Nov 13: Paris attacks mark France’s deadliest assault since WW II

November 13 is remembered as a date of tragedy, historical milestones and remarkable achievements. The day is particularly significant in modern French history as the anniversary of the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, which killed 130 people and injured hundreds.

On the evening of November 13, 2015, Islamic State (IS) militants launched a series of coordinated attacks across the French capital. The attackers targeted the Stade de France, restaurants and cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall, where around 1,500 people were attending a concert.

The first explosions occurred near the national stadium during a friendly football match between France and Germany. Gunmen later opened fire on people at several restaurants and cafes. The deadliest assault took place at the Bataclan, where attackers killed 90 people.

The attacks plunged France into shock and prompted the government to declare a state of emergency. They also marked a turning point in the country's counterterrorism and domestic security policies. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which remain among the deadliest terrorist incidents in modern European history. 

November 13 has witnessed several significant events in military, political, scientific and cultural history.

In 1775, American troops captured Montreal, Canada, under the command of Continental Army General Richard Montgomery during the American War of Independence.

In 1909, a devastating fire broke out at a coal mine in Cherry, Illinois, killing 259 miners and rescue workers. The tragedy became one of the deadliest mining disasters in US history.

In 1956, the US Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling declaring Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional, marking an important moment in the country's civil rights movement.

The date also holds significance in space exploration. In 1971, NASA's Mariner 9 spacecraft entered Mars' orbit, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

In 1985, a volcanic eruption at Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia triggered a massive mudflow that buried the town of Armero, killing around 23,000 people.

In 2001, US-backed Northern Alliance fighters entered Kabul as Taliban forces withdrew from the Afghan capital. More recently, in 2022, four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death at a rented house in Moscow, Idaho. 

November 13 marks the birth anniversaries of several influential figures in religion, politics, literature, entertainment and sports.

St Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential theologians and philosophers in Western Christianity, was born in 354. English King Edward III, who ruled from 1327 to 1377, was born in 1312. His reign saw the beginning of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, was born in 1780. Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, known for his novels Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was born in 1850.

Other notable personalities born on this day include Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice of the US Supreme Court, in 1856; Iskander Mirza, Pakistan's first president, in 1899; and American actress and television personality Whoopi Goldberg in 1955.

Scottish actor Gerard Butler, known for films including 300 and The Phantom of the Opera, was born in 1969. British Formula One driver Lando Norris, who won the 2025 world championship, was born in 1999.

The date also marks the death anniversaries of several prominent historical and cultural figures.

Malcolm III, King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093, was killed in battle in 1093. Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, whose patronage helped expand the country's maritime exploration, died in 1460.

Sikh religious leader and warrior Baba Deep Singh died in 1757. Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, known for operas including The Barber of Seville and William Tell, died in 1868.

French painter Camille Pissarro, one of the leading figures of the Impressionist movement, died in 1903. British anthropologist and Egyptologist Margaret Murray died in 1963.

Italian filmmaker and actor Vittorio De Sica, a pioneer of Italian neorealism, died in 1974. Indian artist and writer Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, whose work focused on famine, poverty and social inequality, died in 1978.

Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein, who ruled the country from 1938 to 1989, died on this day in 1989.

-AH