Official Today in History Thread

[CaptainCrunch]

[ClubFlames]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

December 8th

1971 - The Indian Navy attacks Karachi

Fixed.

[CaptainCrunch]

Sorry took yesterday off

Here's December 10th

1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice. The expected showdown with Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor and the Hulk never happened, or might have happened but an Infinity Stone was used to erase it from history.

1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.

1684 – Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley.
1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.

1861 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.

1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.

1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1902 – The opening of the reservoir of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.

1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.

1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near British Malaya.

1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines: Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on Luzon.

1948 – The Human Rights Convention is signed by the United Nations.

1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.

1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives the Nobel Prize in literature.

1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.
1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo.

1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín.

1984 – United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture.
1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down.
1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.

[CaptainCrunch]

Sorry took yesterday off

Here's December 10th

1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice. The expected showdown with Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor and the Hulk never happened, or might have happened but an Infinity Stone was used to erase it from history.

1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.

1684 – Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley.


1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.

1861 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.


1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.

1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.


1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.


1898 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.

1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1902 – The opening of the reservoir of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.

1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.


1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.

1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near British Malaya.

1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines: Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on Luzon.

1948 – The Human Rights Convention is signed by the United Nations.

1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.

1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives the Nobel Prize in literature.

1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.


1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo.

1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín.

1984 – United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture.


1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down.


1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.

[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 11

361- Julian enters Constantinople as sole Emperor of the roman Empire

861 - Assassination of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mitaswakkil by the Turkish Guard who raise Al-Muntasir to the throne. Start of the anrach at Samarra

1789 - The University of South Carolina is chartered

1792 - King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason

1815 - The US Senate creates a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency

1816 - Indian becomes the 19th US State

1905 - A workers uprising occurs in Kiev, Ukraine and establishes the Shulivaka Republic

1931 - Statute of Westminster: The British Parliament establishes legislative equality between the UK and the Dominions of the Commonwealth including Canada and Newfoundland

1934 - Bill Wilson co-founder of AA takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time

1941 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States following the American declaration of war on the Empire of Japan. The US declares war on Germany and Italy

1941 - Poland declares war on Japan

1941 - The Imperial Japanese Navy loses its first loss of surface vessels at Wake Island

1946 - UNICEF is established

1962 - Arthur Lucas convicted of murder is the last person executed in Canada

1972 - Apollo 17 lands on the moon and is the 6th and final manned mission to land on the moon

1978 - The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group lead by the Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke, it is the largest cash robbery committed on American Soil at that time

1990 - Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin which triggers the downfall of communism in Albania.

1994 - Boris Yeltsin orders troops into Chechnya

1997 - The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature

2006 - The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by then president Mahmoud Ahmadineja

2006 - Mexican President Felipe Calderon launches a military led offensive to put down drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan. This kicks off the Mexican Drug War

2008 - Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion dollar Ponzi Scheme

[CaptainCrunch]

December 12th

1098 - First Crusade: Siege of Ma'arrat al-Numan: Crusaders breach the town walls and massacre 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food they resort to cannibalism

1781 - Second Battle of Ushant, a British Fleet lead by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet during the American Revolutionary War

1787 - Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the US Constitution

1862 - The USS Cairo sinks in the Yazoo River becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by a controlled mine

1870 - Joseph H Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black us Congressman

1901 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal, the letter "S" on Morse Code at Signal Hill, Newfoundland

1925 - The Majilis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Iran starting the Pahlavi dynasty. William Shatner is heard screaming "KHAAAAN" loudly and hamily

1935 - Henrich Himmler unveils the Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction project

1937 - Japanese aircraft bomb and sink US Gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China

1939 - Battle of Tolvaharvi. finish Forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victor of the conflict

1941 - 54 Japanese Zero's rain Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four fighter pilots fend them off

1941 - Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extremination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery

1942 - German Troops initial Operation Winter Storm in an attempt to relieve encircled Axis Forces at STalingrad

1979 - South Korean Army Majoor General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff Jeong Seung-Hwa without authorization from Presdient Choi- Kyu-ha alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-president Park Chung-hee

1991 - The Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR

2000 - The US Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush vs Gore

2012 - North Korea successfully launches its first satellite.

[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 13

1294 - Saint Celestine V resigns as Pope to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit

1545 - The Council of Trent begins

1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth England on his round the world voyage

1636 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized as the forming of the National Guard

1769 - Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock with a royal charter from King George III

1862 - General Robert E Lee defeats Union Major General Ambrose Burnside at the Battle of Frederickburg

1937 - The Japanese defeat General Tang Shengzhi at the city of Nanking. The Japanese would would become responsible for the rape and murder of thousands during the Nanking Massacre

1938 - The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in Hamburg Germany

1939 - German Captain Hans Langsdorff of the Pocket Cruiser Admiral Graf Spee engages with the Royal Navy cruisers Exeter and Ajax and the HMNZS Achilles

1943 - The Massacre of Kalavytra by German forces occupying Greece

1949 - The Knesset votes to move the Capital of Israel to Jerusalem

1960 - When Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil his imperial bodyguard seizes the capital and declares his son Crown Prince Asfa Wossen Emperor

1962 - Nasa launches Relay 1 the first active repeater communications satallite

1972 - Eugene Carman and Harrison Schmitt begin their third and final moonwalk from the Apollo 17. They are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

1988 - Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva after US authorities refuse to grant him a Visa to visit the UN in New York

2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near Tikrit

[undercoverbrother]

Dec 14:

Capt. Paul Triquet Wins VC

http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-...quet-p-eng.asp

For determined leadership and example.

The capture of the key road junction on the main Ortona-Orsogna lateral was entirely dependent on securing the hamlet of Casa Berardi. Both this and a gully in front of it had been turned by the Germans into formidable strong points defended by infantry and tanks.

On 14th December, 1943, Captain Triquet’s company of the Royal 22e Regiment with the support of a squadron of a Canadian Armoured Regiment was given the task of crossing the gully and securing Casa Berardi. Difficulties were encountered from the outset. The gully was held in strength and on approaching it the force came under extremely heavy fire from machine guns and mortars. All the company officers and 50 per cent of the men were killed or wounded. Showing superb contempt for the enemy Captain Triquet went round reorganizing the remainder and encouraging them with the words ‘Never mind them, they can’t shoot’. Finally when enemy infiltration was observed on all sides shouting ‘There are enemy in front of us, behind us and on our flanks, there is only one safe place – that is on the objective’ he dashed forward and with his men following him, broke through the enemy resistance. In this action four tanks were destroyed and several enemy machine gun posts silenced.

Against the most bitter and determined defence and under heavy fire Captain Triquet and his company, in close co-operation with the tanks forced their way on until a position was reached on the outskirts of Casa Berardi. By this time the strength of the company was reduced to 2 sergeants and 15 men. In expectation of a counter-attack Captain Triquet at once set about organizing his handful of men into a defensive perimeter around the remaining tanks and passed the ‘mot d’ordre. Ils ne passeront pas’.

A fierce German counter-attack supported by tanks developed almost immediately. Captain Triquet, ignoring the heavy fire, was everywhere encouraging his men and directing the defence and by using whatever weapons were to hand personally accounted for several of the enemy. This and subsequent attacks were beaten off with heavy losses and Captain Triquet and his small force held out against overwhelming odds until the remainder of the battalion took Casa Berardi and relieved them the next day.

Throughout the whole of this engagement Captain Triquet showed the most magnificent courage and cheerfulness under heavy fire. Wherever the action was hottest he was to be seen shouting encouragement to his men and organizing the defence. His utter disregard of danger, his cheerfulness and tireless devotion to duty were a constant source of inspiration to them. His tactical skill and superb leadership enabled them, although reduced by casualties to a mere handful, to continue their advance against bitter resistance and to hold their gains against determined counter-attacks. It was due to him that Casa Berardi was captured and the way opened for the attack on the vital road junction.”

(London Gazette, no.36408, 6 March 1944)

[CaptainCrunch]

December 14th

557 - Constantinople is severely damaged by an Earth Quake

835 - The Sweet Dew Incident: emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang Court but the plot fails

1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scotts

1782 - The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned balloon in France, it travels 2 kms

1812 - The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armee are expelled from Russia

1814 - The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borne Louisiana

1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd State: Go BAMA ROLL TIDE

1902 - The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable from San Francisco to Honolulu

1903 - The Wright brothers make their first flight attempt using ghe Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

1911- Roald Amundsen's team becomes the first to reach the South Pole

1913 - Haruna the fourth and last Kongo class ship launches

1939 - The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland

1940 - Plutonium (specifically PU-238) is isolated at Berkeley California

1955 - Albania, Austria, Cambodia, Cylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the US through UNSC Resolution 109

1958 - The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility

1962 - Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus

1972 - Eugene Ceman of the Apollo 17 mission becomes the last man to walk on the moon

1981 - Israel's Knessent ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights

1995 - The Dayton Agreement ins signed by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina



2008 - Muntadhar Al-Zaidi throws his shoes at President George W Bush

2012 - 28 people including the gunman are killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

December 14th

1955 - Albania, Austria, Cambodia, Cylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the US through UNSC Resolution 109

I had no idea all those countries joined the US over 60 years ago! I still think of them as being their own countries.

[CaptainCrunch]

booo me, UN

[CaptainCrunch]

December 15

1161 - Military officers conspire against the Emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a defeat at the Battle of Caishi, they assasinate him at his camp

1178 - British and French fleets clash at the Battle of Saint Lucia during the American Revolutionary War

1791 - The United States Bill of Whites becomes Law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly

1864 - The Army of the Cumberland finishes the Army of Tennessee during the battle of Nashville

1890 Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rick Indian Reservation leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre

1914 - The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the Invading Austro-Hungarian Army

1917 - An armistice between Russian and the Central Powers is signed

1933 - The Twenty-first Amendment of the US Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture and transportation of Alcohol

1939 - Gone with the Wind receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia

1941 - German troops murder 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar

1942 - The battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horses and the Sea Horse begin during the Guadalcanal Campaign

1945 - General MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan

1961 - Adolf Eichmann is sentence to death after being found goilty by an Israeli Court of 16 criminal charges including crimes against humanity

1965 - Gemini 6a crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford is launched from Cape Kennedy. Four orbits later it successfully achieves the first space rendezvous with Gemini 8

1970 - Soviet Spacecraft Venera 7 lands on Venus, it is the first successful soft landing on another planet

1972 - The American Psychiatric Association votes 130-1 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders

1978 - Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the Perople's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan

1981 - A suicide car bombing targets the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, 61 people including the Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon are killed. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing

2000 - The third reactor at Chernobyl is shut down

2005 - the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor enters US active service, with a fly over of Awesome town

[#-3]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

December 15
1178 - British and French fleets clash at the Battle of Saint Lucia during the American Revolutionary War

WOW! didn't think the war started that early.



sarcasm aside, fun thread to scroll through.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

December 15

1791 - The United States Bill of Whites becomes Law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly

The Bill of Whites?

[#-3]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

The Bill of Whites?

Sounds about right for Virginia

[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 16th

1431 – Hundred Years' War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.

1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.

1850 – The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.

1863 – American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Nashville: Major General George Thomas's Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee.

1880 – Outbreak of the First Boer War between the Boer South African Republic and the British Empire.

903 – Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Bombay first opens its doors to guests.

1907 – The American Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world.

1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.

1938 – Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honour of the German Mother.

1942 – The Holocaust: Schutzstaffel chief Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.

1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.

1950 – Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight in support of communist North Korea.

1965 – Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.

1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression.

1979 – Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, which has an immediate, dramatic effect on the United States

1985 – Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of New York's Gambino crime family.

1991 – Kazakhstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.

[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.

[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 18th

218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China.

1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.

1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.

1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA.

1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.

1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief of staff Erich von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French, and suffer 337,000 casualties.

1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress

1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans in the first NFL Championship Game. Quarterback Ricky Ray goes 29 of 42 for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns in a losing effort

1939 – World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle of the war, takes place

1944 – World War II: Seventy-seven B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.

1958 – Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.

1966 – Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.

1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.

1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.

1981 – First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world's largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.

2002 – California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.

2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.

[undercoverbrother]

At Hong Kong on the morning of 19th December 1941 a Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers to which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn belonged became divided during an attack on Mount Butler, a hill rising steeply above sea level. A part of the Company led by Company Sergeant-Major Osborn captured the hill at the point of the bayonet and held it for three hours when, owing to the superior numbers of the enemy and to fire from an unprotected flank, the position became untenable. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn and a small group covered the withdrawal and when their turn came to fall back, Osborn single-handed engaged the enemy while the remainder successfully rejoined the Company. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn had to run the gauntlet of heavy rifle and machine gun fire. With no consideration for his own safety he assisted and directed stragglers to the new Company position exposing himself to heavy enemy fire to cover their retirement. Whenever danger threatened he was there to encourage his men.

During the afternoon the Company was cut off from the Battalion and completely surrounded by the enemy who were able to approach to within grenade throwing distance of the slight depression which the Company was holding. Several enemy grenades were thrown which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade which exploded killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others.

Company Sergeant-Major Osborn was an inspiring example to all throughout the defence which he assisted so magnificently in maintaining against an overwhelming enemy force for over eight and a half hours and in his death he displayed the highest quality of heroism and self-sacrifice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Robert_Osborn

He was 42 years old.

[CaptainCrunch]

Dec 20th

AD 69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.

217 – Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, although Hippolytus of Rome is soon thereafter elected as a rival pope.

1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States

1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.

1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.

1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.

1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.

1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.

1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.

1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.

1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.

2013 – China successfully launches the Bolivian Túpac Katari 1 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.