- 722 Boniface is consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory II
Cnut Claims Throne
1016 King of Denmark, Cnut the Great [Canute], claims the English throne after the death of Edmund Ironside
Order of the Golden Fleece
1431 The first chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, established by Philip the Good in 1430, meets at Saint-Pierre's Collegiate Church in Lille, Duchy of Burgundy
German Beer Purity Law
1487 The first German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) is promulgated in Munich by Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria, stating that beer should be brewed from only three ingredients: water, malt, and hops
- 1523 Amsterdam bans the assembly of heretics
England Reconciles with the Catholic Church
1554 The Kingdom of England formally reconciles with Pope Julius III and the Roman Catholic Church
Battle at Narva
1700 Battle of Narva: Swedish forces under King Charles XII defeat the Russian army
Copley Medal
1753 Benjamin Franklin receives the Godfrey Copley medal "on account of his curious Experiments and Observations on Electricity"
- 1782 The Treaty of Paris is drafted, a step towards US independence
Death Penalty First Abolished
1786 Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II promulgates a penal reform, making Tuscany the first state to abolish the death penalty; November 30 is now commemorated as Cities for Life Day
- 1787 Spanish Governor-General José Basco y Vargas resigns and leaves the Philippines
- 1803 Spain transfers its power over the Louisiana Territory to France
- 1804 The Senate begins preparations for an impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase
- 1813 Prince Willem Frederik returns to Netherlands after exile in Britain
- 1824 Ground is first broken at Allanburg for the building of the original Welland Canal
- 1829 First Welland Canal opens for a trial run five years to the day from the groundbreaking
- 1838 Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante declares war on France
- 1854 Rebellion of miners at Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, who swear allegiance to the Southern Cross Flag, angry at the colonial government; a pivotal event in Australian labor relations [1]
- 1861 Harper's Weekly publishes a poem called "The Picket-Guard" attributed to 'E.B.'; the poet is later identified as Ethel Beers, and the title is "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight" [1]
- 1863 Confederate troops vacate Fort Esperanza, Texas, following the two-day Battle of Fort Esperanza
- 1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee: Confederate attack fails, resulting in about 6,200 casualties
- 1864 Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina: Failed Union Army expedition resulting in a Confederate victory
- 1866 Work begins on the first US underwater highway tunnel in Chicago
- 1868 Statue of King Charles XII of Sweden is dedicated in the King's Garden in Stockholm
- 1872 First international soccer game, Scotland draws with England (0-0) in Glasgow
Mask of Agamemnon
1876 Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovers the gold Mask of Agamemnon at Mycenae in modern Greece, known as "the Mona Lisa of prehistory"
Music Premiere
1885 Jules Massenet's opera "Le Cid" premieres at the Paris Opéra
- 1886 First commercially successful AC electric power plant opens in Buffalo, New York
- 1886 The Folies Bergère stages its first revue, "Place aux Jeunes"
- 1887 First indoor softball game is played at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago
- 1901 The First Isthmian Canal Commission, appointed by the President, examines possible routes for a canal and issues its report in favor of the Nicaragua route over the Panama route
- 1902 American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor
- 1907 Seattle City Councilman Thomas Revelle dedicates the Pike Place Market to the people of Seattle
- 1908 The US Secretary of State and Japan's ambassador to the US exchange notes in what becomes known as the Root-Takahira Agreement; they affirm support for an independent China with an "open door" policy and for the status quo in the Pacific
People's Budget
1909 The British House of Lords rejects David Lloyd George's 'People's Budget,' which aims to shift the tax burden to the wealthy. This leads to the Parliament Act, designed to prevent the unelected House from overruling the will of the elected House
- 1915 St John Ervine's "John Ferguson" premieres at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin
- 1916 Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Convention, an international copyright treaty
- 1922 First speed test of the genuine Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Hōshō
- 1923 Wilhelm Marx forms his minority government in Germany
Bradman's Test Debut
1928 Australian cricket legend Don Bradman makes an inauspicious Test debut; scores 18 and 1 vs England in 1st Test in Brisbane; dropped to 12th man for 2nd Test
Iconoscope
1928 Russian inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin receives a patent for the Iconoscope TV system
- 1931 His Master's Voice and Columbia Records merge into EMI
- 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camps are established in the Cleveland Park District
- 1936 London's Crystal Palace, built in 1851, is destroyed by a fire
- 1937 3rd Heisman Trophy Award: Clint Frank, Yale halfback
- 1938 Leader of the fascist Iron Guard movement, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, and 13 other legionnaires are assassinated by order of King Carol II.
Mannerheim Defends Finland
1939 Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim is appointed Commander-in-Chief of all Finnish armed forces as Soviet forces invade and bomb Helsinki
- 1939 Paul Osborn's "Mornings at 7" premieres in New York City
- 1941 101-year-old Nyack-Tarrytown ferry makes its final run
Hirohito Discusses War Plans
1941 Japanese Emperor Hirohito consults with admirals Shimada and Nagano regarding the final decision for war with the United States
- 1942 Battle of Tassafaronga: A nighttime naval battle between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy results in a Japanese victory
- 1942 Bill Terry resigns as supervisor of the New York Giants' minor league system
- 1942 German supply vessel Uckermark (formerly called Altmark) explodes and sinks off Yokohama, Japan
- 1942 U-boats sink and damage 142 Allied ships this month (877,774 tons)
- 1944 Biggest and last British battleship, HMS Vanguard, launches at Clydebank, Scotland
- 1947 The day after the UN decree for Israel, Jewish settlements are attacked
- 1948 Baseball's Negro National League officially disbands
- 1948 Communists set up a separate city council in the Soviet sector of East Berlin
- 1949 Chinese Communists capture Chongqing
- 1949 KOTV TV Channel 6 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (CBS) begins broadcasting
PM Sidney Holland
1949 New Zealand general election is won by Sidney Holland's National Party, ousting Peter Fraser's Labour government
Grotewohl Urges Reunification
1950 East German Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl calls for German reunification in a letter to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, stressing that details should be a German affair, not guided by outside nations
- 1950 US President Harry Truman threatens China with an atomic bomb
Robinson Accuses Yankees of Bias
1952 Jackie Robinson accuses the New York Yankees of racial bias on national television
- 1953 Kabaka (king) Edward Mutesa II of Buganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, the Governor of Uganda
- 1954 20th Heisman Trophy Award: Alan Ameche, Wisconsin fullback
- 1954 Ann Hodges is bruised by a meteor at Sylacauga, Alabama, in the first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human
- 1954 J. G. Strijdom succeeds D. F. Malan as Prime Minister of South Africa
- 1955 Thriller novel "The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith is published in the US
Patterson vs. Moore
1956 At 21 years, 10 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days, Floyd Patterson becomes the youngest world heavyweight boxing champion by knocking out Archie Moore in the 5th round in Chicago, becoming the first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional heavyweight title
Cuthbert Wins Sprint Double
1956 Australian Betty Cuthbert takes Olympic sprint double when she runs OR equalling 23.4s to win the 200m gold medal at the Melbourne Games; beats Christa Stubnick in repeat of 100m final 4 days earlier
- 1956 Gert Fredriksson of Sweden wins his 2nd straight K-1 10,000m canoeing gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; last time event held in the Summer Olympics; also wins 3rd consecutive K-1 1,000m gold
- 1956 Jon Henricks swims a world record 55.4 seconds to win the men's 100m at the Melbourne Olympics, a rare Australian 1-2-3 with John Devitt and Gary Chapman taking the minor medals
- 1956 Milt Campbell sets the Olympic record total of 7,937 points to upset fellow American and world record holder Rafer Johnson and wins the decathlon gold medal at the Melbourne Games
- 1956 The first use of videotape on TV is for a broadcast of "Douglas Edwards with the News"
Assassination Attempt on President Sukarno
1957 An assassination attempt is made on Indonesian President Sukarno while he visits a school in Central Jakarta; six children are killed
- 1958 First US guided missile destroyer USS Dewey launches at Bath Iron Works, Maine
- 1958 WKBW TV channel 7 in Buffalo, New York (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1959 1960 NFL Draft: Billy Cannon from LSU is the first pick by the Los Angeles Rams
- 1959 Joe Foss is named the first commissioner of the American Football League
- 1960 Tad Mosel's "All the Way Home" premieres at the Belasco Theater in New York City
- 1961 Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs is voted NL Rookie of the Year
- 1961 The USSR vetoes Kuwait's application for UN membership
- 1964 USSR launches Zond 2 probe towards Mars; no data returns
- 1966 Barbados gains independence from Great Britain (National Day)
- 1967 British troops leave Aden and the rest of the Federation of South Arabia (FSA) ending British colonial rule; National Liberation Front (NLF) assumes power and renames the state as the People's Republic of South Yemen
- 1967 Julie Nixon (daughter of former Vice-President Richard Nixon) and David Eisenhower (grandson of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower) publicly announce their engagement
McCarthy Runs for President
1967 Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota) announces he will run for the US presidency on an anti-Vietnam War platform
- 1967 The Khuriya Muriya Islands are ceded by Britain to Oman
- 1967 The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who later becomes its first Chairman, as the Head of state and Head of government after the 1971 Civil War
Marches in Armagh
1968 A Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Armagh is stopped by the Royal Ulster Constabulary due to the presence of a Loyalist counter-demonstration led by Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting
- 1969 American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond makes his only appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," singing "Sweet Caroline" and "Holly, Holy"
- 1969 USSR conducts a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Brian's Song
1971 Emmy and Peabody Award-winning TV movie "Brian's Song," about the friendship of Chicago Bears football teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers (based on Sayers' autobiography), premieres on ABC, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams
- 1971 The government of the Republic of Ireland states that it will take the allegations of brutality against the security forces in Northern Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights
- 1972 An illegal fireworks factory explodes in Rome, Italy, killing 15 people
- 1972 The BBC bans Wings' song "Hi, Hi, Hi" for its sexually suggestive lyrics and potential drug references
- 1973 Firestone Professional Bowling World Tournament of Champions won by Jim Godman
- 1974 The New York Islanders are shut out for the 20th time in their franchise history, losing to the Vancouver Canucks 3-0
- 1975 The Republic of Dahomey is renamed the People's Republic of Benin
- 1976 42nd Heisman Trophy Award: Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh running back
Ziaur Rahman Seizes Power
1976 Bangladeshi Army Chief of Staff Ziaur Rahman declares himself Chief Martial Law Administrator and de facto leader
- 1976 In its 245 year history, Dorothy Hodgkin becomes the first woman to be awarded the Copley Medal for her outstanding contribution to the structures of complex molecules, particularly penicillin
- 1978 France conducts a nuclear test at Moruroa Atoll
The Wall
1979 Pink Floyd's album "The Wall" is released and sells six million copies in two weeks
- 1979 Ted Koppel becomes the anchor of the late-night news on ABC's "Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage"
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1980 Uruguay's new constitution is rejected by public referendum; however, some of its proposals are implemented anyway
- 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 ended inconclusively on December 17)
- 1981 New York Yankee Dave Righetti wins AL Rookie of the Year Award
- 1981 South Africa anti-apartheid advocate Bulelani Ngcuka arrested
Gandhi
1982 "Gandhi," a film biography directed by Richard Attenborough, and starring Ben Kingsley and John Gielgud, premieres in New Delhi, India (Best Picture 1983)
- 1982 NASA STS-6 space shuttle vehicle moves to launch pad
- 1982 Ottumwa, Iowa, is declared the "Video Game Capital of the World" by Mayor Jerry Parker
- 1983 Denver Nuggets coach Doug Moe, hopelessly behind, advises the team to let the Blazers break their scoring record
- 1983 The police free the kidnapped beer magnate Alfred Heineken and his driver in Amsterdam
Lendl First to Make $10m
1986 American-based Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl is the first player to make over $10 million in career earnings
- 1987 Afghanistan's Constitution is adopted by the Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly)
- 1988 A New York City furrier sues Mike Tyson for $92,000 for non-payment of a purchase
- 1988 France performs a nuclear test on Fangataufa Island
- 1988 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for $25 billion
- 1988 One of the worst tropical cyclones in Bangladesh's history kills an estimated 6,240 people
Event of Interest
1988 UN General Assembly votes 151-2 to censure the US for refusing Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat a visa
- 1989 Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction terrorist bomb
- 1990 American actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed
Bush Offers to Meet Hussein
1990 US President George H.W. Bush offers to send Secretary of State James Baker to Baghdad to meet with Saddam Hussein
- 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou, China: Michelle Akers scores twice as the US defeats Norway 2-1
- 1991 Rob Pilatus, 27, of the disgraced pop duo Milli Vanilli, attempts suicide
- 1991 San Diego State's Marshall Faulk is the first freshman to capture national rushing and scoring titles
- 1992 Passenger train derails near Hoofddorp, killing five and injuring 33
Schindler's List
1993 "Schindler's List," an American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, premieres in Washington, D.C. (Academy Awards Best Picture 1994)
- 1993 NFL announces 30th franchise: Jacksonville Jaguars
Brady Gun Control Bill
1993 US President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Bill
- 1994 Cruise ship Achille Lauro is destroyed by fire off the coast of Somalia, killing four
- 1994 Man Mohan Adhikari is sworn in as the first communist Prime Minister of Nepal
- 1994 The Beatles release "Live at the BBC" in Britain, their first album in 23 years
- 1995 Official end of Operation Desert Storm
- 1996 South African cricket opening batsman Gary Kirsten follows his 1st innings 102 with 133 in the Proteas' 329 run 2nd Test win v India in Kolkata
- 1997 "Eugene Onegin" closes at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City
- 1998 Deutsche Bank announces a US$10 billion deal to buy Bankers Trust, thus creating the largest financial institution in the world
- 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
- 1999 In Seattle, Washington, protests against the World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of the opening ceremony
Barefoot Contessa
2002 Ina Garten's cooking TV show "Barefoot Contessa" premieres on the Food Network
- 2004 Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge resigns
- 2004 Lion Air Flight 538 crash-lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 25 people, including the captain
Jeopardy Champion Finally Loses
2004 Longtime "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings from Salt Lake City, Utah, finally loses, leaving him with $2,520,700, television's all-time biggest game show haul
Breakaway
2004 RCA releases "Breakaway," Kelly Clarkson's second studio album, which wins 2 Grammy Awards and becomes her best-selling album to date with over 12 million units sold
- 2005 John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York
- 2005 The Boston Bruins trade captain Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks
Grandma Moses
2006 American folk artist "Grandma" Moses' 1943 painting "Sugaring Off" sells for a record $1.3 million for the artist, by Christie's in New York
- 2006 South Africa's Civil Union Act of 2006 legalizes same-sex marriage, making it the fifth country in the world and the first in Africa to do so
Clinton Office Hostage Crisis
2007 Leeland Eisenberg enters the campaign office of Hillary Clinton in Rochester, New Hampshire, with a suspected bomb and holds three people hostage for five hours
- 2009 Canada begins its recovery from the recession; economic growth is at 0.4% after 14 months of economic stagnation
José Mujica Elected
2009 José Mujica is announced as the winner of the runoff election in Uruguay held the day before and named president-elect
- 2012 32 people are killed and 14 injured in an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane crash in Congo
- 2014 Australia experiences its hottest spring and second-hottest November recorded
- 2014 Tabaré Vázquez is re-elected President of Uruguay
- 2015 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP21, begins in Paris
Francis Urges Peace in Africa
2015 Pope Francis urges peace while visiting controversial mosque in Bangui's PK5 district in the Central African Republic
- 2016 UNESCO adds Belgian beer to its Cultural Heritage List
- 2017 Def Jam founder Russell Simmons steps down from his companies after allegations of sexual misconduct
- 2017 Disney announces it has cast Chinese actress Liu Yifei to play Mulan in the upcoming live-action film
- 2017 World's longest recorded rainbow lasts for 8 hours and 58 minutes in Taipei's Yangmingshan Mountain Range
- 2018 7.0 magnitude earthquake near Anchorage, Alaska
- 2018 Marriott Hotels reveals a massive data breach with 500 million guests affected in one of the largest-ever company hacks
- 2019 Australian cricket batsman David Warner smashes 335 not out in the 2nd Test against Pakistan; second-highest Test score by an Australian (Matt Hayden 380); highest Test score at Adelaide Oval
- 2019 Gun battle between suspected cartel and security forces at Villa Unión city hall, northern Mexico, kills 21
- 2019 On the way to 36 in the 2nd Test against Pakistan, Australian cricket batsman Steve Smith overtakes Don Bradman's run tally of 6,996 Test runs; he becomes the fastest batsman to 7,000 in terms of innings (126)
- 2020 Australia condemns a fabricated photo of an Australian soldier threatening an Afghan child with a knife on a Chinese official's Twitter, representing a new low in the two countries' relationship
- 2020 DeepMind's AlphaFold AI program achieves a scientific breakthrough by accurately predicting the 3D structures of proteins from their amino acid sequences, a task that had challenged scientists for 50 years
Biden Nominates Yellen
2020 Joe Biden announces he is nominating Janet Yellen for US treasury secretary
- 2020 Los Angeles County begins three-week stay-at-home order for 10 million people to combat COVID-19 surge
- 2020 Newly discovered rock art is announced in the Serranía La Lindosa, Colombian Amazon, dating back 12,600 to 11,800 years ago, with thousands of paintings of now-extinct Ice Age animals [1]
- 2021 15-year-old student shoots four dead and injures seven at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan
Barbados becomes a Republic
2021 Barbados becomes a republic, removing Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state in a ceremony where Sandra Mason is sworn in as the first president, with Rihanna declared a national hero
El Chapo's Wife Sentenced
2021 El Chapo's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, is sentenced to three years in the US for helping run her husband's drug conglomerate and aiding his escape from prison
Josephine Baker Honored
2021 Josephine Baker becomes the first Black woman inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, France's highest honor
Spotify Most Streamed
2022 Harry Styles' single "As It Was" is the most-streamed song globally on Spotify in 2022, with Bad Bunny as the most-listened-to artist [1]
- 2022 Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine, arrive in Boston for a US royal visit the same day a former lady-in-waiting resigns amid a racism controversy [1]
- 2022 UNESCO announces new additions to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, including the French Baguette, oral traditions of calling camels in the Middle East, and tea practices in China [1] [2]
Hakeem Jeffries Replaces Pelosi
2022 US House Democrats elect Hakeem Jeffries as the first Black House Minority leader, replacing Nancy Pelosi [1]
- 2023 Russia's Supreme Court labels LGBTQ+ 'movement' an extremist organization, effectively outlawing it [1]
- 2023 The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) opens in Dubai with nations pledging a draft resolution for a $400 million fund to help countries most affected by climate change [1]
