[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 17546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.

1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.

1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.

1790 – Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.

1835 – The second Great Fire of New York destroys 50 acres (200,000 square meters) of New York City's Financial District.

1892 – First issue of Vogue is published.

1896 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.

1903 – The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3.

1938 – Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.

1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.

1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.

1943 – All Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States upon the repeal of the Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act.

1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge: Malmedy massacre: American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper.

1947 – First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.

1950 – The 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 Haile Selassie in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.

1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.

1989 – The Simpsons first premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".

2003 – SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered and first supersonic flight

2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.

2014 – The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1960.