Events

• 574 – Byzantine Emperor Justin II, suffering recurring seizures of insanity, adopts his general Tiberius and proclaims him as Caesar.
• 927 – The Sajid emir of Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi’l-Saj is defeated and captured by the Qarmatians near Kufa.
• 1776 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
• 1837 – The Battle of Montgomery’s Tavern, the only battle of the Upper Canada Rebellion, takes place in Toronto, where the rebels are quickly defeated.
• 1904 – Comparative fuel trials begin between warships HMS Spiteful and HMS Peterel: Spiteful was the first warship powered solely by fuel oil, and the trials led to the obsolescence of coal in ships of the Royal Navy.
• 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1922 – The Parliament of Northern Ireland votes to remain a part of the United Kingdom and not unify with Southern Ireland.
• 1932 – German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
• 1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbour: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
  • For Japan’s near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemisphere targets, refer to 08 December.
• 1942 – World War II: British commandos conduct Operation Frankton, a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.
• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Government of the Republic of China moves from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
• 1963 – Instant replay makes its debut during the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
• 1971 – The Battle of Sylhet is fought between the Pakistani military and the Mukti Bahini.
• Armed Forces Flag Day (India).
• National Pearl Harbour Remembrance Day (United States).

People (Births)

• 1561 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyō (d. 1625).
• 1764 – Claude Victor-Perrin, French general and politician (d. 1841).
• 1861 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (d. 1931).
• 1863 – Felix Calonder, Swiss soldier and politician, 36th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1952).
• 1884 – John Carpenter, American sprinter (d. 1933).
• 1888 – Hamilton Fish III, American captain and politician (d. 1991).
• 1893 – Hermann Balck, German general (d. 1982).
• 1920 – Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (d. 2012).
• 1920 – Walter Nowotny, Austrian-German soldier and pilot (d. 1944).
• 1962 – Alain Blondel, French decathlete.
• 1965 – Deborah Bassett, Australian rower.
• 1983 – Mike Mucitelli, American mixed martial artist.
• 1988 – Nathan Adrian, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1295 – Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, English officer (b. 1243).
• 1793 – Joseph Bara, French soldier and drummer (b. 1779).
• 1803 – Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, Turkish admiral and politician (b. 1757).
• 1815 – Michel Ney, German-French general (b. 1769).
• 1817 – William Bligh, English admiral and politician, 4th Governor of New South Wales (b. 1745).
• 1894 – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French businessman and diplomat, co-developed the Suez Canal (b. 1805).
• 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbour:
  • Mervyn S. Bennion, American captain (b. 1887).
  • Frederick Curtice Davis, American sailor (b. 1915).
  • Julius Ellsberry, American sailor (b. 1921).
  • John C. England, American sailor (b. 1920).
  • Edwin J. Hill, American sailor (b. 1894).
  • Ralph Hollis, American sailor (b. 1906).
  • Herbert C. Jones, American sailor (b. 1918).
  • Isaac C. Kidd, American admiral (b. 1884).
  • Robert Lawrence Leopold, American sailor (b. 1916).
  • Herbert Hugo Menges, American sailor (b. 1917).
  • Thomas James Reeves, American sailor (b. 1895).
  • Aloysius Schmitt, American priest and sailor (b. 1909).
  • Robert R. Scott, American sailor (b. 1915).
  • Peter Tomich, American sailor (b. 1893).
  • Robert Uhlmann, American sailor (b. 1919).
  • Franklin Van Valkenburgh, American captain (b. 1888).
  • Eldon P. Wyman, American sailor (b. 1917).
• 1960 – Ioannis Demestichas, Greek admiral and politician (b. 1882).
• 1985 – Potter Stewart, American soldier and jurist (b. 1915).
• 2012 – Roelof Kruisinga, Dutch physician and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence (b. 1922).
• 2012 – Ralph Parr, American colonel and pilot (b. 1924).