Abraham Lincoln’s election on November 6, 1860, signaled more than a partisan win; it signaled a stunning blow against the proslavery movement that had long held power over the United States. In a republic strained by the question of slavery’s expansion—an argument that had…
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On November 5, 1917 (New Style; October 23 by Russia’s Old Style calendar), Vladimir Lenin pressed his case for an immediate armed uprising, transforming months of revolutionary agitation into a concrete timetable. Bolshevik power in Petrograd had grown rapidly since the summer: factory committees…
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On November 4, 1962, the United States concluded Operation Fishbowl, a high-altitude nuclear testing series that pushed the limits of Cold War science—and brought the world to the brink of a new understanding of both atomic power and restraint. The series, conducted over the…
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On the evening of November 3, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon delivered one of the most consequential speeches of his presidency—a direct appeal to what he famously called the “silent majority” of Americans. Speaking live from the Oval Office, Nixon sought to rally public…
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On November 2, 1917, amid the upheaval of the First World War, the British government issued a letter that would alter the course of modern history—the Balfour Declaration. In just sixty-seven words, Britain became the first great power to formally endorse the establishment of…
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As cold winds swept across New England, the uneasy peace between the English colonists and the region’s Native nations finally broke apart. On this day, Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow led a combined colonial militia into the field against the Narragansett, marking a critical…
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“This is KDKA of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We shall now broadcast the election returns. We are receiving these returns through the cooperation and by special arrangement with the Pittsburgh Post and Sun. We’d appreciate it if anyone…
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On the morning of November 1, 1870, a terse telegraph message pulsed across the new wires of the Western Union system from Washington, D.C. It marked a small beginning for something that would come to shape daily life, commerce, and national safety for generations:…
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On October 31, 683 A.D., fire consumed the holiest sanctuary in Islam. During the bloody Siege of Mecca—the climax of the Second Fitna, or second great Muslim civil war—the Kaaba itself was set ablaze amid fierce fighting between the Umayyad Caliphate and the rebel…
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In the autumn of 1888, beneath the vast African sky of Matabeleland, a seemingly routine agreement was inked between British traders and a local monarch. Yet the document—later known as the Rudd Concession—would alter the map of southern Africa and inaugurate a new stage…
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