TODAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 3

 

December 3

915 – Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor (probable date).

1775 – American Revolutionary War: USS Alfred becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.

1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Wiesloch: Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Anton Sztáray defeats the French at Wiesloch.

1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden: French General Jean Victor Marie Moreau decisively defeats the Archduke John of Austria near Munich. Coupled with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's earlier victory at Marengo, this will force the Austrians to sign an armistice and end the war.

1800 – United States presidential election: The Electoral College casts votes for president and vice president that result in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

1818 – Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.

1834 – The Zollverein (German Customs Union) begins the first regular census in Germany.

1854 – Battle of the Eureka Stockade: More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.

1881 – The first issue of Tamperean daily newspaper Aamulehti ("Morning Paper") is published.

1898 – The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club defeats an all-star collection of early football players 16–0, in what is considered to be the very first all-star game for professional American football.

1901 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".

1904 – The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California's Lick Observatory.

1910 – Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.

1912 – Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.)

1919 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.

1920 – Following more than a month of Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.

1929 – President Herbert Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress. It is presented in the form of a written message rather than a speech.

1938 – Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization.

1944 – Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in Athens between the ELAS and government forces supported by the British Army.

1959 – The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.

1960 – The musical Camelot debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It will become associated with the Kennedy administration.

1967 – At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant on a human (53-year-old Louis Washkansky).

1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Pakistan launches a pre-emptive strike against India and a full-scale war begins.

1972 – Spantax Flight 275 crashes during takeoff from Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, killing all 155 people on board.

1973 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

1979 – In Cincinnati, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert.

1979 – Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.

1982 – A soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri, that will be found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.

1984 – Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom later died from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

1989 – In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.

1992 – The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.

1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.

1994 – Taiwan holds its first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only directly elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first directly elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung.

1995 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 crashes on approach to Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing 71 of the 76 people on board.

1997 – In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.

1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.

2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes the first crewed rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail in Kern County, California.

2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, and close a 32-kilometre (20 mi) portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods.

2009 – A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.

2012 – At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines.

2014 – The Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches the space explorer Hayabusa2 from the Tanegashima Space Center on a six-year round trip mission to an asteroid to collect rock samples.

2021 – COVID-19 pandemic: New Zealand moves into COVID-19 Protection Framework (Traffic Light System), moving Auckland out of lockdown for fully vaccinated people.

 

TODAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 2

 

December 2

1244 – Pope Innocent IV arrives at Lyon for the First Council of Lyon.

1409 – The University of Leipzig opens.

1697 – St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt to the design of Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London, is consecrated.

1763 – Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what will become the United States.

1766 – Swedish parliament approves the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act and implements it as a ground law, thus being first in the world with freedom of speech.

1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French.

1805 – War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Austerlitz: French troops under Napoleon decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.

1823 – Monroe Doctrine: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas.

1845 – Manifest Destiny: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.

1848 – Franz Joseph I becomes Emperor of Austria.

1851 – French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.

1852 – Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French as Napoleon III.

1859 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

1865 – Alabama ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed by North Carolina, then Georgia; U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks.

1867 – At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

1899 – Philippine–American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, known as the "Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.

1908 – Puyi becomes Emperor of China at the age of two.

1917 – World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk, and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk begin.

1927 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.

1930 – Great Depression: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Herbert Hoover proposes a $150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.

1939 – New York City's LaGuardia Airport opens.

1942 – World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1943 – World War II: A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including the American SS John Harvey, which is carrying a stockpile of mustard gas.

1947 – Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Arabs riot in Jerusalem in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

1949 – Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others is adopted.

1950 – Korean War: The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River ends with a decisive Chinese victory and UN forces are completely expelled from North Korea.

1954 – Cold War: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to censure Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".

1954 – The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C.

1956 – The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1957 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 126 relating to the Kashmir conflict is adopted.

1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba will adopt Communism.

1962 – Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.

1970 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.

1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.

1975 – Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.

1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

1988 – Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state.

1989 – The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.

1991 – Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.

1993 – Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.

1993 – Space Shuttle program: STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

1999 – The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.

2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

2015 – San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.

2016 – Thirty-six people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.

2020 – Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.