Events
533
– Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals,
commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of
Ticameron.
1167 – Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche
moves the royal court to Messina to prevent
a rebellion.
1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the
Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day
Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic
southwest Asia.
1467 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias
Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured
thrice, at the Battle of Baia.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and
French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.
1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes
law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.
1864 – In the Battle of Nashville, Union forces
under George H. Thomas almost completely destroy
the Army of Tennessee under John B. Hood.
1868 – Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in
Hokkaidō.
1905 – The Pushkin House is established in St.
Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage
of Alexander Pushkin
1906 – The London Underground's Great Northern,
Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.
1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the
Buenos Aires Convention.
1914 – World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures
Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian
Army.
1914 – A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hojyo coal
mine, Kyūshū, Japan, kills 687.
1917 – World War I: An armistice is reached
between the new Bolshevik government and the
Central Powers.
1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United
States Constitution officially becomes effective,
repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited
the sale, manufacture, and transportation of
alcohol.
1939 – Gone with the Wind receives its première
at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia,
USA.
1941 – Holocaust: German troops murder over
15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, a ravine southeast
of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.
1942 – The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping
Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal
campaign.
1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas
MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as
the state religion of Japan.
1946 – US-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership
of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting
an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.
1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands
is signed.
1960 – Richard Paul Pavlick is arrested for
attempting to blow up and assassinate the U.S.
President-Elect, John F. Kennedy only four days
earlier.
1960 – King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country's
constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses
the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.
1961 – In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann is sentenced
to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal
charges, including charges of crimes against
humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and
membership of an outlawed organization.
1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by
Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched
from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later,
it achieves the first space rendezvous, with
Gemini 7.
1967 – The Silver Bridge collapses, killing
46 people.
1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully
land on Venus. It is the first successful soft
landing on another planet
1970 – South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes
off Korean Strait killing 308.
1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of American
billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near
Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian
gang on July 10, 1973.
1973 – The American Psychiatric Association
votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its
official list of psychiatric disorders, the
DSM-II.
1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the United
Nations.
1976 – The oil tanker MV Argo Merchant runs
aground near Nantucket, Massachusetts, causing
one of the worst marine oil spills in history.
1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces
that the United States will recognize the People's
Republic of China and cut off all relations
with Taiwan
1993 – History of Northern Ireland: The Downing
Street Declaration is issued by British Prime
Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert
Reynolds.
1994 – Palau becomes a member of the United
Nations.
1997 – A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan
crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab
Emirates airport killing 85.
1997 – The Treaty of Bangkok is signed allowing
the transformation of Southeast Asia into a
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
2000 – Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel opens at
the Disneyland Resort.
2000 – The 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant is shut down.
2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after
11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without
fixing its famous lean.
2005 – Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate
possibility of same-sex couples being entitled
to marry.
2005 – Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into
USAF active service.
2006 – First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.
2009 – Boeing's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes
its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.
2010 – A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes
into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island,
Australia, killing at least 30 passengers.
2011 – American forces withdraw from Iraq after
a 9-year long campaign.
Holidays
and observances
Bill
of Rights Day (United States)
Christian Feast Day:
Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary)
Maria Crocifissa di Rosa
Mesmin
Valerian of Abbenza
Virginia Centurione Bracelli
Consualia, in honor of Consus. (Roman Empire)
Homecoming Day (Alderney)
Kingdom Day (Netherlands)
Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)
For details, contact Datacentre
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