1861 - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough begins as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
1867 - First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.
1872 - The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
1900 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
1912 - Lawrence Oates, ill member of Scott's South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time."
1916 - The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
1924 - The free port of Fiume is formally annexed by Mussolini's fascist regime.
1926 - History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Conscription was reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
1939 - From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
1939 - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran.
1942 - History of Rocketry: The first V-2 rocket test launch (exploded at liftoff).
1943 - The Royal Navy Isles Class Trawler HMS Campobello Sinks in the Atlantic.
1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
1945 - Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
1950 - Communist Czechoslovakia's ministry of foreign affairs asked nuncios of Vatican to leave the country.
1952 - In Cilaos, Réunion, 1,870mm (73 inches) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
1958 - The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding.
1962 - A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 people missing.
1976 - British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
1977 - Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
1978 - Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing terrorists and is later killed by his captors.
1978 - Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history.
1983 - Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
1988 - Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing 5000 people and injured about 10000 people.
1995 - Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
2003 - The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
2005 - Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
2006 - The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council.
2010 - The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire.
