On This Day

1939 — Nazi Germany arrests academics in Kraków On November 6, German occupying authorities arrested professors and academics after summoning them to a meeting at Kraków’s Jagiellonian University. The operation became known as Sonderaktion Krakau. Around 183 university and mining-academy staff were detained. Many were deported to concentration camps, in an attempt to destroy Poland’s intellectual and cultural leadership. #history

1928 — Herbert Hoover is elected US president On November 6, Herbert Hoover defeated Democrat Al Smith to become the 31st president of the United States. Hoover won an overwhelming 444 electoral votes to Smith’s 87. Before entering politics, he had built an international reputation as a mining engineer and humanitarian relief organizer.

1917 — Canadian troops capture Passchendaele On November 6, Canadian forces captured the ruined Belgian village of Passchendaele during the First World War’s Third Battle of Ypres. The battlefield was infamous for deep mud, shell craters and horrific casualties. Nine Canadians would receive the Victoria Cross for their actions during the wider Passchendaele fighting.

1913 — Gandhi is arrested in South Africa On November 6, Mahatma Gandhi was arrested while leading a march of Indian miners protesting discriminatory laws in South Africa. The march was part of his campaign of nonviolent resistance, known as satyagraha. Gandhi was released on bail the following day, but was arrested again soon afterward.

1917 — The Bolshevik Revolution begins in Petrograd On November 6 (October 24 in the Russian calendar then in use), Bolshevik revolutionaries began seizing key buildings and strategic locations in Petrograd, challenging Russia’s Provisional Government. Led by Vladimir Lenin, the uprising brought the Bolsheviks to power and helped create the first lasting Marxist state. The event is also commonly dated November 7 in the modern Gregorian calendar.

On this day, 5 November 1943, Vatican City was bombed by an unidentified aircraft during the Second World War, despite the tiny independent state maintaining neutrality throughout the conflict. Several bombs were dropped over Vatican territory, damaging buildings including the railway station, the Mosaic Studio and parts of the Vatican Gardens. Remarkably, nobody was killed in the attack, although the incident caused considerable alarm. The identity and precise intentions of the aircraft and its crew have remained subjects of historical investigation. The bombing was particularly extraordinary because Vatican City was surrounded by German-occupied Rome at the time, making its neutrality especially delicate.

On this day, 5 November 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected President of the United States, becoming the first American president to win a third term in office. He defeated Republican challenger Wendell Willkie while promising to keep America out of the escalating war in Europe. Roosevelt had already transformed American society through his New Deal programmes following the Great Depression. His unprecedented third victory was particularly significant because American presidents had traditionally followed George Washington's example of serving no more than two terms. The two-term limit was eventually written into the US Constitution through the 22nd Amendment in 1951

On this day, 5 November 1916, Germany and Austria-Hungary announced the creation of a Kingdom of Poland in territories they had taken from the Russian Empire during the First World War. The declaration promised the Polish people a future state with its own monarchy and constitution, although its borders and political arrangements remained uncertain. Poland had been partitioned between neighbouring powers in the late 18th century and had disappeared from the map as an independent country for more than a century. The 1916 proclamation was largely intended to gain Polish support and soldiers for the Central Powers. Genuine Polish independence eventually followed the collapse of the empires at the end of the war, in November 1918

On this day, 3 November 1969, US President Richard Nixon delivered his famous 'Silent Majority' speech, asking Americans who supported his Vietnam War policy to make their voices heard. The address came during a period of enormous public opposition to the conflict, with anti-war demonstrations taking place across the United States. Nixon used the phrase 'Silent Majority' to describe Americans who he believed supported his approach but were less vocal than the protesters. The speech became one of the defining moments of his presidency and a hugely influential political communication strategy. The phrase has continued to be used by politicians around the world when appealing to supposedly underrepresented sections of the public

On this day, 3 November 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 carrying a small dog named Laika, making her the first living creature to orbit Earth. The mission was a major milestone in the Space Race and demonstrated that a living organism could survive the launch and conditions of orbital spaceflight. Laika had been a stray dog living on the streets of Moscow before being selected for the mission. Tragically, the spacecraft had no system to bring her home, and she died just hours after launch due to overheating. Her mission provided important biological data for future human spaceflight, but also became a lasting symbol of the ethical questions surrounding animal experimentation.

On this day, 3 November 1954, the original Japanese monster film Godzilla premiered in Tokyo, introducing one of cinema's most recognisable creatures to the world. Directed by Ishirō Honda, the film featured a gigantic prehistoric monster awakened and mutated by nuclear radiation, which proceeds to devastate Tokyo. Godzilla was much more than a giant monster movie. It reflected the deep anxieties of post-war Japan following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the 1954 Lucky Dragon 5 nuclear fallout incident. The original film was considerably darker than many of its later sequels, and Godzilla eventually became a global entertainment franchise spanning dozens of films, television shows, comics and video games.

On this day, 3 November 1936, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt won re-election in one of the biggest landslides in US presidential election history. He defeated Republican challenger Alf Landon, winning 46 of the 48 states and securing 523 electoral votes against Landon's eight. Roosevelt's popularity was largely built around his New Deal programmes, introduced to tackle the devastating effects of the Great Depression. His victory demonstrated that millions of Americans supported his interventionist economic policies, which included public works programmes, financial reforms and social welfare measures.

On this day, 3 November 1918, thousands of German sailors, soldiers and civilians took to the streets of Kiel in protest against the continuation of the First World War. The demonstrations grew out of a naval mutiny by sailors who had refused orders to launch what they believed would be a suicidal final attack against the British fleet. The protests rapidly developed into a wider revolution, spreading to other German cities and eventually bringing down the German monarchy. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated just six days later, on 9 November. The German Revolution paved the way for the creation of the Weimar Republic and helped bring the First World War to its conclusion.

On this day, 3 November 1903, Panama declared independence from Colombia in an event that would eventually lead to the construction of the Panama Canal. The independence movement received crucial support from the United States, which wanted to secure the right to build a shipping canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Just days later, the United States recognised Panama as an independent nation. The resulting treaty gave America control over a 10-mile-wide Canal Zone, where construction of the canal began. The Panama Canal eventually opened in 1914 and transformed international shipping by eliminating the need for ships to sail around the southern tip of South America.