December 2Birthdays & History

On this day: December 2 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1244Pope Innocent IV arrives at Lyon for the First Council of Lyon.Europe
2. 1409The University of Leipzig opens.Europe
3. 1697St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt to the design of Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London, is consecrated.Europe
4. 1763Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what will become the United States.North America
5. 1766Swedish parliament approves the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act and implements it as a ground law, thus being first in the world with freedom of speech.Europe
6. 1804At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French.Europe
7. 1805War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Austerlitz: French troops under Napoleon decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.Europe
8. 1823Monroe Doctrine: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas.North AmericaEurope
9. 1845Manifest Destiny: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.North America
10. 1848Franz Joseph I becomes Emperor of Austria.Europe
11. 1851French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.Europe
12. 1852Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French as Napoleon III.Europe
13. 1859Origins of the American Civil War: Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).North America
14. 1865Alabama ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed by North Carolina, then Georgia; U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks.North America
15. 1867At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.North AmericaEurope
16. 1899Philippine–American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, known as the "Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.AsiaNorth America
17. 1908Puyi becomes Emperor of China at the age of two.Asia
18. 1917World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk, and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk begin.Europe
19. 1919Ukrainian War of Independence: Ukrainian Bolsheviks attempt to assassinate Nestor Makhno as part of the Polonsky conspiracy.Europe
20. 1927Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.North America
21. 1930Great Depression: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Herbert Hoover proposes a $150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.North America
22. 1939New York City's LaGuardia Airport opens.North America
23. 1942World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.North America
24. 1943World War II: A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including the American SS John Harvey, which is carrying a stockpile of mustard gas.EuropeNorth America
25. 1947Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Arabs riot in Jerusalem in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.Middle East
26. 1949Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others is adopted.World
27. 1950Korean War: The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River ends with a decisive Chinese victory and UN forces are completely expelled from North Korea.Asia
28. 1954Cold War: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to censure Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".North America
29. 1954The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C.North AmericaAsia
30. 1956The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.Latin America
31. 1957United Nations Security Council Resolution 126 relating to the Kashmir conflict is adopted.Asia
32. 1961In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba will adopt Communism.Latin America
33. 1962Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.AsiaNorth America
34. 1968Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 crashes into Pedro Bay, Alaska, killing all 39 people on board.North America
35. 1970The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.North America
36. 1971Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.Middle East
37. 1972Gough Whitlam is elected the 21st Prime Minister of Australia in the 1972 Australian federal election, defeating William McMahon and leading the Australian Labor Party back into office after 23 years in Opposition.Oceania
38. 1975Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.Asia
39. 1976Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.Latin America
40. 1977A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Benghazi, Libya, killing 59.Africa
41. 1980Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.Latin AmericaNorth America
42. 1982At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.North America
43. 1988Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state.Asia
44. 1988Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-27, a classified mission for the United States Department of Defense.North America
45. 1989The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.Asia
46. 1990Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-35, carrying the ASTRO-1 spacelab observatory.World
47. 1991Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.North AmericaEurope
48. 1992Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-53 for the United States Department of Defense.North America
49. 1993Space Shuttle program: STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.North America
50. 1993Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed by police in Medellín.Latin America
51. 1999The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.Europe
52. 2001Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.North America
53. 2015San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.North America
54. 2016Thirty-six people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.North America
55. 2020Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.World

Source: Wikipedia "December 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0