What Happened on November 11

The Western Front

1918 — Marshal Foch Accepts German Surrender at Compiègne

Armistice signed at dawn in railway carriage — fighting halts at eleven o'clock this morning after four years of slaughter — Germany to yield fleet, guns, and Rhineland

COMPIÈGNE, France, Nov. 11 — Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies, received the German delegation at five o'clock this morning in his private railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne and dictated the terms that end the Great War.

The armistice, signed by German Secretary of State Matthias Erzberger, comes into force at eleven o'clock Paris time, though word reached the front only after 2,738 men had perished in final actions this morning. The German envoys, who departed Berlin November 6, found Foch immovable: total cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of all German forces west of the Rhine, and surrender of aircraft, warships, and military materiel.

The scene in the forest clearing was tense.

• The armistice was signed in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, near the town of Compiègne, France.
• The armistice was agreed at 5:00 a.m. by Allied Supreme Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch and came into force at 11:00 a.m. Paris Time on 11 November 1918.
• Fighting continued until 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, with 2,738 men dying on the last day of the war.
• The German delegation was led by Matthias Erzberger, who departed for France on 6 November 1918.
• The armistice terms included the cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of German forces west of the Rhine, and surrender of aircraft, warships, and military materiel.

Source: Wikipedia — Armistice of 11 November 1918

Whitehall

1920 — King Unveils Cenotaph as Unknown Warrior Laid to Rest

More than a million mourners thronged the temporary monument in 1919 — now Portland stone replaces wood and plaster for the nation's permanent shrine.

King George V unveiled Sir Edwin Lutyens's permanent Cenotaph in Whitehall this morning as the Unknown Warrior was borne through immense crowds to Westminster Abbey. France buried her own unknown soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe the same hour. Railway Van No.132, which had carried Edith Cavell and Charles Fryatt, brought the casket to London. Six black horses of the Royal Horse Artillery drew the gun carriage through streets where no voice rose.

• The Unknown Warrior was buried on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with a similar interment of a French unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.
• The Cenotaph, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built from Portland stone, was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920.
• The coffin of the Unknown Warrior was carried to London in South Eastern and Chatham Railway General Utility Van No.132, which had previously carried the bodies of Edith Cavell and Charles Fryatt.
• The casket was placed onto a gun carriage of the Royal Horse Artillery and drawn by six black horses through immense and silent crowds.
• The grave was capped with a black Belgian marble stone, the only tombstone in Westminster Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.

Source: Wikipedia — The Cenotaph

Memorial Affairs

1921 — President Harding Dedicates Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington

The ceremony places an unnamed American warrior beside the nation's honored dead.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 — President Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery today.

The simple marble monument receives an unidentified American soldier killed in France, joining the ranks of the Republic's most sacred dead.

• The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.

Source: Wikipedia — Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Arlington National Cemetery)

New England Plantation

1620 — Mayflower Pilgrims Execute Compact in Ship's Great Cabin

Agreement binds signatories in 'civil body politic' before landing at Cape Cod.

AT ANCHOR IN CAPE COD HARBOR, Nov. 11 — In the great cabin of the Mayflower, where the beams stand scarce five feet above the deck, the ship's passengers gathered this day to affix their names to a compact binding themselves into a civil body politic before setting foot upon the land.

• The Mayflower Compact is signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.

Source: Wikipedia — Mayflower Compact

Nippon Correspondence

1855 — Edo Earthquake Kills Thousands, Razes 14,000 Houses

Seven to ten thousand perish in the Kantō — flames consume what the tremors spared — a disaster unmatched in memory

EDO, November 11 — The ancient capital of the Shōgun lies in ruins, and with it the fairest portion of the Kantō plain. A violent earthquake struck this city and its environs in the early hours, bringing down the timber houses of the common folk and kindling fires that raged unchecked through narrow lanes. The death toll stands between seven and ten thousand souls, and some fourteen thousand buildings have been destroyed.

• A powerful earthquake occurs in Edo, Japan, causing considerable damage in the Kantō region from the shaking and subsequent fires. It had a death toll of 7,000–10,000 people and destroyed around 14,000 buildings.

Source: Wikipedia — 1855 Edo earthquake

Clay Institute Desk

2002 — Russian Solver Posts Proof of Poincaré

On November 11, a Russian mathematician posted the first installment of a proof that opens a question in geometry that has stood since 1904.

ST. PETERSBURG, November 11 — The century's deepest questions in geometry have stood like locked doors since Henri Poincaré first posed his famous conjecture in 1904. Today a reclusive Russian mathematician has posted to the Internet the first installment of a proof that opens one of them.

• Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman posts the first of three preprint texts with his proof of the Poincaré conjecture. It remains the only of the Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics to be solved. He later refused both the prize money from Clay Mathematics Institute as well as the Fields Medal for his work.

Source: Wikipedia — Grigori Perelman

Kennedy Space Bureau

1982 — Columbia Reaches Orbit on First Operational Shuttle Flight; Crew of Four Opens Space Transportation Era

STS-5 clears the pad at 7:19 a.m. — the reusable spacecraft begins its promised routine

CAPE CANAVERAL, November 11 — Vance Brand, Robert Overmyer, William Lenoir and Joseph Allen rode a pillar of fire into orbit this morning, and with them went NASA's wager that spaceflight could become ordinary. The four astronauts commanded Space Shuttle Columbia as it lifted from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 7:19 a.m., beginning STS-5, the first operational mission of the shuttle program. Unlike the test flights that preceded it, this launch carries a commercial satellite payload and a crew trained for routine deployment rather than experimental verification.

• Space Shuttle Columbia launches from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-5, the first operational mission of the Space Shuttle program.

Source: Wikipedia — Space Shuttle Columbia

Leibniz Archive

1675 — Leibniz First to Demonstrate New Method of Finding Areas Under Curves

The Hanover philosopher-mathematician applies his integral calculus to the graph of y = ƒ(x) — a general solution where none existed

PARIS, November 11 — In an age when geometry served astronomy and the new mechanics alike, the problem of quadrature, finding the space beneath a curve, has defeated the most skilled analysts of Europe. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the Hanoverian councilor and philosopher, has now demonstrated a general method for this ancient task, applying what he terms integral calculus to determine the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x). The demonstration, made this autumn to the learned societies with which he corresponds, arrives three years after his first announcement of a differential method.

• Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x).

Source: Wikipedia — Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Celestial Intelligence

1572 — New Star Blazes Forth in Cassiopeia — Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe First to Chronicle the Marvel

First seen in early November of 1572, the new star in Cassiopeia outshines Venus and equals Jupiter in brightness, its lack of parallax measured by Brahe with brass quadrants at Herrevad Abbey and Uraniborg.

COPENHAGEN, November 11 — Tycho Brahe, gentleman astronomer of Denmark, hath this autumn observed a new star of exceeding brightness where none before stood, in the constellation Cassiopeia.

The apparition, first sighted in early November of this year 1572, burneth now with a steady light surpassing Venus and even rivalling Jupiter. Brahe, having repaired to his instruments at Herrevad Abbey and thereafter at his estate of Uraniborg, hath measured the phenomenon with his great brass quadrants and findeth it utterly without parallax, thereby proving it no mere comet or atmospheric fire but a generation in the aethereal regions themselves.

This discovery shattereth the ancient consensus of Aristotle, who held the heavens immutable above the sphere of the moon.

• Tycho Brahe observes the supernova SN 1572.

Source: Wikipedia — Tycho Brahe