218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal’s Carthaginian forces defeated those of the Roman Republic.
1271 – Kublai Khan renamed his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.
1642 Abel Tasman and his men had the first known European encounter with Maori.
1707 – Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist, was born (d. 1788).
1777 The United States celebrated its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.
1849 – Henrietta Edwards, Canadian activist and author was born (d. 1931).
1863 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, was born (d. 1914).
1878 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, was born (d. 1953).
1890 Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (FM radio) was born (d. 1954).
1898 Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the new land speed record going 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h), in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognised land speed record.
1900 The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria opened.
1908 – Celia Johnson, English actress, was born (d. 1982).
1910 –Eric Tindill, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player, was born (d. 2010).
1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born (d. 1992).
1916 Betty Grable, American actress, was born (d. 1973).
1935 – Jacques Pépin, French chef, was born.
1938 Chas Chandler, English musician (The Animals), was born (d. 1996).
1943 Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones), was born.
1946 Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist, was born (d. 1977).
1946 – Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks , was born.
1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor and producer was born.
1966 – Saturn‘s moon Epimetheus was discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.
1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
1973 – – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
1973 – The Islamic Development Bank was founded.
1981 – First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world’s largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.
1988 – Air New Zealand women crew won an anti-discrimination case.
1999 NASA launched into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
2006 – The first of a series of floods struck Malaysia. The death toll of all flooding was at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
2009 – The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference closed with the signing of the Copenhagen Accord.
2010 – Anti-government protests began in Tunisia, heralding the Arab Spring.
2015 – Kellingley Colliery, the last deep coal mine in Great Britain, closed.
2017 – Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501, derailed near DuPont, Washington, killing 6 people, and injuring 70 others.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.