The History Shack

  December 11th is the three-hundred-forty-fifth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 361 – Julian enters Constantinople as the sole Roman Emperor. 1640 – The Root and Branch petition, signed by 15,000 Londoners calling for the abolition of the episcopacy, is presented to the Long Parliament. 1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France was imprisoned for treason by the National Convention. 1899 – Second Boer War: In the Battle of Magersfontein, the Boers, commanded by General Piet Cronjé, inflict a defeat on the forces of the British Empire commanded by Lord Methuen trying to relieve the Siege of Kimberley. 1913 – More than two years after it was stolen from the Louvre, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, Italy. The thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, is immediately arrested. 1927 – Guangzhou Uprising: Communist Red Guards launched an uprising in Guangzhou, China, taking over most of the city and a...

  December 10th is the three-hundred-forty-fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1317 – The "Nyköping Banquet": King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland, and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle. 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate. 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published. 1799 – France adopts the meter as its official unit of length. 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia. 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication. 1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives the Nobel Prize in Literature. 1993 – The last shift leaves...

  December 9th is the three-hundred-forty-thir1 day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 22 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops and Loyalists were misinformed about the strength of the Patriot militia, lost the Battle of Great Bridge, and ended British rule in Virginia. 1851 – The first YMCA in North America was established in Montreal. 1868 – The first traffic lights were installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps. 1946 – The subsequent Nuremberg trials begin with the Doctors' Trial, prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia. 1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of onl...

  December 8th is the three-hundred-forty-second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1660 – A woman (Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello. 1854 – In his Apostolic constitution, Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin. 1922 – Two days after coming into existence, the Irish Free State executes four leaders of the Irish Republican Army. 1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7 "a date which will live in infamy," after which the U.S. declared war on Japan. 1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms for Peace" speech, leading to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear pow...