Events Pre-1600 883 – Abu al Abbas celebrates a victory parade in Bagdhad following the suppression of the Zanj Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in the Arab world. 978 – Franco-German war of 978–980: Holy Roman Emperor Otto II lifts the siege of Paris and withdraws.
1601–1900 1707 – Queen Anne's War: The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British Empire and their Creek allies to capture Pensacola, Spanish Florida. 1718 – Great Northern War: King Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten in Norway. 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris: In Paris, representatives from the United States and Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris). 1786 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day). 1803 – The Balmis Expedition starts in Spain with the aim of vaccinating millions against smallpox in Spanish America and Philippines. 1803 – In New Orleans, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to the French First Republic. 1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop: The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey. 1864 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood suffers heavy losses in an attack on the Union Army of the Ohio under General John Schofield in the Battle of Franklin. 1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
1901–present 1916 – Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Convention, a copyright treaty. 1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire. 1939 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army crosses the Finnish border in several places, bombing Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War. 1940 – World War II: Signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1940 between the Empire of Japan and the newly formed Wang Jingwei-led Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China. This treaty was considered so unfair to China that it was compared to the Twenty-One Demands. 1941 – The Holocaust: The SS-Einsatzgruppen round up roughly 25,000 Jews from the Riga Ghetto and kill them in the Rumbula massacre. 1942 – World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga; A smaller squadron of Imperial Japanese Navy destroyers led by Raizō Tanaka defeats a U.S. Navy cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright. 1947 – Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins, leading up to the creation of the State of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1953 – Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda. 1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap; this is the only documented case in the Western Hemisphere of a human being hit by a rock from space. 1962 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 crashes at Idlewild Airport, killing 25 people. 1966 – Decolonization: Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom. 1967 – The People's Republic of Southern Yemen gains its independence from the United Kingdom 1967 – The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first chairman. 1967 – Pro-Soviet communists in the Philippines establish Malayang Pagkakaisa ng Kabataan Pilipino as its new youth wing. 1971 – Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the Emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. 1972 – Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000. 1981 – Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.) 1995 – Official end of Operation Desert Storm. 1995 – U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland and speaks in favor of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall; he calls IRA fighters "yesterday's men". 1999 – Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company. 1999 – In Seattle, United States, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies. 1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world. 2000 – NASA launches STS-97, the 101st Space Shuttle mission. 2004 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Lion Air Flight 538, overran the runway at Adisoemarmo Airport and crashed, killing 25 people. 2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York. 2007 – Atlasjet Flight 4203 crashes in Keçiborlu while on approach to Isparta Süleyman Demirel Airport, killing 57. 2018 – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake with its epicenter only from Anchorage, Alaska causes significant property damage but no deaths. 2021 – Barbados becomes a republic. 2021 – A 15-year-old gunman murders four students and injures seven people, including a teacher, in a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan. 2022 – The generative AI chatbot ChatGPT is launched by OpenAI.
Births
Pre-1600 539 – Gregory of Tours, French bishop and saint (probable; (died 594) 1310 – Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen (died 1349) 1340 – John, Duke of Berry (died 1416) 1364 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, Scottish soldier (died 1390) 1426 – Johann IV Roth, Roman Catholic bishop (died 1506) 1427 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (died 1492) 1459 – Mingyi Nyo, founder of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (died 1530) 1466 – Andrea Doria, Italian admiral (died 1560) 1485 – Veronica Gambara, Italian poet and stateswoman (died 1550) 1508 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect and theoretician, designed the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore and Teatro Olimpico (died 1580) 1549 – Sir Henry Savile, English scholar and mathematician (died 1622) 1554 – Philip Sidney, English soldier, courtier, and poet (died 1586) 1573 – Aubert Miraeus, Belgian historian (died 1640) 1594 – John Cosin, English bishop and academic (died 1672) 1599 – Andrea Sacchi, Italian painter (died 1661)
1601–1900 1614 – William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford (died 1680) 1625 – Jean Domat, French scholar and jurist (died 1696) 1637 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian and author (died 1698) 1642 – Andrea Pozzo, Jesuit Brother, architect and painter (died 1709) 1645 – Andreas Werckmeister, German organist, composer, and theorist (died 1706) 1667 – Jonathan Swift, Irish satirist and essayist (died 1745) 1670 – John Toland, Irish philosopher and author (died 1722) 1683 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (died 1744) 1699 – King Christian VI of Denmark (died 1746) 1719 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (died 1772) 1723 – William Livingston, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (died 1790) 1729 – Samuel Seabury, First Episcopal Bishop in America (died 1796) 1748 – Joachim Albertini, Italian-Polish composer (died 1838) 1756 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist and author (died 1827) 1764 – Franz Xaver Gerl, Austrian singer and composer (died 1827) 1768 – Jędrzej Śniadecki, Polish physician, chemist, and biologist (died 1838) 1781 – Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant, and explorer (died 1873) 1791 – Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Austrian field marshal and politician (died 1848) 1796 – Carl Loewe, German singer, composer, and conductor (died 1869) 1810 – Oliver Winchester, American businessman and politician, founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (died 1880) 1813 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet and author (died 1890) 1813 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French pianist and composer (died 1888) 1817 – Theodor Mommsen, German jurist, historian, and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1903) 1821 – Frederick Temple, English archbishop and academic (died 1902) 1825 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter and educator (died 1905) 1832 – James Dickson, English-Australian politician, 13th Premier of Queensland (died 1901) 1835 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (died 1910) 1836 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (died 1882) 1840 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Birks & Mayors (died 1928) 1843 – Martha Ripley, American physician (died 1912) 1847 – Afonso Pena, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 6th President of Brazil (died 1909) 1857 – Bobby Abel, English cricketer (died 1936) 1858 – Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist, biologist, botanist, and archaeologist (died 1937) 1863 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino activist and politician, co-founded Katipunan (died 1897) 1866 – Andrey Lyapchev, Bulgarian politician, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (died 1933) 1869 – Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1937) 1869 – James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, English lawyer and politician, Governor of Northern Ireland (died 1953) 1872 – John McCrae, Canadian physician, soldier, and poet (died 1918) 1873 – Božena Benešová, Czech author and poet (died 1936) 1874 – Winston Churchill, English colonel, journalist, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) 1874 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, English-Canadian author and poet (died 1942) 1875 – Myron Grimshaw, American baseball player (died 1936) 1875 – Otto Strandman, Estonian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1941) 1883 – Gustav Suits, Estonian-Swedish poet and politician (died 1956) 1887 – Andrej Gosar, Slovenian economist, lawyer, and politician (died 1970) 1887 – Beatrice Kerr, Australian swimmer and diver (died 1971) 1888 – Harry Altham, English cricketer and coach (died 1965) 1889 – Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1977) 1889 – Reuvein Margolies, Ukrainian-Israeli author and scholar (died 1971) 1898 – Firpo Marberry, American baseball player and manager (died 1976)
1901–present 1904 – Clyfford Still, American painter and educator (died 1980) 1906 – John Dickson Carr, American author and playwright (died 1977) 1906 – Andrés Henestrosa, Mexican poet, linguist, and politician (died 2008) 1907 – Jacques Barzun, French-American historian and author (died 2012) 1909 – Robert Nighthawk, American singer and guitarist (died 1967) 1911 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (died 1978) 1911 – Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (died 1953) 1912 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (died 1966) 1912 – Gordon Parks, American photographer and director (died 2006) 1915 – Brownie McGhee, American folk-blues singer and guitarist (died 1996) 1915 – Henry Taube, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2005) 1916 – Dena Epstein, American musicologist and author (died 2013) 1916 – Michael Gwynn, English actor (died 1976) 1918 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (died 2014) 1919 – Jane C. Wright, American oncologist and cancer researcher (died 2013) 1920 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (died 2005) 1924 – Elliott Blackstone, American police officer and activist (died 2006) 1924 – Shirley Chisholm, American activist, educator and politician (died 2005) 1924 – Allan Sherman, American actor, comedian, singer, producer, and screenwriter (died 1973)