1918: German Kaiser Wilhelm is deposed. Learn more about William II of Germany and Prussia.

1923: In Munich, armed policeman and troops loyal to Germany's democratic government crush the Beer Hall putsch (revolt), Hitler's first attempt at seizing control of the German government. Learn more about Adolf Hitler.

1938: In Germany, Nazis set synagogues on fire, smash the windows of Jewish shops, and arrest thousands of Jews in a single night that comes to be known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Learn more about the Holocaust.

1965: New York and much of the northeast coast of North America suffer the largest power failure in history, leaving thirty million people in the dark. Learn more about electric power systems.

1989: German citizens begin to demolish the Berlin Wall, which has separated East Germany from West Germany since 1961. Learn more about the Berlin Wall.

Born,

Benjamin Banneker, American mathematician and astronomer (1731)

Elijah Lovejoy, American abolitionist (1802)

Ambrose Powell Hill, American soldier (1825)

Spiro T. Agnew, 39th vice president of the United States (1918)

Bob Gibson, American baseball player (1935)