311 – Diocletian, Roman Emperor (284-305), dies at 66
1676 – Battle of Lund (Scanian War): Swedish army of 8,000 defeats much larger joint Danish/Dutch force of 13,000
1684 – Ludvig Baron Holberg, founder (Danish & Norwegian literature) Born
1685 – Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm, Sweden
1736 – Astronomer Anders Celsius takes measurements that confirm Newton’s theory that the earth was an ellipsoid rather than the previously accepted sphere
1775 – First official US flag raised (Grand Union Flag) aboard naval vessel USS Alfred
1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden – French General Moreau decisively defeats the Archduke John of Austria near Munich. Coupled with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte’s earlier victory at Marengo, this will force the Austrians to sign an armistice and end the war.
1818 – Illinois becomes 21st state USA (Admission day)
1828 – Andrew Jackson elected 7th US President
1834 – The Zollverein (German Customs Union) begins the first regular census in Germany.
1838 – Octavia Hill, British reformer, leader of open-space movement Born
1842 – Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and activist (d. 1919) was birthed. She was the mother of William Randolph Hearst.
1842 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American businessman, founded the Pillsbury Company (d. 1899) was born.
1847 – Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of his newspaper “North Star”
1857 – Joseph Conrad, Berdychiv, Poland, novelist (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness), (d. 1924) Born
1866 – Paid fire dept replaces volunteer companies
1868 – 1st blacks on US trial jury appointed for Jefferson Davis trial
1894 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, dies at 45
1901 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt asks Congress to curb the power of trusts “within reasonable limits”.
1910 – Neon lights first publicly displayed (Paris Auto Show)
1910 – Mary Baker Eddy, founder (Christian Science (Monitor)), dies at 89
1919 – Pierre A Renoir, French painter/sculptor, dies at 78
1919 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
1924 – John Backus, inventor (FORTRAN computer language) Born
1925 – World War I aftermath: The final Locarno Treaty is signed in London, establishing post-war territorial settlements.
1926 – Detective novelist Agatha Christie mysteriously disappears for 11 days
1927 – Andy Williams, American singer and actor (The Williams Brothers) (d. 2012) was born.
1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, is released.
1930 – Jean-Luc Godard, French director (Alphaville, Hail Mary, Breathless) Born
1943 – 9th Heisman Trophy Award: Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame (QB)
1943 – Valerie Perrine, Galveston Tx, actress (Slaughterhouse 5) Born
1944 – The Greek Civil War breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between communists and royalists.
1946 – US government asks UN to order dictator Franco out of Spain
1947 – Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar Named Desire” premieres in NYC
1948 – “Pumpkin Papers” come to light (claimed to be from Alger Hiss)
1948 – Ozzy Osbourne, English-American singer-songwriter and actor (Black Sabbath) was born.
1949 – Mickey Thomas, rock vocalist (Jefferson Airplane, Starship) Born
1950 – Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast
1952 – Don Barnes, rock guitarist (38 Special) Born
1952 – Duane Roland, rock guitarist (Molly Hatchet) Born
1952 – Benny Hinn, American televangelist, born
1953 – Franz Klammer, Austria, downhill skier (Olympic-gold-1976)born
1953 – Eisenhower criticizes McCarthy for saying communists are in the Republican Party
1955 – Warren Jeffs, American religious leader was birthed
1956 – Britain and France pull troops out of Egypt
1960 – Daryl Hannah, Chicago, Illinois, American actress (Splash, Blade Runner) Born
1960 – Julianne Moore, Fayetteville North Carolina, American actress (Magnolia, Boogey Nights, The Kids are Alright) Born
1960 – The musical Camelot debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It will become associated with the Kennedy administration.
1963 – Joe Lally, American musician (Fugazi) Born
1963 – Terri Schiavo, American right to die figure (d. 2005) Born
1964 – Free Speech Movement: Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest of the UC Regents’ decision to forbid protests on UC property.
1968 – NBC Elvis comeback special airs
1969 – John Lennon is offered role of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar
1971 – US President Richard Nixon commutes Jimmy Hoffa’s jail term
1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: India invades West Pakistan and a full scale war begins claiming hundreds of lives.
1972 – Bucky Lasek, American skateboarder – Born
1973 – Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet) [Dec 4-GMT]
1976 – An assassination attempt is made on Bob Marley. He is shot twice, but will play a concert only two days later.
1979 – In Cincinnati, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert.
1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.
1982 – A soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri, that will be found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
1984 – A leak of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, caused the death of 2,259 people (official figure for immediate deaths – other estimates go as high as 16,000 including later deaths) and over half a million injured
1985 – Amanda Seyfried, American actress, born
1989 – Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Soviet Union may be coming to an end.
1992 – UN Security Council Resolution 794 is unanimously passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, with the task of establishing peace and ensuring that humanitarian aid is distributed in Somalia. (didn’t help)
1992 – The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world’s first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.
1997 – Golden State Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, four-year, $32 million, contract terminated for attacking his coach P J Carlesimo
1997 – In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People’s Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
1999 – Madeline Kahn, American actress (Young Frankenstein) (b. 1942) dies
2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail in Kern County, California.
2007 – Devastating winter storms caused the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, also closing a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars of damaged are blamed on the floods.
2011 – Philip Burrell, influential Jamaican record producer, dies of a heart attack at 57