43 BC Second Triumvirate alliance of Roman leader Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony formed
1161 – Battle of Caishi: A Song dynasty fleet fights a naval engagement with Jin dynasty ships on the Yangtze river during the Jin–Song Wars.
1476 – Vlad the Impaler defeats Basarab Laiota with the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Báthory and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.
1688 – French King Louis XIV declares war on Netherlands
1703 – Great storm of 1703 hits Southern England (NS 7 Dec) – thousands killed, Royal Navy losses 13 ships and around 1,500 seamen
1812 – The Battle of Berezina begins during Napoleon’s retreat from Russia.
1865 – Battle of Papudo: A Spanish navy schooner is defeated by a Chilean corvette north of Valparaíso, Chile.
1914 – Battleship HMS Bulwark explodes at Sheerness Harbour, England, 788 die
1916 – Greece declares war on Germany
1917 – The Manchester Guardian publishes the 1916 secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France.
1918 – The Montenegran Podgorica Assembly votes for a “union of the people”, declaring assimilation into the Kingdom of Serbia.
1924 – Mongolian People’s Republic proclaimed
1939 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Army orchestrates an incident which is used to justify the start of the Winter War with Finland four days later.
1940 – Nazi Germany began walling off the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw
1941 – British troops conquer Belhamed, Sidi Rezegh & El Duda
1941 – Japanese naval carrier force left its base & moves east toward Pearl Harbor
1941 – Lebanon independence first proclaimed by France
1942 – World War II: Yugoslav Partisans convene the first meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia at Bihać in northwestern Bosnia.
1942 – Casablanca, the movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premieres in New York City
1943 – World War II: HMT Rohna is sunk by the Luftwaffe in an air attack in the Mediterranean north of Béjaïa, Algeria.
1944 – World War II: A GermanV-2 rockethits a Woolworth’s shop in London, United Kingdom, killing 168 people.
1944 – World War II: Germany begins V-1 and V-2 attacks on Antwerp, Belgium.
1949 – The Constituent Assembly of India adopts the constitution presented by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
1950 – Korean War: Troops from the People’s Republic of China launch a massive counterattack in North Korea against South Korean and United Nations forces (Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River and Battle of Chosin Reservoir), ending any hopes of a quick end to the conflict.
1955 – Emergency crisis proclaimed in Cyprus
1965 – In the Hammaguir launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1, on board.
1968 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire. He is later awarded the Medal of Honor.
1975 – France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island
1975 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 – US & Iraq re-establish diplomatic relations
1985 – France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1986 – Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission.
1990 – The Delta II rocket makes its maiden flight.
1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev tells Iraq to get out of Kuwait
1991 – National Assembly of Azerbaijanabolishes the autonomous status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan and renames several cities back to their original names.
1998 – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
1998 – The Khanna rail disaster takes 212 lives in Khanna, Ludhiana, India.
1999 – The 7.5 MwAmbrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows. Ten people were killed and forty were injured.
2000 – George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida’s electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote.
2003 – The Concorde makes its final flight, over Bristol, England.
2008 – Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba in the heart of India’s Financial Capital.
2011 – NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani check post in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
2011 – The Mars Science Laboratory launches to Mars with the Curiosity Rover.