1875 – Influential New York politician William Tweed “Boss Tweed” of Tammany Hall escapes from jail where he was being held for embezzlement (flees to Spain but later recaptured)
0771 – Austrasian King Carloman dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne King of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.
1110 – First Crusade: The Crusaders conquer Sidon.
1154 – Adrian IV elected Pope. The only Englishman to become pontiff, Nicholas Breakspear was a member of the family which until recent years brewed beer in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
1197 – Crusaders wound Rabbi Elezar ben Judah
1259 – Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels
1423 – Treaty of London provided for the release of James 1 from English captivity, for ransom of �40,000 paid in 6 annual instalments, and for the sessation of reinforcements to Scottish troops in France
1563 – The final session of the Council of Trent is held (it opened on December 13, 1545)
1619 – 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas).
1674 – Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illiniwek (the mission would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois)
1680 – Hen in Rome lays a uniquely patterned egg, later believed to have predicted the arrival of the Kirch/Newton “Great Comet of 1680”
1762 – First Manifesto issued by Catherine II. It invited foreign settlers to come to Russia. This manifesto brought few results.
1783 – Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
1791 – Britain’s “The Observer” is first published, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world
1808 – Napoleon moves into Spain in the autumn with an army of 150,000, routs the Spanish in a series of engagements in November, takes Madrid December 4, and puts his brother Joseph back on the throne
1812 – Peter Gaillard of Lancaster, Pa patents a horse-drawn mower
1829 – In the face of fierce opposition, British governor Lord William Bentinck carries a regulation declaring that all who abetted suttee in India were guilty of culpable homicide
1864 – Romanian Jews are forbidden to practice law
1867 – The National Grange of Husbandry was founded.
1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
1875 – Influential New York politician William Magear Tweed “Boss Tweed” of Tammany Hall escapes from jail where he was being held for embezzlement (flees to Spain but later recaptured)
1908 – Haiti’s president General Alexis Nord flees from military coup
1915 – Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County GA
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson set sail for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference. Wilson became the first chief executive to travel to Europe while in office.
1921 – The Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle ends in a hung jury
1930 – Vatican approves rhythm method for birth control
1933 – FDR creates Federal Alcohol Control Administration
1941 – Nazi ordinance places Jews of Poland outside protection of courts
1942 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration. The program had been created in order to provide jobs during the Great Depression.
1943 – Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis announced that any club was free to employ black players.
1945 – The U.S. Senate approved American participation in the United Nations.
1952 – Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
1965 – The U.S. launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Comdr. James A. Lovell on board.
1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
1971 – The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert; the incident would be noted in the Deep Purple song “Smoke on the Water”
1973 – Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter.
1977 – Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Empire, crowned himself emperor in a ceremony believed to have cost more than $100 million. He was deposed 2 years later.
1978 – Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco’s first woman mayor when she was named to replace George Moscone, who had been murdered.
1979 – For the second time, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to urge Iran to free American hostages that had been taken on November 4.
1980 – The bodies of four American nuns slain in El Salvador two days earlier were unearthed. Five national guardsmen were later convicted of the murders.
1983 – U.S. jet fighters struck Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon in retaliation for attacks directed at American reconnaissance planes. Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr. was shot down and captured by Syria.
1984 – A five-day hijack drama began as four men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran. Two American passengers were killed by the hijackers.
1986 – Both U.S. houses of Congress moved to establish special committees to conduct their own investigations of the Iran-Contra affair.
1987 – Cuban inmates at a federal prison in Atlanta freed their 89 hostages, peacefully ending an 11-day uprising.
1988 – The government of Argentina announced that hundreds of heavily armed soldiers had ended a four-day military revolt.
1990 – Due to Persian Gulf crisis gas hits $1.60 per gallon price in NYC
1991 – Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was released after nearly seven years in captivity in Lebanon.
1992 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia.
1993 – The Angolan government and its UNITA guerrilla foes formally adopted terms for a truce. The conflict was killing an estimated 1,000 people per day.
1994 – Bosnian Serbs released 53 out of about 400 UN peacekeepers they were holding as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.
1997 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors for one year for choking and threatening to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.
2001 – Marike de Klerk, ex-wife of former President F.W. de Klerk is murdered at her home in Cape Town
2005 – Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage
2012 – 29 people are killed by a mortar attack in Bteeha, Syria
2014 – Ukraine and Pro-Russian rebels agree to cease fire in the eastern war zone, beginning December 9
2016 – Tens of thousands march throughout Brazil against a vote to undermine anti-corruption investigations
2017 – US President Donald Trump scales back Utah National Parks – Bears Ears National Monument (85%), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (50%)
2018 – Attempts to establish mob council in Sicily thwarted when 46 members of the mafia arrested including Settimio Mineo
2021 – Mt Semeru erupts on Java island, Indonesia, killing at least 14 and injuring 56
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
