755 – An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during Chinese Tang Dynasty
1598 – Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point – in the final battle of the war Korean navy decisively defeats the Japanese
1631 – More than 3,000 people were killed by a major eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
1653 – Parliamentarian General Oliver Cromwell appointed as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland
1773 – Boston tea party incident – Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour in protest against British imposed Tea Act
1838 – Voortrekkers killed 3,000 Zulu at the Battle of Blood River in South Africa.
1913 – Charlie Chaplin begins his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1920 – 8.5 earthquake rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000
1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty, agreed to by the British Parliament and Sinn Féin, is ratified
1944 – Nazi Germany launches a counteroffensive against the Allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium, beginning the ‘Battle of the Bulge’
1946 – French fashion designer Christian Dior and his backer Marcel Boussac found fashion house Christian Dior
1950 – US President Harry Truman proclaims state of emergency against “Communist imperialism”
1991 – Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
1995 – The official adoption of the name “Euro”
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – the United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq
2014 – Members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, attacked a school in Peshawar, killing 150 people, at least 134 of whom were children.
2016 – 5 day pollution red alert declared in Beijing and 21 other Chinese cities, classified by officials as a “meteorological disaster”
2019 – Mariah Carey’s single “All I Want For Christmas Is You” reaches No. 1, 25 years after release
2020 – Nine-year-old girl who died of an asthma attack in 2013 becomes first person in the world to officially have air pollution listed as cause of death
Film & TV:
1962 – “Lawrence of Arabia” film directed by David Lean and starring Peter O’Toole, is released in the United States
1967 – “Playtime”, French film directed by Jacques Tati, starring himself, is released
2009 – Avatar, a science-fiction thriller directed by James Cameron, was released internationally; it went on to make more than $2.7 billion worldwide.
Music:
1893 – Anton Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “New World Symphony” premieres at Carnegie Hall, New York
1966 – Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its 1st single, “Hey Joe,” in the UK
Sport:
1930 – Golfer Bobby Jones is the first to win the James E. Sullivan Award (best US amateur athlete)
Via Britannica / On This Day
