Events

• 546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
• 1398 – Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
• 1583 – Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
• 1718 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
• 1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognises the United States.
• 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.
• 1807 – Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
• 1812 – War of 1812: US forces attack a Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
• 1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
• 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
• 1903 – The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 1926 – Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d’état is successful.
• 1927 – Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
• 1928 – Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police.
  • The three were executed in 1931.
• 1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
• 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.
• 1945 – Kurdistan flag day, the flag of Kurdistan was raised for the first time in Mahabad in eastern Kurdistan (Iran).
• 1947 – First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
• 1950 – The F-86 Sabre’s first mission over Korea (refer to Korean War).
• 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 13 December, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil.
  • Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
• 1960 – Munich C-131 crash: Operated by the US Air Force, twenty passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
• 1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
• 1981 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
• 1983 – The Troubles: Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London.
  • Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
• 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party’s District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
• 2002 – Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
• 2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.

People (Births)

• 1239 – Kujō Yoritsugu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1256).
• 1840 – Nozu Michitsura, Japanese field marshal (d. 1908).
• 1893 – Charles C. Banks, English captain and pilot (d. 1971).
• 1894 – Patrick Flynn, Irish-American runner and soldier (d. 1969).
• 1898 – Loren Murchison, American sprinter (d. 1979).
• 1905 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (d. 2002).
• 1928 – Eli Beeding, American captain and pilot (d. 2013).
• 1937 – Calvin Waller, American general (d. 1996).
• 1938 – Peter Snell, New Zealand runner (d. 2019).
• 1942 – Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian general and politician, seventh Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• 1950 – Maurice Peoples, American sprinter and coach.
• 1951 – Tatyana Kazankina, Russian runner.
• 1956 – Totka Petrova, Bulgarian runner.
• 1957 – Wendy Hoyte, English sprinter.
• 1962 – Galina Malchugina, Russian sprinter.
• 1969 – Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial artist and kick-boxer.
• 1973 – Paula Radcliffe, English runner.
• 1975 – Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sri Lankan sprinter.
• 1983 – Haron Keitany, Kenyan runner.
• 1987 – Maryna Arzamasova, Belorussian middle-distance runner.
• 1987 – Chelsea Manning, American soldier and intelligence analyst.
• 1988 – Liisa Ehrberg, Estonian cyclist.
• 1988 – David Rudisha, Kenyan runner.
• 1991 – Atsedu Tsegay, Ethiopian runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1721 – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1640).
• 1830 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan general and politician, second President of Venezuela (b. 1783).
• 1857 – Francis Beaufort, Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy (b. 1774).
• 1929 – Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, Portuguese general and politician, tenth President of Portugal (b. 1863).
• 1942 – Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1895).
• 2011 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, second Supreme Leader of North Korea (b. 1941).
• 2012 – Daniel Inouye, American captain, politician, and Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1924).
• 2014 – Lowell Steward, American captain (b. 1919).
• 2014 – Ivan Vekić, Croatian colonel, lawyer, and politician, Croatian Minister of the Interior (b. 1938).
• 2016 – Benjamin A. Gilman, American soldier and politician (b. 1922).