November 11
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m., Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure. – 1918.
The U.S. Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37. By the end of World War II, approximately 34 million men had registered; 10 million had been inducted into the military. – 1942.
November 12
Ellis Island in New York City closes after providing the gateway for 12 million immigrants from 1892 to 1924. From 1924 to 1954 it was mostly used as a detention and deportation center for undocumented immigrants. – 1954.
November 13
An immense tidal wave and storm surge, caused by a powerful cyclone, kills more than 200,000 persons in East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. It was at least the third disaster in the region to kill 200,000 persons. – 1970.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of veterans of the conflict. The long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black-granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 then-known Americans who died in the conflict. – 1982.
November 14
In Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leader Sheikh-ul-Islam declares an Islamic holy war on behalf of the Ottoman government and urges his Muslim followers to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, and Montenegro in World War I. – 1914.
The Depression-era Public Works Administration agrees with New York City to begin a huge slum clearance project covering 20 acres in Brooklyn, where low cost housing for 2,500 families will be completed. It was the first of many such jobs-and-housing projects across the country. – 1934.
November 15
U.S. president Jimmy Carter welcomes Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and his wife, Empress (or “Shahbanou”) Farrah, to Washington. Over the next two days, Carter and Pahlavi discuss improving relations between the two countries. Two years later, the two leaders’ political fates would be further entwined when Islamic fundamentalists overthrow the shah and take Americans hostage in Tehran. – 1977.
November 16
Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer and conquistador, springs a trap on the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. With fewer than 200 men against several thousand, Pizarro lures Atahualpa to a feast in the emperor’s honor and then opens fire on the unarmed Incans. Pizarro’s men massacre the Incans and capture Atahualpa and force him to convert to Christianity before eventually killing him. – 1532.
Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state. – 1907.
Joseph Goebbels publishes in the German magazine Das Reich that “The Jews wanted the war, and now they have it”—referring to the Nazi propaganda scheme to shift the blame for the world war on to European Jewry, thereby giving the Nazis a rationalization for the so-called Final Solution. – 1941.
In a move that stirs up some controversy, the United States sends 88 German scientists to America to assist the Nation in its production of rocket technology. Most of these men had served under the Nazi regime and critics in the United States doubted the morality of placing them in the service of America. Nevertheless, the U.S. government is desperate to acquire the scientific know-how that had produced the terrifying and destructive V-1 and V-2 rockets for Germany during WWII. – 1945.
Construction begins on a giant bonfire at Texas A&M University, the continuation of a tradition that began 90 years earlier. Two days later, the bonfire collapsed and kills 12 students and injures another 27. The bonfire had 7,000 logs and was 59 feet high, four feet higher than authorized. – 1999.
November 17
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. – 1869.