November 13
1775 – During the American invasion of Quebec during the Revolutionary War, forces under Gen. Richard Montgomery occupy Montreal without firing a shot.
1851 – The Denny Party of pioneers lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle.
1918 – Just days after the Armistice, Allied troops occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
1922 – In the case of Zucht v. King, the Supreme Court upholds mandatory vaccinations for public school students.
1927 – The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
1940 – Walt Disney’s animated musical film Fantasia is released at New York’s Broadway Theatre
1942 – During World War II, in battle between U.S. and Japanese ships off Savo island in the Solomons, the Japanese lose 1 battleship and 2 destroyers sunk with the U.S. losing 2 cruisers and 4 destroyers sunk
1947 – Russian soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov submits his perfected prototype assault rifle, designated Автомáт Калáшникова Oбразец 1947 –
Avtomat Kalashnikova Obrazets 1947 – for adoption by Soviet armed forces.
1950 – General Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, President of Venezuela, is assassinated in Caracas.
1956 – In the case of Browder v. Gayle, the Supreme Court declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses unconstitutional, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott.
1982 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1985 – The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a volcanic lahar mudslide, burying the town of Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people.
1995 – A group called the Islamic Movement for Change detonates a truck bomb outside of a US operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing 5 Americans, 2 Indians. and injuring 60 more.
2001 – President Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
2013 – The 78 story 4 World Trade Center officially opens, replacing a 9 story building damaged during the 9/11 attack and later razed.
2015 – Islamic State terrorists carry out a series of coordinated attacks in Paris, including suicide bombings, mass shootings at several restaurants and the Batalclan theater and a hostage crisis, killing 130 people and wounding over 400 more.