1707 – The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
1718 – King Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten in Norway.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris: In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
1786 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day).
1803 – In New Orleans, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
1804 – The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begins an impeachment trial of FederalistSupreme Court JusticeSamuel Chase.
1829 – First Welland Canal opens for a trial run, five years to the day from the ground breaking.
1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop: The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey.
1864 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army of Tennessee suffers heavy losses in an attack on the Union Army of the Ohio in the Battle of Franklin.
1868 – A statue of King Charles XII of Sweden is inaugurated in Stockholm's Kungsträdgården.
1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
1916 – Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Convention, a copyright treaty.
1934 – The LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive to be authenticated as reaching 100 mph.
1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
1939 – Winter War: Soviet forces cross the Finnish border in several places and bomb Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the war.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga; A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizō Tanaka defeats a U.S. cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.
1947 – Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins, leading up to the creation of the state of Israel.
1953 – Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda.
1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap; this is the only documented case in the Western Hemisphere of a human being hit by a rock from space.
1966 – Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 – The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 – The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first chairman.
1967 – Pro-Soviet communists in the Philippines establish Malayang Pagkakaisa ng Kabataan Pilipino as its new youth wing.
1972 – Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000.
1981 – Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)
1982 – Michael Jackson's sixth solo studio album, Thriller is released worldwide. It will become the best-selling record album in history.
1994 – Template:MS catches fire off the coast of Somalia.
1995 – U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland and speaks in favour of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall; he calls terrorists "yesterday's men".
1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.
1999 – In Seattle, United States, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies.
1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.
2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.
2012 – An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane belonging to Aéro-Service, crashes into houses near Maya-Maya Airport during a thunderstorm, killing at least 32 people.
Births[]
539 – Gregory of Tours, French bishop and saint (d. 594)
1310 – Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen (d. 1349)
1340 – John, Duke of Berry (d. 1416)
1364 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, Scottish soldier (d. 1390)
1466 – Andrea Doria, Italian admiral (d. 1560)
1498 – Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish captain and explorer (d. 1568)
1508 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect and theoretician, designed the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore and Teatro Olimpico (d. 1580)
1554 – Philip Sidney, English soldier, courtier, and poet (d. 1586)
1594 – John Cosin, English bishop and academic (d. 1672)
1625 – Jean Domat, French scholar and jurist (d. 1696)
1637 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian and author (d. 1698)
1645 – Andreas Werckmeister, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1706)
1667 – Jonathan Swift, Irish satirist and essayist (d. 1745)
1670 – John Toland, Irish philosopher and author (d. 1722)
1683 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (d. 1744)
1719 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (d. 1772)
1723 – William Livingston, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (d. 1790)
1748 – Joachim Albertini, Italian-Polish composer (d. 1838)
1756 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist and author (d. 1827)
1764 – Franz Xaver Gerl, Austrian singer and composer (d. 1827)
1768 – Jędrzej Śniadecki, Polish physician, chemist, and biologist (d. 1838)
1781 – Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant, and explorer (d. 1873)
1791 – Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Austrian field marshal and politician (d. 1848)
1796 – Carl Loewe, German singer, composer, and conductor (d. 1869)
1810 – Oliver Winchester, American businessman and politician, founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (d. 1880)
1813 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet and author (d. 1890)
1813 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French pianist and composer (d. 1888)
1817 – Theodor Mommsen, German jurist, historian, and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1903)
1821 – Frederick Temple, English archbishop and academic (d. 1902)
1825 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter and educator (d. 1905)
1835 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (d. 1910)
1836 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (d. 1882)
1840 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Birks & Mayors (d. 1928)
1847 – Afonso Pena, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 6th President of Brazil (d. 1909)