On This Day in History: December 16

Pope Innocent IV canonizes Saint Edmund of Abingdon, the Archbishop of Canterbury on December 16, 1246,  six years after his death.

A major eruption of Mount Vesuvius takes place on December 16, 1631 killing an estimated 3,000 to 6000 people, burying villages on its slopes. The event marked a shift from long quiescent periods to more frequent activity. 

"The Boston Tea Party" Defiant colonists dump crates of tea into Boston Harbor. This was the culmination of a series of events which led the thirteen American colonies closer to independence. More

An earthquake in the U.S Midwest, centered near New Madrid, Missouri, known as the first New Madrid earthquake (M 6,7-8.1), shakes the central United States on December 16, 1811. It was followed by a second large earthquakes on January 23, 1812 of M 7.5 and the third one on February 7, 1812 also of M 7.5. The earthquakes, caused massive ground fissures, landslides, and even reversed the flow of the Mississippi River.

The First Anglo-Boer War begins as Boer forces invade British territories (Transvaal)  on December 16, 1880. The war was a result of the Boers' desire to regain their independence after Britain had annexed the South African Republic (Transvaal) in 1877. The conflict is also known as the Transvaal Rebellion. More

An earthquake, believed to be the world’s second deadliest of the twentieth century, hits China’s remote Gansu Province leading to the deaths of more than 200,000 people and causing severe destruction over an area of 20,000 square kilometers. More

The German army launches a counteroffensive intended to cut through the Allied forces and turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. The German offensive was code-named Wacht am Rhein (the “Watch on the Rhine”), but is better known in the United States as the “Battle of the Bulge". More

President Harry S. Truman Proclaims the "Existence of a National Emergency", stating that “the increasing menace of the forces of communist aggression spreading throughout the globe via North Korean forces requires that the national defense of the United States be strengthened as speedily as possible,”  Expand +

A United DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collide over New York City, killing 134 people on the planes and on the ground. More

The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marking a significant moment in human rights history.

A terrorist bomb mailed to his home, kills Federal Judge Robert Vance in Alabama. Two days later a second bomb killed civil rights Attorney Robert Robertson in Georgia. Two other bombs were discovered before they exploded. A massive investigation ensued involving the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies. In June 1991, a federal jury convicted Walter LeRoy Moody, Jr. on charges related to the bombings. He was executed in 2018. More Expand +

President Clinton orders air attack on Iraq and the United States joined by Britain begin operation "Desert Fox" on December 16,1998 as a reaction to Saddam Hussein's refusal to cooperate with UNSCOM's inspectors and to degrade Iraq's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction as well as to diminish the Iraqi threat to its neighbors. More