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's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands
1605 - Gunpowder Plot: A conspiracy led by Robert Catesby to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is thwarted when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the House of Lords.
1688 - Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Brixham.
1743 - Coordinated scientific observations of the transit of Mercury are organized by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle.
1757 - Seven Years' War: Frederick the Great defeats the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire in the Battle of Rossbach.
1768 - Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the purpose of which is to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763 in the Thirteen Colonies.
1780 - French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.
1831 - Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia.
1838 - The Federal Republic of Central America begins to disintegrate when Nicaragua separates from the federation.
1854 - The Battle of Inkerman is fought during the Crimean War.
1862 - Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to hang. 38 are ultimately executed; the others are reprieved.
1872 - Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.
1895 - George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
1911 - After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
1916 - The Kingdom of Poland is proclaimed by the Act of November 5th of the emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1916 - The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between the Industrial Workers of the World organizers and local police.
1917 - October Revolution: In Tallinn, Estonia, Communist leader Jaan Anwelt leads revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government (As Estonia and Russia are still using the Julian Calendar, subsequent period references show an October 23 date).
1937 - World War II: Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
1940 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a third term as President of the United States.
1942 - The Second Battle of El Alamein is won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.
1956 - Nat King Cole becomes the second African-American (after jazz pianist/singer Hazel Scott in 1950) to host an American television program: "The Nat King Cole Show" on NBC.
1967 - The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people. The survivors include Bee Gee Robin Gibb.
1968 - United States presidential election, 1968: Republican Richard Nixon wins the American presidency, in what turned out to be a decades-long realignment election.
1970 - Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
1983 - Byford Dolphin diving bell accident kills five and leaves one severely injured.
1986 - USS Rentz (FFG-46), USS Reeves (DLG-24) and USS Oldendorf (DD-972) visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China — the first US Naval visit to China since 1949.
1987 - Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years in prison. He had been sentenced to life for terrorism and treason.
1990 - Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
1995 - André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada. He is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door.
1996 - President of Pakistan Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari dismisses the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and dissolves the National Assembly of Pakistan.
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.
