69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.
1124 – Pope Honorius II is elected.
1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.
1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England,starting the Cooperative movement.
1879 – World premiere of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1883 – The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, are formed.
1913 – Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
1919 – American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.
1923 – United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.
1936 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft.
1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
1941 – World War II: A formal treaty of alliance between Thailand and Japan is signed in the presence of the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
1963 – The episode of inter communal violence called “Bloody Christmas” begins in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000-30,000 Turkish Cypriots and destruction of more than 100 villages.
1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
1973 – The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.
1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
2004 – Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul,Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.