Today in History December

31 December

406: 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia.

765: Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China.

1687: 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope.

1708: Great Alliance captures Bridge.

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk.

2009: Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

30 December

987 : French King Hugo Capet crowns his son Robert the compassionate king.

1703: Tokyo hit by Earthquake; about 37,000 die.

1906: The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan.

1950: Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia become Independent states within the French Union.

2013: More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

29 December

765 : Ali al-Ridha, Arabian 8th of the Twelve Imams was born.

875 : Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor Charles II.

1851: The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1876: The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.

2003: The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.

28 December

893 : An earthquake destroys the city of Dvin, Armenia.

1308: The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins.

1846: Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

1948: The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami.

2014: Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.

27 December

537 : The Hagia Sophia is inaugurated by the Emperor Justinian.

1437: Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Bohemia.

1679: Dutch troops capture Madurees prince Trunudjojo in Java.

1997: Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

2007: Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

26 December

795 : St Leo III begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

1481: Battle at Westbroek: Dutch army beats Utrecht.

1862: Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

2006: An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260 people.

2009: China opens the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

25 December

01 : 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguous.

1741: Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale.

1876: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan was born.

1977: Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.

1991: Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech.

2012: An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.

24 December

1166: John, King of England was born.

1565: Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition.

1800: The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.

1814: Treaty of Ghent signed, ending US Britain War of 1812.

1889: Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake.

1951: Libya gains independence from Italy.

23 December

484 : Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals.

558 : Chlothar I is crowned King of the Franks.

1620: French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII.

1815: The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.

2007: An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

22 December

609 : Muhammad claims to receive his first revelation.

1135: Stephen of Blois becomes King of England.

1891: Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.

1951: The Selangor Labour Party is founded in Selangor, Malaya.

1990: Lech Wałęsa is elected President of Poland.

2016: Syrian government forces retake control of the besieged areas of Aleppo.

21 December

1237: The city of Ryazan is sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan.

1650: Johan de Witt installed as Dutch pension advisor of Dordrecht.

1919: American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.

1988: The first flight of Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest aircraft in the world.

1936: First flight of the Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft.

1995: The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

20 December

1046: Synod of Sutri: German King Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI.

1334: Pope Benedict XII is elected.

1803: The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1924: Adolf Hitler is released from Lands berg Prison.

1985: Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.

1995: NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

19 December

1154: Henry II becomes King of England.

1776: Thomas Paine publishes his 1st “American Crisis” essay beginning”These are the times that try men’s souls”.

1783: William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24.

1915: General Haig becomes Commander-in-Chief of the British army in France.

1932: British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas.

18 December

1499: Rebellion triggeres in Alpujarras in response to the forced conversions of Muslims in Spain.

1787: New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1878: The Al-Thani family become the rulers of the state of Qatar.

1973: The Islamic Development Bank is founded.

2006: United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.

17 December

497 : The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.

1526: Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero – forms Inquisition.

1788: Russian army of Grigory Potemkin occupies Ocharov.

1907: Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan.

2014: The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1960.

16 December

882 : Marinus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding John VIII.

1431: King Henry VI of England crowned king of France.

1811: The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.

1903: Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Bombay first opens its doors to guests.

1991: Kazakhstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.

15 December

533 : Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.

1612: German Astronomer Simon Marius is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope.

1840: Napoleon Bonaparte receives a French state funeral in Paris 19 years after his death.

1973: American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not a mental illness.

2000: The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

2010: A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.

14 December

644 : Uthman ibn Affan, companion of Muhammad, appointed 3rd Caliph of Islam.

835 : Chinese Emperor Wenzong conspires with chancellor Li Xun and general Zheng Zhu to kill all the eunuchs, but the plot is foiled.

872 : John VIII elected as Catholic Pope.

1918: Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.

1931: Poet John Elia was born.

1994: Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.

13th December

1272: King Frederick III of Sicily was born.

1577: Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigationof the world.

1774: First incident of American Revolution – 400 attack Ft William and Mary, New Hampshire.

1936: J. C. Martin, American baseball player and sportscaster was born.

2003: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn by US forces.

2007: Treaty of Lisbon is signed by members states of European Union.

12th December

1098: 1st Crusaders capture & plunder Mara Syria.

1474: Isabella crowns herself queen of Castile & Aragon.

1527: Composer Adrian Willaert moves from Milan to Venice.

1911: Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

1918: The Flag of Estonia is raised atop the Pikk Hermann for the first time.

1991: The Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.

11th December

1936: Edward VIII Abdicates.

1946: Unicef Founded.

1925: Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.

1941: Germany declares war on the United States.

1969: Soviets declares nudity a sign of western decadence.

2008: Billionaire conman Bernard madoff arrested.

10th December

1778: John Lay is elected president of the Continental Congress.

1901: First Nobel Prize awarded.

1915: Ford Builds its 1 millionth cars.

1917: Red Cross is awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

1941: Japan becomes master of the Pacific and South China Sea.

9th December

656 : Battle of Kameel: Kalief Al ibn Abu Talib beats rebellion.

1315: Swiss Woudsteden renews Eternal Covenant (Oath Society).

1625: Netherlands & England sign military treaty.

1983: Dariusz Dudka, Polish footballer was born.

1992: Prince Charles and Princess Diana announce a formal separation.

8th December

1542: Mary, Queen of Scots was born.

1863: Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South.

1941: US & Britain declare war on Japan, US enters WW II.

1966: US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space.

1998: Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

2013: Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India.

7th December

1354: Margaretha van Bavarian’s son earl Willem V signs peace treaty.

1595: Injo of Joseon, Korean king was born.

1696: Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways in the U.S. is completed to Trumbull.

1732: The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London.

1787: Delaware becomes 1st state to ratify the US constitution.

1985: Dean Ambrose, American wrestler was born.

6th December

963 : Leo VIII elected Pope.

1060: Bela I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary.

1240: Mongols under Batu Khan occupy & destroy Kiev.

1520: Barbara Radziwill queen of Poland was born.

1877: The first edition of The Washington Post is published.

1998: In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is victorious in presidential elections.

5th December

1349: 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots.

1560: Charles IX becomes king of France.

1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born.

1831: Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.

1848: US President Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming gold discovery in California.

1916: The French defeat the Germans in the Battle of Verdun.

4th December

1110: Syrian harbor city Saida (Sidon) surrenders to Crusaders.

1197: Crusaders wound Rabbi Elezar ben Judah.

1259: Treaty of Paris: English King Henry III & French King Louis IX.

1489: Battle of Baza – Spanish army captures Baza from Moors.

1791: The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, is published.

2015: A firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing 17 people.

3rd December

1586: Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia.

1818: Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.

1967: 1st human heart transplant performed by Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa.

1989: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over.

2012: At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines.

2nd December

1848: Franz Joseph I becomes Emperor of Austria.

1908: Puyi becomes Emperor of China at the age of two.

1939: New York City’s LaGuardia Airport opens.

1970: The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.

2016: Thirty-six people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.

1st December 

1822: Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.

1913: Ford Motor Company institutes world’s 1st moving assembly line for the Model T Ford.

1955: Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus and give her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.

1958: The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.

1988: Benazir Bhutto named 1st female Prime Minister of a Muslim country (Pakistan).