Today's 11 December Major Events in History

Photo for the article Today's 11 December Major Events

359 Honoratus, first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office, after the Emperor Constantius creates a new senate for the East
384 St Damasus I dies and ends his reign as Catholic Pope. Began reign 366
435 K'inich Yax K'uk Mo', founding ruler of Maya city of Copán, marks completion of an important calendrical cycle under Maya Long Count calendar (Stela 63). Oldest known inscription from Copán.

Battle of Orewin Bridge

1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last native and independent Prince of Wales, is killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge near Cilmeri, close to Builth Wells in mid Wales, by forces of Edward I of England. Gruffydd reigned from 1259 and is known as Llywelyn the Last.

1395 John "Eleanor" Rykener, a male cross-dressing prostitute, is brought to court in London for "committing that detestable unmentionable and ignominious vice" in late medieval England's only recorded case on same-sex intercourse (verdict unknown)
1419 Heretic Nicolaas Serrurier exiled from Florence
1477 Duchess Maria of Burgundy ends the 'Great Privilege' in states of The Netherlands
1572 Spanish troops begin siege of Haarlem

Fête de l'Escalade

1602 Surprise attack by forces of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain repelled by citizens of Geneva. Commemorated since as Fête de l'Escalade.

1618 The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia agree to the Truce of Deulino ending the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618)

1620 Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [NS: Dec 21]

1665 "Messiah" Sjabtai Tswi festival in Smyrna
1677 Second Battle of Tobago: French forces under Jean II d'Estrées defeat the Dutch led by Jacob Binckes, who is killed along with many of his men when a French shell detonates the defenders' powder magazine, destroying the fort and ending Dutch military power in the Antilles

James II Captured

1688 King James II captured in Kent, after trying to flee to France upon the arrival of William of Orange

1710 Battle of Villa Viciosa: France beats the Habsburgers
1719 First recorded display of Aurora Borealis (northern lights) in New England

Louis XVI Goes on Trial

1792 French King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state

1812 1st newspaper on Curacao (Curacao Gazette & Commercial Advertiser)
1816 Citizens of Geneva thwart Savoyard invaders
1816 Indiana becomes 19th state of the Union
1844 First dental use of nitrous oxide in Hartford, Connecticut, by John Riggs on dentist Horace Wells

Battle of Fredricksburg

1862 Battle of Fredricksburg in Virginia begins between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside

1866 First yacht race across the Atlantic Ocean; schooners Fleetwing, Vesta, and Henrietta, with New York playboy Gordon Bennett on board, leave Sandy Hook for the Scilly Isles (Henrietta wins)
1872 Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback takes office in Louisiana as the first African American US Governor

1878 Anglo-Zulu War: British high commissioner Henry Bartle Frere presents an ultimatum to the Zulu Kingdom to submit to British rule or face war

Iolanthe

1882 Boston's Bijou Theatre, the first American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, holds its first performance: W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "Iolanthe"

1882 Victorien Sardous play "Fedora" with Sarah Bernhardt premieres in Paris
1888 French Panama Canal Company fails; costs estimated to exceed over $287M and over 22,000 lives
1893 11 fishing ships wash up at Wadden Sea, 22 killed

1896 Chief Electrical Engineer of the British Post Office, William Preece, gives a public lecture in London called "Telegraphy without Wires", praising the work of 22-year-old Guglielmo Marconi

1902 The US signs a treaty with Cuba allowing for a 20 percent reduction of tariff rates on imported Cuban products
1903 British forces under MacDonald & Younghusband march into Tibet
1905 A workers uprising occurs, establishing the Shuliavka Republic in Kiev
1905 British government of Campbell-Bannerman forms
1905 High temperature of 120°F (49°C) recorded in Rivadavia, Argentina, a record for all of South America

1907 New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire
1908 Frederick Delius' orchestral work "In a Summer Garden" premieres in London
1909 Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
1909 Colored moving pictures are demonstrated at Madison Square Garden in New York City
1913 Iconic painting the "Mona Lisa" is recovered two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris
1914 Stockton Street Tunnel (San Francisco) completed

1917 13 black soldiers hanged for participation in Houston riot
1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
1919 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise, Alabama

Feast of Christ the King

1925 Pope Pius XI publishes the encyclical Quas Primas (In the First), establishing the liturgical feast of Christ the King

Attempt on Hoover Thwarted

1928 Buenos Aires police thwart assassination attempt on President-elect Herbert Hoover - prevent anarchists from bombing his train

1930 Bank of the United States closes in New York City
1931 Japan leaves the Gold Standard
1931 Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland (not then part of Canada)
1932 San Francisco's coldest day (27°F) - it snows
1934 1935 All-Star Game is assigned to Cleveland
1934 1st successful penalty shot by a Toronto Maple Leaf - Charlie Conacher stopped by New York Rangers Andy Aitkenhead at Madison Square Garden
1934 1st Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher unsuccessful vs Rangers
1934 Ford C. Frick becomes president of baseball's National League
1934 NL votes to permit night baseball (up to 7 games per home team)

1936 Edward VIII announces in a radio broadcast that he is abdicating the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson

1937 Italy withdraws from League of Nations

Zhukov Warns of German Assault

1940 Russian general Georgy Zhukov warns of German assault

1941 Axis powers Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declare war against the United States
1941 Dutch government in London declares war on Italy
1941 Japanese forces make an amphibious assault on Wake Island, their only failed landing during World War II
1941 Japanese occupy Guam
1941 NY Giants acquire future Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman Johnny Mize from Cardinals for 3 players & $50,000
1942 Australian Dutch guerrilla troops evacuated to Timor near Australia
1944 Surprise attack on House of Keeping Axe, 29 prisoners freed
1945 Het Parool publishes 1st Captain Rob-strip

Williams Records with Sterling

1946 Hank Williams begins recording for the Sterling Records label

1946 Spain suspended from UN
1946 United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established by resolution 57(I) of the UN General Assembly
1947 Pacific Coast League application for major league status rejected
1948 WHEN (now WTVH) TV channel 5 in Syracuse, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1948 WMC TV channel 5 in Memphis, Tennessee (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 Chicago Bear Johnny Lujack passes for 6 touchdowns vs Chicago Cards (52-29)
1949 WOAI (now KMOL) TV channel 4 in San Antonio, TX (NBC) 1st broadcast
1950 Baseball owners vote 9-7 not to renew Commissioner Chandler's contract

Nobel Prize in Physics

1950 British Physicist Cecil Frank Powell awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for his study of nuclear processes and the discovery of the pion

The Wild Side of Life

1951 "The Wild Side of Life" single recorded by Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys (Billboard Song of the Year, 1952)

1953 KTVA TV channel 11 in Anchorage (CBS) becomes Alaska's 1st TV station
1953 WAIM (now WAXA) TV Channel 40 in Anderson, South Carolina (IND) begins broadcasting
1954 USS Forrestal aircraft carrier christened in Newport News, Virginia
1956 Anti-Russian demonstrations in Stettin & Wroclaw, Poland
1958 4th (last) Dutch government of Willem Drees falls
1958 Archibald MacLeish's play "J.B." premieres in NYC
1958 Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) gains autonomy from France

1959 NY Yankees trade Marv Thronberry, Don Larsen, Hank Bauer and Norm Seibern for Roger Maris, Kent Hadley and Joe Deaestri
1960 Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers; pro-independence demonstrations turn violent, 114 die
1960 Cleveland Brown's Bernie Parrish sets club record for longest interception return with a 92 yard run
1960 Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's musical "Wildcat" with Lucille Ball premieres in New York City

Blue Hawaii

1961 Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" album goes #1 and stays #1 for 20 weeks

1961 Motown Records releases "Please, Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes; it is the group and the label's 1st #1 pop song

Notes on Camp

1964 "Time" magazine calls Susan Sontag "one of Manhattan's brightest intellectuals" in a review of her groundbreaking essay "Notes on Camp"

Che Guevara Addresses the General Assembly

1964 Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.

1966 Al Nelson sets NFL record returning missed field goal, 100 yards

1967 6.6 earthquake in Koynanagar, India, kills at least 177, injures over 2,000 and lightly damages the Koyna Dam
1967 People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established
1967 The Anglo-French supersonic airliner prototype, Concorde 001, is officially unveiled to the public in Toulouse, France
1967 The Beatles' Apple Music signs its first group - Grapefruit
1968 KECC (now KECY) TV channel 9 in El Centro, CA (CBS) 1st broadcast

William Craig Sacked

1968 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill sacks Home Affairs Minister, William Craig

1968 US Soccer Football Association refuses to let NASL disband
1969 Libya adopts constitution
1970 Start of the 1st Test match at the WACA, Australia v England
1971 A bomb explodes outside a furniture showroom on the mainly-Protestant and loyalist Shankill Road, Belfast; four civilians (including two babies) were killed and nineteen wounded
1971 The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed
1972 American Astronauts Eugene Cernan & Harrison 'Jack" Schmitt, a become 11th & 12th people on the Moon
1972 New York Jets' Don Maynard becomes all time pro reception leader (632)
1973 Houston Astro César Cedeño jailed for the death of a 19-year-old woman
1973 NA Soccer League awards LA, San Francisco, Seattle & Vancouver franchises

Trade with Czechoslovakia

1973 West German chancellor Willy Brandt normalizes trade with Czechoslovakia

1975 MLB New York Yankees make great trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis and Ken Brett from Pittsburgh Pirates for George "Doc" Medich
1977 Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, leaders of the group 'Peace People' (an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland) receive the Nobel Peace Prize
1978 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at NYC Kennedy Airport and made off with $5.8M in cash & jewelry; all of the participants and some associates were later killed on order of the alleged organized crime mastermind, loot never recovered
1978 NBC premiere of "A Woman Called Moses"
1979 Geoff Boycott scores cricket century in a limited-over international

1980 The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
1981 Argentine President General Roberto Viola flees
1981 El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.

Ali's Last Fight

1981 Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali's 61st and last fight; loses to Trevor Berbick by unanimous decision in 10 rounds at Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, Nassau, Bahamas

1981 Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
1981 UN Security Council chooses Javier Pérez de Cuélla of Peru as the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations
1981 Wash Capitals biggest margin of victory (9) beating Toronto 11-2

First Lutheran Church Visit

1983 First visit to a Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome)

1984 Mauretania military coup under Col Maawiya Ould Sid'ahmed Taya
1985 Computer store owner in Sacramento California killed by package bomb
1985 Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,500 for 1st time (1,511.70)
1985 General Electric acquires RCA Corp & its subsidiary, NBC
1985 NHL Record 62 points scored, Edmonton (36) beats Chicago (26) 12-9 & ties record of 21 goals
1986 South Africa censors press

1987 Martin Ritt's dramatic film "Nuts", starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfus premieres
1989 Mark Davis signs record $3.25 million per year KC Royals contract
1990 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga Tn I-75, due to fog
1990 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) returns from space

1991 William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape
1992 Nor'easter storm hits NY, doing $ Billion worth of damage

1992 WNEW AM radio on 1130 in NYC ends transmitting after 58 years
1993 59th Heisman Trophy Award: Charlie Ward, Florida State (QB)
1993 Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle elected President of Chile
1994 Russian Federation forces attack city of Grozny, beginning the First Chechen War, in which the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria gains its independence from Russia
1994 Russian troops enter Chechnya
1995 Thomas O Hicks buys NHL Dallas Stars for $84 million
1997 Delegates from 150 industrialized nations attend a UN climate conference in Kyoto, Japan, and reach an agreement to control heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions
1997 Federal judge orders Microsoft not to bundle IE4 in Windows
1998 Former Governor Edward D. DiPrete pleads guilty to 18 counts of bribery, extortion and racketeering
1998 Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101
2000 66th Heisman Trophy Award: Chris Weinke, Florida State (QB)
2001 The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2002 Joe Sakic scores his 500th career goal at Vancouver
2004 70th Heisman Trophy Award: Matt Leinart, USC (QB)
2005 Cronulla riots: thousands of white Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence, resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
2005 The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, England, is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.

Tehran Holocaust Conference

2006 International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

2006 Jerry Sloan achieves his 1,000th career win as a coach when his Utah Jazz defeat the Dallas Mavericks
2007 Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.

Bernie Madoff Arrested

2008 Bernie Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme

2009 Angry Birds, a Finnish puzzle video game, is released internationally and becomes a massive global success

Tiger Woods Quits Golf

2009 Tiger Woods announces an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage.

2010 Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one person and injuring two others. Europol categorizes the attack as terrorism
2011 Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek suffers a minor heart attack in his home and is admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
2011 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: Team Europe retains trophy with an 11-7 win over US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
2012 125 people are killed and 200 are injured by bombings in Aqrab, Syria

Fundamental Physics Prize

2012 British physicist, Stephen Hawking, wins the $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize, the most lucrative academic prize in the world

2012 HSBC bank settles with US authorities to pay $1.9 billion for drug cartel money laundering
2013 20 people are killed by the bubonic plague in a small Madagascan village

Pope Francis Person of the Year

2013 Pope Francis is named Time magazine's person of the year

CIA Director Defends Interrogation

2014 CIA Director John Brennan defends interrogation methods used after 9/11 but admits some methods were "abhorrent"

2014 World's first successful penis transplant is performed by a team from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa

Playboy's Last Nude Issue

2015 "Playboy" magazine publishes its last nude issue, features Pamela Anderson on the cover

2015 Unrest in Burundi leads to clashes between authorities and protesters in Bujumbura, killing at least 87
2016 Bombing at a chapel in Cairo, Egypt, kills 25 and wounds 45

Jammeh Vows Court Challenge

2016 Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh says he will contest his election defeat in court after his first election loss in 22 years

2016 Kyrgyzstan votes in a referendum to change the constitution to give the government more power
2017 Attempted suicide terrorist bomb attack in New York wounds 3, bomb fails to fully detonate
2017 Landmark trial for Huntington's disease in London announces positive results - first time a drug has been able to slow an incurable brain disorder
2017 Rahul Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, is elected leader of the Indian National Congress
2017 Saudi Arabia announces an end to its 35 year ban on cinemas
2017 Six wildfires in Southern California now cover area larger than New York City and Boston combined

Gillibrand Calls for Trump to Resign

2017 US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand calls for the resignation of President Donald Trump after 16 women accuse him of sexual harassment

2018 The Arctic is experiencing "unprecedented warmth" caused by human-caused climate change, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Report

The Guardians

2018 Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2018 is "The Guardians," journalists targeted for their work, including Jamal Khashoggi

2019 Bougainville votes to become independent of Papua New Guinea in a referendum

Thunberg Person of the Year

2019 Climate activist Greta Thunberg is named Time magazine's Person of the Year

2019 Discovery of the earliest figurative artwork in the world, 43,900 years old, featuring figures part human and part animal, from a cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia, reported in the journal "Nature"
2019 India passes controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill clearing way for citizenship for immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but not if they are Muslim
2019 Militants attack army base in Ates, Niger, killing at least 71. Islamic State claim responsibility.
2020 America's FDA authorizes the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
2020 European Union leaders agree to cut net carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade
2020 First same-sex civil union registered in Bolivia after a two-year legal battle by activists
2020 Gunmen storm a school in Kankara, Katsina state, northern Nigeria, kidnapping more than 300 students (Boko Haram later claims responsibility)

Lawsuit to Overturn Election Rejected

2020 US Supreme Court rejects lawsuit by Texas to overturn Jo Biden's election in four battleground states, endorsed by 17 Republican attorney generals

2021 87th Heisman Trophy Award: Bryce Young, Alabama (QB)
2022 Brock Purdy wins his first career start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

LA's First Female Mayor

2022 Karen Bass sworn in as first female mayor of Los Angeles by Vice President Kamala Harris, declares a Homelessness state of emergency in the city

2022 Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's musical "Some Like It Hot", based on the 1959 feature film comedy, opens at the Shubert Theatre, NYC; garners 13 Tony Award nominations
2022 NASA's Orion spacecraft returns to Earth after completing the Artemis I test flight around the Moon in 25.5 days, achieving a record distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to carry humans [1]

2022 US authorities announce that the Libyan man accused of making the bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103, Abu Agila Mas’ud, is now in US custody [1]

2023 Canadian accused poison seller Kenneth Law who allegedly sent 200 packages to people in more than 40 countries, is charged with 14 counts of murder [1]
2023 Former PM and European Council President, Donald Tusk elected Prime Minister of Poland at head of a coalition government, after eight years of controversial conservative rule [1]