2016 – US President Barack Obama retaliates against Russia for hacking American computer systems and trying to influence the 2016 presidential election by ejecting 35 Russian spies and imposing sanctions
1170 – St. Thomas à Becket, the 40th archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting on Henry II’s orders.
1503 – Battle of Garigliano: Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeats French forces in Italy, giving Spain control of the Kingdom of Naples
1566 – Danish student and future astronomer Tycho Brache loses part of his nose in a sword duel over who is the better mathematician (he wore a prosthetic nose the rest of his life)
1778 – British troops occupy Savannah, Georgia
1812 – The USS Constitution won a battle with the British ship HMS Java about 30 miles off the coast of Brazil. Before Commodore William Bainbridge ordered the sinking of the Java he had her wheel removed to replace the one the Constitution had lost during the battle.
1813 – Major General Phineas Riall attacks villages of Black Rock and Buffalo with a party of Canadian militia and Indians to get revenge on burning of Newark and Queenston on Dec. 10.
1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States
1837 – Royal Navy Commander Andrew Drew 1792-1878 and a group of Canadian militiamen cross the Niagara River to Fort Schlosser, and capture the American supply steamer Caroline, burn the ship and set her adrife in the river towards Niagra Falls
1845 – U.S. President James Polk and signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States.
1848 – U.S. President James Polk turned on the first gas light at the White House.
1851 – The first American Young Men’s Christian Association was organized, in Boston, MA.
1852 – Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1890 – The U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. This was the last major conflict between Indians and U.S. troops.
1895 – The Jameson Raid from Mafikeng into Transvaal, which attempted to overthrow Kruger’s Boer government, started.
1903 – French Equatorial Africa separates into Gabon, Chad and Ubangi-Shari
1911 – Sun Yat-sen became the first president of a republican China.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 – The first regular-season, college basketball game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. New York University defeated Notre Dame 25-18.
1934 – Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1937 – Ireland established, A new constitution, established by a national referendum, changed the name of the Irish Free state to Ireland. The Irish Free State was a part of the British Commonwealth and was established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty singed in 1921.
1940 – During World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.
1945 – The mystery voice of Mr. Hush was heard for the first time on the radio show, “Truth or Consequences”, hosted by Ralph Edwards.
1948 – US State Department announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first ultrahigh frequency (UHF) television station to begin operating on a regular daily schedule.
1952 – The first transistorized hearing aid was offered for sale by Sonotone Corporation.
1967 – Parliament drops death penalty for murder, except policemen or prison guards; for five-year trial period.
1968 – Israeli commandos destroy 13 Lebanese airplanes
1970 – Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States) signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon
1972 – Following 36 years of publication, the last weekly issue of “LIFE” magazine hit the newsstands. The magazine later became a monthly publication.
1975 – A bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. 11 people were killed.
1978 – Shah of Iran, asks Shapour Bahktiar to form a civilian government
1983 – US formally notifies UNESCO that it will withdraw from the organization on the Jan 1, 1985, in protest over perceived anti-Western bias, efforts to restrict press freedom and wasteful management methods
1986 – The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL, reopened for business after eighteen years and $47 million expended on restoration.
1989 – Following Hong Kong’s decision to forcibly repatriate some Vietnamese refugees, thousands of Vietnamese ‘boat people’ battled with riot police.
1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tried to resign amidst corruption charges, but ended up being impeached
1996 – The Guatemalan government and leaders of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord in Guatemala City, ending a civil war that had lasted 36 years.
1997 – Hong Kong began killing 1.25 million chickens, the entire population, for fear of the spread of ‘bird flu.’
1998 – Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 1 million lives.
2001 – A massive fire in the historic district of downtown Lima, Peru kills at least 274 people.
2012 – 200 people are executed by the Syrian army in Homs
2013 – 16 people are killed and 40 are wounded by a suicide bomb attack at Volgograd-1 railway station, Russia
2015 – Ebola epidemic in Guinea declared over by WHO, 2,500 died over 2 years
2016 – US President Barack Obama retaliates against Russia for hacking American computer systems and trying to influence the 2016 presidential election by ejecting 35 Russian spies and imposing sanctions
2018 – 40 militants killed in Giza and El-Arish by Egyptian police after attack on a tourist bus the day before killed four
2022 – Social medial personality Andrew Tate arrested in Romania on charges of sex trafficking and rape, following an exchange with Greta Thunberg over Twitter
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
