November 1
365 – The Alemanni tribe cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. This is considered the beginning of the rivalry between what would later be Germany and France, that nearly 1500 years later would result in the Franco-Prussian War, which was a major factor in the alliances of World War I and finally led to World War II.
1503 – Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere is elected Pope Julius II
1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo under the patronage of Pope Julius II, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
1520 – On All Saints Day, Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet enters the Strait of Magellan. He names it Estrecho de Todos los Santos -Strait of All Saints – and plants a flag to claim the land on behalf of the King of Spain
1604 – Shakespeare’s play Othello opens at Whitehall Palace in London.
1611 – Shakespeare’s play The Tempest opens at Whitehall Palace in London.
1683 – The British Crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the White House.
1848 – The first U.S. medical school for women opens; Boston Female Medical School, which later merges with the Boston University School of Medicine
1870 – The United States Weather Bureau makes its first official meteorological forecast.
1897 – The first Library of Congress building opens to the public
1911 – Italian Army Air Corp Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti, flying a Etrich Taube monoplane, makes the first aerial combat bomb run, dropping several grenades on the Tagiura Oasis in northwest Libya during the Italo-Turkish War
1918 – The worst rapid transit accident in U.S. history occurs on the New York City Subway BMT Brighton Line, when a train derails under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, killing 102 and injuring 250 of the 650 passengers and crew aboard.
1922 – The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates ending the empire.
1942 – The 1st Marine Division, reinforced by a regiment of the 2nd Division, and the U.S. Army Americal Division begin offensive operations on Guadalcanal, crossing the Matanikau river to engage the Japanese.
1943 – The 3rd Marine Division stages landings on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands
1949 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4, enroute from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., collides in midair with a Bolivian Air Force Lockheed P-38 Lightning over Alexandria, Virginia killing all 55 passengers and crew aboard, the pilot of the fighter surviving.
1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate President Truman at Blair House, mortally wounding White House Police officer Leslie Coffelt, who kills Torresola before dying, while Secret Service agents wound and arrest Collazo.
1951 – During Operation Buster–Jangle, in Nevada, 6500 U.S. soldiers are purposefully exposed to 3 atomic explosions.
1952 – During Operation Ivy, at the Eniwetok atoll, the U.S. detonates the first thermonuclear device, code named Mike resulting in a 10.4 megaton explosion.
1955 – United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6 enroute from Denver to Seattle, is destroyed in flight by a bomb placed in luggage and crashes near Longmont, Colorado, killing all 44 passengers and crew aboard.
1957 – The Mackinac Bridge opens to traffic connecting Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.
1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America’s film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X.
1982 – Honda opens the first Asian automobile factory in Marysville, Ohio.
1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
2008 – Xtabay singer Yma Sumac dies in Los Angeles, age 86.
2015 – Actor, lawyer, and politician Fred Dalton Thompson, dies in Nashville, age 73.