Year 497 Calendar » The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
Year 546 Calendar » Sack of Rome (546) called Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine Empire known as Byzantine garrison.
Year 920 Calendar » Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.
Year 1538 Calendar » Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
Year 1577 Calendar » Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific coast of the Americas for Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Year 1583 Calendar » Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
Year 1586 Calendar » Emperor Go-Yōzei or Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
Year 1718 Calendar » War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
Year 1777 Calendar » American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
Year 1807 Calendar » Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
Year 1812 Calendar » War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
Year 1819 Calendar » Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
Year 1835 Calendar » Great Fire of New York: Fire levels lower Manhattan.
Year 1837 Calendar » A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
Year 1862 Calendar » American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues 'General Order No. 11 (1862) named General Order No. 11', expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
Year 1865 Calendar » First performance of the Symphony No. 8 (Schubert) or Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
Year 1892 Calendar » First issue of 'Vogue (magazine) or Vogue' is published
Year 1903 Calendar » The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the 'Wright Flyer' at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Year 1918 Calendar » Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House, Darwin called Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Year 1919 Calendar » Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention or Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
Year 1927 Calendar » Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
Year 1928 Calendar » Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab region known as Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed
Year 1938 Calendar » Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of Nuclear power known as nuclear energy.
Year 1939 Calendar » World War II: Battle of the River Plate The 'German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee named Admiral Graf Spee' is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
Year 1941 Calendar » World War II: Imperial Japanese Army or Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
Year 1943 Calendar » All Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States with the repealing of the Chinese Exclusion Act known as Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act.
Year 1944 Calendar » World War II: Battle of the Bulge Malmedy massacre American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion Prisoner of war or POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper known as Peiper.
Year 1947 Calendar » First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
Year 1951 Calendar » The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
Year 1957 Calendar » The United States successfully launches the first SM-65 Atlas e.g Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Year 1960 Calendar » Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia crush the 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt called coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
Year 1960 » 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
Year 1961 Calendar » Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói known as Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
Year 1967 Calendar » Prime Minister of Australia named Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt missing person called disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
Year 1969 Calendar » The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks SALT I or SALT I talks begin.
Year 1969 » Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of Unidentified flying object known as UFOs.
Year 1970 Calendar » Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
Year 1981 Calendar » American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
Year 1983 Calendar » Provisional Irish Republican Army Provisional IRA members Harrods bombing detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London London, England, United Kingdom. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
Year 1989 Calendar » The first episode of television series 'The Simpsons', "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", airs in the United States.
Year 1989 » Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, 1989 e.g Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President of Brazil e.g President in almost 30 years
Year 1997 Calendar » The British Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 comes into force, banning all handguns with the exception of antique and show weapons.
Year 2002 Calendar » Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections wit
Year 2003 Calendar » SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes SpaceShipOne flight 11P e.g its first powered and first supersonic flight.
Year 2003 » The Soham murders e.g Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, England, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Year 2005 Calendar » Anti-World Trade Organization World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005 17 December 2005 known as protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
Year 2005 » Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
Year 2009 Calendar » MV named Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.
Year 2010 Calendar » Mohamed Bouazizi Self-immolation known as sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring.