November 27 - Events

Events

• 176 – Emperor Marcus Aureliusgrant his son Commodus the rank of Imperator and makes himSupreme Commander of theRoman legions.
• 1095 – Pope Urban II declares theFirst Crusade at the Council of Clermont.
• 1295 – The first elected representatives from Lancashire are called to Westminster by King Edward I to attend what later became known as "The Model Parliament".
• 1703 – The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in theGreat Storm of 1703.
• 1815 – Adoption of Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland.
• 1830 – St. Catherine Laboure experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin standing on a globe, crushing a serpent with her feet, and emanating rays of light from her hands.
• 1839 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.
• 1856 – The Coup of 1856 leads to Luxembourg's unilateral adoption of a new, reactionary constitution.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and several of his men escape the Ohio Penitentiary and return safely to the South.
• 1868 – Indian Wars: Battle of Washita River – United States ArmyLieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack onCheyenne living on reservation land.
• 1886 – German judge Emil Hartwich sustains fatal injuries in a duel, which would become the background for "Effi Briest", a classic work of German literature.
• 1895 – At the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signs his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish theNobel Prize after he dies.
• 1901 – The U.S. Army War College is established.
• 1912 – Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore ofMorocco.
• 1924 – In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Paradeis held.
• 1934 – Bank robber Baby Face Nelson dies in a shoot-out with theFBI.
• 1940 – In Romania, the ruling party Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled King Carol II of Romania's aides, including former minister Nicolae Iorga.
• 1940 – World War II: At the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Royal Navy engages the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 1942 – World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.
• 1944 – World War II: An explosion at a Royal Air Force ammunition dump at Fauld, Staffordshire kills seventy people.
• 1954 – Alger Hiss is released from prison after serving 44 months forperjury.
• 1963 – The Convention on the Unification of Certain Points of Substantive Law on Patents for Invention is signed at Strasbourg.
• 1964 – Cold War: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeals to the United States and the Soviet Union to end nuclear testing and to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster".
• 1965 – Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned operations are to succeed, the number ofAmerican troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.
• 1971 – The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module. It malfunctions and crashes, but it is the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars.
• 1973 – The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States Senatevotes 92 to 3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on December 6, the House confirmed him 387 to 35).
• 1975 – The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after apress conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings andshootings across England.
• 1978 – In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Mosconeand openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.
• 1978 – The Kurdish party PKK was founded in the city of Riha (Urfa) in Turkey.
• 1983 – Avianca Flight 011, a Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid'sBarajas Airport, killing 181.
• 1984 – Under the Brussels Agreement signed between the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain, the former agreed to enter into discussions with Spain over Gibraltar, including sovereignty.
• 1989 – Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727, explodes in mid-air overColombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.
• 1991 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Security Council Resolution 721, leading the way to the establishment ofpeacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.
• 1992 – For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andres Perez in Venezuela.
• 1997 – Twenty-five are killed in the second Souhane massacre inAlgeria.
• 1999 – The left-wing Labour Party takes control of the New Zealandgovernment with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history.
• 2001 – A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.
• 2004 – Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
• 2005 – The first partial human face transplant is completed inAmiens, France.
• 2006 – The Canadian House of Commons endorses Prime MinisterStephen Harper's motion to declare Quebec a nation within a unifiedCanada.