🗓️ December 16, 1997 Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption. #History

🗓️ December 16, 1773 American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest British taxation without representation. #History

🗓️ December 16, 1689 The Parliament of England enacted the Bill of Rights, setting out basic civil rights and later influencing other documents such as the U.S. Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. #History

🗓️ December 16, 1901 English writer Beatrix Potter privately published 250 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (illustration shown) after several publishers' rejections. #History

🗓️ December 16, 1761 Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, Russian forces captured Kolberg, the last major Prussian port on the Baltic Sea. #History

🗓️ December 16, 1893 Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1981 The Iraqi Shia Islamist group al-Dawa carried out one of the first modern suicide bombings, targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in 61 deaths and at least 100 injuries. #History

🗓️ December 15, 687 Sergius was elected pope, ending the last disputed period of sede vacante during the Byzantine Papacy. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1970 The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1778 American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of St. Lucia, the Royal Navy prevented French Navy ships from reaching their garrison on Saint Lucia in the West Indies. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1791 The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified. #History

🗓️ December 15, 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act protests: 10 to 15 local women blockaded a major road in Delhi, India, to protest the exclusion of Muslims from the amended Citizenship Act. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1025 Constantine VIII (depicted) became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1961 Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death after being found guilty on fifteen criminal charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1946 U.S.-backed Iranian troops brought an end to the Iran crisis when they marched on the breakaway Republic of Mahabad and recaptured the territory. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1943 World War II: Australian and American forces began the Battle of Arawe against Japanese forces on New Britain as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1864 American Civil War: Union troops defeated the Army of Tennessee, one of the largest Confederate forces, at the Battle of Nashville. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1796 War of the First Coalition: The French navy launched an expedition to Ireland to assist the Society of United Irishmen in a rebellion against the British. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1939 The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1871 Sixteen-year-old Ella Stewart sent the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory. #History

🗓️ December 15, 2013 The South Sudanese Civil War began when three opposition leaders voted to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council in Juba. #History

🗓️ December 15, 1945 The US-led occupying forces ordered the government of Japan to cease state support for Shinto. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Bean's Station, the final battle of the Knoxville campaign, was fought in Grainger County, Tennessee. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1972 Upon completing the third extra-vehicular activity of Apollo 17, American astronaut Gene Cernan became the last person to date to walk on the Moon. #History

🗓️ December 14, 2012 A 20-year-old gunman shot twenty children and six adult staff members in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1948 American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the first interactive electronic game. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1913 Haruna, the fourth and last Japanese battlecruiser of the Kongō class, was launched and went on to serve in both world wars. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1836 The Toledo War, a mostly bloodless territorial dispute between Ohio and the Michigan Territory, was unofficially ended with a resolution passed by the controversial "Frostbitten Convention". #History

🗓️ December 14, 1650 English domestic servant Anne Greene survived being hanged for infanticide. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1925 Wozzeck (poster pictured) by composer Alban Berg, described as the first atonal opera, premiered at the Berlin State Opera. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1999 Torrential rains caused flash floods in the Venezuelan state of Vargas, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1981 The Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights, effectively annexing the territory internationally recognized as part of Syria. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1911 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1960 Australian cricketer Ian Meckiff was run out on the last day of the first Test match between Australia and the West Indies, resulting in the first tied Test in cricket history. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1992 War in Abkhazia: A helicopter carrying evacuees was shot down during the siege of Tkvarcheli, resulting in at least 52 deaths and catalysing more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1918 Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. #History

🗓️ December 14, 1998 Kosovo War: Yugoslav forces ambushed a group of Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle weapons into Yugoslavia from Albania. #History

🗓️ December 14, 2008 During a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at U.S. president George W. Bush and Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, yelling "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed #History

🗓️ December 14, 835 In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot was foiled. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1643 First English Civil War: Roundhead forces under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack in Hampshire on a winter garrison of Cavalier infantry and cavalry. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1928 An American in Paris, a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by George Gershwin, premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York. #History

🗓️ December 13, 2019 Jo Swinson steps down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats after losing her seat in the 2019 general election making her tenure the shortest in the party's history. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1577 Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1960 With Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, out of the country, four conspirators staged a coup attempt to install Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen on the throne. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1981 Polish prime minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law. #History

🗓️ December 13, 2013 Beyoncé released her fifth studio album without any prior announcement or promotion; it sold 2.3 million copies before the end of the year. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1991 Croatian War of Independence: The Croatian Army retreated after the failure of Operation Whirlwind, destroying their tanks to avoid their capture. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1989 The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army engaged in a fierce firefight with the King's Own Scottish Borderers at a vehicle checkpoint complex in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. #History

🗓️ December 13, 1809 Napoleonic Wars: While transporting supplies to Guadeloupe, French commodore François #History

📅 On This Day in 1937: Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces, capturing the Chinese city of Nanjing, began committing numerous atrocities over the next several weeks, including looting, rape and the execution of prisone... #History #OnThisDay