On This Day — 10 November
2000s
2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a ceasefire agreement, ending the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and prompting protests in Armenia.
Armenia
2019
President of Bolivia Evo Morales and several of his government resign after 19 days of civil protests and a recommendation from the military.
Evo Morales
2009
Ships of the South and North Korean navies skirmish off Daecheong Island in the Yellow Sea.
Daecheong incident
2008
Over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after communications with the lander were lost.
Mars
2006
Sri Lankan Tamil politician Nadarajah Raviraj is assassinated in Colombo.
Sri Lankan Tamils
2006
The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia is opened and dedicated by U.S. President George W. Bush, who announces that Marine Corporal Jason Dunham will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor.
National Museum of the Marine Corps
2002
Veteran's Day Weekend Tornado Outbreak: A tornado outbreak stretching from Northern Ohio to the Gulf Coast, one of the largest outbreaks recorded in November.
2002 Veterans Day weekend tornado outbreak
1900s
1999
World Anti-Doping Agency is formed in Lausanne.
World Anti-Doping Agency
1997
WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time).
MCI Inc.
1995
In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), are hanged by government forces.
Nigeria
1989
Longtime Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov is removed from office and replaced by Petar Mladenov.
People's Republic of Bulgaria
1989
Germans begin to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Fall of the Berlin Wall
1985
A Dassault Falcon 50 and a Piper PA-28 Cherokee collide in mid-air over Fairview, New Jersey, killing six people and injuring eight.
Dassault Falcon 50
1983
Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0.
Bill Gates
1979
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario.
Canadian Pacific Railway
1975
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald
1975
Treaty of Osimo between Yugoslavia and Italy
Treaty of Osimo
1975
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 3379, determining that Zionism is a form of racism.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
1972
Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.
Southern Airways
1971
In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.
Cambodia
1971
A Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes into the Indian Ocean near Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, killing all 69 people on board.
Merpati Nusantara Airlines
1970
Vietnam War: Vietnamization: For the first time in five years, an entire week ends with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam War
1970
Luna 17: uncrewed space mission launched by the Soviet Union.
Luna 17
1969
National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts Sesame Street.
National Educational Television
1967
The Nauru Independence Act 1967 passed the Parliament of Australia, giving independence to the UN Trust Territory of Nauru with effect from 31 January 1968.
Nauru Independence Act 1967
1958
The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.
Hope Diamond
1954
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington Ridge Park in Arlington County, Virginia.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1951
With the rollout of the North American Numbering Plan, direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
North American Numbering Plan
1946
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Peruvian Andes mountains kills at least 1,400 people.
1946 Ancash earthquake
1945
Heavy fighting in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and returning colonialists after World War II, today celebrated as Heroes' Day (Hari Pahlawan).
Battle of Surabaya
1944
The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood explodes at Seeadler Harbour, Manus, Admiralty Islands, killing at least 432 and wounding 371.
USS Mount Hood (AE-11)
1942
World War II: Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan's agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
Nazi Germany
1940
The 1940 Vrancea earthquake strikes Romania killing an estimated 1,000 and injuring approximately 4,000 more.
1940 Vrancea earthquake
1939
Finnish author F. E. Sillanpää is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1918
The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, receives a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa and Washington, D.C.) that said on November 11, 1918, all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.
North Sydney, Nova Scotia
1910
The date of Thomas A. Davis' opening of the San Diego Army and Navy Academy, although the official founding date is November 23, 1910.
Thomas A. Davis
1800s
1898
White supremacists seized power and massacred black Americans during the Wilmington massacre, the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in United States history.
White supremacy
1871
Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Henry Morton Stanley
1865
Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming one of only three American Civil War soldiers executed for war crimes.
Henry Wirz
1847
The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
Stephen Whitney (ship)
1821
Cry of Independence by Rufina Alfaro at La Villa de Los Santos, Panama setting into motion a revolt which led to Panama's independence from Spain and to it immediately becoming part of Colombia.
Rufina Alfaro
Before 1800
1793
A Goddess of Reason is proclaimed by the French Convention at the suggestion of Pierre Gaspard Chaumette.
Cult of Reason
1775
The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas.
United States Marine Corps
1766
The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).
New Jersey
1702
English colonists under the command of James Moore besiege Spanish St. Augustine during Queen Anne's War.
James Moore Sr.
1674
Third Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherland to England.
Third Anglo-Dutch War
1659
Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maratha King kills Afzal Khan, Adilshahi in the battle popularly known as Battle of Pratapgarh.
Shivaji
1599
Åbo Bloodbath: Fourteen noblemen who opposed Duke Charles are decapitated in the Old Great Square of Turku (Swedish: Åbo) for their involvement in the War against Sigismund.
Åbo Bloodbath
1444
Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Władysław III of Poland (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Władysław III of Varna) are defeated by the Turks under Sultan Murad II and Władysław is killed.
Battle of Varna
1293
Raden Wijaya is crowned as the first monarch of Majapahit kingdom of Java, taking the throne name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana.
Raden Wijaya
1202
Fourth Crusade: Despite letters from Pope Innocent III forbidding it and threatening excommunication, Catholic crusaders begin a siege of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia).
Fourth Crusade
937
Ten Kingdoms: Li Bian usurps the throne and deposes Emperor Yang Pu. The Wu State is replaced by Li (now called "Xu Zhigao"), who becomes the first ruler of Southern Tang.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
474
Emperor Leo II dies after a reign of ten months. He is succeeded by his father Zeno, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
Leo II (emperor)