Events
627 - Battle of Nineveh: A
Byzantine army under Emperor
Heraclius defeated Emperor
Khosrau II's
Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.1098 -
First Crusade: Massacre of
Ma'arrat al-Numan - Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to
cannibalism.
1531 - Apparition of
Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in
Mexico City.
1781 -
American Revolutionary War:
Second Battle of Ushant - A
Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral
Richard Kempenfelt in
HMS Victory, defeats a
French fleet.
1812 -
French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
1862 -
USS Cairo sank on the
Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
1870 -
Joseph H. Rainey of
South Carolina becomes the first black
U.S. congressman.
1897 -
Belo Horizonte, the first
planned city of
Brazil, is inaugurated.
1901 -
Guglielmo Marconi receives the first
trans-Atlantic radio signal at
Signal Hill in
St John's, Newfoundland.
1911 -
Delhi replaces
Calcutta as the capital of
India.
1914 - The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of
Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%.
1915 - President of the
Republic of China,
Yuan Shikai announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself
Emperor of China.
1917 - In
Nebraska, Father
Edward J. Flanagan founds
Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
1925 - The
Majlis of Iran votes to crown
Reza Khan as the new
Shah of Persia.
1936 -
Xi'an Incident: The
Generalissimo of the
Republic of China,
Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by
Zhang Xueliang.
1937 -
Panay incident:
Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat
Panay on the
Yangtze River in
China.
1939 -
Winter War:
Battle of Tolvajärvi -
Finnish forces defeat those of the
Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
1940 - Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel,
Fitzalan Square,
Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.
1941 -
World War II: Fifty four
Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid
Batangas Field,
Philippines.
Jesus Villamor and four
Filipino fighter pilots fend them off;
Cesar Basa is killed.1941 -
World War II:
USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off
Wake Island. 1941 -
World War II:
Great Britain declares war on
Bulgaria.
Hungary and
Romania declare war on the
United States.
India declares war on
Japan.
1942 - A fire in a hostel in
St. John's, Newfoundland kills 100 people.
1946 - A fire at a
New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
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.
1950 -
Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform
rabbinical functions in the
United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
1956 - Commencement of the
Irish Republican Army's
Border Campaign.
1963 -
Kenya gains its independence from the
United Kingdom.
1964 - Prime Minister
Jomo Kenyatta became the first
President of the
Republic of Kenya.
1969 -
Strategia della tensione:
Piazza Fontana bombing - The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana,
Milan, are bombed.
1979 -
Coup d'état of December Twelfth:
South Korean Army Major General
Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President
Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President
Park Chung Hee.1979 -
Pakistan President
Zia-ul-Haq conferred Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr
Abdus Salam.1979 -
Rhodesia changes its name to
Zimbabwe.
1982 - Women's peace protest at
Greenham Common - 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
1984 -
Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya become the third president of
Mauritania after
coup d'etat against
Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the later was attending a summit. Taya was ousted in March 2005 by
Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.
1985 -
Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in
Gander,
Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the
United States Army's
101st Airborne Division.
1988 -
Clapham Junction rail crash killed 35 and injured 100's after two collisions of three commuter trains. One of the worst train crashes in Britain.
1991 -
Russian Federation gains independance from the USSR.
2000 - The
United States Supreme Court released its decision in
Bush v. Gore2006 -
Peugeot produce their last car at the
Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in
Coventry, formerly a major centre of the
British motor industry.
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12. Dezember