleveland Browns' Tommy James intercepts 3 passes, club record
1950 - Philippines president Quirino ends emergency crisis
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1953 - Nobel prize for physics awarded/appended on Frederik Zernicke
1953 - Paul Searls saws a 32" log in 86.4 seconds
1953 - Terence Rattigans' "Sleeping Prince," premieres in London
1955 - Mont Canadien Jean Beliveau scores 2nd fastest hat trick (44 seconds)
1955 - New Vienna Opera house opens (Austria)
1956 - Britain & France land forces in Egypt
1956 - Dutch Communist Party office of Felix Meritis seized
1956 - Israel liberates Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba
1956 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Datis nuperrime
1957 - Félix Gaillard forms govt in France
1957 - Mrs Nellie McGrail wins $574,658 on a 2½ cent soccer pool ticket
1958 - "Maria Golovin" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 5 performances
1958 - KGLD (now KSNG) TV channel 11 in Garden City, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
1959 - AFL announced with 8 teams
1961 - India's premier Nehru arrives in NY

1961 - St Louis Cards Bill Stacy, returns 2 interceptions for TDs vs Dallas
1963 - US VP Lyndon B Johnson visits Netherlands
1964 - US launches Mariner 3 toward Mars; no data returned
1966 - Brigham Young QB Virgil Carter sets NCAA record of 599 yards gained
1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 - ATS-3 launched by US to take 1st pictures of full Earth disk
1967 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Corpus Christi Civitan Golf Open
1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st NFL victory, beat Phila Eagles 31-24
1967 - US troops conquer Loc Ninh South Vietnam
1967 - Yemen president Sallal flees
1967 - The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people. The survivors include Bee Gee Robin Gibb.
1968 - 1st AL pitcher to win MVP, Denny McLain (wins unanimously)
1968 - Nixon (R) beats VP Humphrey (D) & George C Wallace for presidency
1971 - Bolivia passes death penalty for political kidnapping
1971 - NBA's LA Lakers starts a 33 game consecutive victory streak
1972 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Lady Errol Golf Classic
1973 - BART starts SF-Daly City train shuttle service
1974 - Dmitri Sjotakovitch completes Michelangelo-liederen
1974 - Ella Grasso (Ct) elected 1st woman US gov not related to previous gov
1974 - Walter E Washington, becomes 1st elected mayor of Wash DC
1975 - British government sends troops to Belize
1975 - Sao Tome & Principe adopts constitution
1976 - Balt Jim Palmer wins AL Cy Young Award
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)
1978 - Iranian PM Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
1978 - Khomeini followers attack British embassy/El Al office in Iran
1978 - Oakland Raider's John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
1979 - Iran government of Bazargan resigns
1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declares US "The Great Satan"
1981 - Charles Fuller's "Soldier's Play," premieres in NYC
1981 - Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficing, conspiracy, & possession of cocaine
1982 - Cleveland Cavaliers lose 24th consecutive game (NBA record)
1982 - George Harrison releases "Gone Troppo" album
1983 - NY Rangers & Quebec Nordiques both score in 1st 14 secs of 3rd period
1983 - Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
1985 - "News" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 4 performances
1987 - "Into the Woods" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 764 performances
1987 - France performs nuclear test
1987 - Iceberg twice size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
1987 - South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
1987 - Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine's musical "Into the Stars," premieres
1987 - Supreme Court nominee Douglas H Ginsburg admitted using marijuana
1988 - 1st NBA game at Bradley Center, Milw Bucks lose to LA Clippers 111-91
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 grad student source of worst computer sabotage
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)
1988 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Alysheba, Gt Communicator, Gulch, Is It True, Miesque, Open Mind, Personal Ensign at Churchill Downs
1989 - "Threepenny Opera" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 65 perfs
1989 - 19th NYC Women's Marathon won by Ingrid Kristiansen in 2:25:30
1989 - 20th NYC Marathon won by Juma Ikangaa in 2:08:01
1989 - Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions
1989 - Elaine Crosby wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic
1989 - US plays El Salvador, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1991 - Kiichi Miyazawa elected premier of Japan
1991 - Richard J Kerr, ends term as acting director of CIA
1992 - "Show Off" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1992 - Bobby Fisher beats Boris Spassky to with Chess title in Belgrade
1993 - 1st NBA game in Alamodome, San Antonio Spurs beat Warriors 91-85
1994 - Space probe Ulyssus completes 1st passage behind the Sun
1994 - Tony Rominger bicycles world record time (55,291 km)
1994 - Yak-40 accident in north of Peru, 8 killed
1994 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Barathea, Cherokee Run, Concern, Flanders, One Dreamer, Tikkanen, Timber Country
1995 - George Foreman beats Michael Moorer to win WBA/IBF boxing title
1995 - STS 73 (Columbia 18), lands
1995 - Woo-Soon Ko wins LPGA Toray Japan Queens Cup Golf Tournament
1995 - 1st NBA game at General Motors Place, Vancouver Grizzlies beat Minn Timberwolves 100-98 in OT
1995 - André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Jean Chrétien; he is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door.
1996 - Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is the unanimous choice as AL Rookie of
1997 - 2 hours after Davey Johnson resigns, he is named AL Manager of Year
1997 - French court orders producer Jacques Charrier, ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, to pay the former screen star $8,300 in damages
2000 - Emperor Haile Selassie I is given an Imperial funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church
2006 - Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi'as in 1982.
2007 - China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon.