November 23, 1914 - US forces depart Veracruz after a seven-month occupation. In the wake of the April 1914 Tampico Affair, Pres. Woodrow Wilson demanded that the government of Mexican usurper Gen. Victoriano Huerta offer a salute to the American flag. The latest in several Mexican-American issues, Wilson authorized the US Navy to occupy the port of Veracruz when his demands were not met and to block a shipment of arms. Landing on April 21, Marines and sailors from RAdm. Frank F. Fletcher's squadron seized the waterfront and engaged Mexican forces. Reinforced overnight, Fletcher occupied the entire city the next day. Remaining in place for seven months, American forces departed after mediation by Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Was the occupation of Veracruz a necessary action or an overreaction by the Wilson Administration?

Photograph Courtesy of the US Naval History & Heritage Command

November 22, 1864 - Confederate General John Bell Hood's (right) Army of Tennessee enters Tennessee en route to its destruction. Born in Kentucky, Hood graduated from West Point in 1853. Immediately joining Confederate forces at the beginning of the Civil War, he established himself a gifted brigade and division leader in Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. An aggressive, rash commander, he specialized in offensive operations. Wounded at Gettysburg, he played a key role in the Battle of Chickamauga and lost a leg in the fighting. A friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, he was given a corps command in the Army of Tennessee in early 1864. Critical of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, he was given command of the army by Davis in July 1864. Conducting a series of bloody attacks, he was forced from Atlanta by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Attacking into Tennessee that fall, he wrecked his army at Franklin before being routed at Nashville in December. Share your thoughts on Hood - offensive star or rash failure - or both?

Photograph Courtesy of the National Archives & Records Administration

November 20, 1917 - British forces open the Battle of Cambrai. With the failure of the offensives against Passchendaele, British Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig approved an attack against Cambrai. Featuring the first large-scale tank assault in history, the attack began on November 20 and saw British forces make swift gains. Increasingly bogged down by arriving German reserves, the offensive ground to a halt on November 28. Two days later, the Germans launched a massive counterattack using new "stormtrooper" tactics which threw back the British. By the end of the campaign on December 6, the front had returned to the pre-battle status-quo. An initial success, how could the British have made this a decisive victory?

Photograph Source: Public Domain

November 16, 1857 - British forces at the Siege of Lucknow are relieved for the second time. With the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, British forces at Lucknow soon found themselves under siege by rebel sepoy forces. Having fortified the Residency complex, they held off the rebels for 87 days until a relief column arrived under the leadership of Major Generals James Outram and Henry Havelock. Unable to remove the wounded and non-combatants from the city, they were soon under siege again as rebel numbers increased. Holding out for 61 days, they were relieved by a strong force led by Lieutenant General Sir Colin Campbell on November 16. Evacuating the city, Campbell returned the following March to restore British control.