November 9 - a portentous day in history (well, German anyway)
 

November 9, 1923: Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch fails.

November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht - if not the beginning of the downward spiral surely a very bleak point in it.

November 9, 1989: Der Mauer comes down! (the Berlin Wall)

any other historical events on this day?

On November 9th, 1918, Wilhelm II abdicates, thus creating a republic in Germany.

November 9, 1799: Napoleon Bonaparte (with Abbe Sieyes) overthrew the current Directory and replaced it with a new government: the Consulate. Sieyes and Napoleon both installed themselves as consuls, though the popular Napoleon became First Consul.

It would appear we don't know the meaning of the word portentous.

Main Entry: por?ten?tous
Pronunciation: por-'ten-t&s, pOr-
Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or constituting a portent
2 : eliciting amazement or wonder : PRODIGIOUS
3 a : being a grave or serious matter <portentous decisions> b : self-consciously solemn or important : POMPOUS c : ponderously excessive <that discipline's overwrought, portentous phrases -- R. M. Coles>
synonym see OMINOUS
- por?ten?tous?ly adverb
- por?ten?tous?ness noun



I'd say any or all of the above are a grave (or serious) matter.

;)

1906 President Roosevelt travels to Panama. 1st time a US president left the country.

1965 The Great Northeast Blackout

And to celebrate our up and coming Grey Cup game, the first documented football game was played at the University of Toronto, Ontario in 1861.

In 2004 a food fight broke out on the Fodors Travel Board over the meaning of the word portentous!

I'd say "portentous" is not the word you want, since the events you cite are not really portents of anything but are the culmination or realization itself.

Let's try (near-)homophones: momentous, ominous, prodigious???????

I'd vote for "momentous date (not day) in history"

but portentous and ominous are synonyms - see above.

Thank you for these interesting facts and to TopMan for my laugh for the day.

I'm with tedgale here - the best word is "momentous".

What did the fall of the Wall portend? Difficult to say.

What portended the fall of the Wall?
Hungary in May 1989 suddenly and graciously opening its borders to citizens of East Germany.

Harzer

funny, I thought the fall of the Wall portended the end of communism. y'know, Iron Curtain?

Kristallnacht surely "portended" the Final Solution.

and the Beer Hall Putsch - (arguably) was a "portent" of Hitler's rise to power. he got thrown in jail, became famous, wrote Mein Kempf, and down down down it went.

it's those dang 3 syllable words - such an issue! ;)

portentous or momentous - in the OP's original post it should grammatically correct read "DIE Mauer comes down".

thanks hsv! wasn't sure if it was die or der - it's been way too many years since I studied German. back to the books!