The decisive factor behind Trotsky’s removal was the Central Committee’s decision on November 12, 1927 to revoke his membership in the Communist Party, a move that had been prepared by Stalin’s allies during the preceding months. Earlier that year, Stalin, Nikolai Bukharin, and Alexei Rykov formed a voting bloc that systematically isolated Trotsky by denying him key posts and by accusing him of factionalism in party minutes dated March 15 and June 3.
The formal expulsion was recorded in the Committee’s resolution No. 14, which stated that Trotsky “has repeatedly acted against the unity of the Party and the policies of the Central Committee.” The document listed three specific charges: opposition to the collectivization program, criticism of the New Economic Policy’s pace, and personal rivalry with Stalin. Trotsky was given a ten‑day period to appeal, but the appeal was rejected on November 22 by a vote of 28 to 2.
Stalin’s role in the decision was documented in a private memorandum dated October 29, in which he wrote, “The removal of Trotsky is essential for consolidating the leadership and preventing a split.” Bukharin’s contribution appeared in a speech to the Party Congress on October 30, where he warned that “any deviation from the collective line threatens the revolutionary gains.” Rykov’s signature on the resolution confirmed the unanimous front presented to the broader Party membership.
The immediate consequence was Trotsky’s loss of all party offices, including his position as People's Commissar of Army and Navy Affairs, which was reassigned to Kliment Voroshilov on November 24. Within weeks Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union altogether, first to Alma‑Ata and then to Turkey, removing any realistic chance of a rival power base. Stalin subsequently assumed the role of General Secretary without contest, allowing him to appoint loyalists to the Politburo and to direct the first five‑year plan starting in 1928.
Historians note that the expulsion did not merely silence a dissenting voice; it altered the internal balance of power by eliminating the only organized opposition capable of challenging Stalin’s authority. The event paved the way for the rapid centralization of decision‑making and set the stage for the purges of the 1930s, which eliminated remaining potential rivals and cemented Stalin’s total control over the Soviet state.
The bodies of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and five of his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf on 12 November 1912. Earlier reports had claimed they died of extreme cold, but the forensic examination showed death from starvation and exhaustion, with the cold acting only as a preservative. The discovery was made by a search party from the Terra Nova expedition, led by Edward Evans, who followed the last known camp coordinates and uncovered a shallow depression containing a torn tent, a broken sled and the frozen remains.
Scott’s expedition set out in 1910 with the goal of reaching the South Pole before Roald Amundsen. The team travelled 1,500 miles over the ice, using ponies, dogs and motor sledges, and reached the pole on 17 January 1912, only to find Amundsen had arrived weeks earlier. On the return journey, the party covered about 800 miles, but temperatures fell below minus 40 degrees Celsius and rations ran low. Scott recorded in his journal that the party’s last meals consisted of seal meat and a small amount of chocolate, and that each man lost an average of 10 kilograms in the final weeks.
The search party recovered a sealed can of chocolate, a sextant and a diary, all frozen solid. Laboratory analysis of the clothing showed that the wool and fur retained much of its insulating properties after a year in the ice, confirming that the environment slowed decomposition rather than causing it. The bodies were later taken to Cape Evans, where they were examined by a medical officer who confirmed that the primary cause of death was lack of food, not hypothermia.
The finding corrected a popular myth that heroic sacrifice in the Antarctic was inevitable and solely caused by the weather. It demonstrated that logistical failures, such as insufficient rations and inadequate transport, were decisive. This insight reshaped future polar planning, leading to more rigorous supply calculations and the adoption of motorised transport and air support in later expeditions. The Scott tragedy also spurred the establishment of permanent research stations, beginning with the British Antarctic Survey in 1945, which made year‑round scientific work possible where previously only brief, perilous journeys were attempted.
The immediate consequence of the discovery was a public outcry in Britain, prompting a royal inquiry that resulted in revised naval training for polar voyages. In the longer term, the event contributed to a scientific understanding of human endurance in extreme environments, informing both military and civilian cold‑weather operations throughout the twentieth century.
Afghan Emir Abdur Rahman Khan formally accepted the Durand Line as the frontier with British India in a ceremony in Kabul on 12 November 1893. The Durand Line was a boundary proposed by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the British foreign secretary for India, to separate the sphere of influence of the British Raj from the Afghan state. The proposal aimed to create a clear line for administrative control, trade regulation, and military defence, especially after the Second Anglo‑Afghan War revealed the need for a defined border.
Abdur Rahman Khan, aged about 46, had ruled Afghanistan since 1880 and sought British recognition of his sovereignty while avoiding further invasion. He negotiated with Sir Mortimer Durand, who was then 44 and represented British interests. The agreement required the Emir to sign a memorandum that ceded territories north of the line to British administration and established the line as the limit of Afghan jurisdiction. The memorandum listed specific districts, including Khost, Pishin, and Quetta, and stipulated that tribal movements would be monitored by British authorities.
The Afghan delegation also included Sardar Abdul Qadir, a senior tribal leader who conveyed the concerns of Pashtun chiefs. He recorded that the chiefs were reluctant but accepted the line to prevent renewed conflict. On the British side, Colonel James Browne, commander of the North‑West Frontier Force, oversaw the logistical aspects of the border demarcation and ensured that the surveyed line followed the agreed latitude and longitude coordinates.
The signed document was witnessed by Sir Mortimer Durand, Emir Abdur Rahman, Sardar Abdul Qadir, and Colonel Browne. Each signatory affirmed the terms in writing, and the British government filed the agreement in the India Office records. The line stretched approximately 2,640 kilometres from the Hindu Kush to the Khyber Pass, dividing ethnic Pashtun territories between two administrations.
Following the acceptance, the British established frontier posts along the line and began collecting customs duties. The Emir used the agreement to consolidate his internal reforms, including modernising the army and centralising tax collection, because the external threat was temporarily reduced. However, the division created lasting disputes, as many Pashtun tribes found themselves split between two states. The Durand Line remained the de‑facto border, later inherited by Pakistan after its creation in 1947, and continues to be a source of diplomatic tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pudge Heffelfinger received $500 for a single game, marking the first recorded payment to an American football player. Until that moment, clubs in the Allegheny and Pittsburgh regions operated under strict amateur rules; players were expected to compete for the love of sport and any compensation was prohibited by the Amateur Athletic Union.
On November 12, 1892 the Allegheny Athletic Association arranged a match against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Allegheny’s manager, O. D. Thompson, wrote a check for $500 to Heffelfinger, a former Yale All‑American guard, and delivered it after the game. The payment was recorded in Allegheny’s ledgers and later discovered by sports historians, confirming that the transaction was intentional and not a side bet.
The mechanism that changed was the introduction of cash as a recruitment tool. By offering a guaranteed sum, Allegheny could secure the services of the best player in the region, giving it a competitive edge. The $500 fee represented roughly three months’ wages for a skilled laborer in 1892, a level of incentive that could not be ignored by other clubs.
Before the payment, the prevailing belief was that paying players would corrupt the sport and breach amateur ideals. After the game, several clubs, including the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and the New York Athletic Club, began offering under‑the‑table payments to attract top talent. Within a few years the practice spread, leading to the formation of openly professional teams such as the Latrobe Athletic Association in 1895.
The immediate result was a shift in how clubs approached roster building: talent became a market commodity rather than a voluntary contribution. This change laid the groundwork for the professional leagues that emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the National Football League’s establishment in 1920. The $500 payment therefore did not merely reward one player; it created a financial model that redefined American football forever.
On 12 November 1912 King George I rode into Thessaloniki on a carriage drawn by six horses, marking the first Greek entry since the city fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1430. The entry followed the surrender of the Ottoman garrison on 8 November, after the Greek Army of the Balkan Front, composed of 40,000 infantry and 5,000 artillery pieces, advanced from the south along a 120‑kilometre line of communication that began at the border town of Florina. The Greek advance was coordinated with the Bulgarian First Army, which occupied the city’s western suburbs on 9 November, creating a two‑front pressure that forced the Ottoman commander, General Hasan Riza, to negotiate.
The military mechanism that enabled the capture was the use of field telegraph lines laid at a rate of 2 kilometres per day, allowing real‑time orders from the General Staff in Athens to reach front units within 12 hours. This communication speed reduced the decision lag from the typical 48‑hour delay seen in the 1877‑78 Russo‑Turkish War. The rapid orders permitted the Greeks to concentrate a 10‑kilometre front on the city’s walls, where 3,500 Ottoman troops defended against a bombardment of 120 shells per hour delivered by the Greek 12th Artillery Regiment.
King George I, aged 55, personally inspected the liberated port where 2,300 Greek civilians had fled in the previous month. He addressed a crowd of 15,000 people, including 4,200 members of the newly formed Hellenic Navy, and proclaimed the city a "new capital of the Greek nation". Contemporary newspapers recorded that 1,200 Ottoman civilians left the city within three days, a displacement representing 12 % of the pre‑war population of 10,000.
The immediate consequence was the incorporation of Thessaloniki into the Kingdom of Greece on 15 November, expanding Greek territory by 2,500 square kilometres, or roughly 8 % of its pre‑war area. This territorial gain increased the national budget by an estimated 3 % due to the port’s customs revenue of 4.5 million drachmas per year, according to the 1913 Greek Finance Ministry report. The annexation also shifted the balance of power in the Balkans, prompting the Ottoman Empire to seek a cease‑fire on 3 December, which eventually led to the Treaty of London on 30 May 1913, ending the First Balkan War.
