211 – Publius Septimius Geta, co-emperor of Rome, was lured to go without his bodyguards to meet his brother Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla), to discuss a possible reconciliation. When he arrived the Praetorian Guard murdered him and he died in the arms of his mother Julia Domna.
324 – Licinius abdicated his position as Roman Emperor.
1154 Henry II was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1606 The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery left England carrying settlers who found, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1683 Philip V of Spain, was born (d. 1746).
1820 Mary Livermore, American journalist and women’s rights advocate, was born (d. 1905).
1879 – Universal male suffrage was introduced in New Zealand when the Qualification of Electors Act extended the right to vote (or electoral franchise) to all European men aged over 21, regardless of whether they owned or rented property.
1906 Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union, was born (d. 1982).
1915 The evacuation of troops from Sulva Bay .
1915 Édith Piaf, French singer and actress, was born (d. 1963).
1920 King Constantine I was restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
1923 Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor, was born (d. 1990).
1924 The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was sold in London.
1925 Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter, was born.
1932 BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
1934 Pratibha Patil, President of India, was born.
1941 The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Neptune struck enemy mines and sank off Libya – more than 750 men lost their lives including 150 New Zealanders.
1941 Adolf Hitler became Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
1941 – Lee Myung-bak, South Korean businessman and politician, 10th President of South Korea, was born.
1941 – Maurice White, American singer and songwriter (Earth, Wind & Fire), was born.
1944 Zal Yanovsky, Canadian guitarist (The Lovin’ Spoonful), was born.
1946 Start of the First Indochina War.
1972 The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan,Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returned to Earth.
1983 The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
1984 The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that the People’s Republic of China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997 was signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
2001 A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg )was recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia.
2001 – Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots – Riots erupted in Buenos Aires.
2009 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Hualian, Taiwan.
2012 – Park Geun-hye became the first female elected President of South Korea.
2013 – Spacecraft Gaia was launched by European Space Agency.
2016 – Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, was shot and killed by Turkish guards.
2016 – A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, killed and injures multiple people at a Christmas market.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.
Posted by homepaddock 
