THE DAY IN HISTORY · NOVEMBER 7

November 7 in history

What happened on November 7: 4 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1914, 1917, 1931 and 1987, each linked to the map that shows it.

1914 — Siege of Tsingtao

7 Nov 1914 — Having entered the World War on the Allied side, Japan seizes Germany’s colony in Shandong and intends to keep it. Versailles confirms the transfer in 1919. It is the fate of this port, rather than a battlefield, that brings Chinese students into the streets.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CHINA IN REVOLUTION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1917 — October Revolution

7 Nov 1917 — Promising “peace, land, bread,” Lenin’s Bolsheviks seize the Winter Palace almost bloodlessly. Within weeks, Russia seeks an armistice. On the map, revolution-red spreads as the Eastern Front dissolves.

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1931 — Chinese Soviet Republic

7 Nov 1931 — In a Hakka market town, the CCP proclaims the Chinese Soviet Republic. It has a currency, a land law and conscription, and three million people live under red administration. Land redistribution wins support among the poor. The record also includes terror against “rich peasants” and internal enemies, including the Futian purges.

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1987 — Ben Ali’s medical coup

7 Nov 1987 — Prime Minister Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali has doctors certify that Bourguiba, aged 84, is unfit to govern. Ben Ali takes power under Article 57 of the constitution and promises pluralism. Within four years Islamists are crushed and the opposition is hollowed out.

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