Historical Events on Saturday, 22nd November

22/11/2022

A shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia leaves seven workers dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.

On November 22, 2022, a mass shooting took place at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, United States. Andre Bing, a night-supervisor at the store, killed six co-workers and injured four others before committing suicide. Bing committed the attack out of perceived workplace harassment, with his suicide note additionally citing "social deficitis" and loneliness.

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22/11/2014

While playing with a toy gun in Cleveland, 12-year-old African American Tamir Rice is killed by a white police officer.

African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group who, as defined by the United States census, consists of Americans who have ancestry from "any of the Black racial groups of Africa". African Americans constitute the second-largest racial and ethnic group in the U.S. after White Americans. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States. According to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2024, the overall Black population was estimated at 42,951,595, representing approximately 12.63% of the total U.S. population.

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22/11/2010

During the Cambodian water festival, a stampede in Koh Pich, Phnom Penh, kills 347 people.

Bon Om Touk, also known as the Cambodian Water and Moon Festival, is celebrated in late October or early November, often corresponding with the lunar Mid-Autumn Festival. It marks the end of the monsoon season. The festivities are accompanied by dragon boat races, similar to those seen in the Lao Boun Suang Huea festival.

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22/11/2004

The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population, sparked by the aftermath of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election run-off which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily. Nationwide, this was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.

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22/11/2003

Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident: Shortly after takeoff, a DHL Express cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land.

On 22 November 2003, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad, Iraq, an Airbus A300 cargo plane, registered OO-DLL and owned by the Belgian division of European Air Transport, was struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile while on a scheduled flight to Muharraq, Bahrain. Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems.

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22/11/1994

A Trans World Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft collide on the runway at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Bridgeton, Missouri, killing two people and injuring eight.

Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a trunk carrier, a scheduled airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with Ford Trimotors. With American, United, and Eastern, it was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930.

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22/11/1990

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her Premiership.

The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, so they are invariably members of Parliament.

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22/11/1989

NASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-33, a classified mission for the United States Department of Defense.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and space. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NASA operates ten field centers across the U.S. and is organized into mission directorates for Science, Space Operations, Exploration Systems Development, Space Technology, Aeronautics Research, and Mission Support. Established in 1958, NASA succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space program a distinct civilian orientation focused on peaceful applications. Since then, it has led most American spaceflight programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the Apollo program, Skylab, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS) and the ongoing multi-national Artemis program.

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22/11/1987

The Max Headroom signal hijacking incident takes place, in which a pirate broadcast interrupts television broadcasts in Chicago.

The Max Headroom signal hijacking was a hijacking of the television signals of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, on November 22, 1987, that briefly sent a pirate broadcast of an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of home viewers.

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22/11/1975

Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco two days earlier.

Juan Carlos I is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Spain, since his abdication, Juan Carlos has usually been referred to as the rey emérito by the press.

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22/11/1971

In Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy, the Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, five children and one of their leaders are found dead from exposure in the Scottish mountains.

The Cairngorm Plateau disaster, also known as the Feith Buidhe disaster, occurred in November 1971 when six fifteen-year-old students from Edinburgh's Ainslie Park High School and their two leaders embarked on a two-day navigational expedition in a remote area of the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands.

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22/11/1968

Japan Air Lines Flight 2 accidentally ditches in San Francisco Bay while on approach to San Francisco International Airport. No one is injured.

Japan Air Lines Flight 2 was a scheduled passenger flight on November 22, 1968. The plane was a six-month-old Douglas DC-8-62 named Shiga (志賀), flying from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Due to heavy fog and other factors, Captain Kohei Asoh mistakenly ditched the plane near Coyote Point in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay, two and a half miles short of the runway. All 107 people on board survived the accident without any injuries. Despite the abrupt ditching, and being immersed in salt-water, the aircraft was recovered, repaired, and returned to service.

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22/11/1967

UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab–Israeli peace settlement.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (S/RES/242) was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on 22 November 1967, in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. It was adopted under Chapter VI of the UN Charter. The resolution was sponsored by British ambassador Lord Caradon and was one of five drafts under consideration.

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22/11/1963

U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, who also kills Dallas Police officer J. D. Tippit after fleeing the scene. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States afterwards.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president, at 43 years, and the first Catholic president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress before his presidency.

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Five Indian generals are killed in a helicopter crash, due to collision with two parallel lines of telegraph cables.

On Friday, 22 November 1963, an Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopter of the Indian Air Force crashed in Poonch district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The aircraft was en route to Poonch town, killing all six people on board. Six Indian Armed Forces officers were on board, including three general officers, an air officer and a brigadier.

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22/11/1955

The Soviet Union launches RDS-37, a 1.6 megaton two stage hydrogen bomb designed by Andrei Sakharov. The bomb was dropped over Semipalatinsk.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

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22/11/1952

A Douglas C-124 Globemaster II crashes into Mount Gannet, Alaska, killing all 52 aboard.

The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is a retired American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California.

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22/11/1943

World War II: Cairo Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.

The Cairo Conference, also known as the First Cairo Conference, was one of 14 summit meetings during World War II, which took place on November 22–26, 1943. The Conference was held at Cairo in Egypt between China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Attended by Chairman of the National Government of China Chiang Kai-shek, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it outlined the Allied position against the Empire of Japan during World War II and made decisions about post-war Asia.

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Lebanon gains independence from France, nearly two years after it was first announced by the Free French government.

Lebanon, officially the Lebanese Republic, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west; Cyprus lies a short distance from the coastline. Lebanon has a population of more than five million and an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi). Beirut is the country's capital and largest city.

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22/11/1942

World War II: Battle of Stalingrad: General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army is surrounded.

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad in southern Russia. The battle was characterized by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids; the battle epitomized urban warfare, and it was the single largest and costliest urban battle in military history. It was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II — and arguably in all of human history—as both sides suffered tremendous casualties amidst ferocious fighting in and around the city. The battle is commonly regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of World War II, as Germany's Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was forced to withdraw a considerable amount of military forces from other regions to replace losses on the Eastern Front. By the time the hostilities ended, the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been destroyed and Army Group B was routed. The Soviets' victory at Stalingrad shifted the Eastern Front's balance of power in their favour, while also boosting the morale of the Red Army.

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22/11/1940

World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattack into Italian-occupied Albania and capture Korytsa.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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22/11/1935

The China Clipper inaugurates the first commercial transpacific air service, connecting Alameda, California with Manila.

China Clipper (NC14716) was the first of three Martin M-130 four-engine flying boats built for Pan American Airways and was used to inaugurate the first commercial transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila on November 22, 1935. Built at a cost of $417,000 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, it was delivered to Pan Am on October 9, 1935. It was one of the largest airplanes of its time.

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22/11/1921

During The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922), 15 Irish Nationalists are killed in Belfast in one day.

The Troubles in Ulster of the 1920s was a period of conflict in the Irish province of Ulster, from June 1920 until June 1922, during and after the Irish War of Independence and the partition of Ireland. In Ulster, it was mainly a communal conflict between unionists, who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists, who backed Irish independence: the unionists were mainly Ulster Protestants and the nationalists were mainly Irish Catholics. During this period, more than 500 people were killed in Belfast alone, 500 interned and 23,000 people were made homeless in the city, while approximately 50,000 people fled the province due to intimidation. Most of the victims were Nationalists (73%) with civilians being far more likely to be killed compared to the military, police or paramilitaries. In Belfast where Catholics made up only a third of the population, the disproportionate number of Catholic casualties combined with sustained attacks upon Catholic civilians involving police or special constabulary forces, led to the troubles being known as the 'Belfast Pogrom(s)'.

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22/11/1908

The Congress of Manastir establishes the Albanian alphabet.

The Congress of Manastir was a national conference held in the city of Manastir from November 14 to 22, 1908, with the goal of standardizing the Albanian alphabet. November 22 is now a commemorative day in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia as well as among the Albanian diaspora known as Alphabet Day. Prior to the Congress, the Albanian language was represented by a combination of six or more distinct alphabets, plus a number of sub-variants.

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22/11/1873

The French steamer SS Ville du Havre sinks in 12 minutes after colliding with the Scottish iron clipper Loch Earn in the Atlantic, with a loss of 226 lives.

Ville du Havre was a French iron steamship that operated round trips between the northern coast of France and New York City. Launched in November 1865 under her original name of Napoléon III, she was converted from a paddle steamer to single propeller propulsion in 1871 and, in recognition of the recent defeat and removal from power of her imperial namesake, the Emperor Napoleon III, was renamed Ville du Havre. It was named after Le Havre, a major port city in the Normandy region of northern France.

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22/11/1869

In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched.

Dumbarton is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.

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22/11/1855

In Birmingham, England, Albert, Prince Consort lays the foundation stone of the Birmingham and Midland Institute.

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest city in Britain – commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom – with a population of 1.2 million people in the city proper in 2024. Birmingham borders the Black Country to its west and, together with the city of Wolverhampton and towns including Dudley and Solihull, forms the West Midlands conurbation. The royal town of Sutton Coldfield is incorporated within the city limits to the northeast. Birmingham's urban area has a population of 2.7 million and its wider metropolitan area has a population of 4.3 million.

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22/11/1837

Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against the United Kingdom in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution.

William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify the establishment of Upper Canada. He represented York County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and aligned with Reformers. He led the rebels in the Upper Canada Rebellion; after its defeat, he unsuccessfully rallied American support for an invasion of Upper Canada as part of the Patriot War. Although popular for criticising government officials, he failed to implement most of his policy objectives. He is one of the most recognizable Reformers of the early 19th century.

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22/11/1718

Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard attacks and boards the vessels of the British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") off the coast of North Carolina. The casualties on both sides include Maynard's first officer Mister Hyde and Teach himself.

The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom, responsible for defending the UK, the Crown Dependencies, and the Overseas Territories from naval attack or invasion. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the English Navy of the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

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22/11/1635

Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island.

The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with neighboring Ming China and Tokugawa Japan, and to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.

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22/11/1574

Spanish navigator Juan Fernández discovers islands now known as the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.

Juan Fernández was a Spanish explorer and navigator in the Pacific regions of the Viceroyalty of Peru and Captaincy General of Chile west of colonial South America. He is best known for the discovery of a fast maritime route from Callao (Peru) to Valparaíso (Chile) as well as for the discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile.

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22/11/1307

Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.

Pope Clement V was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1305 until his death. He is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members. A Frenchman by birth, Clement moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, ushering in the period known as the Avignon Papacy.

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22/11/1220

Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III.

Frederick II was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220, and King of Jerusalem from 1225 to 1228. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI, of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, and Queen Constance I of Sicily, of the Hauteville dynasty.

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22/11/1210

The Castle of Termes falls to Simon de Montfort after a four-month siege during the Albigensian Crusade.

The Château de Termes is a ruined castle near the village of Termes in the Aude département of France. It is one of the so-called Cathar castles.

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22/11/0845

The first duke of Brittany, Nominoe, defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon.

Brittany is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history.

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22/11/0498

After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pope Anastasius II was the bishop of Rome from 24 November 496 to his death on 19 November 498. He was an important figure in trying to end the Acacian schism, but his efforts resulted in the Laurentian schism, which followed his death. Anastasius was born in Rome, the son of a priest, and is buried in St. Peter's Basilica.

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