Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on December 2nd?

Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, wins a significant victory over the Roman Republic at the Battle of the Trebia during the Second Punic War.

Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, wins a significant victory over the Roman Republic at the Battle of the Trebia during the Second Punic War.

The Treaty of Brundisium is signed, temporarily ending the Roman civil wars between Octavian and Antony.

President James Monroe proclaims a new U.S. foreign policy initiative during his annual address to Congress. The U.S. policy, which has become known as the “Monroe Doctrine.” forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts. More

Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the only former president to do so. Primarily the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams.

Physicist Enrico Fermi produces the world's first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction, setting the stage for a variety of advancements in nuclear science. The experiment took place under Fermi's direction at the University of Chicago's football stadium. Enrico Fermi was born in Rome in 1901 and had resided in Italy until 1938, the year he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. More

Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy - The U.S. Senate votes to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led the fight in Congress to root out suspected Communists from the Federal Government. The censure described his behavior as "contrary to senatorial traditions". Senator Joseph R. McCarthy had been a little-known junior senator from Wisconsin until February 1950 when he claimed to have a list of 205 card-carrying Communists and members of a spy ring employed in the U.S. Department of State. McCarthy was never able to prove his sensational charge. More

Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and Cuba becomes a communist state.

The U.S. Senate passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to use military force in Vietnam.

The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its first passenger flight. It carried 191 people, 110 of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle, to New York City.

The United Emirates (UAE) is formed following the completion of treaties with Great Britain. The United States recognized the United Arab Emirates the next day. The uniting Sheikdoms were Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharja, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain and Fujairah. Ras al-Khaimah joined two months later. The UAE is the third-largest oil producer in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia and Iran. The United Arab Emirates is a member state of the League of Arab States. More

The first mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive, in New York City.

The Cold War officially ends with a summit meeting between U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.1991 CE, December 26 - The dissolution of the Soviet Union is officially declared, ending the existence of the USSR.

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed in a shootout with authorities.

The Enron Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually it came to light, that some of Enron aggressive accounting practices allowed claiming future unrealized gains from some trading contracts into current income and the transferring of troubled operations to so-called special purpose entities (SPEs), kept the assets off Enron’s books, making its losses look less severe than they really were. Enron’s collapse, cost investors billions of dollars, wiped out over 5,600 jobs and liquidated over $2 billion in pension plans. It also triggered the collapse of Arthur Anderson which had served not only as Enron’s auditor but also as a consultant to the company. More about Enron - More about the executives