3rd December 1621

Galileo invents telescope

4th December 1992

Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 US troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.

5th December 1741

Russian princess Elisabeth Petrovna grabs powers

6th December 1862

Pres Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians

7th December 1877

Thomas A Edison demonstrates the gramophone

8th December 1886

American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president

9th December 1854

Lord Tennyson’s poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade,” published

10th December 1868

The first traffic lights are 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.

11th December 1602

A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva.

12th December 1408

Order of the Dragon: The Order of the Dragon was first created on December 12, 1408 by Emperor Sigismund.

13th December 1643

English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire

14th December 1600

Olivier van Noort sinks Sp galleon San Diego at Bay of Manila, 350 die

15th December 1877

Thomas Edison patents phonograph

16th December 1897

1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated

17th December 1924

1st US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx, NY

18th December 1941

German submarine U-434 sinks

19th  December 1983

The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.

20th December 1960

National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.

21st December 1973

Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US & USSR meet in Geneva

22nd December 1994

“Christmas Carol” opens at Richard Rodgers Theater NYC for 18 perfs

23rd December 1922

BBC Radio began daily newscasts

24th December 1777

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook

26th December 1799

George Washington is eulogized by Col Henry Lee as “1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen”

27th December 2007

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated by a suicide bomber.

28th December 2007

Nepal declared a federal democratic Republic by interim parliament, abolishing the monarchy.

29th December 1997

Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu

30th December 1997

In the worst incident in Algeria’s insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages.

31th December

1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced­­