Events on November 3 51
Year 361
Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia, on his deathbed he is baptised and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor.
Year 644
Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is assassinated by a Persian slave in Medina.
Year 1333
The River Arno flooding causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.
Year 1534
English Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church, supplanting the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
Year 1789
The first District Court established by the Constitution opens in New York City.
Year 1838
The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
Year 1848
A greatly revised Dutch constitution, drafted by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, severely limiting the powers of the Dutch monarchy, and strengthening the powers of parliament and ministers, is proclaimed.
Year 1867
Giuseppe Garibaldi and his followers are defeated in the Battle of Mentana and fail to end the Pope's Temporal power in Rome (it would be achieved three years later).
Year 1868
John Willis Menard (R-Louisiana) was the first African American elected to the United States Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he was never seated.
Year 1883
American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the poet" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves a clue that eventually leads to his capture.
Year 1898
France withdraws its troops from Fashoda (now in Sudan), ending the Fashoda Incident.
Year 1911
Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.
Year 1918
Austria-Hungary enters into the Armistice of Villa Giusti with the Allies, and the Habsburg-ruled empire dissolves.
Year 1918
The German Revolution of 1918-19 begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.
Year 1930
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas becomes Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24.
Year 1935
George II of Greece regains his throne through a popular, though possibly fixed, plebiscite.
Year 1942
World War II: The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on November 12.
Year 1943
World War II: Five hundred aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany.
Year 1944
World War II: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.
Year 1956
The Khan Yunis killings by the Israel Defense Forces in Egyptian-controlled Gaza result in the deaths of 275 Palestinians.
Year 1957
Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
Year 1960
The land that would become the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was established by an Act of Congress after a year-long legal battle that pitted local residents against Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials wishing to turn the Great Swamp into a major regional airport for jet aircraft.
Year 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson is elected to a full term, winning 61% of the vote and 44 states, while Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time, casting their votes for Lyndon Johnson.
Year 1969
Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.
Year 1973
Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.
Year 1975
Syed Nazrul Islam, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman, Tajuddin Ahmad, and Muhammad Mansur Ali, Bangladeshi politicians and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman loyalists, are murdered in the Dhaka Central Jail.
Year 1979
Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
Year 1986
Iran-Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
Year 1986
The Federated States of Micronesia gain independence from the United States of America.
Year 1988
Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
Year 1996
Death of Abdullah Çatlı, leader of the Turkish ultra-nationalist organisation Grey Wolves in the Susurluk car-crash, which leads to the resignation of the Turkish Interior Minister, Mehmet Ağar (a leader of the True Path Party, DYP).
Year 1997
The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa.
Year 2016
The Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series to earn their first title in 108 years; ending the then longest title drought in US sports history.