At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the
Great War ended. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of
manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion,
signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car
outside Compiégne, France.

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress
passed a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines
be raised” for service as landing forces for the recently
formed Continental Navy.

The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams
and adopted in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775, created
the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth
date of the United States Marine Corps.

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826)

TIM MAGUIRE

East German officials opened the Berlin Wall on November 9,
1989, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following
day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down.

The destruction of the Berlin Wall was a significant action
leading to the end of the Cold War.

Soviet-born Garry Kasparov, 22 (above) beat Anatoly Karpov to
become the youngest world chess champion. Eleven years later,
he defeated Deep Blue, IBM’s powerful custom-built chess
computer, then lost to an upgraded Deep Blue the following
year.

Chess Grandmaster Garry Kimovich Kasparov, born
April 13, 1963.