Nothingandall: On this day in History

0705 - Empress Wu of Zhou dies (b. 0625).
0714 - Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia.
0755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty of China.
0867 - Eberhard of Friuli dies.
0882 - John VIII dies. Italian Pope (872-82).
0955 - John XII is elected Pope.
0999 - Saint Adelaide of Italy dies (b. 0931).
1279 - D. Afonso III dies. King of Portugal (1248 - 1279).
1325 - Charles of Valois dies (b. 1270). Son of Philip III of France.
1378 - Otto III of Montferrat dies.
1379 - John Fitzalan dies (drowned). Marshal of England.
1392 - Emperor Go-Kameyama of Japan abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu, ending the nanboku-cho period of competing imperial courts.
1431 - Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
1470 - John II, Duke of Lorraine was born (b. 1425).
1485 - Catherine of Aragon was born. Queen of England (d. 1536).
1497 - Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
1515 - Afonso de Albuquerque dies (b. 1543). Portuguese naval general.
1575 - The 1575 Valdivia earthquake takes place.
1584 - John Selden was born (d. 1654). English jurist and oriental scholar.
1598 - Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - The final battle of the Seven Year War is fought between the Korean and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive Korean victory.
1598 - Yi Sun-sin dies (b. 1545). Korean admiral.
1600 - Henri IV épouse Marie de Médicis.
1614 - Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg was born (d. 1674).
1631 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000.
1653 - English Interregnum: The Protectorate - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1669 - Nathaniel Fiennes dies. English politician.
1672 - John II Casimir Vasa dies at 63. Cardinal / King of Poland (1648-68).
1687 - William Petty dies (b. 1623). English scientist and philosopher.
1689 - Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
1689 - The English Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights.
1707 - Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.

1714 - George Whitefield was born (d. 1770). English-born Methodist leader.

1716 - Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais was born (d. 1798). French diplomat and writer.

1717 - Elizabeth Carter was born (d. 1806). English writer.

1742 - Gebhard Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt was born (d. 1819). German field marshal.

1751 - Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau dies (b. 1700). Prussian general.

1761 - Seven Years' War: After four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg.

1765 - Peter Frederick Haldimand dies. Swiss military officer and surveyor.

1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn [he was baptized on 17 December 1770, and it is presumed he was born on 16 December]. (d. 1827); German Composer, he is universally recognized as one of the greatest composers of the Western European music.

1773 - American Revolution: The Boston Tea Party took place. A crowd of colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumps 342 crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the British Tea Act.

1774 - François Quesnay dies (b. 1694). French economist and personal physician of Louis XIV.

1775 - Jane Austen was born (d. 1817). English novelist (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma).

1775 - François-Adrien Boieldieu was born (d. 1834). French composer.

1776 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter was born (d. 1810). German physicist.

1783 - Johann A. Hasse dies (b. 1699). German composer.

1783 - William James dies (b. 1720). British naval commander.

1787 - Mary Russell Mitford was born (d. 1855). English writer.

1790 - King Leopold I of Belgium was born (d. 1865).

1804 - Viktor Bunyakovsky was born (d. 1889). Russian mathematician.

1809 - Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy dies (b. 1755). French chemist.

1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by French Senate.

1811 - The first of a series of severe earthquakes occurs, in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri in the United States.

1815 - Criação do Reino Unido de Portugal, Brasil e Algarves, pelo príncipe regente D. João, futuro D. João VI.

1824 - Great North Holland Canal opens.

1926 - Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.

1834 - Léon Walras was born (d. 1910). French economist.

1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC.

1838 - Battle of Blood River: Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius combat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

1850 - History of New Zealand: The Charlotte-Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton.

1859 - Wilhelm Grimm dies (b. 1786). German writer and folklorist.

1861 - Antonio de La Gandara was born (d. 1917). French painter.

1863 - American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Army of Tennessee.

1863 - George Santayana was born (d. 1952). Spanish philosopher, essayst and poet.

1864 - American Civil War: Franklin-Nashville Campaign - Battle of Nashville - Major General George H. Thomas's Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee.

1865 - Olavo Bilac was born (d. 1918). Brazilian poet.

1866 (N.S.) - Wassily Kandinsky was born. Russian painter.

1867 - Amy Carmichael was born (d. 1951). Missionary in Dohnavur, India

1869 - Hristo Tatarchev was born (d. 1952). Bulgarian revolutionary.

1872 - Anton Ivanovich Denikin was born (d. 1947). Russian general.

1882 - Sir Jack Hobbs was born (d. 1963). English test cricketer.

1882 - Zoltán Kodály was born (d. 1967). Hungarian composer.

1882 - Walther Meissner was born (d. 1974). German physicist.

1883 - Max Linder was born (d. 1925). French pioneer of silent film.

1884 - Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State.

1888 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia was born (d. 1934).

1888 - Alphonse Juin was born (d. 1967). Marshall of France.

1893 - World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From The New World"at Carnegie Hall.

1897 - Alphonse Daudet dies (b. 1840). French novelist and short story writer.

1898 - Pavel Tretyakov dies (b. 1832). Russian businessman and art collector.

1899 - Brooklyn Children's Museum opens.

1899 - Sir Noel Coward was born (d. 1973). British playwright, actor and composer.

1900 - V. S. Pritchett was born (d. 1997). British author and critic.

1901 - Margaret Mead was born in Philadelphia (d. 1978). American anthropologist, author and lecturer.

1902 - Rafael Alberti was born (d. 1999). Spanish poet.

1904 - Edward Morris Bernstein was born. Economist.

1905 - Piet Hein was born (d. 1996). Danish mathematician and inventor.

1906 - Barbara Kent was born. Canadian actress.

1906 - Leonid Brezhnev was born (Russian leader of the Communist Party).

1907 - Great White Fleet started its circumnavigation of the world.

1910 - During a ground test of his Coandă-1910 plane, Henri Coandă, caught unaware by the power of the engine, finds himself briefly airborne and loses control of the machine which crashes to the ground.

1914 - World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.

1914 - Ivan Zajc dies (b. 1832). Croatian composer.

1915 - Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity".

1915 - Turk Murphy was born (d. 1987). American trombonist.

1916 - Grigori Rasputin dies assassinated by a group of noble Russian conspirators (b. 1869). Russian monk.

1917 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke was born (d. 2008). British science fiction writer (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, Childhood's End).

1917 - Nabi Bux Khan Baloch was born. Sindhi Scholar.

1918 - Pierre Delanoë was born (d. 2006). French songwriter and lyricist.

1920 - One of the deadliest earthquakes in history hit the Gansu province in China. The 8.6 quake killed 200,000 people.

1921 - Camille Saint-Saëns dies (b. 1835). French composer.

1922 - President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw.

1922 - Cy Leslie was born (d. 2008). American music and video executive.

1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz dies (b. 1865). First President of Poland.

1925 - A regular broadcasting service was instituted in Ceylon.

1925 - Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity was founded at Lafayette College.

1926 - James McCracken was born (d. 1988). American tenor.

1927 - Randall Garrett was born. American writer.

1928 - Philip K. Dick was born (d. 1982) American writer.

1928 - Elinor Wylie dies (b. 1885). American poet and writer.

1929 - Chic Blackhawks 1st game at Chicago Stadium, beat Pitts Pirates, 3-1.

1929 - Nicholas Courtney was born. English actor.

1930 - José Júlio da Silva Ramos dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 6 Mar. 1853). Brazilian philologist and poet.

1932 - Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed.

1932 - Rodion Shchedrin was born. Russian composer.

1934 - Aparício Fernandes de Oliveira was born in Acari, Rio Grande do Norte (d. 1996).

1934 - Elgin Baylor was born. American basketball player.

1935 - São Paulo Futebol Clube (Brazil) is founded.

1935 - Thelma Todd dies (b. 1905). American actress.

1936 - Morris Dees was born. Founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

1937 - Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from Alcatraz island. Both men entered the bay on December 16th, neither was ever seen again.

1937 - Giulio Massarani was born in Rome (d. Rio de Janeiro, 28 Sep 2004). Italian-born Brazilian engineer and professor.

1937 - Joyce Bulifant was born. American actress.

1938 - Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honor of the German Mother.

1938 - Frank Deford was born. American sportswriter.

1938 - Liv Ullmann was born. Norwegian actress.

1940 - Billy Hamilton (baseball player) dies (b. 1866). MLB Hall of Fame Outfielder.

1941 - Lesley Stahl was born. American journalist.

1941 - World War II: Japanese occupy Miri, Sarawak.

1942 - Holocaust: Porajmos - Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination should be deported to Auschwitz.

1942 - Donald Carcieri was born. American politician, governor of Rhode Island.

1943 - Steven Bochco was born. American television producer and writer.

1943 - Tony Hicks was born. British guitarist (The Hollies).

1944 - World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's allied forces and Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt's German army engage in the Belgian Ardennes.

1944 - The Battle of the Bulge begins. A V-2 rocket hits the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people.

1945 - Bobby George was born. English professional darts player.

1945 - Patti Deutsch was born. American actress and Match Game panelist.

1945 - Yukio Hattori was born. Japanese Iron Chef commentator.

1945 - Giovanni Agnelli dies (d. 1866). Italian automobile manufacturer.

1945 - Fumimaro Konoye dies (b. 1891). Prime Minister of Japan.

1946 - Thailand becomes member of The United Nations.

1946 - Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France.

1946 - Benny Andersson was born. Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA).

1946 - Trevor Pinnock was born. English conductor and harpsichordist.

1947 - William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.

1947 - Ben Cross was born. English actor.

1947 - Vincent Matthews was born. American athlete.

1948 - Christopher Biggins was born. English Actor in Pantomines.

1949 - Billy Gibbons was born. American guitarist (ZZ Top).

1949 - Traitsjo Kostov dies executed. Bulgarian communist vice-premier.

1949 - Sidney Olcott dies (b. 1873). Canadian film director.

1949 - Sukarno becomes President Indonesia, Mokammed Hatta Premier.

1949 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung is received at the Kremlin in Moscow.

1949 - Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, later knows as SAAB, is founded in Sweden.

1950 - President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.

1950 - Claudia Cohen was born (d. 2007). American gossip columnist and socialite.

1950 - Roy Schuiten was born (d. 2006). Dutch cyclist.

1951 - Robben Ford was born. American guitarist.

1952 - Francesco Graziani was born. Italian footballer.

1952 - Joel Garner was born. West Indian cricketer.

1955 - Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este was born.

1955 - Xander Berkeley was born. American actor.

1956 - UN troops occupy Port Said, Suez Canal Zone, following the abortive Tripartite Invasion.

1956 - Nina Hamnett dies (b. 1890). Welsh artist.

1957 - Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.

1958 - A fire at a store in Bogotá, Colombia kills 83 people.

1960 - 1960 New York air disaster: While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.

1960 - Pat Van Den Hauwe was born. Belgian footballer.

1961 - Bill Hicks was born (d. 1994). American comedian.

1961 - Jon Tenney was born. American actor.

1962 - David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" premieres.

1962 - Nepal gets constitution / becomes Constitutional Hindu Monarchy.

1962 - Luciana Braga was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress.

1962 - Maruschka Detmers was born. Dutch actress.

1962 - William Perry was born. American football player.

1963 - Park Chung-Hee is sworn in as South Korea's fifth president.

1963 - A general amnesty is announced for Mau Mau forest fighters in Kenya.

1963 - Kenia becomes member of The United Nations.

1963 - Benjamin Bratt was born. American actor.

1963 - James Mangold was born. American film director and screenwriter.

1963 - Jeff Carson was born. American singer.

1964 - Billy Ripken was born. American baseball player.

1964 - Georgie Parker was born. Australian actress.

1964 - Heike Drechsler was born. East German track and field athlete.

1965 - Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.

1965 - Chris Jones was born. American baseball player.

1965 - Melanie Sloan was born. American attorney.

1965 - Nancy Valen was born. American actress.

1965 - W. Somerset Maugham dies (b. 1874). English playwright, novelist and short story writer.

1966 - Mao's Little Red Book is published in Beijing.

1966 - Clifford Robinson was born. American basketball player.

1966 - Dennis Wise was born. English footballer.

1967 - Donovan Bailey was born. Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter.

1967 - Miranda Otto was born. Australian actress.

1969 - MPs vote to abolish hanging British Parlament abolish the death penalty.

1970 - 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR).

1970 - Shipworkers in Gdańsk, Poland clash with government police and the seeds of the Solidarity movement are sown.

1970 - Cláudia Lira was born in João Pessoa. Brazilian actress.

1971 - Bangladesh War of Independence and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan army brings an end to both conflicts.

1971 - Independence Day of the State of Bahrain from British Protectorate Status.

1971 - Don McLean's 8+ minute version of "American Pie" released.

1971 - Michael McCary was born. American singer (Boyz II Men).

1971 - Paul van Dyk was born. German Trance music DJ.

1972 - Vietnam War: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left private peace negotiations, in Paris.

1972 - Angela Bloomfield was born. New Zealand actress.

1972 - Charles Gipson was born. American baseball player.

1972 - Željko Kalac was born. Australian soccer player.

1973 - O.J. Simpson becomes the first player in NFL history to rush for 2000 yards in one season.

1973 - Mariza was born. Mozambican-born Portuguese singer. 2003 Best European World Music Artist ( from BBC Radio 3 ).

1973 - Scott Storch was born. Canadian-American hip-hop producer.

1973 - Themba Mnguni was born. South African footballer.

1974 - União Democrática Popular, Portuguese politic party, is founded.

1974 - Frida Hallgren was born. Swedish actress.

1975 - Benjamin Kowalewicz was born. Canadian singer (Billy Talent).

1975 - Jonathan Scarfe was born. Canadian actor.

1975 - Nawo Kawakita was born. Japanese drummer (Maximum the Hormone).

1975 - Valentin Bădoi was born. Romanian footballer.

1976 - Réal Caouette was born (d. 1917). French Canadian politician (Social Credit Party of Canada).

1977 - England: Queen opens 'tube' link to Heathrow.

1977 - Éric Bélanger was born. Canadian ice hockey player.

1977 - Sylvain Distin was born. French footballer.

1977 - Risto Jarva dies (b. 1934). Finnish filmmaker.

1978 - Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.

1978 - Gunter Van Handenhoven was born. Belgian footballer.

1978 - Kaine was born. American rapper (Ying Yang Twins).

1979 - Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.

1979 - Flo Rida was born. American rapper.

1979 - Jessie Ward was born. American professional wrestler.

1979 - Mihai Trăistariu was born. Romanian singer.

1979 - Nicole Werra was born. Miss Wisconsin Teen USA (1996).

1979 - Trevor Immelman was born. South African golfer.

1980 - Colonel Harland Sanders dies (b. 1890). American fast food entrepreneur.

1980 - Hellmuth Walter dies (b. 1900). German engineer and inventor.

1981 - Anna Sedokova was born. Ukrainian singer.

1981 - Gareth Williams was born. Scottish footballer.

1981 - Took Leng How was born (d. 2006). Malaysian criminal.

1982 - The Federal Reserve announces that the operating capacity of factories has gone down to 67.8%.

1982 - Antrel Rolle was born. American football free safety.

1982 - Garnon Davies was born. Welsh actor.

1982 - Colin Chapman dies (b. 1928). English engineer and automobile manufacturer.

1983 - Danielle Lloyd was born. English model.

1983 - Kelenna Azubuike was born. English basketball player.

1984 - Debs Garms was born (d. 1907). Baseball player.

1985 - Mafia: In New York City, mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead when exiting from Sparks Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.

1985 - Keita Tachibana was born. Member of Japanese boy band w-inds.

1985 - Paul Castellano dies (b. 1915). American mafioso.

1985 - Thomas Bilotti dies (b. 1940). American mafioso.

1986 - Revolt in Kazakhstan against Communist party, known as Zheltoksan, which became the first signs of ethnic strife during Gorbachev's tenure.

1987 - Roh Tae Woo wins Presidential Election in South Korea.

1987 - Hallee Hirsh was born. American actress.

1988 - Anna Popplewell was born. English actress.

1988 - Sylvester James dies (b. 1948). American R&B singer, disco performer.

1989 - Protest breaks out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor, László Tőkés.

1989 - Walter LeRoy Moody begins his terrorist bombing streak when he sends Judge Robert Smith Vance a bomb in the mail, instantly killing him near his house in Birmingham, Alabama.

1989 - Chen Yaoye was born. Chinese professional Go player.

1989 - Silvana Mangano dies (b. 1930). Italian actress (Death in Venice).

1989 - Lee Van Cleef dies (b. 1925). American actor (Good, Bad and Ugly).

1989 - Aileen Pringle dies (b. 1895). American actress.

1989 - Oscar Alfredo Gálvez dies (b. 1913). Argentine racing driver.

1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti in the country's first democratic

1990 - Douglas Campbell dies (b. 1896). American pilot.

1991 - Independence of The Republic of Kazakhstan.

1991 - United Nations reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25, with 13 abstentions.

1992 - Marios Theodorou was born. Cypriot football player.

1993 - Moses Gunn dies (b. 1929). American actor.

1993 - Tanaka Kakuei dies (b. 1918). Japanese political leader.

1994 - Herberto Helder, Portuguese poet, is distinguished with The Pessoa Prize but he refused to receive it.

1995 - Johnny Moss dies (b. 1907). American poker player.

1995 - Mariele Ventre dies (1934). Italian choir director.

1996 - Quentin Bell dies (b. 1910). English biographer and art historian.

1996 - Former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan, condemned to death for a 1979 coup and a deadly military crackdown, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

1997 - Super Typhoon Paka makes landfall on the island of Guam with 150 mph winds.

1997 - 685 kids went to hospital in Japan after an episode of pokemon see also: Pokémon: Banned Episodes.

1997 - Nicolette Larson dies (b. 1952). American singer.

1998 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox - The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.

1998 - William Gaddis dies (b. 1922). American writer.

1999 - Mud streams kill thousands in Venezuela.

2000 - NASA announces that there is an ocean beneath Jupiter moon Ganymede's icy surface.

2000 - Colin Powell is selected to become the first African-American secretary of state.

2001 - Yakoub Dakidak, senior Hamas military wing activist, killed after nightfall by Israeli troops which had entered Palestiniain Hebron, who say that he was fleeing arrest.

2001 - Stuart Adamson dies (b. 1958). British musician.

2001 - Stefan Heym dies (b. 1913). German author.

2002 - Le Canada devient le 99e pays à signer le protocole de Kyoto.

2003 - Deborah Jin induces the formation of a fermionic condensate among fermionic atoms.

2003 - Gary Stewart dies (b. 1945). American musician and songwriter.

2003 - Robert Stanfield dies (b. 1914). Premier of Nova Scotia.

2004 - Ted Abernathy dies (b. 1933). American baseball player.

2005 - The last scheduled day of the terrestial radio version of the popular US radio program The Howard Stern Show is broadcast.

2005 - Ed Hansen dies (b. 1937). American film director and editor.

2005 - Kenneth Bulmer dies (b. 1921). British author.

2005 - John Spencer dies (b. 1946). American actor.

2006 - Pnina Salzman dies (b. 1922). Israeli pianist.