Today:
1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last independent Prince of Wales, is executed by Edward I.
1574 – The Siege of Leiden ends as the Dutch city is relieved after months of being besieged by Spanish forces during the Eighty Years’ War.
1712 – The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.
1789 – George Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
1863 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaims a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
1873 – Chief Kintpuash, also known as Captain Jack, and three other Modoc Indian leaders are hanged in California.
1929 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes is renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
1942 – The first successful launch of a German V-2 rocket takes place at Peenemünde, Germany.
1990 – East and West Germany reunify into a single Germany after being divided for 45 years following World War II.
1995 – O. J. Simpson is acquitted of murder in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.