On This Day — 27 November

2000s

2024

Syrian rebel groups led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham launch a ground offensive into Syria.

Military Operations Command

2020

Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is assassinated near Tehran.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

2020

Days after the announcement of its discovery, the Utah monolith is removed by recreationists.

Utah monolith

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2015

An active shooter inside a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, shoots at least four police officers. One officer later dies. Two civilians are also killed, and six injured. The shooter later surrendered.

Planned Parenthood

2009

Nevsky Express bombing: A bomb explodes on the Nevsky Express train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, derailing it and causing 28 deaths and 96 injuries.

2009 Nevsky Express bombing

2008

XL Airways Germany Flight 888T: An Airbus A320 performing a flight test crashes near the French commune of Canet-en-Roussillon, killing all seven people on board.

XL Airways Germany Flight 888T

2006

The House of Commons of Canada approves a motion introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognizing the Québécois as a nation within Canada.

House of Commons of Canada

2004

Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Pope John Paul II

2004

Blackwater 61 crash: A CASA C-212 Aviocar crashes into the Koh-i-Baba mountain range in Afghanistan, killing six.

Blackwater 61 crash

2001

A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.

Hydrogen

1900s

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1999

The centre-left Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female prime minister in New Zealand's history.

New Zealand Labour Party

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1997

Twenty-five people are killed in the second Souhane massacre in Algeria.

Souhane massacre

1992

For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela.

Military

1989

Avianca Flight 203: A Boeing 727 explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.

Avianca Flight 203

1985

Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-61-B, with Rodolfo Neri Vela becoming the first Mexican astronaut.

Space Shuttle program

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1984

Under the Brussels Agreement signed between the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain, the former agrees to enter into discussions with Spain over Gibraltar, including sovereignty.

Brussels Agreement (1984)

1983

Avianca Flight 011: A Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing 181.

Avianca Flight 011

1978

In San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.

San Francisco

1978

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is founded in the Turkish village of Fis.

Kurdistan Workers' Party

1975

The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England.

Provisional Irish Republican Army

1973

Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On December 6, the House will confirm him 387–35).

Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1971

The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module. It malfunctions and crashes, but it is the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars.

Soviet space program

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1968

Penny Ann Early becomes the first woman to play in a major professional men's basketball league, for the Kentucky Colonels in an ABA game against the Los Angeles Stars.

Penny Ann Early

1965

Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned operations are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.

Vietnam War

1954

Alger Hiss is released from prison after serving 44 months for perjury.

Alger Hiss

1945

CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is founded to send CARE Packages of food relief to Europe after World War II.

CARE International

1944

World War II: RAF Fauld explosion: An explosion at a Royal Air Force ammunition dump in Staffordshire kills seventy people.

RAF Fauld explosion

1942

World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.

Toulon

1940

In Romania, the ruling Iron Guard fascist party assassinates over 60 of arrested King Carol II of Romania's aides and other political dissidents.

Kingdom of Romania

1940

World War II: At the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Royal Navy engages the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean Sea.

World War II

1924

In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

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1918

The Makhnovshchina is established.

Makhnovshchina

1917

P. E. Svinhufvud becomes the chairman of his first senate, technically the first Prime Minister of Finland.

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud

1912

Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.

Spain

1901

The U.S. Army War College is established.

United States Army War College

1800s

1896

Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss is first performed.

Also sprach Zarathustra

1895

At the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signs his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he dies.

Alfred Nobel

1879

War of the Pacific: Battle of Tarapacá: The confrontation between the Chilean Army and the Peruvian Army takes place in Tarapacá, the Peruvian victory is consummated with the death of the 2 generals and the capture the Chilean general in said place of battle, headed by the Peruvian victory of General Juan Buendía y Noregia.

War of the Pacific

1868

American Indian Wars: Battle of Washita River: United States Army Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on Cheyenne living on reservation land.

American Indian Wars

1863

American Civil War: Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and several of his men escape the Ohio Penitentiary and return safely to the South.

American Civil War

1863

American Civil War: Battle of Mine Run: Union forces under General George Meade take up positions against troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Battle of Mine Run

1856

The Coup of 1856 leads to Luxembourg's unilateral adoption of a new, reactionary constitution.

Luxembourg coup of 1856

1839

In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.

Boston

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1835

James Pratt and John Smith are hanged in London; they are the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.

James Pratt and John Smith

1830

Saint Catherine Labouré experiences a Marian apparition.

Catherine Labouré

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1815

Adoption of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland.

Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland

1809

The Berners Street hoax is perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London.

Berners Street hoax

Before 1800

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1755

An earthquake in northern Morocco devastates the cities of Fes and Meknes.

1755 Meknes earthquake

1727

The foundation stone to the Jerusalem Church in Berlin is laid.

Jerusalem Church (Berlin)

1542

Palace plot of Renyin year: A group of Ming dynasty palace women fail to murder the Jiajing Emperor, and are executed by slow-slicing.

Palace plot of Renyin year

1382

Al-Salih Hajji, the last Qalawunid sultan, is deposed by Barquq, ending the long Turkic Bahri Mamluk period in general and particularly the Qalawunid dynasty, and beginning the reign of the Circassian Burji Mamluk.

Al-Salih Hajji