This Day in History
16 Dec 1392
Nanboku-ch - Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
16 Dec 1431
King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
16 Dec 1538
King Francois I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
16 Dec 1577
Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king Istvan Bathory
More History
Earthquake devastates Gansu province of China
One of the deadliest earthquakes in history hits the Gansu province of midwestern China causing massive landslides and the deaths of an estimated 200000 peopl...
Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony†receives its world premiere in New York City
On December 16 1893 the Philharmonic Society of New York gave the world premiere performance of Czech composer Antonin Dvoraks Symphony No. 9 in E Min...
Pakistani forces defeated in Bangladesh
Two weeks after the Indian invasion of East Pakistan in support of the independence movement there 90000 Pakistani troops surrender to the Indian forces. East...
Earthquake rocks the American wilderness
In the Mississippi River Valley near New Madrid Missouri the greatest series of earthquakes in U.S. history begins when a quake of an estimated 8.6 magnitude ...
Battle of the Bulge begins
With the Anglo-Americans closing in on Germany from the west and the Soviets approaching from the east Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a massive attack against...
OPEC states raise oil prices
On December 16 1979 the night before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries annual price-setting meeting in Caracas two member states (Lib...
The Boston Tea Party
In Boston Harbor a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor.The mi...
Germans bombard English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough
At approximately 8 oclock in the morning German battle cruisers from Franz von Hippers Scouting Squadron catch the British navy by surprise as ...
Westmoreland asks for more troops
Gen. William Westmoreland Commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam sends a request for more troops. With nearly 200000 U.S. military personnel ...
Kissinger announces that North Vietnamese left negotiations
Henry Kissinger announces at a news conference in Washington that the North Vietnamese have walked out of the ongoing private negotiations in Paris.President Ri...
OJ Simpson rushes record 2,000 yards in a season
On December 16 1973 the Buffalo Bills running back Orenthal James OJ Simpson becomes the first player in the National Football League (NFL) to r...
Clinton orders air attack on Iraq
On this day in 1998 President Bill Clinton announces he has ordered air strikes against Iraq because it refused to cooperate with United Nations (U.N.) weapons...
Edwards declares the Texas Republic of Fredonia
In an act that foreshadowed the American rebellions to come Benjamin Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches Texas and proclaims himself the ruler ...
Jane Austen’s birthday
English novelist Jane Austen is born on this day in 1775 the seventh of eight children of a clergyman in a country village in Hampshire England.Jane was very ...
Saturday Night Fever turns Travolta into movie star
On this day in 1977 Saturday Night Fever a movie that ignites the disco dance craze across America along with the movie career of its star John Travolta op...
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