| 3 November 867 | Byzantine Empire [Christianity] | The Byzantine emperor Basil I deposes Photius and restores Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople, ending the schism between Greek and Roman churches. |
| 3 November 1254 | Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire of Constantinople [political events] | The Byzantine emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzes, dies. He is succeeded by his son Theodore II Lascaris. Under his rule the Latin Empire is isolated and the groundwork for the recapture of its capital, Constantinople, is laid. |
| 3 November–18 December 1534 | England [legislation] | The seventh session of the English ‘Reformation Parliament’ passes the Act of Supremacy which confirms King Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England, making England a sovereign state in which the king is superior to all ecclesiastical and secular authorities. A second Act of Succession makes the oath of loyalty statutory, given to all successive rulers of England. Other acts grant the crown a tenth of church income and extend treason to cover defamation of the king; the former Lord Chancellor Thomas More, Bishop John Fisher of Rochester, and the Earl of Kildare are attainted. |
| 3 November 1618 | India [births and deaths] | Aurangzeb, Mogul emperor of India 1658–1707, born in Dhod, Malwa, India (–1707). |
| 3 November 1676 | Ottoman Empire [administration] | Ahmed Köprülü dies and is succeeded by his brother-in-law Kara Mustafa as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. |
| 3 November 1760 | Prussia, Austria, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Germany [Seven Years War (1754–62)] | King Frederick II the Great of Prussia defeats the Austrian troops under their commander in chief Leopold, Graf von Daun, at Torgau, Saxony. The Austrians evacuate the electorate of Saxony except for the capital Dresden. |
| 3 November 1839 | UK, China [wars] | The First Opium War between Britain and China gains momentum when a British frigate sinks a Chinese fleet of junks. |
| 3 November 1855–20 May 1856 | Africa [exploration] | Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone completes his crossing of the African continent by travelling eastwards from Linyanti on the River Zambezi to Quelimane in Portuguese East Africa, visiting and naming the Victoria Falls (17 November 1855) on the way. |
| 3 November 1896 | UK [media and communication] | The world's first permanent wireless installation is set up at The Needles on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd. |
| 3 November 1896 | USA [elections] | Republican candidate William McKinley is elected as president of the USA. In the Congressional elections, the Republicans retain majorities in the House (204–113) and Senate (47–34). |
| 3 November 1908 | USA [elections] | The Republican William Howard Taft wins the US presidential election with 321 electoral votes, defeating the Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who polls 162 votes. In the popular vote, Taft polls 7,678,908 votes and Bryan 6,409,104. |
| 3 November 1918 | Austria-Hungary [treaties] | The Allies sign an armistice with Austria-Hungary, which is to come into force on 4 November. |
| 3 November 1918 | Poland, Russia [political events] | A Polish republic is proclaimed in Warsaw, Poland, by the Russian-sponsored regency council. |
| 3 November 1954 | France [births and deaths] | Henri Matisse, French painter, sculptor, illustrator and designer, dies in Nice, France (84). |
| 3 November 1969 | USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam [Vietnam War (1954–75)] | The US president Richard M Nixon promises the complete withdrawal of US ground forces from Vietnam, on a secret timetable. A further 50,000 troops are withdrawn on 15 December. |
| 3 November 1978 | Dominica, UK [decolonization] | Dominica gains its independence from Britain. |
| 3 November 1999 | UK [archaeology] | Scientists from the UK and China announce that they have identified fossils of two previously unknown species of fish in southern China that are 530 million years old. The find proves that vertebrates are at least 50 million years older than previously thought. |
