● 497 BC - The first Saturnalia festival is celebrated in ancient Rome.
● 546 - Siege of Rome: Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder the city by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
● 920 - Romanos I Lekapenos becomes co-emperor of the minor Constantine VII.
● 942 - William I of Normandy is assassinated.
● 1398 - Sultan Nasir-din Din Mahmud's army in Delhi is defeated by Timur.
● 1538 - Pope Paul III expels Henry VIII of England.
● 1583 - War of Cologne: Forces led by Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops led by Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg in the siege of Godesberg.
● 1835 - The second major fire in New York destroyed 50 acres (200,000 square feet) of New York City’s financial district.
● 1837 - A fire at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg kills 30 guards.
● 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11 expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
● 1865 - The first performance of an unfinished symphony by Franz Schubert.
● 1907 - Ugyen Vanchak ascends the throne as the first king of Bhutan.
● 1918 - Darwin Uprising: As many as 1000 protesters march on the government building in Darwin, northern Australia.
● 1919 - Uruguay signs a copyright agreement in Buenos Aires.
● 1926 - Antanas Smetona seizes power in Lithuania because the 1926 coup was a success.
● 1927 - Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda Prison, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
● 1928 - Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru kill James Saunders, a British policeman in Punjab, to avenge the death of Lalay Lajpat Ray at the hands of police. All three were executed in 1931.
● 1933 - The first NFL Championship game is played. The game took place at the Wrigley Field between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. The Bears won 23–21.
● 1938 - Otto Han discovers the separation of the scientific and technological foundations of the heavy element uranium, nuclear energy.
● 1939 - World War II: Battle of the River: Admiral Graf Spin is overthrown by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
● 1943 - After the 1882 law was repealed and the Magnuson Act was introduced, all Chinese were allowed to become U.S. citizens again.
● 1944 - World War II: Battle of Bulge: Malmediate Massacre: Captives of the 285th American Field Artillery Surveillance Battalion shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper.
● 1947 - The first flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
● 1948 - The Finnish Security Police is formed to remove the communist leadership from the former state police.
● 1950 - 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 Emperor Hale Selassie in Ethiopia suppress a coup that began on December 13 and return power to their leader after returning from Brazil. Haile Selassie frees her son from any guilt.
● 1960 - Munich's C-131 crash: 20 passengers and crew on board and 32 on the ground are killed.
● 1961 - Niteroy Circus Fire: A fire breaks out during a Gran Circus Norte-Americano concert in Niteroy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500 people.
● 1967 - Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while bathing near Portsea, Victoria, and is believed to have drowned.
● 1969 - Blue Book Project: The United States Air Force closes its UFO study.
● 1970 - Polish protest: In Guinea, soldiers open fire on workers getting off trains, killing dozens.
● 1973 - Leonardo da Vinci in Rome
● 1981 - American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
● 1983 - Interim IRA members blow up a car at a Harrods department store in London. Three police officers and three civilians were killed.
● 1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in the Romanian city of Timisoara, with rioters storming the district committee building of the Romanian Communist Party and trying to set it on fire.
● 1989 - Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of Brazil's presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected president in almost 30 years.
● 2003 - A murder trial in Soham ends in Old Bailey, London, with Ian Huntley convicted of two murders. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, was found guilty of violating the path of justice.
● 2003 - SpaceShipOne, led by Brian Bean, makes its first powerful and supersonic flight.
● 2005 - Protests against the World Trade Organization in Van Chai, Hong Kong.
● 2005 - Jigme Singye Vanchak abdicates as king of Bhutan.
● 2009 - MV Danny F II drowns off the Lebanese coast, killing 44 people and more than 28000 animals.
● 2010 - Muhammad Buazizi sets himself on fire. This move was a catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
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? BORN?
● 1239 - Kuji Yoritsugu, Japanese shogun (died 1256).
● 1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (died 1324)
● 1554 - Ernest of Bavaria, Roman Catholic bishop (died 1612).
● 1556 - Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Pakistani-Indian poet (died 1627).
● 1616 - Roger L'Estrange, English pamphlet and author (died 1704).
● 1619 - Prince Rupert of Rhine (died 1682).
● 1632 - Anthony Wood, English historian and author (died 1695).
● 1685 - Thomas Tickell, English poet (died 1740).
● 1699 - Charles-Louis Mion, French composer and teacher (died 1775).
● 1706 - Emile du Chatelet, French mathematician and physicist (died 1749) [4]
● 1778 - Humphrey Dewey, English chemist and physicist (died 1829).
● 1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian judge and politician (died 1865).
● 1797 - Joseph Henry, American physicist and engineer (died 1878).
● 1807 - John Grenliffe Whittier, American poet and activist (died 1892).
● 1840 - Nozu Michitsura, Japanese field marshal (died 1908).
● 1873 - Ford Madox Ford, English writer, poet and critic (died 1939).
● 1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian economist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1950).
● 1881 - Aubrey Faulkner, South African-British cricketer and coach (died 1930)
● 1892 - Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (died 1950).
● 1893 - Charles C. Banks, English captain and pilot (died 1971).
● 1894 - Patrick Flynn, Irish American runner and soldier (died 1969).
● 1894 - Wim Shermerhorn, Dutch cartographer, engineer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1977).
● 1895 - Gerald Patterson, Australian tennis player (died 1967)
● 1903 - Erskine Caldwell, American writer and short story writer (died 1987).
● 1903 - Ray Noble, English bandleader, composer and actor (died 1978).
● 1905 - Muhammad Hidayatullah, 11th Chief Justice and Politician of India, 6th Vice President of India (died 1992).
● 1910 - Sy Oliver, American songwriter and trumpet player (died 1988).
● 1912 - Edward Schott, Baron Glenamara, British captain and politician, Lord President of the Council (died 2012).
● 1913 - Burt Baskin, American businessman, one of the founders of Baskin-Robbins (died 1967).
● 1914 - Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer (died 2005)
● 1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer and poet (died 2000).
