November 29 in history — What Happened Today in History

Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.

U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

The United Nations General Assembly approve the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

French forces carry out a massacre at Mỹ Trạch, Vietnam during the First Indochina War.

The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared.

Albania is liberated by the Partisans.

The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), held to determine the post-war ordering of the country, concludes in Jajce (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).

U.S. Admiral Richard E. Byrd leads the first expedition to fly over the South Pole.

The Armenian Revolutionary Committee declares Armenia to be a Soviet Socialist Republic, starting 71 years of Soviet rule in Armenia

FC Barcelona is founded by Catalan, Spanish and Englishmen. It later develops into one of Spanish and world football's most iconic and strongest teams.

The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan, and the first Diet convenes.

Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.

The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.

Colorado War: Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants at Sand Creek inside Colorado Territory.

American Civil War: The Confederate Army of Tennessee misses an opportunity to crush the Union Army of the Ohio in the Battle of Spring Hill during the Franklin–Nashville campaign.

American Civil War: Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside successfully defend Knoxville, Tennessee from an attack by Confederate forces under General James Longstreet in the Battle of Fort Sanders during the Siege of Knoxville.

The treaty, Punctation of Olmütz, is signed in Olomouc. Prussia capitulates to Austria, which will take over the leadership of the German Confederation.

The Sonderbund is defeated by the joint forces of other Swiss cantons under General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.

Missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 15 others are killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, causing the Cayuse War.

An armed rebellion against Russia's rule in Poland begins.

John VI of Portugal flees Lisbon from advancing Napoleonic forces during the Peninsular War, transferring the Portuguese court to Brazil.

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes New Jersey.

The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 54 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance, beginning the Zong massacre.

San Jose, California, is founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe by José Joaquín Moraga. It is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, comes to an end with the arrival of British reinforcements.

The magnitude 6.6 Irpinia earthquake causes 1,940 deaths in the former Kingdom of Naples, southern Italy.

Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.

The Battle of Swally takes place, which loosens the Portuguese Empire's hold on India.

Becky James, Welsh cyclist

Diego Boneta, Mexican actor and singer

Sheldon Richardson, American football player

Andrej Šustr, Czech ice hockey player

Yacouba Sylla, French footballer

Adam Chapman, Northern Irish footballer

Abby Bishop, Australian basketball player

Dana Brooke, American wrestler and bodybuilder

Damon Harrison, American football player

Bradley Hudson-Odoi, Ghanaian footballer

Russell Wilson, American football player

Wayne Ellington, American basketball player and coach

Asa Hall, English footballer

Slobodan Praljak, Croatian general (born 1945)

Luis Alberto Monge, Costa Rican politician, 39th President of Costa Rica (born 1925)

Ruta Šaca-Marjaša, Latvian lawyer, writer and politician (born 1927)

Joseph F. Girzone, American Catholic priest and author (born 1930)

Joe Marston, Australian footballer and manager (born 1926)

Christopher Middleton, British poet and translator (born 1926)

O'tkir Sultonov, Uzbek lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Uzbekistan (born 1939)

Dwayne Alons, American general and politician (born 1946)

Dick Bresciani, American businessman (born 1938)

Mark Strand, Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator (born 1934)

Oliver Cheatham, American singer-songwriter (born 1948)

Colin Eglin, South African soldier and politician (born 1925)

Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Russian-Polish poet and activist (born 1936)