This Day in History - November 8

Looking back at this day in history, earlier in nineteen eighty-three, a TAAG Angola Airlines plane crashed just after taking off from Lubango Airport in Angola, killing all one hundred thirty people on board. The group UNITA said it had shot down the plane, but that claim is disputed. Moving forward to nineteen ninety-four, Republicans won many seats in the United States Congress, gaining control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate after decades of Democratic control. In two thousand four, more than ten thousand United States troops and a small number of Iraqi soldiers began a major battle in Fallujah, Iraq. In two thousand thirteen, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Visayas region of the Philippines, killing at least six thousand three hundred forty people, leaving more than one thousand missing, and causing billions of dollars in damage. Most recently, in two thousand twenty, voters in Myanmar re-elected a government led by the National League for Democracy. The military removed that government the following February. These events remind us how much history can hold in a single day.

(UPDATED November 8, 2026 09:01 UTC)

In 1983, TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 crashed, killing all 130 aboard. In 1994, Republicans gained majorities in both houses of Congress. In 2004, over 10,000 U.S. troops besieged Fallujah with Iraqi army units. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, killing at least 6,340 people. In 2020, Myanmar re-elected a government led by the National League for Democracy.