November 2

619 – A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu. 1410 – The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. 1675 – Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip's War. 1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created. 1868 – Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally. 1882 – The great fire destroys a large part of Oulu's city center in Oulu Province, Finland. 1889 – North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states. 1899 – The Boers begin their 118-day siege of British-held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War. 1912 – Bulgaria defeats the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opens her way to Constantinople. 1914 – World War I: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles is subsequently closed. 1917 – The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities". 1917 – The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting. 1920 – In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the 1920 United States presidential election. 1936 – The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, "high-definition" (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day. 1940 – World War II: First day of Battle of Elaia–Kalamas between the Greeks and the Italians.