Proposition 8 passes in California, representing the first ever elimination of an existing right to marry for LGBT couples.

Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.

Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress.

Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Orthodox Israeli.

San Francisco: First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.

A China Airlines Boeing 747 overruns Runway 13 at Hong Kong's Kai Tak International Airport while landing during a typhoon, injuring 22 people.

Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).

The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.

Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.

Vietnam War: Vietnamization

Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the River Arno floods; together with the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this leads to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books.

In a test of the Nike-Hercules air defense missile, Shot Dominic-Tightrope is successfully detonated 69,000 feet above Johnston Island. It would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States.

Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.

After being totally destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's ''Fidelio''.

The United States government establishes the National Security Agency.

World War II: Bitola Liberation Day

World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein

World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.

Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected the first female governor in the United States.

In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

The Italian unknown soldier is buried in the Altare della Patria (Fatherland Altar) in Rome.

The Sturmabteilung or SA is formed by Adolf Hitler

Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi is assassinated in Tokyo.

The German Revolution begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.

World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.

Panama adopts its flag one day after it separated from Colombia

City & South London Railway: London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.

Menelek of Shoa obtains the allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility, paving the way for him to be crowned emperor.

American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville

The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University.

Count Camillo Benso di Cavour becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy.

The Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.

The Erie Canal is completed with Governor DeWitt Clinton performing the ''Wedding of The Waters'' ceremony in New York Harbour.

The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.

W.A. Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.

The Teatro di San Carlo is inaugurated.

The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary.

Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).

Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother – they would later marry.

Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.

The River Arno flooding causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.