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1576 - Eighty Years' War: In Belgium, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city was nearly destroyed).

1677 - The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later be known as William and Mary.

1825 - The Erie Canal was completed with DeWitt Clinton performing the Wedding of The Waters ceremony.

1842 - Abraham Lincoln, future US President, marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois.

1852 - Count Camillo Benso di Cavour became the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expanded to become Italy.

1861 - The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville - Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.

1869 - The first issue of the scientific journal Nature is published.

1884 - U.S. presidential election, 1884: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his two non-consecutive terms.

1889 - Menelek of Shoa obtains the allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility, paving the way for him to be crowned emperor.

1890 - City & South London Railway: London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.

1899 - Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is published.

1918 - World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.

1918 - The German Revolution begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.

1921 - The Sturmabteilung or SA is formally formed by Adolf Hitler

1921 - Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi assassinated in Tokyo.

1922 - In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

1924 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming elected as the first woman governor in the United States.

1928 - Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot dead over a poker game.

1939 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.

1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein - Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.

1944 - World War II: Adolf Hitler takes over the USSR.

1948 - T. S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1952 - U.S. presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson.

1955 - The rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio after it was totally destroyed in World War II.

1956 - Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.

1960 - Filming wraps on The Misfits, starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable -- the last film for both.

1966 - Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the Arno and Po rivers flood; 113 people die, 30,000 are rendered homeless, and countless Renaissance artworks and books are destroyed.

1970 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States turns control of the Binh Thuy Air Base in the Mekong Delta over to South Vietnam.

1970 - Genie, a 13 year old feral child was found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.

1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins: Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American).

1980 - U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin.

1986 - Chief Justice Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by the electorate from the Supreme Court of California for their opposition to capital punishment.

1989 - The congress of the Solidarity Party is inaugurated in Sweden. The congress decides, contrary to the proposal of the central committee, not to disband the party.

1993 - Jean Chrétien takes office as Prime Minister of Canada.

1993 - Bolivia becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1993 - A series of fires destroy 1000 homes in southern California, causing between 500 million and 1 billion USD of damage. Half of the fires turn out to be arson.

1993 - A China Airlines Boeing 747 overran Runway 13 at Hong Kong's Kai Tak International Airport while landing during a typhoon, injuring 22 people.

1994 - San Francisco: First conference that focused exlusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.

1995 - Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by an extreme right-wing Israeli.

2001 - Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.

2001 - The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established.

2001 - World Series: The Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the New York Yankees four games to three. They would become the youngest team in Major League Baseball to win the World Series.

2002 - Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress

2003 - The most powerful solar flare as observed by satellite instrumentation is recorded.

2003 - Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy becomes the first person indicted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. He was eventually acquitted.

2004 - 12 French Soldiers, 3 UN personnel and hundreds of civilians die during the Côte d'Ivoire civil war.

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1448 - King Alphonso II of Naples (d. 1495)

1470 - King Edward V of England, one of the two princes in the Tower

1575 - Guido Reni, Italian painter (d. 1642)

1631 - Mary of Orange, eldest daughter of Charles I of England and mother of William III of England (d. 1660)

1661 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (d. 1742)

1740 - Augustus Montague Toplady, author of hymn, "Rock of Ages"

1765 - Pierre Girard, French mathematician (d. 1836)

1836 - Henry J. Lutcher, Business leader (d. 1912)

1845 - Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, Indian revolutionary

1874 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander (d. 1920)

1879 - Will Rogers, American humorist (d. 1935)

1883 - Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general (d. 1953)

1884 - Harry Ferguson, aviator, plane and farm equipment designer (Ferguson Company) (d. 1960)

1899 - Nicolas Frantz, Luxembourgish cyclist (d. 1985)

1901 - Princess Bang-ja of Korea (d. 1989)

1908 - Józef Rotblat, Polish physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2005)

1909 - Skeeter Webb, baseball player (d. 1986)

1912 - Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (d. 1978)

1913 - Gig Young, American actor (d. 1978)

1916 - Walter Cronkite, American news broadcaster

1918 - Art Carney, American actor (d. 2003)

1918 - Cameron Mitchell, American actor (d. 1994)

1919 - Martin Balsam, American actor (d. 1996)

1922 - Benno Besson, Swiss actor (d. 2006)

1923 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch businessman (d. 2002)

1924 - Howie Meeker, National Hockey League player, politician

1929 - Doris Roberts, American actress

1930 - Dick Groat, baseball player

1932 - Thomas Klestil, President of Austria (d. 2004)

1933 - Tito Francona, baseball player (d. 2004)

1936 - C. K. Williams, American poet

1937 - Loretta Swit, American actress

1937 - Michael Wilson, Canadian politician

1943 - Marlène Jobert, French actress

1944 - Scherrie Payne, American singer (The Supremes)

1944 - Linda Gary, American voice-actress (d. 1995)

1946 - Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States

1946 - Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer (d. 1989)

1950 - Charles Frazier, American author

1951 - Traian Băsescu, President of Romania

1953 - Carlos Gutierrez, American politician

1953 - Jacques Villeneuve (elder), motorsport driver

1955 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland

1956 - Jordan Rudess, American musician (Dream Theater)

1956 - James Honeyman-Scott, English guitarist (The Pretenders) (d. 1982)

1960 - Marc Awodey, American artist and writer

1961 - Kathy Griffin, American comedienne

1961 - Edward Knight, American composer

1961 - Daron Hagen, American composer

1961 - Ralph Macchio, American actor

1961 - Les Sampou, American musician

1961 - Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer

1962 - Jeff Probst, American television host

1963 - Marc Déry, Québécois singer and guitarist (Zébulon)

1963 - Michel Therrien, National Hockey League head coach

1965 - Wayne Static, American musician (Static-X)

1965 - Jeff Scott Soto, American musician (Yngwie Malmsteen Band, Journey)

1967 - Eric Karros, American baseball player

1968 - Carlos Baerga, Puerto Rican baseball player

1969 - Matthew McConaughey, American actor

1969 - Sean Jean "Diddy" Combs, American rapper

1972 - Luís Figo, Portuguese footballer

1972 - Tabassum Hashmi, Indian actress

1974 - Cedric Bixler-Zavala, American musician (At the Drive-in, The Mars Volta)

1975 - Eduard Kokcharov, Russian handball player

1976 - Mario Melchiot, Dutch footballer

1976 - Bruno Junqueira, Brazilian racing driver

1977 - Larry Bigbie, American baseball player

1978 - Carmen Cali, American baseball player

1978 - John Grabow, American baseball player

1979 - Audrey Hollander, American pornographic actress

1985 - Marcell Jansen, German footballer

1986 - Alexz Johnson, Canadian singer and actress

1990 - Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Canadian actor

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1254 - John III Ducas Vatatzes, Emperor of the Empire of Nicaea (b. circa 1192).

1411 - Khalil Sultan, ruler of Transoxonia (b. 1384)

1584 - Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal (b. 1538)

1652 - Jean-Charles de la Faille, Belgian mathematician (b. 1597)

1669 - Johannes Cocceius, Dutch theologian (b. 1603)

1698 - Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician and mathematician (b. 1625)

1702 - John Benbow, English admiral (b. 1653)

1704 - Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (b. 1654)

1781 - Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (b. 1721)

1801 - William Shippen, American physician and delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1712)

1847 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (b. 1809)

1856 - Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (b. 1797)

1893 - Pierre Tirard, French politician (b. 1827)

1918 - Wilfred Owen, English poet (b. 1893)

1924 - Gabriel Fauré, French composer (b. 1845)

1924 - Richard Conner, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient (b. 1843)

1928 - Arnold Rothstein, American gambler (b. 1882)

1930 - Buddy Bolden, American musician (b. 1877)

1950 - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Baseball player (b. 1887)

1955 - Cy Young, baseball player (b. 1867)

1957 - Shoghi Effendi, Guarduan of the Bahá'í Faith (b. 1897)

1968 - Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)

1980 - Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (b. 1905)

1982 - Dominique Dunne, American actress (b. 1959)

1986 - Kurt Hirsch, German mathematician (b. 1906)

1994 - Fred Sonic Smith, American guitar player MC5 (b. 1949)

1995 - Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1922)

1995 - Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (suicide) (b. 1925)

1999 - Malcolm Marshall, West Indian cricketer (b. 1958)

2003 - Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b. 1923)

2005 - Nadia Anjuman, Afghan poet & journalist (b. 1980)

2005 - Sheree North, American actress and singer (b. 1932)

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Panama's Flag Day

Italy - celebration of victory in World War I, the date of the Armed Forces

Russia - Day of People's Unity (or National Unity Day), concides with the feast of the Theotokos of Kazan.

Tonga's National Day, from 2006.

Roman festivals - start of the Ludi Plebeii

Roman Catholic Saints - Feast day of the following Roman Catholic saints:

Saint Charles Borromeo

St. Birrstan

St. Clarus

St. Emeric

St. Joannicus

St. Modesta

St. Nicander and Hermas

St. Philologus and Patrobas

St. Pierius

St. Vitalis

Feast of Our Lady of Kazan in Russian Orthodox Church

Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Qudrat (Power) - First day of the 13th month of the Bahá'í calendar