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- 0283 St Gaius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 0546 Gothic War (535552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
- 0920 Romanos I is crowned co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
- 0942 Assassination of William I of Normandy.
- 1398 Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
- 1531 Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal.
- 1538 Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII
- 1577 Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.
- 1586 Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
- 1600 Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
- 1637 Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
- 1718 Great Britain declares war on Spain.
- 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven is baptized at Bonn.
- 1777 France recognizes independence of English colonies in America
- 1790 Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City
- 1791 NYC traffic regulation creates the 1-way street system
- 1792 Opening of first legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city
- 1798 First impeachment trial against a US senator (Wm Blount, TN) begins
- 1807 France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
- 1807 The Milan Decree issued by Napoleon reiterates the paper blockade against British trade with the Continent
- 1819 Congress of Angostura establishes Columbia's independence from Spain
- 1819 Simn Bolvar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolvar in Venezuela).
- 1821 Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons
- 1830 South American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar dies in Colombia.
- 1834 The Dublin and Kingstown Railway the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opens in Ireland.
- 1843 Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published.
- 1852 The first Hawaiian cavalry organized
- 1860 Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County
- 1862 American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
- 1862 General US Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
- 1875 Violent bread riots in Montreal
- 1894 Arthur Fiedler the conductor of The Boston Pops Orchestra was born
- 1895 Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington, DC
- 1895 George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Mass)
- 1900 First prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy
- 1903 At 10:35 AM, first sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)
- 1919 Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1920 British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru
- 1920 Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands
- 1920 South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa
- 1924 First US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx NY
- 1925 Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell court-martial for insubordination
- 1927 US sub 'S-4' sinks after collision kills all 34 aboard
- 1935 First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
- 1939 German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay
- 1939 The first elements of the first Canadian Dvision arrive in Britian
- 1941 German troops led by Rommel begin retreating in North Africa
- 1941 HMS THRACIAN, lost while in Hong Kong - ran aground, dry-docked but damaged by Japanese bombing, later beached. Salvaged and served in Japanese Navy
- 1942 Allies condemn the Nazis for murdering Jews.
- 1944 Japanese-Americans released from detention camps
- 1944 US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast
- 1946 US V-2 rocket reaches 183 km, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
- 1947 New York struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow
- 1954 fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary IN)
- 1955 Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis.
- 1957 The Atlas U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile makes its inaugural test flight.
- 1957 The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1959 On the Beach premiered this day at the Astor Theatre in New York City -- and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world
- 1959 Visitor posting - December 17 1959 Kenneth M. Forrest of Poquoson, Virginia was born
- 1961 Disgruntled employee set fire to a circus tent in Niteroi Brazil
- 1961 History of Goa: Operation Vijay - India seizes Goa from Portugal.
- 1961 India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies
- 1962 Current constitution of Monaco promulgated
- 1965 Largest newspaper-Sunday New York Times at 946 pages ($0.50)
- 1965 Visitor posting - Brian Graham born - United States
- 1967 Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.
- 1969 50m TV viewers saw singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky, on Tonight Show
- 1969 Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects."
- 1969 The SALT I talks begin.
- 1969 USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings
- 1970 Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
- 1970 The Beach Boys played to royalty at Royal Albert Hall in London. Princess Margaret was in attendance and shook the royal jewelry to such classics as Good Vibrations, I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda.
- 1971 Cease-fire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir
- 1971 Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting
- 1972 New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India and Pakistan
- 1973 Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
- 1975 Lynette Fromme was sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life
- 1975 Visitor posting - December 17 1975 Clayton Everett Sampel was born to Everett L. and Bonnie J. Sampel. Very special moment in time.
- 1978 Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda
- 1978 The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
- 1979 Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
- 1979 Driver Stan Barrett became the first person in the world to travel faster than sound on land. He drove the Budweiser Rocket car at a top speed of 739.666 in a one-way run at Rogers Dry Lake,California.
- 1979 Visitor posting - Chris's Birthday! - Canada
- 1980 Visitor posting - Marti Fallis born - National Holiday - USA
- 1981 Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
- 1981 Members of the Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L Dozier
- 1981 The Senegambia Confederation is founded.
- 1983 The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.
- 1986 Richard Kuklinski, a suspect in several murders, is arrested by undercover agents at a truck stop off the New Jersey Turnpike, marking the culmination of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' "Operation Iceman."
- 1986 Wayne Danke Schoen Newton won a $19.2 million judgment against NBC News, which had aired reports linking Newton to mob figures
- 1988 USS Tennessee, first sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned
- 1989 First free elections in Brazil in 25 years.
- 1989 Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timioara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
- 1989 The premiere of animated television series The Simpsons.
- 1991 Karina Esquivel was born on dec. 17th AKA (freshman)
- 1991 Soap opera "One Life To Live" airs its 6,000th episode
- 1993 Visitor posting - Keely's Birthday! - Canada
- 1994 North Korea shoots down a US Army helicopter when it strays north of the demilitarized zone.dec18
- 1994 Visitor posting - December 17, 1994 maurice cello moore was born
- 1994 Visitor posting - December 17, 1994; Danielle Nicole Culp was born.!
- 1996 Intel Corporation and the Energy Department announced the development of a high-speed computer capable of performing more than one trillion calculations per second.
- 1997 Microsoft and Silicon Graphics Inc ended their conflict over the display of three-dimensional graphics online. The companies had engaged in a long battle over technical standards, which delayed development of graphics technology.
- 1997 Visitor posting - Joe Mascolo was born - USA
- 1998 Visitor posting - Nathan Jones was born - USA
- 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.
- 2003 SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes the first privately-funded manned suborbital flight.
- 2003 The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
- 2005 Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
- 2009 A Nigerian court throws out corruption charges against the former governor of the country's Delta State, James Ibori, saying there was no clear evidence.
- 2009 Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray resigns following allegations contained within the Murphy Report. The Vatican accepts his resignation.
- 2009 Egyptian archaeologists recover from the Mediterranean Sea an ancient temple pylon belonging to the palace complex of Cleopatra.
- 2009 Europe is hit by heavy snowfall leading to disruptions in France, Germany, Poland and Spain.
- 2009 Ireland exits "one of Europe's worst recessions".
- 2009 It is revealed that Iraqi militants intercepted live video feeds from U.S. MQ-1 Predator drones, potentially acquiring information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
- 2009 Sahwari activist Aminatou Haidar is hospitalized in Tenerife, Spain, after 32 days of hunger strike protesting against her expulsion by the Moroccan authorities.
- 2009 The Catholic Church condemns as "inappropriate" and "disrespectful" a New Zealand billboard involving nudity and the birth of Jesus Christ.
- 2009 The English High Court grants British Airways an injunction against a proposed twelve day strike by cabin crew represented by trade union Unite scheduled to occur over Christmas.
- 2009 The Pakistani opposition calls on President Asif Ali Zardari to resign after the Supreme Court declared void an amnesty protecting him and other senior officials from corruption charges.
- 2009 The Panamanian livestock transporter MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon while travelling from Uruguay to Syria with 83 people on board.
- 2009 The collapse of UK airline Flyglobespan leaves thousands of travellers stranded.
- 2009 Two of Colombia's main rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), announce they are to unite.
- 2009 Yemen authorities say 34 suspected Al-Qaeda militants have been killed and 17 captured in raids at hideouts and training camps in the west of the country.
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