On this day: November 15

Events on November 15

• 1705 Rákóczi's War of Independence: The Habsburg Empire and Denmark win a military victory over the Kurucs from Hungary in the Battle of Zsibó. Wikipedia
• 1806 Pike Expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spots a mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is later named Pikes Peak in his honor. Wikipedia
• 1859 Sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelos Zappas, the first modern revival of the Olympic Games took place in Athens. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Union army general William Tecumseh Sherman began his March to the Sea, inflicting significant damage to property and infrastructure using scorched-earth tactics on his way from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1889 Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup. Wikipedia
• 1899 Second Boer War: Battle of Chieveley, a British armored train is ambushed and partially derailed. British lose the battle, with 80 soldiers captured, along with war correspondent Winston Churchill. Wikipedia
• 1917 Eduskunta declares itself the supreme state power of Finland, prompting its declaration of independence and secession from Russia. Wikipedia
• 1933 Thailand holds its first election. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: In the Romani Holocaust, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler ordered that the Romani were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps". Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps". Wikipedia
• 1965 Craig Breedlove sets a land speed record of 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h) in his car, the Spirit of America, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Wikipedia
• 1966 Project Gemini: Gemini 12 completes the program's final mission, when it splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Wikipedia
• 1969 Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death". Wikipedia
• 1969 Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea. Wikipedia
• 1976 René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favor of independence. Wikipedia
• 1979 A package from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. Wikipedia
• 1985 The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. Wikipedia
• 1988 The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands. Wikipedia
• 1988 In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran makes its only space flight. Wikipedia
• 1988 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council. Wikipedia
• 1990 The Communist People's Republic of Bulgaria is disestablished and a new republican government is instituted. Wikipedia
• 2001 Microsoft launches the Xbox game console in North America. Wikipedia
• 2007 Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people and destroying parts of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans. Wikipedia
• 2010 A fire in a high-rise apartment building in Shanghai, China kills 58 people. Wikipedia
• 2017 A flood a few miles outside of Athens results in the death of 25 people. Wikipedia

Born on November 15

• 1316 John I, king of France and Navarre (died 1316) Wikipedia
• 1397 Nicholas V, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1455) Wikipedia
• 1607 Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (died 1701) Wikipedia
• 1708 William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1778) Wikipedia
• 1738 William Herschel, German-English astronomer and composer (died 1822) Wikipedia
• 1862 Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1867 Emil Krebs, German polyglot (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1874 August Krogh, Danish zoologist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1949) Wikipedia
• 1887 Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter and educator (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1891 Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1907 Claus von Stauffenberg, German colonel (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1929 Ed Asner, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1930 J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1931 Mwai Kibaki, Kenyan economist and politician, 3rd President of Kenya (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1935 Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian politician Wikipedia
• 1945 Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian-Swedish singer Wikipedia
• 1948 Jimmy Choo, Malaysian fashion designer[page needed] Wikipedia
• 1954 Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Polish journalist and politician, 3rd President of Poland Wikipedia
• 1983 John Heitinga, Dutch footballer and coach Wikipedia
• 1986 Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1991 Shailene Woodley, American actress Wikipedia
• 1993 Paulo Dybala, Argentine footballer Wikipedia

Died on November 15

• 1280 Albertus Magnus, German bishop, theologian, and philosopher (born 1193) Wikipedia
• 1630 Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (born 1571) Wikipedia
• 1670 John Amos Comenius, Czech bishop, philosopher, and educator (born 1592) Wikipedia
• 1787 Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (born 1714) Wikipedia
• 1908 Cixi, China empress dowager and regent (born 1835) Wikipedia
• 1916 Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1846) Wikipedia
• 1917 Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (born 1858) Wikipedia
• 1919 Alfred Werner, French-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866) Wikipedia
• 1949 Narayan Apte, Indian activist, assassin of Mahatma Gandhi (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1949 Nathuram Godse, Indian assassin of Mahatma Gandhi (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1959 Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1976 Jean Gabin, French actor, singer, and producer (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1978 Margaret Mead, American anthropologist and author (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1984 Baby Fae, American infant, who received baboon heart (born 1984) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• America Recycles Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abibus of Edessa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Albert the Great Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Caius of Korea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Didier of Cahors Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Francis Asbury and George Whitefield (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Hugh Faringdon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Leopold III, a public holiday in Lower Austria and Vienna. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Malo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mechell Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium) Wikipedia
• Day of the Imprisoned Writer (International observance) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, unilaterally declared in 1988. (Palestine) Wikipedia
• King's Feast (Belgium) Wikipedia
• National Tree Planting Day (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
• Peace Day (Ivory Coast) Wikipedia
• Republic Proclamation Day (Brazil) Wikipedia
• Shichi-Go-San (Japan) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Northern Cyprus) Wikipedia
• The beginning of Nativity Fast (Eastern Orthodox) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “November 15” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.