November 3

Events

Pre-1600

• 361 - Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia; on his deathbed he is baptised and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor.
• 1090 - The Rouen Riot, an attempt by English king William Rufus to take possession of Rouen, the capital city of his brother Robert, duke of Normandy, fails.
• 1333 - The River Arno floods causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.
• 1468 - Liège is sacked by Charles I of Burgundy's troops.
• 1492 - Peace of Etaples between Henry VII of England and Charles VIII of France.
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.
• 1534 - English Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church, supplanting the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

  1601–1900

• 1783 - The American Continental Army is disbanded.
• 1791 - The University of Vermont, the oldest university in Vermont, and fifth-oldest in New England, is chartered.
• 1793 - French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.
• 1812 - Napoleon's armies are defeated at the Battle of Vyazma.
• 1817 - The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal.
• 1838 - The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
• 1848 - A greatly revised Dutch constitution, which transfers much authority from the king to his parliament and ministers, is proclaimed.
• 1867 - Giuseppe Garibaldi and his followers are defeated in the Battle of Mentana and fail to end the Pope's Temporal power in Rome.
• 1868 - John Willis Menard becomes the first African American elected to the United States Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he is never seated.
• 1881 - The Mapuche uprising of 1881 begins in Chile.
• 1898 - France withdraws its troops from Fashoda, ending the Fashoda Incident.

  1901–present

• 1903 - With the encouragement of the United States, Panama separates from Colombia.
• 1908 - William Howard Taft is elected the 27th President of the United States.
• 1911 - Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.
• 1918 - The German Revolution of 1918–19 begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.
• 1920 - Russian Civil War: The Russian Army retreats to Crimea, after a successful offensive by the Red Army and Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
• 1929 - The Gwangju Student Independence Movement occurred.
• 1930 - Getúlio Vargas becomes Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24.
• 1932 - Panagis Tsaldaris becomes the 142nd Prime Minister of Greece.
• 1935 - George II of Greece regains his throne through a popular, though possibly fixed, plebiscite.
• 1936 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected as President of the United States.
• 1942 - World War II: The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal campaign and ends on November 12.
• 1943 - World War II: Five hundred aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany.
• 1944 - World War II: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.
• 1946 - The Constitution of Japan is adopted through Emperor's assent.
• 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Battle of Dengbu Island occurs.
• 1950 - Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc while on approach to Geneva Airport, killing all 48 people on board.
• 1956 - Suez Crisis: The Khan Yunis killings by the Israel Defense Forces in Egyptian-controlled Gaza result in the deaths of 275 Palestinians.
• 1956 - Hungarian Revolution: A new Hungarian government is formed, in which many members of banned non-Communist parties participate. János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich form a counter-government in Moscow as Soviet troops prepare for the final assault.
• 1957 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
• 1960 - The land that would become the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is established by an Act of Congress after a year-long legal battle that pitted local residents against Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials wishing to turn the Great Swamp into a major regional airport for jet aircraft.
• 1961 - U Thant is unanimously appointed as the 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations, becoming the first non-European individual to occupy the post.
• 1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson is elected to a full term as U.S. president, winning 61% of the vote and 44 states, while Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time, casting the majority of their votes for Lyndon Johnson.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins.
• 1969 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.
• 1973 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.
• 1975 - Four Bangladeshi politicians are killed in the Dhaka Central Jail.
• 1978 - Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1979 - Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
• 1980 - A Latin Carga Convair CV-880 crashes at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela, killing four.
• 1982 - The Salang Tunnel fire in Afghanistan kills 150–2000 people.
• 1986 - Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
• 1986 - The Compact of Free Association becomes law, granting the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands independence from the United States.
• 1988 - Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries attempt to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the rebellion within 24 hours.
• 1992 - Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeats Republican President George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 United States presidential election.
• 1994 - Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-66.
• 1996 - Abdullah Çatlı, the leader of the Turkish ultranationalist organization Grey Wolves, dies in the Susurluk car crash, leading to the resignation of Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar.
• 1997 - The United States imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and East Africa.
• 2014 - One World Trade Center officially opens in New York City, replacing the Twin Towers after they were destroyed during the September 11 attacks.
• 2020 - The 2020 United States presidential election takes place between Democratic Joe Biden and Republican incumbent President Donald Trump. On November 7, Biden was declared the winner.

  Births

Pre-1600

• AD 39 - Lucan, Roman poet
• 1500 - Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor and painter
• 1505 - Achilles Gasser, German physician and astrologer
• 1527 - Tilemann Heshusius, Gnesio-Lutheran theologian
• 1560 - Annibale Carracci, Italian painter and illustrator
• 1587 - Samuel Scheidt, German organist, composer, and educator

  1601–1900

• 1604 - Osman II, Ottoman sultan
• 1618 - Aurangzeb, Mughal emperor of India
• 1656 - Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer
• 1659 - Hui-bin Jang, Royal consort
• 1689 - Jan Josef Ignác Brentner, Czech composer
• 1749 - Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician
• 1757 - Robert Smith, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Secretary of State
• 1777 - Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom
• 1793 - Stephen F. Austin, American businessman and politician
• 1794 - William Cullen Bryant, American poet and journalist
• 1799 - William Sprague III, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Rhode Island
• 1801 - Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher, founded the Baedeker Publishing Company
• 1801 - Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer
• 1815 - John Mitchel, Irish journalist and activist
• 1816 - Jubal Early, American general and lawyer
• 1816 - Calvin Fairbank, American minister and activist
• 1845 - Edward Douglass White, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 9th Chief Justice of the United States
• 1852 - Emperor Meiji of Japan
• 1854 - Carlo Fornasini, Italian micropalaeontologist
• 1856 - Jim McCormick, Scottish-American baseball player and manager
• 1857 - Mikhail Alekseyev, Russian general
• 1862 - Henry George Jr., American journalist and politician
• 1863 - Alfred Perot, French physicist and academic
• 1866 - Harry Staley, American baseball player
• 1871 - Albert Goldthorpe, English rugby player and manager
• 1875 - Emīls Dārziņš, Latvian composer and conductor
• 1876 - Stephen Alencastre, American bishop and missionary
• 1877 - Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Chilean general and politician, 20th President of Chile
• 1877 - Rosalie Edge, American environmentalist
• 1878 - Bangalore Nagarathnamma, Indian Carnatic singer and activist
• 1882 - Yakub Kolas, Belarusian writer
• 1884 - Joseph William Martin Jr., American publisher and politician, 49th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• 1887 - Samuil Marshak, Russian author and poet
• 1887 - Eileen Hendriks, British geologist
• 1890 - Harry Stephen Keeler, American author
• 1890 - Eustáquio van Lieshout, Dutch-Brazilian priest and missionary
• 1894 - William George Barker, Canadian pilot and colonel, Victoria Cross recipient
• 1894 - Sofoklis Venizelos, Greek captain and politician, 133rd Prime Minister of Greece
• 1896 - Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator
• 1899 - Ralph Greenleaf, American billiards player
• 1899 - Rezső Seress, Hungarian pianist and composer
• 1899 - Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist and academic
• 1900 - Adolf Dassler, German businessman, founded Adidas