On December 10 a British monarch gave up the throne, a U.S. president racked up one of his many "firsts," and the UN passed a declaration that an American ambassador later described as a "letter to Santa Claus."
220. Cao Pi forces Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the Han Dynasty throne. The Cao Wei empire is established and the Three Kingdoms period begins. The Three Kingdoms period was a tumultuous chapter in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" immediately following the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty.
1041. Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adopted son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. Michael V was Byzantine emperor for four months in 1041–1042, as the nephew and successor of Michael IV and the adoptive son of his wife, the Empress Zoe.
Determined to rule on his own, Michael V came into conflict with his uncle John the Orphanotrophos, whom he almost immediately banished to a monastery. Michael now reversed his uncle's decisions, and recalled the nobles and courtiers who had been exiled during the previous reign, including the general George Maniakes. Maniakes was promptly sent back to Southern Italy in order to contain the advance of the Normans.
On the night of 18 April to 19 April 1042 Michael V also banished his adoptive mother and co-ruler Zoe as well, becoming the sole Emperor. His announcement of the event in the morning led to a popular revolt; the palace was surrounded by the mob, which demanded Zoe's immediate restoration. The demand was met, and Zoe was brought back as joint-ruler with her sister Theodora. On 20 April 1042 Theodora declared the emperor deposed, and he fled to seek safety in the monastery of the Stoudion together with his remaining uncle. Although he had taken monastic vows, Michael was arrested, blinded, and castrated. He died as a monk on 24 August 1042.
1508. The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
Pope Julius II had intended that the war would curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, and had, to this end, created the League of Cambrai (named after Cambrai, where the negotiations took place), an alliance against the Republic. Although the League was initially successful, friction between Julius and Louis caused it to collapse by 1510; Julius then allied himself with Venice against France.
The Veneto-Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League, which drove the French from Italy in 1512. Disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the alliance in favor of one with France. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis to the throne, the French and Venetians would, through their victory at Marignano in 1515, regain the territory they had lost; the treaties of Noyon and Brussels, which ended the war the next year, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
1520. Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull
Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate. The document was essential a papal ultimatem to recant or face excommunication. In burning it, Luther burned his bridges.
1665. The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter
1778. John Jay, the former chief justice of the New York Supreme Court, is elected president of the Continental Congress. Despite his early misgivings about independence, Jay served as president of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and in 1782 signed the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain. He contributed to the
The Federalist Papers, part of the successful campaign waged by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to win ratification for the Constitution in 1788 and 1789. Soon after, President George Washington appointed Jay as the first chief justice of the United States. Jay also served as governor of New York from 1797 to 1801, when he retired from public life.
1799. France adopts the metre as its official unit of length. Many different units of length have been used around the world. The main units in modern use are U.S. customary units in the United States and the Metric system elsewhere. British Imperial units are still used for some purposes in the United Kingdom and some other countries.
1817. The Mississippi Territory is admitted to the Union as the 20th U.S. state.
1864. During the American Civil War, Major General William T. Sherman's Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
Sherman's armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10, but found that Confederate defenders had entrenched 10,000 men in strong positions and had flooded the surrounding rice fields, leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city. Sherman was blocked from linking up with the U.S. Navy as he had planned, so he dispatched cavalry to Fort McAllister, guarding the Ogeechee River, in hopes of unblocking his route and obtaining supplies awaiting him on the Navy ships. On December 13, William B. Havens division of Howard's army stormed the fort in the Battle of Fort McAllister and captured it within 15 minutes. Some of the 134 Union casualties were caused by torpedoes, a name for crude land mines that were used only rarely in the war.
After taking the city, Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." (See picture.)
Sherman's scorched earth policies have always been highly controversial, and Sherman's memory has long been reviled by many natives of Georgia, but slaves, many of whom left their plantations to follow his armies, welcomed him as a liberator. The March to the Sea is considered by many historians to have hastened the end of the conflict, which remains the bloodiest war in American history.
1868. The first traffic lights are installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
1884. Mark Twain's
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.
1898. The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the Spanish-American War. Under the terms of the treaty, Spain grants Cuba independence and cedes Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States.
1901. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.
1906. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind. The Roosevelt Administration is marked by many "firsts."
In the sphere of race relations, Booker T. Washington became the first black man to dine at the White House in 1901. (Frederick Douglas was the first African American to be received at the White House, by Abraham Lincoln, but did not eat there, evidently.)
Oscar S. Straus became the first Jew appointed as a Cabinet Secretary, under Roosevelt.
In 1902, in response to the assassination of President William McKinley on September 6, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to be under constant Secret Service protection.
Roosevelt was the first President to wear a necktie for his official portrait, a tradition which all of his successors followed.
Although four Vice Presidents before Roosevelt had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of their predecessor, Roosevelt, in 1904, became the first to be elected in his own right or even win his party's nomination for reelection. After Roosevelt, three more Vice Presidents who succeeded to the Presidency would be elected to full terms (Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson). (George H. W. Bush was also elected in his own right but not as the result of his predecessor's death.)
In 1906, Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize because of his efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War. That same year, he made the first trip, by a President, outside the United States, visiting Panama to inspect the construction progress of the Panama Canal on November 9.
Roosevelt was also the first president to appreciate the power and influence of the press and formally invited the press into the White House on a permanent basis.
He was also first to be submerged in a submarine, to own a car, to have a telephone in his home, and to be allowed to operate the light switches in the White House (electricity wasn't trusted at the turn of the century and the President used to have an assistant flip the switches for him).
1907. The worst night of the Brown Dog riots takes place in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected. The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Edwardian England from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration of University of London medical lectures by Swedish women activists, pitched battles between medical students and the police, police protection for the statue of a dog, a libel trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, and the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate the use of animals in experiments. The affair became a
cause célèbre that reportedly divided the country.
The controversy was triggered by allegations that, in February 1903, William Bayliss of the Department of Physiology at University College London had performed illegal dissection before an audience of 60 medical students on a brown terrier dog -- adequately anaesthetized, according to Bayliss and his team; conscious and struggling, according to the Swedish activists.
Anti-vivisectionists commissioned a bronze statue of the dog as a memorial, unveiled in Battersea in 1906, but medical students were angered by its provocative plaque -- "Men and women of England, how long shall these things be?" -- leading to frequent vandalism of the memorial and the need for a 24-hour police guard against the so-called "anti-doggers." On 10 December 1907, 1,000 anti-doggers marched through central London, clashing with suffragettes, trade unionists, and 400 police officers in Trafalgar Square, one of a series of battles known as the Brown Dog riots.
1911. The first transcontinental flight across the United States is completed. Calbraith Perry Rodgers began the flight on 17 September 1911, taking off from Sheepshead Bay New York. He landed in Long Beach, California, 49 days later.
1915. The one millionth Ford car rolls off the assembly line at the River Rouge plant in Detroit.
1927. The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" is used for the first time on-air.
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM.
1936. Britain's King Edward VIII signs his Instrument of Abdication. In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite.
The marriage was opposed by the King's governments in the United Kingdom and the autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. Mrs Simpson was perceived to be an unsuitable consort because of her two failed marriages, and it was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Mrs Simpson and intended to marry her whether the governments approved or not.
The widespread unwillingness to accept Mrs Simpson as the King's consort, and the King's refusal to give her up, led to Edward's abdication in December 1936. He remains the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne since the Anglo-Saxon period. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the regnal name George VI. Edward was given the title
His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, and he married Mrs Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later.
1941. During World War II, the Royal Navy capital ships
HMS Prince of Wales and
HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers. On the same day, Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
1948. The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Right, which isn't worth the paper it's printed on. As it was conceived as a statement of objectives to be followed by governments, it is not legally binding and there were therefore no signatories. The declaration does not form part of international law.
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, calling it "a letter to Santa Claus."
Predominantly Muslim countries, like Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, frequently criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries. In 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition," which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.
1952. Actress Susan Dey is born as Susan Hallock Dey in Pekin, Illinois. She is best known for her roles on
The Partridge Family and
L.A. Law. Susan was a model before starring as Laurie Partridge in the television series
The Partridge Family from 1970–1974. She was only 17 years old when she won the part, and had no previous acting experience.
After the end of the television series, Dey strove to shed her wholesome image by shedding her clothes.. She took movie roles where she was required to appear nude or semi-nude; in
Echo Park, for example, she was forcibly stripped. (See pictures.) The new image did not significantly help her career, however, and she remained little in demand for movie roles. Dey felt that she had become too typecast, and to this day she refuses to talk about her days on
The Partridge Family or to participate in reunion shows.
Dey seemed to be attempting a comeback with her appearance in 1981's sexy thriller
Looker, but after this high-profile movie she nearly disappeared from the public eye until her starring role in the TV series
L.A. Law as Grace Van Owen. She was critically hailed for her part in this role. She earned a Golden Globe Award as "Actress In A Leading Role -- Drama Series" for this role in 1987.
1958. The first domestic passenger jet flight takes place in the United States as a National Airlines Boeing 707 flies 111 passengers from New York City to Miami.
1965. The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
1967. A plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin, kills soul singer Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays band. The plane crashed into Lake Monona, several miles from the Madison airport.. Four months after his death at the age of 26, Otis Redding's
Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, the last song he ever recorded, reached the top spot on the pop music charts. It was his first No. 1 hit.
1974. Representative Wilbur D. Mills, a Democrat from Arkansas, resigns as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the aftermath of the first truly public sex scandal in American politics. On October 7, 1974, at 2 a.m., Mills was stopped by Washington park police while driving at night with his lights off. The 65-year-old representative, an influential congressman and married man, was visibly intoxicated, his face was scratched, and his companion, 38-year-old Annabell Battistella, had bruised eyes. Battistella then proceeded to jump into the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial and had to be pulled out by the police. She was later identified as a popular stripper who went by the names "Fanne Foxe" and the "Argentine Firecracker."
Congressmen had been involved in these types of improprieties before but the details were generally kept quiet, saving the politicians from public disgrace. However, on this occasion, the story of Representative Mills' sordid affair with the stripper was heavily publicized. At first, Mills denied all the allegations but later admitted he had joined a party Battistella was present at after "a few refreshments." Mills was subsequently reelected to Congress, but because of the escalating scandal, he was forced to retire his chairmanship and later announced that he would not run for reelection.
1978. Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1980. Rep. John W. Jenrette, D-SC, resigns to avoid being expelled from the House following his conviction on charges related to the FBI's Abscam investigation.
1983. Democracy is restored in Argentina with the assumption of President Raúl Alfonsín.
1989. Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement that peacefully changed the second oldest communist country into a democratic society.
2007. Cristina Fernandez is sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president.
2010. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron criticizes the "mob" which launched an attack upon the car of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall as the couple were driven down Regent Street towards a Royal Variety performance in London the previous night. Protesters claim police brutality.
2011. A day of protests begins in cities across Russia against alleged election fraud by Vladimir Xyulo - wanted by criminal international court in The Hague and his United Russia party, with fifty thousand people marching in Moscow and 25 people arrested in Khabarovsk. Meanwhile, the Syrian government gives the city of Homs 72 hours to stop anti-government protests, or face an offensive, raising fears of a massacre against civilians.
Elsewhere, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits the Mexican state of Guerrero. It causes three deaths and is felt across several central states.
Astronomers in Asia, Australia and North America observe a total lunar eclipse. It was the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2011, the first having occurred on June 15. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is positioned just right in its orbit to pass through Earth's shadow. Asia, Australia, and other areas of the Pacific had the best visibility. European countries only saw a partial eclipse of a rising moon, while northwestern North America saw a partial eclipse of a setting moon.
and even a Ariel in Milestone