November 19 Through History

Explanation: The Gettysburg Address is one of the most celebrated speeches in American history. Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, it lasted only two minutes but summed up the American democratic ideal by affirming that all men are created equal and that the nation must survive.

Explanation: Operation Uranus was the Soviet counter-offensive that encircled the German 6th Army of Marshal Paulus at Stalingrad. This encirclement of 300,000 German soldiers marked the decisive turning point of World War II on the Eastern Front, leading to the German capitulation in February 1943.

Explanation: Apollo 12 was NASA's 2nd crewed lunar mission, commanded by Charles Conrad. It landed in the Ocean of Storms, just 180 meters from the Surveyor 3 probe, demonstrating the precision of American space navigation. The astronauts retrieved parts from this probe to bring back to Earth.

Explanation: Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem was an unprecedented diplomatic event: it was the first time an Arab head of state had officially visited Israel. He addressed the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. This courageous move led to the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Nobel Peace Prize shared with Menachem Begin.

Explanation: The Wii revolutionized the video game industry with its motion-sensing controller, the Wiimote. It won over a much wider audience than traditional consoles, including families and seniors. Wii Sports, bundled with the console, became one of the best-selling games in history.

Explanation: Puerto Rico was discovered during Christopher Columbus's 2nd voyage to the Americas. The island was named San Juan Bautista by the Spanish. It is today an unincorporated territory of the United States, whose inhabitants have been American citizens since 1917, although they cannot vote in presidential elections.

Explanation: Herman Van Rompuy, a Belgian politician from the Flemish Christian democratic party, was Prime Minister of Belgium before being elected to lead the European Council. This position was created by the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on December 1, 2009. Van Rompuy served two terms until 2014.

Explanation: Franz Schubert is considered one of the masters of musical Romanticism and the father of the German Lied, a form of melody for voice and piano. He died at just 31 but left a colossal body of work of around 1,500 pieces, including the Unfinished Symphony and the song cycle Winterreise.

Explanation: Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister of India twice: from 1966 to 1977, then from 1980 to 1984. The daughter of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, she played a key role in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. She was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards, in retaliation for the assault on the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

Explanation: The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was signed in Paris on November 19, 1990 at the CSCE summit. It set strict ceilings on tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, combat aircraft, and military helicopters. Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007, amid renewed tensions with NATO.