November 15

November 15 in recent years

2023 (Wednesday)

2022 (Tuesday)

2021 (Monday)

2020 (Sunday)

2019 (Friday)

2018 (Thursday)

2017 (Wednesday)

2016 (Tuesday)

2015 (Sunday)

2014 (Saturday)

November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 46 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 655 – Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
• 1315 – Battle of Morgarten the Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of Leopold I.
• 1515 – Thomas Wolsey is invested as a Cardinal
• 1532 – Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging a meeting on the city plaza the following day
• 1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.
• 1791 – The first U.S Catholic college, Georgetown University, opens its doors.
• 1806 – Pike expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains (it is later named Pikes Peak).
• 1854 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is given the necessary royal concession.
• 1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman's March to the Sea.

Pedro II is deposed and Brazil becomes a republic.

• 1889 – Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
• 1920 – First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva.
• 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter Inflation in the Weimar Republic.
• 1926 – The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.
• 1935 – Manuel L. Quezon is inaugurated as the second president of the Philippines.
• 1939 – In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
• 1942 – World War II: First flight of the Heinkel He 219.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.
• 1943 – Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps". (see Porajmos)
• 1945 – Venezuela joins the United Nations.
• 1948 – Louis Stephen St. Laurent succeeds William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada. King had the longest combined time (3 terms, 22 years in total) as Premier in Commonwealth of Nations history.
• 1949 – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte are executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
• 1951 – Greek resistance leader Nikos Beloyannis, along with 11 resistance members, is sentenced to death by the court-martial.
• 1959 – Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.
• 1966 – Gemini program: Gemini 12 splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1966 – A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing all three people on board.
• 1967 – The only fatality of the X-15 program occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.
• 1968 – The US Air Force launches Operation Commando Hunt, a large-scale bombing campaign against the Ho Chi Minh trail.
• 1969 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
• 1969 – In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's restaurant.
• 1971 – Intel releases world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
• 1976 – René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favour of independence.
• 1978 – A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
• 1979 – A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
• 1983 – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is founded. Recognised only by Turkey.
• 1985 – A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.
• 1985 – The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
• 1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashes in a snowstorm at Denver, Colorado Stapleton International Airport, killing 28 occupants, while 54 survive the crash.
• 1987 – In Braşov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
• 1988 – In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched on her first and last space flight.
• 1988 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
• 1988 – The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
• 1989 – Sachin Tendulkar makes his debut as an international cricketer.
• 1990 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches with flight STS-38.
• 2000 – A chartered Antonov An-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola killing more than 40 people.
• 2000 – Jharkhand state comes into existence in India.
• 2003 – The first day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people and wounding about 300. Additional bombings follow on November 20.
• 2005 – Boeing formally launches the stretched Boeing 747-8 variant with orders from Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines.
• 2007 – Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans.

Births

• 1316 – John I of France (d. 1316)
• 1397 – Pope Nicholas V (d. 1455)
• 1498 – Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (d. 1558)
• 1511 – Johannes Secundus, Dutch poet (d. 1536)
• 1556 – Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (d. 1618)
• 1559 – Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor of the Low Countries (d. 1621)
• 1607 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French writer (d. 1701)
• 1660 – Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (d. 1746)
• 1661 – Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss settler in Americas (d. 1743)
• 1688 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician (d. 1757)
• 1692 – Eusebius Amort, German Catholic theologian (d. 1775)
• 1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1778)
• 1738 – William Herschel, German-born astronomer (d. 1822)
• 1741 – Johann Kaspar Lavater, German philosopher (d. 1801)
• 1746 – Joseph Quesnel, French Canadian composer and playwright (d. 1809)
• 1757 – Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher, Danish surgeon (d. 1830)
• 1784 – Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia (d. 1860)
• 1791 – Friedrich Ernst Scheller, German jurist and politician (d. 1869)
• 1793 – Michel Chasles, French mathematician (d. 1880)
• 1835 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese revolutionary (d. 1867)
• 1852 – Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (d. 1892)
• 1859 – Christopher Hornsrud, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1960)
• 1862 – Gerhart Hauptmann, German dramatist, Nobel laureate (d. 1946)
• 1868 – Emil Racovita, Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica (d. 1947)
• 1874 – August Krogh, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1949)
• 1874 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek athlete (d. 1941)
• 1879 – Lewis Stone, American actor (d. 1953)
• 1881 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American newspaper columnist (d. 1960)
• 1882 – Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1965)
• 1886 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (d. 1951)
• 1887 – Marianne Moore, American poet (d. 1972)
• 1887 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter (d. 1986)
• 1890 – Richmal Crompton, British author (d. 1969)
• 1891 – Averell Harriman, American businessman (d. 1986)
• 1891 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal, "The Desert Fox" (d. 1944)
• 1895 – Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
• 1895 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish writer (d. 1976)
• 1897 – Aneurin Bevan, British politician (d. 1960)
• 1897 – Sacheverell Sitwell, English writer (d. 1988)
• 1899 – Avdy Andresson, Estonian statesman (d. 1990)
• 1903 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1974)
• 1905 – Mantovani, Italian-born composer (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Curtis LeMay, U.S. Air Force general (d. 1990)
• 1907 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German, leader of failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (d. 1944)
• 1913 – Guy Green, English film director (d. 2005)
• 1913 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Joseph Wapner, American judge
• 1920 – Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Greek actor (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Francis Brunn, German juggler (d. 2004)
• 1922 – David Sidney Feingold, American biochemist
• 1925 – Howard Baker, American political advisor
• 1925 – Yuli Daniel, Russian writer (d. 1988)
• 1927 – Gregor Mackenzie, British politician (d. 1992)
• 1928 – C. W. McCall, American singer
• 1928 – John Orchard, British actor (d. 1995)
• 1929 – Ed Asner, American actor
• 1930 – J. G. Ballard, British author (d. 2009)
• 1931 – Mwai Kibaki, President of Kenya
• 1931 – Pascal Lissouba, Congo politician
• 1932 – Petula Clark, English singer
• 1932 – Clyde McPhatter, American singer (d. 1972)
• 1932 – Alvin Plantinga, American philosopher
• 1936 – Wolf Biermann, German writer
• 1936 – H. B. Bailey, American NASCAR driver (d. 2003)
• 1937 – Little Willie John, American singer (d. 1968)
• 1937 – Yaphet Kotto, American actor
• 1940 – Ulf Pilgaard, Danish actor
• 1940 – Sam Waterston, American actor
• 1940 – Roberto Cavalli, Italian fashion designer
• 1942 – Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born conductor and pianist
• 1945 – Roger Donaldson, Australian producer/director
• 1945 – Bob Gunton, American actor
• 1945 – Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, Norwegian (By Birth) singer (ABBA)
• 1947 – Bill Richardson, American politician
• 1950 – Egon Vaupel, German politician
• 1951 – Beverly D'Angelo, American actress
• 1952 – Zoltán Buday, Hungarian born actor
• 1952 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler
• 1954 – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former President of Poland
• 1955 – Georgie Born, English academic, anthropologist and musician (Henry Cow)
• 1955 – Henry Corra, American documentarian
• 1956 – Michael Hampton, American guitarist (Funkadelic)
• 1956 – Brian Douglas Wells, American criminal (d. 2003)
• 1957 – Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist
• 1957 – Harold Marcuse, American historian
• 1957 – Ray McKinnon, American film actor/director
• 1957 – Michael Woythe, German footballer
• 1961 – Ian Reid, Australian educator
• 1963 – Benny Elias, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1963 – Andrew Castle, English television presenter and former tennis professional
• 1964 – Stelios Aposporis, Greek footballer
• 1965 – Nigel Bond, English snooker player
• 1965 – Stefan Pfeiffer, German swimmer
• 1966 – Rachel True, American actress
• 1967 – Pedro Borbón, Jr., Dominican baseball player
• 1967 – Greg Anthony, American basketball player
• 1967 – E-40, American rapper
• 1967 – François Ozon, French film director
• 1967 – Gustavo Poyet, Uruguayan footballer
• 1968 – Jennifer Charles, American singer/songwriter
• 1968 – Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)
• 1968 – Fausto Brizzi, Italian screenwriter and film director
• 1969 – Shane Mack, American politician
• 1970 – Ilija Aračić, Croatian footballer
• 1970 – Jack Ingram, American singer and songwriter
• 1970 – Patrick Mboma, Cameroonian footballer
• 1971 – Jay Harrington, American actor
• 1972 – Ngô Bảo Châu, Vietnamese mathematician, Fields medalist
• 1972 – Jonny Lee Miller, English actor
• 1973 – Jesse Merz, American actor
• 1973 – Sydney Tamiia Poitier, American actress
• 1974 – Chad Kroeger, Canadian singer (Nickelback)
• 1975 – Scott Henshall, British fashion designer
• 1975 – Yannick Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Brandon DiCamillo, American comedian
• 1976 – Virginie Ledoyen, French actress
• 1977 – Sean Murray, American actor
• 1977 – Peter Phillips, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II
• 1977 – Robaire Smith, American football player
• 1977 – Logan Whitehurst, American musician (d. 2006)
• 1978 – Floyd Womack, American football player
• 1979 – Josemi, Spanish footballer
• 1979 – Brett Lancaster, Australian cyclist
• 1980 – Ace Young, American singer
• 1981 – Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
• 1981 – Drew Hodgdon, American football player
• 1981 – Jordan Buckley, American heavy metal guitarist, Every Time I Die
• 1982 – D. J. Fitzpatrick, American Football League kicker
• 1982 – Joe Kowalewski, American football player
• 1982 – Lofa Tatupu, National Football League player
• 1983 – Sasha Pavlovic, Serbian basketball player
• 1983 – DJ Skee, American DJ/personality
• 1983 – Laura Smet, French actress
• 1983 – Fernando Verdasco, Spanish tennis player
• 1984 – Gemma Atkinson, English actress
• 1986 – Coye Francies, American football player
• 1986 – Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player
• 1987 – Isaiah Osbourne, English footballer
• 1988 – Zena Grey, American actress
• 1988 – Bobby Ray, AKA B.o.B, American recording artist and producer
• 1990 – Kanata Hongō, Japanese actor
• 1991 – Shailene Woodley, American actress

Deaths

• 655 – Penda, King of Mercia
• 1028 – Constantine VIII Byzantine Emperor (b. 960)
• 1136 – Margrave Leopold III of Austria (b. 1073)
• 1280 – Albertus Magnus, German theologian, bishop, and philosopher
• 1463 – Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini, Prince of Taranto and Constable of Naples
• 1544 – King Jungjong of Joseon (b. 1506)
• 1579 – Ferenc Dávid, Hungarian religious reformer (b. 1510)
• 1628 – Roque Gonzales, Paraguayan missionary (b. 1576)
• 1630 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1571)
• 1670 – Comenius, Czech writer (b. 1592)
• 1691 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (b. 1620)
• 1706 – Tsangyang Gyatso, 6th Dalai Lama (b. 1683)
• 1712 – James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish nationalist (b. 1658)
• 1712 – Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, English politician (b. 1675)
• 1787 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (b. 1714)
• 1794 – John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)
• 1795 – Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, French painter (b. 1719)
• 1819 – Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (b. 1749)
• 1832 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist, originator of Say's Law (b. 1767)
• 1853 – Queen Maria II of Portugal (b. 1819)
• 1908 – Empress Dowager Cixi, Chinese ruler (b. 1835)
• 1910 – Wilhelm Raabe, German writer (b. 1831)
• 1916 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel laureate (b. 1846)
• 1917 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
• 1919 – Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1866)
• 1919 – Mohammad Farid, an influential Egyptian political figure (b. 1868)
• 1922 – Dimitrios Gounaris, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1866)
• 1922 – Georgios Hatzianestis, Greek General (b. 1863)
• 1922 – Petros Protopapadakis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1854)
• 1922 – Nikolaos Stratos, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1872)
• 1945 – Frank Chapman, American ornithologist (b. 1864)
• 1949 – Narayan Apte, conspirator against Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1911)
• 1949 – Nathuram Godse, conspirator against Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1910)
• 1954 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878)
• 1958 – Tyrone Power, American actor (b. 1914)
• 1959 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)
• 1961 – Elsie Ferguson, American actress (b. 1883)
• 1963 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888)
• 1965 – Dawn Powell, American poet (b. 1896)
• 1966 – Dimitrios Tofalos, Greek weightlifter (b. 1877)
• 1967 – Michael J. Adams, American test pilot (b. 1930)
• 1971 – Rudolf Abel, Soviet spy (b. 1903)
• 1976 – Jean Gabin, French actor (b. 1904)
• 1978 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
• 1982 – Martin De Alzaga, Argentine racing driver (b. 1901)
• 1983 – Charlie Grimm, American baseball player (b. 1898)
• 1983 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (b. 1912)
• 1988 – Billo Frómeta, Dominican orchestra conductor, arranger and composer (b. 1915)
• 1990 – Alydar, American racehorse (b. 1975)
• 1994 – Elizabeth George Speare, American author (b. 1908)
• 1996 – Alger Hiss, American government official and alleged spy (b. 1904)
• 1997 – Saul Chaplin, American composer and musical director (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Stokely Carmichael, American civil rights activist (b. 1941)
• 1998 – Ludvik Danek, Czechoslovak discus thrower (b. 1937)
• 2002 – Myra Hindley, English murderess (b. 1942)
• 2003 – Speedy West, Country Music Hall of Fame Steel Guitarist (b. 1924)
• 2003 – Ray Lewis, Canadian athlete (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b. 1933)
• 2003 – Laurence Tisch, American businessman (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Elmer L. Andersen, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1909)
• 2004 – John Morgan, Canadian comedian (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Dr. Adrian Rogers, American Southern Baptist Minister and leader (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Arto Salminen, Finnish writer (b. 1959)
• 2006 – Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian model (b. 1985)
• 2006 – David K. Wyatt, American historian (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1928)
• 2009 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (b. 1978)
• 2009 – Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, 44th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

• America Recycles Day (United States)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abibus of Edessa
  • Albert the Great
  • Blessed Hugh Faringdon
  • Didier of Cahors
  • Leopold III, a public holiday in Lower Austria and Vienna.
  • Malo
  • Mechell
• Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium)
• Earliest day on which Beaujolais Day can fall, while November 21 is the latest; observed on the third Thursday in November (International)
• Earliest day on which Day of the Revolution can fall, while November 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in November (Mexico)
• Earliest day on which Great American Smokeout can fall, while November 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Thursday in November (United States)
• Independence Day, unilaterally declared in 1988. (Palestine)
• King's Feast (Belgium)
• Republic Proclamation Day (Brazil)
• Shichi-Go-San (Japan)
• The beginning of Winter Lent (Eastern Orthodox)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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