Browse Historical Events by Month:
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Chinese Nationalists forces, unable to hold ground against Mao Zedong forces, depart for the island of Taiwan and establish their new capital. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek joined them on the following day.
This action marked the beginning of the “two Chinas” phase and it wasn't until 1979 when the United States officially recognized the People’s Republic of China. More
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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,”
The U.S. forces had seemed on the verge of victory in Korea. but in November, hundreds of thousands of communist Chinese troops. joined the fight and broke through the American lines driving them back just days after General Douglas MacArthur declared an “end to the war offensive". More
Idris becomes King of newly independent Libya on December 24, 1951. He ruled over Libya until September 1, when he was removed from power by a military coup led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Libya.
The monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi remained in control of Libya until October 20, 2011 when he was also deposed in a violent coup inspired by the Arab Spring protests.
Lethal smog covers the city of London for five days. It was caused by a combination of industrial pollution and high-pressure weather conditions bringing London to a near standstill and resulting in thousands of deaths.
Four years later, the UK Parliament passed the Clean Air Act marking a turning point in the history of environmentalism. 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
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Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the civil rights movement. More
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The First gorilla is born in captivity was born in the Columbus Zoo and was named Colo (a combination of Columbus and Ohio). The newborn female, western lowland gorilla weighing in at approximately 4 pounds.
Colo lived her entire life at the Columbus Zoo and died one month after her 60th birthday celebration on Jan. 17, 2017,. At the time of her death, Colo was the oldest gorilla ever on record. More
Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
A fire at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic elementary school in Chicago's Humboldt park community results in the death of 92 children and 3 nuns. The oldest part of the building was built in 1910.
Due to a "grandfather clause" in the city's fire code, the building officially met safety standards, even though it did not have the safety features required of modern buildings at that time. Thousands of older school buildings were brought up to code in the year following the fire.
The John Birch Society (JBS) is founded by Robert W. Welch Jr. More
Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France's Fifth Republic. An insurrection that had broken out in Algiers threatened to bring civil war to France. He was given extraordinary powers to resolve the political crisis and the extraordinarily divisive and bloody War in Algiers. After several tumultuous years de Gaulle resigned on April 28, 1969, following his defeat in a second referendum. More
The Antarctic Treaty is signed on December 1, 1959 in Washington D.C. by the twelve nations that had been active during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).
The twelve nations were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and USSR. The treaty went into effect on June, 23 1961. More
A magnitude 9.5 earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded, strikes Chile, resulting in widespread destruction and loss of life.
Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) gains independence from French colonial rule.
Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal living in Argentina is found guilty and sentenced to die, after a trial in Israel. Eichmann was abducted by an Israeli command unit from Argentina, where he was living and was taken to Israel to be tried. More
French forces capture the Algerian city of Oran, effectively ending the Algerian War of Independence.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is officially established in Baghdad, Iraq.
Richard Pavlick attempts to assassinate then-U.S. President-elect John F. Kennedy in Florida.
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.
Charles de Gaulle is reelected as the President of France.
