Events 401 - 420 of 420
- Dec 11 UN Security Council chooses Javier Pérez de Cuélla of Peru as the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations
- Dec 11 El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
- Dec 12 Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982
- Dec 13 Poland's authoritarian communist government declares martial law and arrests Solidarity activists in a failed attempt to crush the opposition
- Dec 14 Israel annexes Golan Heights (seized from Syria in war of 1967)
- Dec 15 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 503
- Dec 16 Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
- Dec 17 Members of Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L Dozier
- Dec 19 Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee, Cornwall, lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
- Dec 19 Romuald Spasowski, Polish ambassador to the United States defects to show support for the Solidarity movement amid a crackdown
- Dec 20 Browns set team records for most fumbles (9) & most turnovers (10)
- Dec 22 Argentine general Leopoldo Galtieri sworn in as president
- Dec 22 Belgium's 5th government of Martens forms
- Dec 24 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Dec 27 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Dec 28 Cleveland Metroparks Administrative offices move from downtown to Zoo (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Dec 28 Warner-Elektra-Atlantic raises price of 45 records from $1.68 to $1.98
- Dec 28 1st American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr is born in Norfolk, Virginia
- Dec 31 Lt Jerry Rawlings becomes head of Ghana, suspends constitution
- Dec 31 Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000