Events
of the day
920
– Romanos I is crowned co-emperor of the underage
Emperor Constantine VII.
942 – Assassination of William I of Normandy.
1398 – Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in
Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII
of England.
1577 – Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England,
on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast
of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth
I.
1583 – Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria
defeats the troops under Gebhard Truchsess von
Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
1586 – Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1600 – Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie
de' Medici.
1718 – Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1777 – France formally recognizes the United
States of America.
1790 – Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
1807 – France issues the Milan Decree, which
confirms the Continental System.
1812 – War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly
Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
1819 – Simón BolÃvar declares the independence
of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura
(now Ciudad BolÃvar in Venezuela).
1837 – Fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg
occurred.
1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S.
Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling
Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony
by Franz Schubert.
1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first
powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright
Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 – Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King
of Bhutan
1918 – Culmination of the Darwin Rebellion as
some 1000 demonstrators march on Government
House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos
Aires copyright treaty.
1926 – Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania
as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
1927 – Indian revolutionary Rajendranath Lahiri
was hanged to death in Gonda jail of U.P. in
India 2 days before the scheduled date.
1928 – Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh,
Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate
British police officer James Saunders in Lahore,
Punjab to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai
at the hands of the police. The three were executed
in 1931.
1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate
– The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain
Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in
Northern Borneo.
1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – Malmedy
massacre – American 285th Field Artillery Observation
Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe
Peiper.
1947 – First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet
strategic bomber.
1950 – The F-86 Sabre's first mission over Korea.
1957 – The United States successfully launches
the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1960 – Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia
crush the coup that began December 13, returning
power to their leader upon his return from Brazil.
Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1960 – 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 passengers
and crew on board as well as 32 people on the
ground are killed.
1961 – Fire in the Gran Circus American in the
city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the
biggest tragedy in circus history.
1967 – Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt
disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria
and is presumed drowned.
1969 – The SALT I talks begin.
1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States
Air Force closes its study of UFOs, stating
that sightings are generated as a result of
"A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals
who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax
or seek publicity, psychopathological persons,
and misidentification of various conventional
objects."
1970 – Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia soldiers
fire at workers emerging from trains, killing
dozens.
1973 – Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in
an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's
Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
1981 – Brigadier General James L. Dozier is
abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
1983 – The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store
in London, killing six people.
1989 – The first episode of television series
The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an
Open Fire", airs in the United States.
1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests continue
in TimiÅŸoara with rioters breaking into the
Romanian Communist Party's District Committee
building and attempting to set it on fire.
1989 – Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of
the Brazilian presidential election, becoming
the first democratically elected President in
almost 30 years.
1997 – The United Kingdom commences its Firearms
(Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, which extends
the state's gun ban to include all handguns—with
the exception of antique and show weapons.
2002 – Second Congo War: The Congolese parties
of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace
accord which makes provision for transitional
governance and legislative and presidential
elections within two years.
2003 – The Soham murder trial ends at the Old
Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty
of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine
Carr is found guilty of perverting the course
of justice.
2003 – SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian
Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
2005 – Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai,
Hong Kong
2005 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicate the throne
as King of Bhutan.
2009 – MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of
Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people
and over 28,000 animals.
2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire.This
act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution.
The success of the Tunisian protests sparked
protests in several other Arab countries.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Saint Barbara
Daniel the Prophet
Lazarus of Bethany (local commemoration in Cuba)
O Sapientia (Roman Catholic Church)
December 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day to End Violence Against Sex
Workers (United States)
National Day (Bhutan)
Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn (Roman festivals)
Wright Brothers Day, a United States federal
observances by Presidential Proclamation
For details, contact Datacentre
