History Events on November 15

American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins Sherman's March to the Sea.

#American_Civil_War

Battle of Morgarten: The Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of Leopold I.

#Battle_of_Morgarten

The first U.S. Catholic college, Georgetown University, opens its doors.

#Georgetown_University

Winston Churchill resigns from the Government, and soon commands the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front.

#Winston_Churchill

A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing all three people on board.

#Boeing_727

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches with flight STS-38.

#Space_Shuttle_program

Battle of Zsibó: Austrian-Danish victory over the Kurucs (Hungarians).

#Battle_of_Zsibó

In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.

#Franklin_D._Roosevelt

Thailand has its first election.

#Thailand

Justin II succeeds his uncle, Justinian I, as emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

#Justin_II

The first day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people and wounding about 300.

#2003_Istanbul_bombings

Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca Empire leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging a meeting on the city plaza the following day.

#Francisco_Pizarro

Greek resistance leader Nikos Beloyannis, along with 11 resistance members, is sentenced to death by the court-martial.

#Nikos_Beloyannis

Intel releases the world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.

#Intel

The Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps"

#The_Holocaust

The Communist People's Republic of Bulgaria is disestablished and a new republican government is instituted.

#People's_Republic_of_Bulgaria

In Bra?ov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceau?escu.

#Bra?ov

Battle of the Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.

#Battle_of_the_Winwaed

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declared independence. Recognized only by Turkey.

#Northern_Cyprus

In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran makes its only space flight.

#Soviet_Union

Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte are executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.

#Nathuram_Godse

The RNLI lifeboat Mary Stanford capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17-man crew.

#Royal_National_Lifeboat_Institution

World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.

#World_War_II

Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".

#Vietnam_War

Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.

#Cold_War

The first part of Saint Petersburg Metro is opened.

#Saint_Petersburg_Metro

A package from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.

#Ted_Kaczynski

René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favor of independence.

#René_Lévesque

The secondly-built Castellania in Valletta is officially inaugurated with the blessing of the interior Chapel of Sorrows.

#Castellania_(Valletta)

The only fatality of the North American 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.

#North_American_X-15

The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.

#Anglo-Irish_Agreement

The murders of the Clutter Family in Holcomb, Kansas were discovered, inspiring Truman Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood.

#Holcomb,_Kansas

Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.

#Francisco_Pizarro

American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.

#American_Revolutionary_War

Project Gemini: Gemini 12 completes the program's final mission, when it splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

#Project_Gemini

The Free City of Danzig is established.

#Free_City_of_Danzig

Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people and destroying parts of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.

#Cyclone_Sidr

First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.

#League_of_Nations

Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.

#Brazil

Xi Jinping becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and a new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.

#Xi_Jinping

A chartered Antonov An-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola, killing more than 40 people.

#Antonov_An-24

Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and a new nine-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.

#Hu_Jintao

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.

#Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.

#Douglas_DC-8

Hong Kong's High Court bans elected politicians Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung from the city's Parliament.

Al Jazeera English launches worldwide.

The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.

A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.

The Cleveland Transit System becomes the first transit system in the western hemisphere to provide direct rapid transit service from a city's downtown to its major airport.

The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.

Over 1,000 are massacred during a general strike in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Harry Turner becomes the first player to die from game-related injuries in the "Ohio League", the direct predecessor to the National Football League.

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.)