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11th November

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1918: End of the Great War


At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. Germany, bereft of manpower, supplies and food, signs an armistice agreement with the Allies. The war left 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, some 6 million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure. The First World War led to the fall of the imperial dynasties of Russia, Germany, Turkey and Austria-Hungary, and spurred the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles officially ended the conflict, but its punitive terms destabilised Europe and laid the groundwork for the Second World War.


2004

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat dies aged 75.

2000

155 people are killed as a fire engulfs a funicular railway in the Austrian Alps.

1992

The General Synod of the Church of England narrowly votes to accept women priests.

1987

Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Irises fetches £27 million at auction in New York, America.

1975

Angola gains independence from Portugal.

1966

NASA launches the manned spaceship Gemini 12. 

1965

Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith proclaims UDI - a Universal Declaration of Independence from Britain.

1940

The Second World War: The British Royal Navy launches the first all-aircraft naval attack in history as the Battle of Taranto begins against Italy.

1926

U.S. Route 66, “The Main Street of America” is opened.

1921

In America, The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia during an Armistice Day ceremony.

1918

Emperor Charles I of Austria relinquishes power.

1889

Washington becomes the 42nd state of the United States.

1887

In Britain, work starts on building the Manchester Ship Canal.

1843

Hans Christian Andersen’s classic children story The Ugly Duckling is published for the first time.

1831

In America, Nat Turner, the leader of a bloody slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, is hanged.

1927

British actress June Whitfield.

1920

British politician Roy Jenkins.

1903

Film director Sam Spiegel.

1899

American actor Pat O'Brien.

1885

American World War II General George Patton. One of the war's inspired commanders who led the breakout from Normandy in 1944.

1945

American songwriter Jerome Kern.

1880

Australian outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged in front of a crowd of 5,000 in Melbourne.

1855

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard aged 42.