What Happened in December?

An explosion in a network of mines owned by the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah kills 362 coal miners in West Virginia’s Marion County' 171 of them Italian migrants. Others killed in the disaster included Russians, Greeks, and immigrant workers from Austria-Hungary. The Monongah coal mine disaster was the worst mining disaster in American history. More

The Messina Earthquake, Europe's most powerful earthquake shook southern Italy on December 28, 1908. The epicenter was in the Messina Strait, which separates Sicily from Calabria. The quake's magnitude equaled a 7.5 by today's Richter scale.  Expand +

Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian polar team was the first to reach the geographic South Pole on December. Five weeks later, on January, 1904, the polar team led by Robert Falcon Scott was the second. Scott's party of five died on the return journey from the pole. More

The world's first moving assembly line debuts at the Ford Model T car factory in Highland Park, Michigan. The innovation spearheaded by Henry Ford, revolutionized the auto industry. More

The stolen “Mona Lisa” was recovered in Florence, Italy on December 12, 1913. It had been stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris on August 21, 1911, by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former Louvre employee.  Expand +

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the Federal Reserve. More

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act into law. The passing of the Federal Reserve act created a system for financial stability which impacted the US economic system domestically and internationally by creating means to regulate inflation, ability to respond to economic panics allowing the  promotion and the internationalization of the U.S. Dollar as a stable global currency.

The Battle of the Falkland Islands (WWI) takes place on December 8, 1914 The German naval forces led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee, are stopped  in their attempt to raid the Falkland Islands by the British Navy commanded by Admiral Doveton Sturdee. All the German ships except Dresden and Seydlitz were tracked down and sunk.

The Christmas Truce of 1914. Although fighting continued in many parts of the Western Front, a rare heart-warming display of humanity in the history of human conflict takes place in some sections. By Christmas of that year there were millions of soldiers dug in trenches packed together and living in freezing conditions. On Christmas Eve German troops began unwrapping gifts from home and singing Christmas carols and soon the British and French troops joined in. Christmas greetings and well wishes were exchanged, and offers of a temporary ceasefire were communicated between the trenches. On Christmas morning, The troops began to greet one another, messages and gifts were exchanged and spontaneous games of football(soccer) were rumored to have happened. More

The WWI battle of Verdun ends on December 18, 1916. It was a costly French defensive victory, repulsing a major German offensive in one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war.  Expand +

Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian self proclaimed mystic was murdered on December 30, 1916 by Russian nobles and conservatives, who reportedly poisoned, shot, and then drowned the Siberian mystic to halt his influence over Empress Alexandra and the royal family. More

Finland declares independence from Russia, leading to the Finnish Civil War.

The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary. More

Jerusalem surrenders to British troops. The mayor of Jerusalem, Hussein Salim al-Husseini, delivers the Ottoman Governor's letter surrendering the city to Brigadier General C.F. Watson, of the 180th Brigade.  Expand +

The 18th Amendment, establishing Prohibition, is passed by the U.S. Congress on December 18, 1917. It was then sent to the States for ratification, which was completed on January 16, 1919, becoming law and bringing about the Prohibition Era of the United States. On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was passed, officially repealing the 18th amendment. 

President Wilson issues a declaration that he had nationalized the railroad system under the Federal Possession and Control Act. Expand +

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 Irish Free State, is declared, with representatives of the two states signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, ending a five-year Irish struggle for independence from Britain but still remaining part of the British Commonwealth, symbolically subject to the king. The Irish Free State later severed ties with Britain and is now called the Republic of Ireland. Neither the Free State or the current Republic of Ireland included today's Northern Ireland. More

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR) is established with its capital in Moscow on December 30, 1922 and the Communist Party, led by Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin took control of the government. The Union eventually incorporated 15 republics and constituted the largest country (in area) in the world until its dissolution in 1991.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) terrorizes the University of Dayton, a Catholic Institution, by exploding 12 bombs throughout the campus and setting on fire an 8-foot cross.  Expand +