Victory in Battle
1221 Battle of the Indus: Genghis Khan's Mongol force defeats Shah Jalal ad-Din's army, last battle in Mongolian conquest of Khwarezmian Empire
- 1434 River Thames in London freezes over
Transit of Venus
1639 1st observation of transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree - helped establish size of the Solar System
Historic Discovery
1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
- 1643 Battle of Tuttlingen: Beiers army under Gen Mercy beats France
Event of Interest
1655 English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell bans Anglicans
Meeting of Interest
1688 General strategist John Churchill meets William III
Event of Interest
1800 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland depart Caracas for Cuba where they meet fellow botanist John Fraser
- 1800 Weber's opera "Das Waldmadchen" premieres in Freiburg
- 1832 South Carolina passes Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional in and unenforceable in South Carolina, precipitating the Nullification Crisis which presaged the American Civil War
- 1835 Texas Rangers, mounted police force authorized by Texas Provisional Government
Historic Publication
1859 English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species" radically changing the view of evolution and laying the foundation for evolutionary biology
- 1861 Luik-Visé-Maastricht railway opens
- 1862 M Levy publishes Gustave Flaubert's novel "Salammbo"
- 1863 Battle of Chattanooga, Columbia & Lookout Mt begins in Tennessee
- 1869 American Woman's Suffrage Association forms (Cleveland)
- 1874 American inventor Joseph Glidden patents barbed wire
- 1877 English author Anna Sewell sells her manuscript "Black Beauty" to Norwich publisher for £40, the novel is published soon after
- 1887 Victorien Sardou's "La Tosca" premieres in Paris
- 1896 1st US absentee voting law enacted by Vermont
- 1897 Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union forms in Kingston
- 1898 The International Conference of Rome for the Social Defense Against Anarchists opens.
- 1903 Clyde Coleman of NYC patents automobile electric starter
- 1903 George Ade's "County Chairman" premieres in NYC
- 1905 Moshav Hertzlia forms in Israel
Photography
1905 Photographer Alfred Stieglitz opens the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession in Manhattan, New York
- 1912 Conflict in the Balkans grows into an acute international crisis with major powers supporting either Austria or Serbia
Event of Interest
1914 Benito Mussolini leaves Italy's socialist party
- 1914 Dutch Overseas Trustmaatschappij (NOT) forms
- 1915 Serbian leader flees to Albania
- 1916 Mexican and US representatives sign a protocol at Atlantic City, under which Pershing's troops will withdraw and each nation's army will guard the border. President Carranza of Mexico will refuse to accept it
- 1917 Nine police officers and one civilian are killed when a bomb explodes at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin police headquarters building.
- 1918 Béla Can forms Hungarian Communist Party
- 1922 Italian parliament gives Benito Mussolini dictatorial powers "for 1 year"
- 1923 Radio Belgium's 1st transmission
Event of Interest
1924 1st Dutch airliner, Fokker F.VII lands in Batavia (Java) after flying from Amsterdam
- 1924 General Feng Yu-Hsiang, a warlord from the north of China, turns on his allies and seizes Peking
- 1924 Sidney Howard's stage drama "They Knew What They Wanted", opens at Garrick Theater (later transferring to the Klaw), NYC; runs for 414 performances, winning a Pulitzer Prize
- 1925 1st radio-broadcast of Dutch KRO (Catholic Radio Broadcast)
Event of Interest
1925 Eugene O'Neill Theater (Coronet, Forrest) opens at 230 W 49th St NYC
- 1926 KVI-AM in Seattle WA begins radio transmissions
- 1926 Sri Aurobindo retires to lead life of seclusion, hands responsibility for followers to Mirra Alfassa (founding of Sri Aurobindo ashram)
- 1930 Ruth Nichols sets women's transcontinental air flight record (Mineola, NY to California), in a Lockheed-Vega
- 1932 In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
Film Release
1933 Fred Astaire's 1st film, "Dancing Lady", released
- 1934 CFL Grey Cup: Sarnia Imperials win their first Championship with a 20-12 win over Regina Roughriders
- 1934 SN Behrman's "Rain from Heaven" premieres in NYC
- 1935 The Senegalese Socialist Party holds its second congress.
- 1936 German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for uncovering German re-armament
Music History
1936 Noël Coward's anthology "Tonight at 8:30" premieres in NYC, runs for 118 performances
- 1938 Clifford Odets' "Rocket to the Moon" premieres in NYC
- 1938 National Semi-Pro Basketball Congress authorizes yellow basketball
'Hitler Will Have to Break Us or Lose the War'
1940 The Blitz: Luftwaffe bombs Bristol city centre, killing 200 people in the first German raid on the city
- 1941 "Life Certificates" issued to some Jews of Vilna, the rest are exterminated
- 1941 Indian infantry attacks German tanks at Sidi Omar
- 1941 US troops land on Suriname to protect bauxite mine
- 1942 French collaborator Marquis de Brinon establishes "African Falanx"
- 1942 German Fieldmarshal Erich von Manstein arrives in Starobelsk, Ukraine
- 1944 US bombers based on Saipan begin 1st attack on Tokyo
Historic Publication
1947 John Steinbeck's novella "The Pearl" published
- 1947 The US House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities finds "Hollywood 10" in contempt because of their refusal to reveal whether they were communists
- 1948 "Bicycle Thieves", Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring himself and Cesare Zavattini, is released (Honorary Academy Award 1950)
- 1948 WAVE TV channel 3 in Louisville, Kentucky (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 British steel & iron industry nationalised
- 1949 Syracuse Nationals beat Anderson Packers, 125-123 in 5 OTs
- 1950 Frank Loesser's musical "Guys & Dolls", starring Robert Alda, Vivian Blaine, and Sam Levene, opens at 46th St Theater, NYC; runs for 1200 performances, winning 5 Tony Awards
- 1950 UN troops begin an assault intending to end Korean War by Christmas
- 1950 US infantry division conquers Chonju Korea
- 1951 "17" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 180 performances
- 1951 "Music in the Air" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 56 performances
- 1951 British auto manufacturers Austin and Morris Motors merge
- 1951 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Ottawa Rough Riders claim their 4th Championship with 21-14 win over Saskatchewan Roughriders
- 1953 Los Angeles Dodgers sign Walter Alston to a 1-year pact as manager for 1954; signs 23 one year agreements until 1976
- 1954 Air Force One, 1st US Presidential airplane, christened
- 1954 France sends 20,000 soldiers to Algeria
- 1955 1st test flight of Fokker's F-27 Friendship
- 1956 Americans go 1-2 in the men's 100m final at the Melbourne Olympics; Bobby Morrow and Thane Baker both record hand-timed 10.50s but automatic timing gives gold medal to Morrow
- 1956 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Edmonton Eskimos make it 3rd consecutive Championships; defeat Montreal Alouettes for 3rd straight year, 50-27
- 1956 Glenn Davis leads an American trifecta in the men's 400m hurdles at the Melbourne Olympics; hurdles Olympic record equalling 50.1s to beat teammates Eddie Southern and Joshua Culbreath
- 1956 Richard Adler and Jerry Ross' musical "The Pajama Game" closes at St James Theater, NYC, after 1063 performances, and a Tony Award for Best Musical
- 1958 Mali becomes an autonomous state within French Community
NBA Record
1960 Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain pulls down NBA record 55 rebounds in Warriors 132-129 defeat to Boston Celtics at Philadelphia Civic Center
Event of Interest
1965 Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu becomes President of Zaire
- 1966 1st TV station in Congo, Kinshasa (Zaire)
- 1966 400 die of respiratory failure & heart attacks in New York City smog, smoggiest day in city's history
- 1966 A Bulgarian plane with 82 people on board crashes near Bratislava, Slovakia.
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1966 The Beatles began recording sessions for their album "Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Film Release
1966 The cult classic "One Million Years B.C." starring Raquel Welch, is released 1st in West Germany
- 1969 Apollo 12 returns to Earth
- 1969 Lt William L Calley charged with massacre of over 100 civilians in My Lai Vietnam in March 1968, ordered to stand trial by court martial
- 1969 West German President Heinemann visits The Netherlands
- 1970 36th Heisman Trophy Award: Jim Plunkett, Stanford (QB)
- 1971 A British Army bomb-disposal specialist is killed by a bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh
- 1971 A woman is killed after members of the Irish Republican Army carry out an attack on British soldiers in Strabane, County Tyrone
- 1971 American "Dan Cooper" hijacks plane, extorts $200,000 ransom before jumping out of plane over Washington State, never seen again
- 1971 Braves catcher-infielder Earl Williams, wins NL Rookie of Year
- 1971 Prison rebellion at Rahway State Prison, New Jersey
Event of Interest
1972 Taoiseach Jack Lynch met with British Prime Minister Edward Heath in London to give Irish approval to Attlee's paper that said new arrangements should be 'acceptable to and accepted by the Republic of Ireland'
- 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1974 2 truck hijackers freed (3/3/1974)
Sports History
1974 24th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Richard Petty wins
- 1974 CFL Grey Cup, Empire Stadium, Vancouver: Montreal Alouettes defeat Edmonton Eskimos, 20-7 on a slick, wet field
Treaty of Interest
1974 Gerald Ford and Leonid Brezhnev agree to a framework for the SALT-II treaty to reduce each side's number of nuclear weapons, at the Vladivostok Summit
- 1974 Most complete early human skeleton (Lucy, Australopithecus) discovered by Donald Johanson, Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression [1] [2]
- 1975 "Boccaccio" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 7 performances
- 1976 NBA Atlanta Hawks end a 28 game road losing streak
Sports History
1976 Reds Joe Morgan wins his 2nd straight NL MVP Award
- 1977 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1977 Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Greise passes for 6 touchdowns in a 55-14 win over Cardinals in St. Louis
Film & TV History
1979 "Salem's Lot", American two-part miniseries based on the horror novel of the same name by Stephen King, concludes in the United States
- 1979 Kings' Charley Simmer fails on 8th penalty shot against Islanders
Agent Orange in Vietnam
1979 Senate report proves US troops in Vietnam were exposed to the toxic chemical defoliant Agent Orange
- 1981 1st air-launched cruise missile tested
Sports History
1982 Orioles Cal Ripken is named AL Rookie of Year
Historic Publication
1983 "The Colour of Magic" by Terry Pratchett published by Colin Smythe in the UK, 1st book in the Discworld series
- 1983 PLO exchanges 6 Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Palestinians & Lebanese
- 1983 Test Cricket debut of Richie Richardson for the West Indies vs India in Bombay
- 1985 CFL Grey Cup, Olympic Stadium, Montreal: BC Lions defeat Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 37-24; final CFL game played with 25-yard long endzone
- 1985 Egyptian commandos storm captured Boeing in Malta, 60 killed
- 1985 NBC miniseries "Mussolini: The Untold Story" starring George C. Scott premieres in the US
- 1986 "Smile" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 48 performances
- 1986 Cards reliever Todd Worrell wins NL Rookie of Year
- 1986 Wrestler John Tatum charged with possession of marijuana
- 1987 "Make It Last Forever" debut album by Keith Sweat is released (Billboard Song of the Year 1988)
- 1987 Concert performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos' folk operetta "Magdalena" debuts at Alice Tully Hall in NYC's Lincoln Center
- 1987 Li Peng succeeds premier Zhao Ziyang for the People's Republic of China
- 1989 Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia
- 1989 Elias Hrawi elected president of Lebanon
Cricket Record
1989 Sachin Tendulkar scores a Test Cricket fifty aged 16 years 214 days, a record
- 1991 1st international flight from Long Island's MacArthur Airport (to Mexico)
- 1991 After going 12-0, Washington Redskins lose to Dallas 24-21
Grey Cup
1991 CFL Grey Cup, Winnipeg Stadium: Toronto Argonauts defeat Calgary Stampeders, 36-21; Argos under new ownership of LA Kings owner Bruce McNall, hockey player Wayne Gretzky and actor John Candy
Sports History
1991 Monica Seles sets female tennis record, winning prize money of $2,457,758 in a year
- 1991 Rachmon Nabijev elected president of Tadzjikistan
- 1991 US 75th manned space mission "STS 44" Atlantis 10 launched
- 1991 Yugoslavian tennis star Monica Seles beats Martina Navratilova 6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 6–0 to win her 2nd straight WTA Tour Championship at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1992 Boeing 734 crashes into mountain in China, kills 141
- 1993 11 year old Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are convicted of the murder of English 2 year old James Bulger
- 1993 Brady bill passes establishing 5-day waiting period for US handgun sales
- 1993 End of world, according to Ukrainian sect White Brotherhood
- 1995 Ireland votes to end 58-year-old amendment on divorce (50.28% to 49.72%)
Sports History
1996 American Pete Sampras wins his 3rd ATP Tour World Championship tennis titles with a classic 3–6, 7–6, 7–6, 6–7, 6–4 victory over defending champion Boris Becker in Hanover, Germany
Grey Cup
1996 CFL Grey Cup, Ivor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton: MVP Doug Flutie leads Toronto Argonauts to 13th title; beat Edmonton Eskimos, 43-37
- 1996 Elliot Goldenthal' musical "Juan Darién - A Carnival Mass" opens at Vivian Beaumont Theater, NYC; runs for 49 performances
Sports History
1996 German tennis star Steffi Graf retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 4–6, 6–0, 4–6, 6–0 win over Martina Hingis at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1996 Mashonaland defeat Matabeleland to win the Logan Cricket Cup
- 1996 Mohammad Wasim scores 109 on Test Cricket debut, Pakistan v NZ Lahore
- 1997 "Street Corner Symphony" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theatre, NYC; runs for 79 performances
- 2002 CFL Grey Cup, Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton: Montreal Alouettes beat Edmonton Eskimos, 25-16; Don Matthews' 5th Grey Cup title as a head coach
Event of Interest
2005 Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Parliament Stephen Harper, introduces a motion of no confidence. The motion is passed on November 28 leading to the dissolution of the 38th Canadian Parliament.
- 2006 Israeli rapist Benny Sela escapes from police custody while being transferred to a court hearing.
Election of Interest
2007 Australians elect the Kevin Rudd-led centre-left Australian Labor Party at the federal election, ending the eleven-year tenure of the John Howard-led centre-right Liberal/National coalition government.
Album Release
2008 British singer-rapper-songwriter Craig David releases his first Greatest Hits album
- 2012 Ernest Bai Koroma is re-elected President of Sierra Leone
- 2012 Gangnam Style becomes the most viewed Youtube video surpassing 808 million views
- 2012 The continued NHL lockout results in all games to December 14 being cancelled
American Music Awards
2013 41st American Music Awards: Taylor Swift & Justin Timberlake win
- 2013 CFL Grey Cup, Taylor Field, Regina: Saskatchewan Roughriders win 4th title; defeat Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 45-23; Roughriders running back Kory Sheets MVP, sets Grey Cup record rushing for 197 yards with 2 TDs
Sports History
2013 German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel wins season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix; his record 9th straight GP victory; record equalling 13th consecutive GP win; 4th straight World Drivers Championship
- 2014 "Take Your Time" single is released by Sam Hunt (Billboard Song of the Year 2015)
- 2015 Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder of 17 year old African American Laquan McDonald in 2014
- 2015 Tunisia declares state of emergency after an attack on a bus in Tunis carrying presidential guards kills at least 12
- 2015 Turkey shots down a Russian fighter jet after claiming it had flown into Turkish airspace
- 2015 Venezuelan opposition leader Luis Díaz is shot and killed days before the country's general election
- 2016 International research team publishes discovery of 1,500 new viruses found in invertebrates
- 2017 18 women accuse Jean-Claude Arnault with ties to the Nobel Prize Committee of sexual assault and harassment in Swedish Dagens Nyheter newspaper
Robert Mugabe Ousted
2017 Former First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as President of Zimbabwe, replacing Robert Mugabe's 30-year tenure
- 2017 Militant gunmen attack a Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, killing 305 people, government retaliates bombing the area
- 2018 Copa Libertadores Final 2nd-leg between Buenos Aires rivals River Plate & Boca Juniors is postponed after Boca bus attacked by River fans; players suffer cuts & affects of police tear gas; River wins, 5-3 on aggregate when 2nd-leg played in Madrid, Spain (9 Dec)
- 2018 Cruise boat sinks on Lake Victoria near Kampala, Uganda, killing at least 29
- 2018 ICC Women's Cricket T20 World Cup, Antigua: Ashleigh Gardner with 33 from 26 balls and 3 for 22 leads Australia (106/2) to 4th T20 WC; beat England (105)
- 2018 Taiwanese voters vote against referendums to legalise same-sex marriage
- 2019 47th American Music Awards: Taylor Swift wins six awards, including Artist of the Year and Artist of the Decade
- 2019 Data leaked from Chinese high-security Muslim Uighur security camps, housing 1 million people, show systematic brainwashing in western Xinjiang region
Davis Cup
2019 Davis Cup Tennis, Madrid: Rafael Nadal beats Denis Shapovalov of Russia 6-3, 7-6 to give Spain an unassailable 2-0 lead and a 6th Cup title; first competition under new week-long format at one venue
Event of Interest
2019 Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces a late-bid to be the US Democratic presidential candidate
- 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy candidates overwhelmingly win district council elections in strong rebuke to Hong Kong leaders
- 2019 New Zealand cricket batsman BJ Watling scores a marathon 205 off 473 balls to lead the home side to an innings and 65 run 1st Test victory over England at Mount Maunganui
- 2020 COVID-19 surge in the US gathers further pace with death toll of 2,200 highest since May and new cases averaging 175,000 a day
