Today in History: The Bolshevik Revolution begins in Russia in 1917

The following are some of the major events that occurred on November 7 throughout history:

1492 – The Ensisheim meteorite falls in Alsace
A large meteorite crashed into a wheat field near the town of Ensisheim, marking the first well-documented meteorite fall in European history and sparking early scientific interest in celestial phenomena.

1619 – Elizabeth Stuart crowned Queen of Bohemia
Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of England’s King James I, was crowned in Prague, an event that helped ignite the Thirty Years’ War and reshaped Europe’s religious and political landscape.

1917 – The Bolshevik Revolution begins in Russia
Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks launched their uprising in Petrograd, overthrowing the provisional government and establishing the first communist state, a turning point in 20th-century global politics.

1938 – German diplomat Ernst vom Rath shot in Paris
Seventeen-year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish Jew, shot German diplomat Ernst vom Rath, an incident that Nazi Germany used to justify the Kristallnacht pogrom two days later.

1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt wins a fourth U.S. presidential term
Amid World War II, Roosevelt was re-elected for an unprecedented fourth term, cementing his leadership during the global conflict and prompting later constitutional limits on U.S. presidential terms.

1956 – UN establishes first peacekeeping force during Suez Crisis
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution creating the UN Emergency Force, compelling Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from Egypt and marking the birth of modern UN peacekeeping.

1989 – East German government resigns
The Council of Ministers, led by Willi Stoph, resigned en masse amid mounting protests, signalling the collapse of communist rule in East Germany just two days before the Berlin Wall fell.

1991 – Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive
Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson publicly revealed his HIV diagnosis and retirement, transforming global awareness of HIV/AIDS and helping to reduce stigma around the disease.

2000 – U.S. presidential election ends in a deadlock
The election between George W. Bush and Al Gore produced no clear winner on election night, triggering recounts and a constitutional crisis that dominated global headlines for weeks.

2020 – Joe Biden declared President-elect of the United States
Four days after Election Day, major networks projected Joe Biden as the winner, signalling a change in U.S. leadership and international policy direction.