Thursday, November 20, 1681

Suicide bombers blew up the British consulate and the headquarters of HSBC Bank in Istanbul, killing 31 people, including consul general Roger Short and actor Kerem Yılmazer.

In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the Angolan Civil War.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War: An Azerbaijani military helicopter carrying a peacekeeping mission team was shot down in Nagorno-Karabakh, disrupting ongoing peace talks.

Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers, was arrested in Novocherkassk.

Windows 1.0, the first version of Microsoft Windows available to the public, was released.

Armed insurgents attacked and took over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, declaring that one of their leaders was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.

A group of Native American activists began a 19-month occupation (graffiti pictured) of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI, married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was given the title Duke of Edinburgh.

The Nuremberg trials (defendants pictured) of 24 leading Nazis involved in the Holocaust and various war crimes during World War II began in Nuremberg, Germany.

First World War: The Battle of Cambrai began with British forces having initial success over Germany's Hindenburg Line.

The American whaleship Essex sank 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) west of the western coast of South America after it was attacked by a sperm whale, an event which inspired the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (pictured).

American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Fort Lee saw the invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and the subsequent general retreat of the Continental Army.