- 69 General Vespasian's troops occupy Rome after defeating the Emperor Vitellius
- 1046 Pope Gregory VI abdicates at the Council of Sutri, ending a conflict between himself, Benedict IX and Sylvester III; Clement II becomes the new Pope
Event of Interest
1192 Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna
- 1448 Pope Nicholas V appoints Rudolf of Diepholt, Bishop of Utrecht, as cardinal
Event of Interest
1522 Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
Suleiman the Magnificent
- 1585 English fleet & Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, reach Vlissingen
- 1600 Ottario Rinuccini and Giulio Caccini's opera "Euridice" published
- 1606 Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown, Virginia
- 1606 The English colonial expedition to America, consisting of the ships Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant, departs Blackwall and will later found Jamestown
- 1626 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Prince of Transylvania Gabor Bethlen sign Peace of Pressburg (Bratislava)
- 1661 Corporation Act enforced in England
- 1669 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection & sentenced to flogging, branding & slavery
- 1688 Prince William of Orange's troops arrive in London
Event of Interest
1699 Russian Tsar Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1
Peter the Great
Event of Interest
1790 1st successful US cotton mill begins spinning yarn in Pawtucket, Rhode Island built by Samuel Slater based on Richard Arkwright's design
Richard Arkwright
- 1803 French flag lowered in New Orleans to mark the formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to USA for $27M
Rumpelstiltskin
1812 "Grimm's Fairy Tales" or "Children's and Household Tales" by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is first published
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- 1820 Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men aged between 21 & 50
Theater Premiere
1823 Play "Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus" by Helmina von Chézy with incidental music by Franz Schubert premieres in Vienna
Franz Schubert
- 1830 Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia recognize Belgium
- 1850 Hawaiian post office established
- 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- 1861 Battle of Dranesville, VA
- 1862 -Dec 20th] Battle of Kelly's Ford, VA
- 1862 -Jan 3rd] Vicksburg campaign
- 1862 Confederate raid on Union supplies at Holly Springs, Mississippi
Event of Interest
1862 Confederate Army Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky (US Civil War)
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Event of Interest
1879 Thomas Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
Thomas Edison
- 1880 Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
- 1880 NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way"
- 1883 Intl cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
- 1891 Strongman Louis Cyr withstands pull of 4 horses
- 1892 Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse, NY
- 1893 1st state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia
- 1894 England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket, Australia needed 177 to win, all out at 166 on 6th day
- 1900 Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
- 1906 Venezuela (under vice-pres Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
- 1907 Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
- 1912 J Hartley Manners' "Peg O' My Heart" premieres in NYC
- 1912 Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faite à Marie" premieres in Paris
- 1915 Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
- 1915 Final withdraw of all allied troops from Anzac Cove
Event of Interest
1917 Cheka formed - Soviet state security force and forerunner to the KGB, under Felix Dzerzhinsky after decree by Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
- 1917 A second nationwide referendum on military conscription is rejected by the Australian public
- 1918 Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in NYC
- 1918 The Allies turn their attention to Bolshevik expansion in the East, landing troops in Crimea and Latvia
- 1919 Canadian National Railways established (N America's longest, 50,000 KM)
- 1919 US House of Representatives restricts immigration
- 1920 Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut v England SCG
Coup d'état
1924 Adolf Hitler freed from jail early, having served only nine months of five-year sentence for "Beer Hall Putsch"
Adolf Hitler
- 1925 National Football League Championship: Chicago Cardinals (11-2-1) win controversial first past the post title; Pottsville Maroons suspended after playing unsanctioned game
- 1926 Cards trade Rogers Hornsby to Giants for Frankie Frisch & Jimmy Ring
- 1926 Pope Pius XI convicts fascist pursuit in Italy
- 1926 Sidney Howard's "Silver Cord" premieres in NYC
- 1928 1st international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec
- 1928 Ethel Barrymore Theater opens at 243 W 47th St NYC
- 1929 Heinie Wagner replaces Bill Carrigan as Red Sox manager
- 1929 Mount Davidson dedicated as a San Francisco city park
- 1930 Learie Constantine cricket 100 in 52 mins WI v Tas (10x4, 1x6, 1x5)
- 1932 Queensland all out 74 v Victoria, Ironmonger (age 50) 7-13
- 1933 Bolivia & Paraguay sign cease fire
- 1935 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii
- 1937 Bill O'Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia
- 1938 Boston Bruins rookie goalie Frankie Brimsek records his 3rd straight shutout with a 3-0 win over the New York Americans, making it his incredible sixth shutout in his first 8 NHL games
- 1939 Radio Australia begins overseas shortwave service
Event of Interest
1940 Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Athletics for $42,000
Connie Mack
- 1941 Free France under adm Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquelon
- 1941 Japanese troops land on Mindanao, Philippines
- 1941 World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
- 1942 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta
- 1943 "Internationale" is no longer USSR National Anthem
- 1944 Archbishop De Young & bishop Huibers condemn black market
- 1944 Battle of Bastogne: Nazis surround 101st Airborne (NUTS!)
- 1944 Bishop forbids membership of non Catholic unions
- 1944 Terence Rattigan's "O Mistress Mine" premieres in London
- 1945 Rationing of auto tires ends in US
- 1946 Darius Milhaud's 2nd Symphony, premieres
Film Premier
1946 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" film premieres in New York, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore
Film Premier
1950 "Harvey" starring James Stewart premieres in New York
James Stewart
- 1951 Walter Zinn's Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the first nuclear reactor to produce electric power, goes live at the Argonne National Laboratory, USA
- 1952 KHQ TV channel 6 in Spokane, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KID (now KIDK) TV channel 3 in Idaho Falls, ID (CBS) 1st broadcasting
- 1953 KWTV TV channel 9 in Oklahoma City, OK (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1955 Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales
- 1956 Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra
- 1956 Montgomery, Alabama removes race-based seat assignments on its buses
Event of Interest
1957 Elvis Presley receives his draft notice to join the US Army for National Service
Elvis Presley
- 1959 Jasu Patel takes 9-69, India v Australia at Kanpur
- 1960 Auschwitz commandant Richard Bar arrested in German FR
- 1960 The National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, is officially formed in South Vietnam
- 1962 Osmond brothers debut on Andy Williams Show
- 1963 Berlin Wall opens for 1st time to West Berliners
- 1963 Massemba-Debate elected President of Congo-Brazzaville
- 1963 Trial against 21 camp guards of Auschwitz begins
Film Release
1963 "Contempt" film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance, is released
Brigitte Bardot
Jean-Luc Godard
- 1964 Levi Eshkol forms 12th Israeli government
- 1966 NBA awards Seattle Supersonics a franchise for 1967-68 season
- 1966 Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels
- 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1967 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam
- 1967 Ian Anderson & Glenn Cornick form rock group Jethro Tull
- 1968 The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
- 1968 The People's Democracy (PD) announce that its members will undertake a protest march from Belfast to Derry beginning 1 January 1969
- 1969 Peter, Paul & Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" reaches #1
- 1970 Edward Gierek succeeds Wladyslaw Gomulka as Poland's communist party leader
- 1971 Pakistan president Yahya Khan resigns
Historic Publication
1971 First preview issue of "Ms" magazine is published in the US launched by Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem
Event of Interest
1972 Neil Simons "Sunshine Boys" premieres in NYC
Neil Simon
Event of Interest
1973 Montreal Canadien Henri Richard scores his 1,000th NHL point
Henri Richard
- 1974 Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
Album Release
1974 George Harrison releases his "Dark Horse" album in UK
George Harrison
Film Release
1974 "The Godfather Part II", directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1975)
- 1975 Joe Walsh recruited to join Eagles
- 1976 "Music Is" opens at St James Theater NYC for 8 performances
Event of Interest
1976 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
Yitzhak Rabin
- 1977 1st Space walk made by Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Grechko during Salyut 6 EO-1 mission
- 1977 RAF -terrorist Knut Folkerts sentenced to 20 years
- 1978 H. R. Haldeman, Nixon's White House Chief of Staff released from jail
- 1979 Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Behn Wilson scores with 4:08 remaining in regulation to earn a 1-1 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins and equal NHL record for longest undefeated streak of 28 games; go on to break record and extend to 35 games
- 1980 NBC broadcasts NY Jets' 24-17 win over Dolphins without audio
- 1980 USSR formally announces death of Alexei Kosygin
- 1981 Harry Krieger and Tom Eyen's musical "Dreamgirls" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 1522 performances
- 1981 Browns set team records for most fumbles (9) & most turnovers (10)
- 1981 Winnipeg left wing Doug Smail sets NHL record by scoring just 4 seconds into Jets' 5-4 win over the St Louis Blues; fastest goal from opening face-off to back of net in history; later tied by Bryan Trottier and Alex Mogilny
- 1983 El Salvador adopts constitution
Event of Interest
1983 Guy Lafleur, Montreal, became 10th NHLer to score 500 goals
Guy Lafleur
- 1983 NY Islanders score their most goals (11) vs Pitts Penguins
Event of Interest
1983 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat & 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
Yasser Arafat
Event of Interest
1985 Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points)
Denis Potvin
Event of Interest
1987 "Nuts" with Barbra Streisand premieres
Barbra Streisand
- 1987 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0)
- 1987 Dona Paz ferry sinks after crash with oil tanker Vector in Philippine waters, 4,386 die in world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster
- 1988 Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store, London
- 1988 NBC signs lease to stay in NYC, 33 more years
- 1988 Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa elected President of Sri Lanka
Film Premier
1988 "Working Girl" premieres directed by Mike Nicols, starring Melanie Griffin, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Harrison Ford
- 1989 Premier Lubbers sees CDA-party leader Elco Brinkman as successor
Event of Interest
1989 US troops invade Panama & oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him
Manuel Noriega
- 1990 Pentagon warns Saddam that US air power is ready to attack on 1/15
- 1990 Robert F X Sillerman purchases WAFL NY-NJ Knights for $11 million
- 1990 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
- 1990 The world's first website and server go live at CERN
- 1991 NHL grants permanent membership to Tampa Lightning & Ottawa Senators
Leadership Contest
1991 Paul Keating becomes Prime Minister of Australia after rolling Bob Hawke for leadership of the Labor party
Paul Keating
Bob Hawke
- 1991 A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
Film Release
1991 "Father of the Bride" film starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Martin Short, is released
- 1992 Northwest & KLM introduce a new joint logo "Worldwide Reliability"
Election of Interest
1992 Slobodan Milosevic re-elected president of Serbia
Slobodan Milosevic
- 1994 Ballon d'Or: FC Barcelona's Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoichkov is named Europe's best football player ahead of Juventus striker Roberto Baggio and Milan defender Paolo Maldini
- 1995 "Paul Roebson" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 14 performances
- 1995 American Flight 965 crashes in Columbia, 159 die, 5 survive
- 1995 NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia
Film Release
1996 Horror film classic "Scream", starring Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, is released
Courteney Cox
Neve Campbell
Film Release
2002 "Gangs of New York", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, is released
- 2005 US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
- 2005 The first same sex civil partnerships in Scotland are celebrated
- 2005 New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike over pension and wage increases, shutting down all subway and bus services for three days
- 2005 "The Breakthrough" 7th studio album by Mary J. Bilge is released
- 2006 A judge rules against the death penalty in the case of Naveed Haq, a man convicted in the shooting death and injuries at the Jewish Federation in Seattle.
Event of Interest
2007 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
Elizabeth II
Event of Interest
2007 The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café, by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
Pablo Picasso
Swine Flu Pandemic
2009 US President Barack Obama receives his vaccine jab against swine flu
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- 2012 Apple is denied a patent for mobile pinch-to-zoom gestures by the US patent authorities
- 2012 Intercontinental Exchange purchases the New York Stock Exchange, the largest in the world, for $8 billion
- 2014 Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley kills 2 NYPD officers in Brooklyn, New York, supposedly in revenge for the killing of Eric Garner, before killing himself
- 2015 Landslide from construction waste in Shenzhen, China leaves 74 dead or missing and buries 30 buildings
Event of Interest
2018 US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis announces his resignation after disagreements with President Donald Trump
Donald Trump
- 2018 New figures show average US male weighs 198 pounds and stands 5 feet 9 inches, women 171 pounds and 5 feet 4 inches
December in History
Bowled Over by William and Harry
The royal princes are the latest celebrities to favour headgear that was introduced on this day
December 17, 1849The Face that Launched a Thousand Quips...
The greatest and most famous clown of them all, and by whose name, Joey, all circus clowns became known, was born on this day, December 18, 1778.
December 18, 1778'Good Sport' in The Trenches
Prime Minister's son, Raymond Asquith tells his wife of life and death on the battlefront in World War I on this day in 1915.
December 21, 1915Business a Rocky Road for Hansom Cab Pioneer
Architect and inventor Joseph Hansom was a man of vision who somehow found it impossible to turn his great ideas into money-making ventures.
December 23, 1834
