- 283 St Gaius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 546 Gothic War (535-554): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
- 920 Romanos I is crowned as co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
- 942 Assassination of William I Longsword, 2nd Duke of Normandy.
- 1206 Crusader Wallon de Sarton presents Bishop of Amiens Richard de Gerberoy with purported skull of John the Baptist, stolen from Constantinople (Amiens cathedral later built to house it)
Excommunication
1538 Pope Paul II excommunicates King Henry VIII of England
- 1572 Spanish army begins fires in Haarlem Netherlands
- 1586 Go-Yōzei becomes 107th Emperor of Japan
- 1587 The Earl of Leicester's army leaves Netherlands
- 1637 Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu
- 1638 French and Swedish troops occupy Breisach on the Rhine
- 1718 France, Britain and Austria declare war on Spain (War of the Quadruple Alliance 1718–1720)
- 1728 Congregation Shearith Israel of New York purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan to build the city's first synagogue
Music History
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (5th Symphony; Ode to Joy), baptized in Bonn, Electorate of Cologne (d. 1827) [birthdate undocumented, but assumed as 12/16 based on local custom at the time]
- 1777 France recognizes independence of British colonies in America
- 1777 George Washington's army returns to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
- 1788 Russian army of Grigory Potemkin occupies Ocharov
- 1790 Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City
- 1791 NYC traffic regulation creates 1st 1-way street
- 1792 Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city
- 1798 1st impeachment trial against a US senator (William Blount, Tennessee) begins
- 1807 France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
- 1819 Congress of Angostura establishes Colombia's independence from Spain
- 1821 Kentucky abolishes debtors' prisons
- 1836 Colonel William Light chooses the site for the settlement of Adelaide in South Australia
- 1843 Henry Cole, founder of London's V&A Museum, commissions printing of the 1st Christmas card
Event of Interest
1845 German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt arrives in Port Essington after a nearly 4,800 km (3,000 mi) overland journey to explore Australia's Northern Territory
Event of Interest
1862 General Ulysses S. Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
Music Premiere
1865 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished Symphony", premieres in Vienna with Johann von Herbeck conducting
- 1875 Violent bread riots in Montreal
- 1885 France declares Madagascar a protectorate
- 1887 Georges Feydeau's "Tailleur Pour Dames" premieres in Paris
- 1892 Tchaikovski's ballet "Casse-noisette" premieres in St Petersburg
- 1893 Russia ratifies Double Alliance with France
- 1894 Cricket day 3 1T Australia v Engand; England 325 all out, 261 behind on 1st innings
- 1895 Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington, D.C.
- 1895 George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Mass)
- 1900 1st prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy.
- 1900 New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million
Theater Premiere
1902 Frank Wedekind's play "Der Erdgeist" premieres in Berlin
1st Airplane Flight
1903 The Wright brothers make the 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight at 10:35 AM, piloted by Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
- 1907 Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan
Event of Interest
1908 In Turkey the new parliament convenes with reformist Young Turks as the majority
- 1909 Leopold II, king of Belgium, died in Laeken after a reign of exactly 44 years
- 1912 Albania's de facto independence from the Ottoman Empire is recognized at the London Conference of Ambassadors
- 1914 Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova Poland
- 1914 Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate
- 1914 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
- 1918 A conference of workers' and soldiers' councils take control of German government in Berlin, until elections in January selects new national assembly
- 1919 Austrian parliament approves 8-hour working day
- 1920 AL votes to let spitball pitchers to continue using it
- 1920 British Empire receives League of Nations mandate over Nauru
- 1920 Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands
- 1920 South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa
- 1922 Last British troops leave Irish Free State
- 1923 Greek king George II overthrown by army/republic
- 1924 1st US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx, NY
- 1924 The Hamilton Tigers and Ottawa Senators battle out the first scoreless game in NHL history; Jake Forbes (Hamilton) and Alex Connell (Ottawa) each record shutouts
- 1925 Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell court-martialed for insubordination
- 1925 Soviet Union & Turkey sign non-aggresion pact
- 1926 Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful
- 1926 German Marx government falls due to cooperation with red army
- 1926 KYA-AM in San Francisco CA begins radio transmissions
- 1926 Lithuanian military state under gen Augustine Woldemaras
Cricket Debut
1927 Australian cricketing prodigy Don Bradman scores 118 in his 1st-class debut for NSW against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval
- 1927 US submarine S-4 sinks after collision killing all 34 aboard
Sports History
1927 Victoria score 793 against Queensland, Bill Ponsford 437
- 1928 John McGraw backs NL President John Heydler's designated hitter idea
Event of Interest
1931 First meeting of the Indian Statistical Institute organized by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in Calcutta
Sports History
1932 St. Cardinals trade future Baseball HOF first baseman Jim Bottomley to Cincinnati Reds for Estel Crabtree & Ownie Carroll
- 1933 Bryan Valentine (136) and Lala Amarnath (102no) score centuries on their Test Cricket debut on Day 3 of 1st Test between England and India at Bombay
NFL Championship
1933 National Football League Championship - 1st title game, Wrigley Field, Chicago: Chicago Bears beat New York Giants, 23-21; "Bronko Nagurski Rule" - forward pass is legal anywhere behind line of scrimmage
- 1933 Spain's 2nd government of Lerroux forms
Event of Interest
1935 1st flight of the Douglas DC-3 (C-47 Skytrain/Dakota) airplane.
- 1936 Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy appear on TV
- 1938 Discovery of nuclear fission using uranium by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann
- 1938 Utrecht Central Station destroyed by fire
- 1939 German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay
- 1940 British troops occupy Sollum, Egypt
- 1941 Dutch & Australian troops land on Portuguese Timor
- 1941 German submarine U-31 sunk
Event of Interest
1941 German troops led by Erwin Rommel begin retreating in North Africa
NFL Championship
1944 National Football League Championship, Polo Grounds, NYC: Green Bay Packers beat New York Giants, 14-7 for 6th and final league title under long-time coach Curly Lambeau
- 1944 San Francisco M-Ocean View streetcar resumes service & is extended to Market St
- 1944 US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast, detainees released
- 1944 US destroyers sink in storm off Philippines, 790 killed
- 1946 Bradman & Barnes complete 405 run 5th wicket stand, score 234 each
- 1946 US V-2 rocket reaches 183 km, White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico
Historic Invention
1947 British industrial company BTH receives a patent for holography, invented by Dennis Gabor in their development lab
- 1947 NY struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow
- 1947 WEWS TV channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 Burma recognizes People's Republic of China
Musical Finale
1949 Marc Blitzstein' s musical drama "Regina", based on Lillian Hellman's play "The Little Foxes", closes at 46th St Theatre, NYC. after 56 performances and 2 Tony Awards
Theatrical Finale
1949 Tennessee Williams' stage drama "A Streetcar Named Desire", starring Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, and Kim Hunter, and directed by Elia Kazan closes at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC, after 855 performances, winning a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize
- 1951 Dutch Communist Party members forbidden to be civil servants
Music Premiere
1953 Dmitri Shostakovich's 10th Symphony premieres in Leningrad
- 1953 US Federal Communications Commission approves RCA's black & white-compatible color TV specifications
- 1954 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary, Indiana)
- 1954 WEAU TV channel 13 in Eau Claire, WI (NBC) begins broadcasting
Ballon d'Or
1957 Ballon d'Or: Real Madrid forward Alfredo Di Stéfano wins award for best football player in Europe ahead of Englishmen Billy Wright and Duncan Edwards
Music History
1957 Last episode of "The Nat King Cole Show" airs on NBC, cancelled due to lack of national sponsorship
- 1957 The largest trade in NHL history at the time in terms of quantity; Chicago Black Hawks move Nick Mickoski, Jack McIntyre, Bob Bailey & Hec Lalonde to Detroit Red Wings for Earl Reibel, Billy Dea, Bill Dineen & Lorne Ferguson
- 1957 US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
Sports History
1958 Ted Lindsay becomes highest scoring left wing in NHL history, passing Aurel Joliat who retired with 270; scores twice and adds an assist In Chicago Black Hawks' 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Chicago Stadium
- 1959 "On The Beach" is 1st film to premiere on both sides of Iron Curtain
- 1960 "La Plume de Ma Tante" closes at Royale Theater, NYC after 835 performances
- 1960 "Take Me Along" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 448 performances
- 1960 Pablo Casals' oratorio "El Pesebrio" premieres
- 1961 India seizes Goa & 2 other Portuguese colonies
- 1961 Niteroi Circus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil catches fire; 323 die after disgruntled employee sets fire to the tent
- 1962 Beatles 1st British TV appearance on "People & Places"
- 1962 Current constitution of Monaco promulgated
- 1963 Ballon d'Or: Dynamo Moscow goalkeeper Lev Yashin wins award for best European football player; beats Milan midfielder Gianni Rivera and Tottenham striker Jimmy Greaves; first Russian national to win trophy
- 1963 Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea
- 1963 West & East Berlin sign accord about travel rules
Film Premiere
1964 "Goldfinger", 3rd James Bond film, starring Sean Connery and Honor Blackman premieres in London
Music Concert
1965 1st concert event at Houston Astrodome: Judy Garland headlines, with The Supremes as opening act
- 1965 British government proclaims ends oil-embargo against Rhodesia
- 1965 David Levy begins his search for comets
- 1965 Dutch government shuts Limburgs coal mine
- 1965 Largest newspaper-Sunday NY Times at 946 pages (50 cents)
- 1967 Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, vanishes in mysterious circumstances while swimming near Melbourne
- 1967 WEDW TV channel 49 in Bridgeport, Connecticut (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1969 USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings
- 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1970 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1970 Workers returning to shipyard in Gdynia, Poland are met by soldiers who shoot at the crowd, killing at least 18, wounding hundreds
- 1971 "Diamonds are Forever", 7th James Bond film, last starring Sean Conner, also starring Jill St. John is 1st released in West Germany
- 1971 Cease fire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir
- 1971 Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting
- 1972 New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India & Pakistan
- 1972 WGVC (now WUCX) TV channel 35 in Grand Rapids, MI (PBS) 1st broadcast
- 1973 Arabs terrorists shoot passengers on Boeing 737 to Kuwait
- 1975 John Paul Stevens appointed to the US Supreme Court
- 1975 Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on US President Ford's life
- 1975 NHL NY Islanders shut-out NY Rangers, for 1st time in 3-0 win with Billy Smith in goal
- 1976 Superstation WTBS in Atlanta went national
- 1977 Bobby Simpson scores 176 Australia v India at the WACA, aged 41
TV Show Appearance
1977 Elvis Costello & The Attractions 1st US TV appearance on "Saturday Night Live"
- 1977 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1977 Rookie defenseman Barry Beck scores first career hat trick and adds an assist in Colorado Rockies' 5-1 win v Minnesota North Stars; sets NHL record for rookie defensemen with a goal in his 6th straight game
- 1978 OPEC raises oil prices by 18% and agrees on a 14.5% petroleum price increase for 1979, to be implemented quarterly
- 1978 Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda
- 1978 The Workers' Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe
- 1979 Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
- 1980 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1980 Mauritania provisional constitution published
- 1981 Members of Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L Dozier
- 1983 Disco in Madrid catches fire; 83 die
Sports History
1983 In his 352nd NHL game, Wayne Gretzky scores a goal & 5 assists in 8-1 rout of Quebec Nordiques to record his 800th point and 500th assist; averages 2.27 points, 1.42 assists, 0.85 goals per game to start career
- 1983 The Provisional IRA bombs Harrods department store in London, killing six people and injuring 90
Event of Interest
1986 American mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski is arrested at a roadblock
- 1986 Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scores 4 goals, including a natural hat trick in the 1st period and also records an assist as the Oilers win 5-3 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques; his 41st NHL career hat trick
- 1986 Mrs Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the 1st heart, lung & liver transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England
- 1986 US Congress forms "Irangate" committee
- 1987 Czechoslovak party leader Gustav Husak resigns
- 1988 77th Davis Cup: Germany beats Sweden in Gothenburg (4-1)
- 1988 Bryan Murray becomes 17th NHL coach to win 300 games (Wash Caps)
- 1988 NY Islanders break 12 game losing streak, beat Devils 5-2
- 1988 USS Tennessee, 1st sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned
- 1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
Television Premiere
1989 "The Simpsons" created by Matt Groening, premieres on Fox TV as a full animated series with the episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
- 1989 78th Davis Cup: Germany beats Sweden in Stuttgart (3-2)
- 1989 Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello as president
- 1989 Michael Bevan scores cricket century on 1st-class debut (114 SA v WA)
- 1990 KTBN, Salt Lake City Utah, begins shortwave radio transmissions
- 1991 Cleveland Cavaliers beat Miami Heat 148-80, by record 68 pts
- 1991 NBA's most lopsided game Cleveland beats Miami 148-80
- 1991 Patrick Manning becomes premier of Trinidad & Tobago
- 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins score team record 8 goals in one period in 2nd session of 10-2 win over NHL expansion San Jose Sharks
- 1991 Soap opera "One Life To Live" airs its 6,000th episode
- 1992 "A Christmas Carol" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 22 performances
- 1992 Gen Suwa finds tooth of 4.4 million year old Australopithecus ramidus
- 1993 "Northern Exposure" star Barry Corbin falls off his horse
- 1993 Kevin Scott skates world record 1000 m (1:12.54)
- 1993 Muslims in Bangladesh call for the murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin
- 1994 KLM's last DC-10 goes out of service
- 1995 "School after Scandal" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 23 performances
Election of Interest
1995 René Préval wins the Haiti presidential elections for the Fanmi Lavalas party
- 1996 "In My Bed" single released by Dru Hill (Billboard Song of the Year 1997)
Sports History
1999 Ray Bourque becomes just the 3rd player in NHL history to score 1,100 assists, and goaltender Byron Dafoe records his 100th NHL victory in Boston Bruin's 3-1 win over the Thrashers in Atlanta
- 1999 The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women
- 2002 Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
- 2003 "The Return of the King" 3rd Lord of the Ring films is released. Makes US$72 million opening weekend, 2nd film to gross over 1 billion worldwide.
- 2003 SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight
- 2003 The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
- 2005 Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
- 2007 Republic of Lakotah asserts independence from the United States
- 2012 10 girls collecting firewood are killed by a mine blast in east Afghanistan
