- 627 Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War
- 1098 1st Crusaders capture & plunder Mara, Syria
- 1279 Discovery of a sarcophagus supposedly containing the body of Mary Magdalene in the crypt of the church of Saint-Maximin, southeastern France
- 1408 Order of the Dragon: The Order of the Dragon was first created on December 12, 1408 by Emperor Sigismund, then King of Hungary, and his wife Queen Barbara of Celje following the battle for possession of Bosnia.
- 1474 Isabella crowns herself queen of Castile & Aragon
- 1479 Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt Alsace by Emperor Frederick III
Historic Event
1524 Pope Clement VII approves Organization of Jewish Community of Rome
Historic Event
1694 The Royal Society censures Edmond Halley for suggesting in a paper titled 'Some considerations about the cause of the universal deluge' that the story of Noah's flood could be an account of a cometary impact
Gregory Conquers Julius Caesar
1700 Utrecht, Overijssel, Buren, Leerdam and Ijsselstein adopt Gregorian calendar
Constitution of the United States
1787 Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify US constitution
- 1791 Bank of North America opens at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia
- 1822 Mexico officially recognized as an independent nation by US
- 1858 1st Canadian coins circulated (1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent & 20 cent)
- 1862 Battle of Dumfries, Virginia
- 1862 Naval Engagement at Yazoo River, MS (USS CAIRO torpedoed)
- 1870 Joseph Rainey (South Carolina) becomes 1st African American to serve in US House of Representatives
- 1871 Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum
Historic Event
1874 Hawaiian King David Kalakaua is 1st king to visit the US as guest of Ulysses S. Grant at 1st US state dinner at the White House
Historic Publication
1878 Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
Marconi's Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires
1901 Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada
Nobel Prize
1902 German historian Theodor Mommsen is awarded the Nobel prize for Literature for "his historical writing with special reference to his monumental work, "A History of Rome"
- 1903 Roger Casement completes report about abuses in Belgian Congo
- 1904 CMS McClellan's "Leah Kleschna" premieres in NYC
- 1906 Oscar Straus, 1st Jewish US government member, appointed Secretary of Commerce
- 1911 Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
- 1913 Hebrew language officially used to teach in Palestinian schools
- 1914 The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%
- 1915 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau, Germany
Historic Event
1915 Aristide Briand forms French war government
Historic Event
1925 Last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rezā Shāh Pahlavi takes over
Declaration of War
1936 Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan
- 1937 Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations)
- 1939 Russ Indigirka capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 750 die
- 1940 British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani
- 1941 European reservists on Java mobilize
- 1941 German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews
- 1941 Soviet 20th army recaptures Soljetsjnogorsk
- 1942 A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland, kills 100 people
- 1942 German offensive in South Western Stalingrad
- 1945 Special Court of justice convicts Dutch Nazi leader Mussert to death
- 1946 'Tide' laundry detergent introduced
- 1946 Abandoned ice plant in Manahttan, New York City, collapses during a fire, shearing a tenement building next door, killing 38
Historic Event
1946 UN accepts 6 Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- 1947 United Mine Workers union withdrew from AFL
- 1948 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
- 1949 AL votes 7-1 rejecting legalizing the spitball
- 1950 Baseball owners vote to drop 4-year old bonus & high school rule
- 1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane
- 1955 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christoper Cockerell
- 1956 Commencement of the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign.
- 1957 Maj Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo
- 1957 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)
- 1957 Willem J Kolff and his team at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic removed the heart from a dog and replaced it with a pneumatic pump which kept the dog alive for 90 minutes, proving the viability of the artificial heart
- 1958 Dutch social democratic party-ministers/premier Drees dismissed
- 1958 Indian leg spin bowler Subhash "Fergie" Gupte takes 9-102 v W Indies at Kanpur
- 1959 UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established
- 1961 Amateur radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36
'The Banality of Evil'
1961 Nazi German army officer Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes in Israel
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Historic Event
1963 Argentina asks for extradition of ex-President Juan Perón
Historic Event
1968 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill receives overwhelming support from Unionist Members of Parliament (MPs) at Stormont
- 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1969 Offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed, killing 14
- 1970 Polish government proclaims price rise
- 1970 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays
- 1970 USSR performs underground nuclear test
‘My Name is Jimmy Carter and I’m Running for President’
1974 50‐year‐old Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President [1]
- 1975 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Historic Event
1975 Sara Jane Moore pleds guilty to trying to kill US President Gerald Ford
- 1979 Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
- 1979 President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam
- 1980 Apple makes its initial public offering on the US stock market - 38 years later it would become the first US company valued at over $1 trillion
- 1980 US's copyright law amended to include computer programs
- 1981 Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982
- 1982 $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money transport car in NYC
- 1982 The "Snowplow Game": when a snowstorm holds a New England vs Miami game scoreless, Mark Henderson, a convict on work release, on Patriots coach Ron Meyer order, clears the path for John Smith's attempt, which wins the game for the Patriots, 3-0
- 1983 5th ACE Cable Awards: The VII International Tchaikovsky Competition by Robert Dalrymple and Ken Locker
- 1983 A truck bomb explodes at US Embassy in Kuwait
- 1985 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash
- 1985 DC-8 crashes near Gander, Newfoundland; 258 die
- 1985 NASA launches space vehicle S-207
- 1986 Russian Tupolev-134 crashes in East Berlin, 70 killed
- 1986 South African journalist and activist Zwelakhe Sisulu arrested at John Vorster Square
- 1987 Rollermania at Madison Square Garden, Eastern Express beats Midwest Pioneers
- 1988 3 trains collide in London, 40 die
- 1988 NYC Subway system adds new stations (Z line)
- 1988 PLO leader Yasi Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist
- 1990 US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks
- 1990 US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell, leaves Kuwait
- 1991 Abuja replaces Lagos as the capital city of Nigeria
- 1991 Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection
- 1992 6.8-7.5 earthquake strikes Flores Island (tsunami kills 3,000)
Historic Event
1995 Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres addresses both houses of the US Congress
- 1996 Assassination attempt on Uday (Iraqi's heir to Sadam Hussain)
- 1997 Carlos the Jackal, "professional revolutionary", goes on trial in Paris
- 1997 Florida releases Alex Arias, the last original Marlin
- 1997 Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH
- 1997 SWAT team shoots John E Armstrong in Florida, freeing 2 young hostages
- 1997 TWA 800 hearings end
Election of Interest
2000 US Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore, settling the recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election in George W. Bush's favor and thus handing him the presidency
Election of Interest
2003 Paul Martin becomes Prime Minister of Canada after resignation of Jean Chretien
- 2006 Peugeot produces its last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
- 2008 Andrei Klepach, Deputy Economic Minister of Russia, states that Russia has entered a recession, with two quarters of contraction expected, meaning Russia will fall short of reaching the 6.8% growth forecast for 2008
- 2010 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, London, England: Europe regains title with an 11-8 win over US; MVP: Darren Appleton (England)
- 2013 The United States announces sanctions on the two dozen companies who assisted Iran with their nuclear program
- 2014 Over 200 pro-democracy activists arrested in Hong Kong
- 2014 UN climate change talks in Peru continue past scheduled time as negotiations continue to stall
- 2015 COP21 climate change summit in Paris reaches a deal between 195 countries to limit the rise in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels
- 2015 First women ever elected in Saudi Arabia in municipal council elections
- 2016 Paolo Gentiloni is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy, succeeding Matteo Renzi
Historic Event
2016 Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte boasts he killed susected criminals personally when mayor of Davao City
- 2017 Australian shopping mall firm Westfield is bought by French property company Unibail-Rodamco for $15.7 billion
- 2017 Democrat Doug Jones defeats Republican Roy Moore for Alabama Senate seat in upset win marked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore
Historic Event
2018 American Media Inc. publisher of "National Enquirer" admits paying hush money to mistresses of US President Donald Trump
Historic Event
2018 British Prime Minister Theresa May survives 200-117 no-confidence vote from her own Conservative Party
- 2018 China built 88 out of world's 143 skyscrapers in 2018 more than any country ever (buildings over 200 meters/656 ft)
- 2018 Michael Cohen, former lawyer for US President Donald Trump sentenced to three years in prison for campaign-finance violations and tax fraud
- 2018 Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev compete complex spacewalk to fix hole in Soyuz spacecraft
- 2018 Seven mass graves in former Islamic State area discovered containing hundreds of bodies, some tortured, near Albu Kamal, eastern Syria
Election of Interest
2019 British General Election won by Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in landslide win with 80 seat majority. Scottish National Party also wins 48 of 59 seats in Scotland.
- 2019 Deepest point on land on earth identified under Denman Glacier, east Antarctica at 3.5km (11,500ft) below sea level
Historic Event
2020 Chinese leader Xi Jinping says the country will reduce its carbon intensity by 65% by 2030
Historic Event
2020 UN Chief Antonio Guterres urges world's leaders to declare "climate emergency" to avoid catastrophic global warning on 5th anniversary of Paris Climate Accord
- 2021 British PM Boris Johnson announces a emergency COVID-19 booster program to protect the NHS and stem a possible incoming “tidal wave of Omicron” [1]
- 2022 'Calculated and targeted execution' leaves three people shot and killed, including two police officers, with the three killers also killed in a six hour gun fight near Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, Australia [1]
- 2022 Emma Tucker appointed editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, first woman to lead the paper [1]
- 2022 The city of Richmond, Virginia, capital of the Confederacy during the US Civil War, removes its last Confederate statue, of Ambrose P. Hill [1]