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3 December 1368 – Charles VI of France is born

Charles VI of France

King of France from 1380 to 1422

Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (French: le Fol or le Fou), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic episodes that plagued him throughout his life.

He ascended the throne at the young age of eleven, his father leaving behind a favorable military situation, marked by the reconquest of most of the English possessions in France. First placed under the regency of his uncles, the Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, Berry, and Bourbon, Charles decided in 1388, aged 20, to emancipate himself. In 1392, while leading a military expedition against the Duchy of Brittany, the king had his first attack of delirium, during which he attacked his own men in the forest of Le Mans. A few months later, following the Bal des Ardents (January 1393) where he narrowly escaped death from burning, Charles was again placed under the regency of his uncles, the dukes of Berry and Burgundy.

From then on, and until his death, the king alternated between periods of mental instability and lucidity. Power was held by his influential uncles and by his wife, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. His younger brother, Louis d'Orléans, also aspired to the regency and saw his influence grow. The enmity between Louis d'Orléans and John the Fearless, successor of Philip the Bold as Duke of Burgundy, plunged France into the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War of 1407–1435, during which the king found himself successively controlled by one or the other of the two parties.

In 1415 his army was crushed by the English at the Battle of Agincourt, which led to Charles' signing of the Treaty of Troyes, which entirely disinherited his son, the Dauphin and future Charles VII, in favour of his future son-in-law Henry V of England. Henry was thus made regent and heir to the throne of France, and Charles married him to his daughter Catherine de Valois. However, Henry died shortly before Charles, which gave the House of Valois the chance to continue the fight against the House of Lancaster, leading to eventual Valois victory and the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. Charles was succeeded in law by his grandson, the infant Henry VI of England, but Charles' own son was crowned first in Reims Cathedral and was widely regarded even before his coronation as the true heir by the French people.
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4 December 1881 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.

Los Angeles Times

American daily newspaper in California

The Los Angeles Times is a regional American daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles, California in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles area city of El Segundo since 2018,^[3] it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States, as well as the largest newspaper in the western United States.^[4] Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes.^[5][6][7][8]

In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California and the United States, the paper's readership has declined since 2010. It has also been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies.

In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and finalized their first union contract on October 16, 2019.^[9] The paper moved out of its historic headquarters in downtown Los Angeles to a facility in El Segundo, near the Los Angeles International Airport, in July 2018. The L.A. Times' news coverage has evolved away from U.S. and international headlines and toward emphasizing California and especially Southern California stories since 2020.

In January 2024, the paper underwent its largest percentage reduction in headcount amounting to a layoff of over 20%, including senior staff editorial positions, in an effort to stem the tide of financial losses and maintain enough cash to be viably operational through the end of the year in a struggle for survival and relevance as a regional newspaper of diminished status.^[10][11][12]

1. ^ Turvill, William (June 24, 2022). "Top 25 US newspaper circulations: Print sales fall another 12% in 2022". Press Gazette. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
2. ^ "Top 25 U.S. Newspapers For March 2013". Alliance for Audited Media. April 30, 2013. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
3. ^ "Los Angeles Times | History, Ownership, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
4. ^ Turvill, William (June 24, 2022). "Top 25 US newspaper circulations: Print sales fall another 12% in 2022". Press Gazette. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
5. ^ Chang, Andrea; James, Andrea (April 13, 2018). "Patrick Soon-Shiong — immigrant, doctor, billionaire, and soon, newspaper owner — starts a new era at the L.A. Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
6. ^ Corey Frost; Karen Weingarten; Doug Babington; Don LePan; Maureen Okun (May 30, 2017). The Broadview Guide to Writing: A Handbook for Students (6th ed.). Broadview Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-1-55481-313-1. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
7. ^ James, Meg (February 19, 2021). "Patrick Soon-Shiong affirms commitment to the Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur, and his wife, Michele, purchased The Times and the Union-Tribune in June 2018 for $500 million. Since then the company, now called California Times, has embarked on an unprecedented hiring spree, adding more than 150 journalists to The Times.
8. ^ Caulfield, Mike (January 8, 2017), "National Newspapers of Record", Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, Pressbooks Create, retrieved July 20, 2020
9. ^ James, Meg (October 17, 2019). "Los Angeles Times reaches historic agreement with its newsroom union". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
10. ^ Robertson, Katie; Mullin, Benjamin (January 23, 2024). "Los Angeles Times to Slash Newsroom by Over 20%". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
11. ^ Barrionuevo, Alexei; Knolle, Sharon; Korach, Natalie (January 25, 2024). "Chaos, Fury Engulf Los Angeles Times in Historic Cuts to Newsroom". The Wrap. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
12. ^ Meg James (January 23, 2024). "L.A. Times to lay off at least 115 people in the newsroom". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 27, 2024.

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5 December 1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution

1933 amendment repealing the 18th amendment, thereby ending prohibition of alcohol in the US

The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide prohibition on alcohol. The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by the 72nd Congress on February 20, 1933, and was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment, as well as being the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions.

The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 after years of advocacy by the temperance movement. The subsequent enactment of the Volstead Act established federal enforcement of the nationwide prohibition on alcohol. As many Americans continued to drink despite the amendment, Prohibition gave rise to a profitable black market for alcohol, fueling the rise of organized crime. Throughout the 1920s, Americans increasingly came to see Prohibition as unenforceable, and a movement to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment grew until the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified in 1933.

Section 1 of the Twenty-first Amendment expressly repeals the Eighteenth Amendment. Section 2 bans the importation of alcohol into states and territories that have laws prohibiting the importation or consumption of alcohol. Several states continued to be "dry states" in the years after the repealing of the Eighteenth Amendment. Nonetheless, several states continue to closely regulate the distribution of alcohol. Many states delegate their power to ban the importation of alcohol to counties and municipalities, and there are numerous dry communities throughout the United States. Section 2 has occasionally arisen as an issue in Supreme Court cases that touch on the Commerce Clause.

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6 December 2006 – NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

Water on Mars

Study of past and present water on Mars

For the Doctor Who special, see The Waters of Mars. For the band, see Water on Mars (band).

Water ice on Mars
likeliest areas^[1]
(December 10, 2019)

Global

Planar

Subsurface water ice detected by NASA missions (SWIM project, 2023)

Mars – Utopia Planitia

Martian terrain

Map of terrain

Scalloped terrain led to the discovery of a large amount of underground ice – enough water to fill Lake Superior (November 22, 2016)^[2][3][4]

Almost all water on Mars today exists as ice, though it also exists in small quantities as vapor in the atmosphere.^[5] What was thought to be low-volume liquid brines in shallow Martian soil, also called recurrent slope lineae,^[6][7] may be grains of flowing sand and dust slipping downhill to make dark streaks.^[8] While most water ice is buried, it is exposed at the surface across several locations on Mars. In the mid-latitudes, it is exposed by impact craters, steep scarps and gullies.^[9][10][11] Additionally, water ice is also visible at the surface at the north polar ice cap.^[12] Abundant water ice is also present beneath the permanent carbon dioxide ice cap at the Martian south pole. More than 5 million km³ of ice have been detected at or near the surface of Mars, enough to cover the whole planet to a depth of 35 meters (115 ft).^[13] Even more ice might be locked away in the deep subsurface.^[14][15] Some liquid water may occur transiently on the Martian surface today, but limited to traces of dissolved moisture from the atmosphere and thin films, which are challenging environments for known life.^[7][16][17] No evidence of present-day liquid water has been discovered on the planet's surface because under typical Martian conditions (water vapor pressure <1 Pa ^[18] and ambient atmospheric pressure ~700 Pa ^[19]), warming water ice on the Martian surface would sublime at rates of up to 4 meters per year.^[20] Before about 3.8 billion years ago, Mars may have had a denser atmosphere and higher surface temperatures,^{[21][22][23][24]} potentially allowing greater amounts of liquid water on the surface,^{[25][26][27][28]} possibly including a large ocean^{[29][30][31][32]} that may have covered one-third of the planet.^[33][34][35] Water has also apparently flowed across the surface for short periods at various intervals more recently in Mars' history.^[36][37][38] Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater, explored by the Curiosity rover, is the geological remains of an ancient freshwater lake that could have been a hospitable environment for microbial life.^{[39][40][41][42]} The present-day inventory of water on Mars can be estimated from spacecraft images, remote sensing techniques (spectroscopic measurements,^[43][44] radar,^[45] etc.), and surface investigations from landers and rovers.^[46][47] Geologic evidence of past water includes enormous outflow channels carved by floods,^[48] ancient river valley networks,^[49][50] deltas,^[51] and lakebeds;^{[52][53][54][55]} and the detection of rocks and minerals on the surface that could only have formed in liquid water.^[56] Numerous geomorphic features suggest the presence of ground ice (permafrost)^[57] and the movement of ice in glaciers, both in the recent past^{[58][59][60][61]} and present.^[62] Gullies and slope lineae along cliffs and crater walls suggest that flowing water continues to shape the surface of Mars, although to a far lesser degree than in the ancient past.

Although the surface of Mars was periodically wet and could have been hospitable to microbial life billions of years ago,^[63] the current environment at the surface is dry and subfreezing, probably presenting an insurmountable obstacle for living organisms. In addition, Mars lacks a thick atmosphere, ozone layer, and magnetic field, allowing solar and cosmic radiation to strike the surface unimpeded. The damaging effects of ionizing radiation on cellular structure is another one of the prime limiting factors on the survival of life on the surface.^[64][65] Therefore, the best potential locations for discovering life on Mars may be in subsurface environments.^[66][67][68] Large amounts of underground ice have been found on Mars; the volume of water detected is equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior.^[2][3][4] In 2018, scientists reported the discovery of a subglacial lake on Mars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap, with a horizontal extent of about 20 km (12 mi), the first known stable body of liquid water on the planet,^[69][70] but subsequent work has questioned this detection.^[71][72]

Understanding the extent and situation of water on Mars is vital to assess the planet's potential for harboring life and for providing usable resources for future human exploration. For this reason, "Follow the Water" was the science theme of NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) in the first decade of the 21st century. NASA and ESA missions including 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and Mars Phoenix lander have provided information about water's abundance and distribution on Mars.^{[73][full citation needed]} Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, MRO, and Mars Science Lander Curiosity rover are still operating, and discoveries continue to be made. In September 2020, scientists confirmed the existence of several large saltwater lakes under ice in the south polar region of the planet Mars. According to one of the researchers, "We identified the same body of water [as suggested earlier in a preliminary initial detection], but we also found three other bodies of water around the main one ... It's a complex system."^[74][75] In March 2021, researchers reported that a considerable amount of water on ancient Mars has remained but that, for the most part, has likely been sequestered into the rocks and crust of the planet over the years.^{[76][77][78][79]}

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15. ^ Chryse Planitia
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62. ^ Plaut, Jeffrey J.; Safaeinili, Ali; Holt, John W.; Phillips, Roger J.; Head, James W.; Seu, Roberto; Putzig, Nathaniel E.; Frigeri, Alessandro (2009). "Radar Evidence for Ice in Lobate Debris Aprons in the Mid-Northern Latitudes of Mars" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 36 (2): n/a. Bibcode:2009GeoRL..36.2203P. doi:10.1029/2008GL036379. S2CID 17530607. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
63. ^ Wall, Mike (March 25, 2011). "Q & A with Mars Life-Seeker Chris Carr". Space.com.
64. ^ Dartnell, L. R.; Desorgher; Ward; Coates (January 30, 2007). "Modelling the surface and subsurface Martian radiation environment: Implications for astrobiology". Geophysical Research Letters. 34 (2): L02207. Bibcode:2007GeoRL..34.2207D. doi:10.1029/2006GL027494. S2CID 59046908. The damaging effect of ionising radiation on cellular structure is one of the prime limiting factors on the survival of life in potential astrobiological habitats.
65. ^ Dartnell, L. R.; Desorgher, L.; Ward, J. M.; Coates, A. J. (2007). "Martian sub-surface ionising radiation: biosignatures and geology" (PDF). Biogeosciences. 4 (4): 545–558. Bibcode:2007BGeo....4..545D. doi:10.5194/bg-4-545-2007. This ionising radiation field is deleterious to the survival of dormant cells or spores and the persistence of molecular biomarkers in the subsurface, and so its characterisation. ... Even at a depth of 2 meters beneath the surface, any microbes would likely be dormant, cryopreserved by the current freezing conditions, and so metabolically inactive and unable to repair cellular degradation as it occurs.
66. ^ de Morais, A. (2012). "A Possible Biochemical Model for Mars" (PDF). 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Retrieved June 5, 2013. The extensive volcanism at that time much possibly created subsurface cracks and caves within different strata, and the liquid water could have been stored in these subterraneous places, forming large aquifers with deposits of saline liquid water, minerals organic molecules, and geothermal heat – ingredients for life as we know on Earth.
67. ^ Didymus, JohnThomas (January 21, 2013). "Scientists find evidence Mars subsurface could hold life". Digital Journal – Science. There can be no life on the surface of Mars, because it is bathed in radiation and it's completely frozen. Life in the subsurface would be protected from that. – Prof. Parnell.
68. ^ Steigerwald, Bill (January 15, 2009). "Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet". NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved June 16, 2013. If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface, where it's still warm enough for liquid water to exist
69. ^ Cite error: The named reference SCI-20180725 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
70. ^ Halton, Mary (July 25, 2018). "Liquid water 'lake' revealed on Mars". BBC News. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
71. ^ Grima, Cyril; Mouginot, Jeremie; Kofman, Wlodek; Herique, A.; Beck, P. (January 2022). "The Basal Detectability of an Ice-Covered Mars by MARSIS" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 49 (2). Bibcode:2022GeoRL..4996518G. doi:10.1029/2021GL096518. S2CID 246327935.
72. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (January 25, 2022). "Mars' suspected underground lake could be just volcanic rock, new study finds". Space.com. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
73. ^ NASA Mars Exploration Program Overview Archived December 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
74. ^ Lauro, Sebastian Emanuel; et al. (September 28, 2020). "Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data". Nature Astronomy. 5: 63–70. arXiv:2010.00870. Bibcode:2021NatAs...5...63L. doi:10.1038/s41550-020-1200-6. S2CID 222125007. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
75. ^ O'Callaghan, Jonathan (September 28, 2020). "Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues scientists". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02751-1. PMID 32989309. S2CID 222155190. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
76. ^ Hautaluoma, Grey; Johnson, Alana; Good, Andrew (March 16, 2021). "New Study Challenges Long-Held Theory of Fate of Mars' Water". NASA. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
77. ^ Mack, Eric (March 16, 2021). "Mars hides an ancient ocean beneath its surface". CNET. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
78. ^ Scheller, E. L.; et al. (March 16, 2021). "Long-term drying of Mars by sequestration of ocean-scale volumes of water in the crust". Science. 372 (6537): 56–62. Bibcode:2021Sci...372...56S. doi:10.1126/science.abc7717. PMC 8370096. PMID 33727251.
79. ^ Chang, Kenneth (March 19, 2021). "The Water on Mars Vanished. This Might Be Where It Went". The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2021.

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7 December 1946 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.

Winecoff Hotel fire

1946 fire in Atlanta, Georgia

The Winecoff Hotel fire, of December 7, 1946, was the deadliest hotel fire in American history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel's original owners. Located at 176 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, the Winecoff Hotel was advertised as "absolutely fireproof". While the hotel's steel structure was indeed protected against the effects of fire, its interior finishes were combustible and the building's exit arrangements consisted of a single stairway serving all fifteen floors. All of the hotel's occupants above the fire's origin on the third floor were trapped, and the fire's survivors either were rescued from upper-story windows or jumped into nets held by firemen.

A number of victims jumped to their deaths. A photograph of one survivor's fall won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The fire — which followed the June 5, 1946, La Salle Hotel fire in Chicago (with 61 fatalities), and the June 9, also 1946, Canfield Hotel fire in Dubuque, Iowa (with 19 fatalities) — spurred significant changes in North American building codes, most significantly requiring multiple protected means of egress and self-closing fire-resistant doors for guest rooms in hotels.

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8 December 1955 – The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.

Flag of Europe

Official symbol used by the Council of Europe and the European Union

"European flag" redirects here. For a gallery of flags of countries in Europe, see Flags of Europe.

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox flag with unknown parameter "Type"

The flag of Europe or European flag^{[note 1]} consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It is the official flag of the European Union. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.^[4]

Since 1985, the flag has also been a symbol of the European Union (EU), whose 27 member states are all also CoE members, although in that year the EU had not yet assumed its present name or constitutional form (which came in steps in 1993 and 2009). Adoption by the EU, or EC as it then was, reflected long-standing CoE desire to see the flag used by other European organisations.^[5] Official EU use widened greatly in the 1990s. Nevertheless the flag has to date received no status in any of the EU's treaties. Its adoption as an official symbol was planned as part of the 2004 European Constitution but this failed to be ratified. Mention of the flag was removed in 2007 from the text of the Treaty of Lisbon, which was ratified. On the other hand, 16 EU members that year, plus France in 2017, have officially affirmed (by Declaration No. 5224) their attachment to the flag as an EU symbol.

The flag is used by other European entities, such as unified sport teams under the rubric Team Europe.^[6]

1. ^ "The European flag". Council of Europe. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
2. ^ "Emblème du Conseil de l'Europe". Council of Europe. 9 December 1955. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference COE page was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ The European flag, Council of Europe. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
5. ^ "The European flag". The Council of Europe in brief. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
6. ^ "Teams at the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, Kohler, WI, Sept. 22-27 brought to you by Rydercup.com". Archived from the original on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

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9 December 1948 – The Genocide Convention is adopted.

Genocide Convention

1948 United Nations resolution which legally defined genocide

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly.^[1] The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 152 state parties as of 2022^[update].

The Genocide Convention was conceived largely in response to World War II, which saw atrocities such as the Holocaust that lacked an adequate description or legal definition. Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who had coined the term genocide in 1944 to describe Nazi policies in occupied Europe and the Armenian genocide, campaigned for its recognition as a crime under international law.^[2] This culminated in 1946 in a landmark resolution by the General Assembly that recognized genocide as an international crime and called for the creation of a binding treaty to prevent and punish its perpetration.^[3] Subsequent discussions and negotiations among UN member states resulted in the CPPCG.

The Convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." These five acts include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.^[4] The convention further criminalizes "complicity, attempt, or incitement of its commission." Member states are prohibited from engaging in genocide and obligated to pursue the enforcement of this prohibition. All perpetrators are to be tried regardless of whether they are private individuals, public officials, or political leaders with sovereign immunity.

The CPPCG has influenced law at both the national and international level. Its definition of genocide has been adopted by international and hybrid tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court, and incorporated into the domestic law of several countries.^[5] Its provisions are widely considered to be reflective of customary law and therefore binding on all nations whether or not they are parties. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has likewise ruled that the principles underlying the Convention represent a peremptory norm against genocide that no government can derogate.^[6] The Genocide Convention authorizes the mandatory jurisdiction of the ICJ to adjudicate disputes, leading to international litigation such as the Rohingya genocide case and dispute over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

1. ^ "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" (PDF). United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
2. ^ Auron, Yair, The Banality of Denial, (Transaction Publishers, 2004), 9.
3. ^ "A/RES/96(I) - E - A/RES/96(I) -Desktop". undocs.org. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
4. ^ "Genocide Background". United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.
5. ^ "United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect". www.un.org. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
6. ^ "United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect". United Nations. Retrieved 24 November 2023. The ICJ has also stated that the prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law (or ius cogens) and consequently, no derogation from it is allowed.

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11 December 1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.

Alcoholics Anonymous

Sobriety-focused mutual help fellowship

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global peer-led mutual aid fellowship begun in the United States dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]} AA's twelve traditions, besides stressing anonymity, establish it as non-professional, unafiliated, non-denominational and apolitical with a public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion.^[2][3][8] In 2020 AA estimated a worldwide membership of over two million, with 75% of those in the US and Canada.^[9][10]

AA dates its founding to 1935 with Bill Wilson’s (Bill W.) and Bob Smith’s (Dr. Bob) first commiseration alcoholic-to-alcoholic. Meeting through AA's immediate precursor the Christian revivalist Oxford Group, they and other alcoholics there helped each other until forming what became AA. The new fellowship—at first only white and male, though this was neither intentional or for long—published in 1939 Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism. Known as “the Big Book", it is also the origin of AA's name.^[11][12][13]

The Big Book debuted AA's suggested—but not required—twelve steps as a continuing sobriety program of prayer, reflection, admission, better conduct and atonement, all to produce a "spiritual awakening" followed by taking others—usually sponsees—through the steps. For taking the steps, divining and following the will of an undefined God "as we understood Him" or as “a higher power" is integral, but differing practices and beliefs, including those of atheists, are accommodated.^[8]

To keep sobriety as its primary purpose, AA instituted its twelve traditions in 1950 to ensure membership to all wishing to stop drinking without any dues or fees required. They urge all memberships to be kept anonymous, especially in public media, but when anonymity is broken, no consequences are prescribed. The traditions have AA steering clear of hierarchies, dogma, public controversies, other outside entanglements, or acquisition of property. Additionally, members are advised not to use AA for material gain or public prestige. To stay independent and self-supporting, the traditions would have no AA entity accepting outside contributions.^[14][15]

For all demographics, a 2020 scientific review found clinical interventions increasing AA participation via AA twelve step facilitation (AA/TSF) had sustained remission rates 20-60% above other well-established treatments. Additionally, 4 of the 5 economic studies in the review found that AA/TSF lowered healthcare costs considerably.^{[a][17][18][19]} Regarding the disease model of alcoholism, an otherwise receptive AA has not endorsed it though many AA members have promoted it towards wider acceptance.^[20]

With AA’s permission other recovery fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon have adopted and adapted the twelve steps and traditions.^[21]

1. ^ Kitchin, Heather A. (December 2002). "Alcoholics Anonymous Discourse and Members' Resistance in a Virtual Community: Exploring Tensions between Theory and Practice". Contemporary Drug Problems. 29 (4): 749–778. doi:10.1177/009145090202900405. ISSN 0091-4509. S2CID 143316323.
2. ^ ^{a b} AA Grapevine (15 May 2013), A.A. Preamble (PDF), AA General Service Office, archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022, retrieved 13 May 2017
3. ^ ^{a b} Michael Gross (1 December 2010). "Alcoholics Anonymous: Still Sober After 75 Years". American Journal of Public Health. 100 (12): 2361–2363. doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.199349. PMC 2978172. PMID 21068418.
4. ^ Mäkelä 1996, p. 3.
5. ^ "Benign Anarchy: Voluntary Association, Mutual Aid and Alcoholics Anonymous | PDF | Alcoholics Anonymous | Twelve Step Program". Scribd. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
6. ^ "New Cochrane Review finds Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation programs help people to recover from alcohol problems". www.cochrane.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
7. ^ Miller, Hannah (30 March 2020). "AA meetings, addiction counseling move online as social-distancing guidelines limit group gatherings". CNBC.
8. ^ ^{a b} "Information on AA". aa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
9. ^ Tonigan, Scott J; Connors, Gerard J; Miller, William R (December 2000). "Special Populations in Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF). Alcohol Health and Research World. 22 (4): 281–285. PMC 6761892. PMID 15706756. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
10. ^ Alcoholics Anonymous (April 2016). "Estimates of A.A. Groups and Members As of December 31, 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2016. cf. Alcoholics Anonymous (2001). Alcoholics Anonymous (PDF) (4th ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. p. xxiii. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
11. ^ "A Brief History of the Big Book | Alcoholics Anonymous". www.aa.org. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
12. ^ "The Beginnings of The Twelve Traditions | Alcoholics Anonymous". www.aa.org. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
13. ^ Bill W. (1957). "benign+anarchy" Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. Harper, and Brothers. p. 224.
14. ^ "The Twelve Traditions". The AA Grapevine. 6 (6). Alcoholics Anonymous. November 1949. ISSN 0362-2584. OCLC 50379271.
15. ^ AA. "The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous (Long Form)" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous.
16. ^ Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3 (CD012880): 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.
17. ^ Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3 (3): CD012880. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.
18. ^ Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra; Ferri, Marica; Humphreys, Keith (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 55 (6): 641–651. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa050. PMC 8060988. PMID 32628263.
19. ^ "How Effective is Alcoholics Anonymous?".
20. ^ Kurtz, Ernest (2002). "Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism" (PDF). Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 20 (3–4). Informa UK Limited: 5–39. doi:10.1300/j020v20n03_02. ISSN 0734-7324. S2CID 144972034. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2012.
21. ^ Chappel, JN; Dupont, RL (1999). "Twelve-Step and Mutual-Help Programs for Addictive Disorders". Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 22 (2): 425–46. doi:10.1016/S0193-953X(05)70085-X. PMID 10385942.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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11 December 1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.

Alcoholics Anonymous

Sobriety-focused mutual help fellowship

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global peer-led mutual aid fellowship begun in the United States dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]} AA's twelve traditions, besides stressing anonymity, establish it as non-professional, unafiliated, non-denominational and apolitical with a public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion.^[2][3][8] In 2020 AA estimated a worldwide membership of over two million, with 75% of those in the US and Canada.^[9][10]

AA dates its founding to 1935 with Bill Wilson’s (Bill W.) and Bob Smith’s (Dr. Bob) first commiseration alcoholic-to-alcoholic. Meeting through AA's immediate precursor the Christian revivalist Oxford Group, they and other alcoholics there helped each other until forming what became AA. The new fellowship—at first only white and male, though this was neither intentional or for long—published in 1939 Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism. Known as “the Big Book", it is also the origin of AA's name.^[11][12][13]

The Big Book debuted AA's suggested—but not required—twelve steps as a continuing sobriety program of prayer, reflection, admission, better conduct and atonement, all to produce a "spiritual awakening" followed by taking others—usually sponsees—through the steps. For taking the steps, divining and following the will of an undefined God "as we understood Him" or as “a higher power" is integral, but differing practices and beliefs, including those of atheists, are accommodated.^[8]

To keep sobriety as its primary purpose, AA instituted its twelve traditions in 1950 to ensure membership to all wishing to stop drinking without any dues or fees required. They urge all memberships to be kept anonymous, especially in public media, but when anonymity is broken, no consequences are prescribed. The traditions have AA steering clear of hierarchies, dogma, public controversies, other outside entanglements, or acquisition of property. Additionally, members are advised not to use AA for material gain or public prestige. To stay independent and self-supporting, the traditions would have no AA entity accepting outside contributions.^[14][15]

For all demographics, a 2020 scientific review found clinical interventions increasing AA participation via AA twelve step facilitation (AA/TSF) had sustained remission rates 20-60% above other well-established treatments. Additionally, 4 of the 5 economic studies in the review found that AA/TSF lowered healthcare costs considerably.^{[a][17][18][19]} Regarding the disease model of alcoholism, an otherwise receptive AA has not endorsed it though many AA members have promoted it towards wider acceptance.^[20]

With AA’s permission other recovery fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon have adopted and adapted the twelve steps and traditions.^[21]

1. ^ Kitchin, Heather A. (December 2002). "Alcoholics Anonymous Discourse and Members' Resistance in a Virtual Community: Exploring Tensions between Theory and Practice". Contemporary Drug Problems. 29 (4): 749–778. doi:10.1177/009145090202900405. ISSN 0091-4509. S2CID 143316323.
2. ^ ^{a b} AA Grapevine (15 May 2013), A.A. Preamble (PDF), AA General Service Office, archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022, retrieved 13 May 2017
3. ^ ^{a b} Michael Gross (1 December 2010). "Alcoholics Anonymous: Still Sober After 75 Years". American Journal of Public Health. 100 (12): 2361–2363. doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.199349. PMC 2978172. PMID 21068418.
4. ^ Mäkelä 1996, p. 3.
5. ^ "Benign Anarchy: Voluntary Association, Mutual Aid and Alcoholics Anonymous | PDF | Alcoholics Anonymous | Twelve Step Program". Scribd. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
6. ^ "New Cochrane Review finds Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation programs help people to recover from alcohol problems". www.cochrane.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
7. ^ Miller, Hannah (30 March 2020). "AA meetings, addiction counseling move online as social-distancing guidelines limit group gatherings". CNBC.
8. ^ ^{a b} "Information on AA". aa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
9. ^ Tonigan, Scott J; Connors, Gerard J; Miller, William R (December 2000). "Special Populations in Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF). Alcohol Health and Research World. 22 (4): 281–285. PMC 6761892. PMID 15706756. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
10. ^ Alcoholics Anonymous (April 2016). "Estimates of A.A. Groups and Members As of December 31, 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2016. cf. Alcoholics Anonymous (2001). Alcoholics Anonymous (PDF) (4th ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. p. xxiii. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
11. ^ "A Brief History of the Big Book | Alcoholics Anonymous". www.aa.org. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
12. ^ "The Beginnings of The Twelve Traditions | Alcoholics Anonymous". www.aa.org. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
13. ^ Bill W. (1957). "benign+anarchy" Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. Harper, and Brothers. p. 224.
14. ^ "The Twelve Traditions". The AA Grapevine. 6 (6). Alcoholics Anonymous. November 1949. ISSN 0362-2584. OCLC 50379271.
15. ^ AA. "The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous (Long Form)" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous.
16. ^ Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3 (CD012880): 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.
17. ^ Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3 (3): CD012880. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.
18. ^ Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra; Ferri, Marica; Humphreys, Keith (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 55 (6): 641–651. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa050. PMC 8060988. PMID 32628263.
19. ^ "How Effective is Alcoholics Anonymous?".
20. ^ Kurtz, Ernest (2002). "Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism" (PDF). Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 20 (3–4). Informa UK Limited: 5–39. doi:10.1300/j020v20n03_02. ISSN 0734-7324. S2CID 144972034. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2012.
21. ^ Chappel, JN; Dupont, RL (1999). "Twelve-Step and Mutual-Help Programs for Addictive Disorders". Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 22 (2): 425–46. doi:10.1016/S0193-953X(05)70085-X. PMID 10385942.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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12 December 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

Lebensborn

Nazi Germany eugenics program

Not to be confused with Lebensreform.

Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "healthy" Aryans, based on Nazi eugenics (also called "racial hygiene" by some eugenicists). Lebensborn was established by Heinrich Himmler, and provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of children by likewise "racially pure" and "healthy" parents, particularly SS members and their families. The Cross of Honour of the German Mother was given to the women who bore the most Aryan children. Abortion was legalised (and, more commonly, endorsed) by the Nazis for disabled and non-Germanic children, but strictly punished otherwise.

Initially set up in Germany in 1935, Lebensborn expanded into several occupied European countries with Germanic populations during the World War II. It included the selection of "racially worthy" orphans for adoption and care for children born from Aryan women who had been in relationships with SS members. It originally excluded children born from unions between common soldiers and foreign women, because there was no proof of "racial purity" on both sides. During the war, many children were kidnapped from their parents and judged by Aryan criteria for their suitability to be raised in Lebensborn homes, and fostered by German families.

At the Nuremberg Trials, much direct evidence was found of the kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany, during the period 1939–1945.

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12 December 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

Lebensborn

Nazi Germany eugenics program

Not to be confused with Lebensreform.

Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "healthy" Aryans, based on Nazi eugenics (also called "racial hygiene" by some eugenicists). Lebensborn was established by Heinrich Himmler, and provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of children by likewise "racially pure" and "healthy" parents, particularly SS members and their families. The Cross of Honour of the German Mother was given to the women who bore the most Aryan children. Abortion was legalised (and, more commonly, endorsed) by the Nazis for disabled and non-Germanic children, but strictly punished otherwise.

Initially set up in Germany in 1935, Lebensborn expanded into several occupied European countries with Germanic populations during the World War II. It included the selection of "racially worthy" orphans for adoption and care for children born from Aryan women who had been in relationships with SS members. It originally excluded children born from unions between common soldiers and foreign women, because there was no proof of "racial purity" on both sides. During the war, many children were kidnapped from their parents and judged by Aryan criteria for their suitability to be raised in Lebensborn homes, and fostered by German families.

At the Nuremberg Trials, much direct evidence was found of the kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany, during the period 1939–1945.

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13 December 1642 – Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.

Abel Tasman

Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant (1603–1659)

For other uses, see Abel Tasman (disambiguation).

Abel Janszoon Tasman (Dutch: [ˈɑbəl ˈjɑnsoːn ˈtɑsmɑn]; 1603 – 10 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Born in 1603 in Lutjegast, Netherlands, Tasman started his career as a merchant seaman and became a skilled navigator. In 1633, he joined the VOC and sailed to Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia. He participated in several voyages, including one to Japan. In 1642, Tasman was appointed by the VOC to lead an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of the Southern Pacific Ocean. His mission was to discover new trade routes and to establish trade relations with the native inhabitants. After leaving Batavia, Tasman sailed westward to Mauritius, then south to the Roaring Forties, then eastward, and reached the coast of Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen's Land after his patron. He then sailed north east, and discovered the west coast of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt, but later renamed Nieuw Zeeland after the Dutch province of Zeeland.

Despite his achievements, Tasman's expedition was not entirely successful. The encounter with the Māori people on the South Island of New Zealand resulted in a violent confrontation, which left four of Tasman's men dead. He returned to Batavia without having made any significant contact with the native inhabitants or establishing any trade relations. Nonetheless, Tasman's expedition paved the way for further exploration and colonization of Australia and New Zealand by the British. Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in 1659, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest explorers of his time.

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14 December 2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, US

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and the other six were adult staff members. Earlier that day, before driving to the school, Lanza fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the school, Lanza killed himself, shooting himself in the head.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in Connecticut history and the deadliest at an elementary school in U.S. history. The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals to make the background-check system universal, and for new federal and state gun legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines which can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

A November 2013 report issued by the Connecticut State Attorney's office concluded that Lanza acted alone and planned his actions, but provided no indication why he did so, or why he targeted the school. A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had Asperger's syndrome and, as a teenager, depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but concluded that they had "neither caused nor led to his murderous acts". The report went on to say, "his severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems [...] combined with an atypical preoccupation with violence [...] (and) access to deadly weapons [...] proved a recipe for mass murder."^[13]

1. ^ Scinto, Rich (December 15, 2012). "Sandy Hook Elementary: Newtown, Connecticut shooting timeline". The Oakland Press. Archived from the original on December 21, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
2. ^ Connor, Tracy (December 19, 2012). "'Call for everything': Police scanner recording reveals early moments of Newtown tragedy". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 19, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
3. ^ "Access to weapons made tragedy possible". Connecticut Post. March 28, 2013. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
4. ^ "Conn. school shooter had 4 weapons". CBS News. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
5. ^ Barron, James (December 15, 2012). "Children Were All Shot Multiple Times With a Semiautomatic, Officials Say". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
6. ^ "20 children among dead at school shooting in Connecticut". CBC News. December 14, 2012. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
7. ^ "Police: Second person injured in Connecticut school shooting survived". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
8. ^ Llanos, Miguel (December 14, 2012). "Authorities ID gunman who killed 27 in elementary school massacre". NBC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
9. ^ Jennings, Natalie (December 14, 2012). "Mark Kelly: Action on guns 'can no longer wait'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
10. ^ Winter, Tom; Riordan Seville, Lisa (November 25, 2013). "Newtown report: Shooter Adam Lanza had no clear motive, was obsessed with Columbine". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
11. ^ Richinick, Michele (November 25, 2013). "'No conclusive motive' in Newtown shootings, report says". MSNBC. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
12. ^ Fernando, Christine (February 15, 2022). "Sandy Hook families agree to $73 million settlement with gunmaker Remington". USA Today. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
13. ^ Report of the Office of the Child Advocate, p.9, section 36

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15 December 2010 – A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.

2010 Christmas Island boat disaster

2010 sinking of an Indonesian boat carrying asylum seekers off Christmas Island, Australia

On 15 December 2010, an Indonesian fishing boat (known as the Janga and referred to as SIEV-221 by Australian Government authorities) carrying 89 asylum seekers and 3 crew members sank after being dashed against the rocks near Rocky Point, Christmas Island, an external Australian territory. 50 people died and 42 were rescued. The incident was the worst civilian maritime disaster in Australia in more than a century.^[1]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

1. ^ "'Too dangerous' to attempt rescue in Christmas Island boat tragedy, court told". The Guardian. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2021.

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16 December 1920 – The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.

1920 Haiyuan earthquake

1920 earthquake in central China

The 1920 Haiyuan earthquake (Chinese: 海原大地震; pinyin: Hǎiyuán dà dìzhèn) occurred on December 16 in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, Republic of China at 19:05:53. It was also called the 1920 Gansu earthquake^[3] because Ningxia was a part of Gansu Province when the earthquake occurred. It caused destruction in the Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area and was assigned the maximum intensity on the Mercalli intensity scale (XII Extreme). About 258,707~273,407 died,^[2] making it one of the most fatal earthquakes in China, in turn making it one of the worst disasters in China by death toll.

1. ^ ^{a b} Xu, Y.; Liu–Zeng, J.; Allen, M.B.; Zhang, W.; Du, P. (2020). "Landslides of the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake, northern China". Landslides. 18 (3): 935–953. doi:10.1007/s10346-020-01512-5. S2CID 221568806.
2. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference 2013 Zhang was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ "Most Destructive Known Earthquakes on Record in the World". Earthquake.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2011-10-26.

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17 December 1892 – First issue of Vogue is published

Vogue (magazine)

American fashion and lifestyle magazine

For any other use, see Vogue (disambiguation).

Vogue U.S., also known as American Vogue, or simply Vogue, is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers style news, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. It is part of the global collection of Condé Nast's VOGUE media.

Headquartered at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, Vogue began in 1892 as a weekly newspaper before becoming a monthly magazine years later. Since its founding, Vogue has featured numerous actors, musicians, models, athletes, and other prominent celebrities. The largest issue published by Vogue magazine was the September 2012 edition featuring Lady Gaga in the cover, which contained 900 pages.

British Vogue, launched in 1916, was the first international edition, while the Italian version Vogue Italia has been called the top fashion magazine in the world.^[2] As of March 2024, there are 28 international editions. 11 of these editions are published by Condé Nast (British Vogue, Vogue China, Vogue France, Vogue Germany, Vogue India, Vogue Japan, Vogue México y Latinoamérica, Vogue Spain, Vogue Taiwan, and Vogue U.S.). The remaining 17 editions are published as licensees of VOGUE.

1. ^ "Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
2. ^ Press, Debbie (2004). Your Modeling Career: You Don't Have to Be a Superstar to Succeed. New York: Allworth Press. ISBN 978-1-58115-359-0. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2018.

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18 December 2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.

Emirati parliamentary election, 2006

Redirect to:

• 2006 Emirati parliamentary election

• From a page move: This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name.

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19 December 1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

BBC World Service

International radio division of the BBC

For the BBC television network that was previously known as BBC World News, see BBC News (international TV channel).

"World Service" redirects here. For other uses, see World Service (disambiguation).

The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach.^[1] It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages^[2][3] to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. In 2015, the World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week (via TV, radio and online).^[4] In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.^[5]

BBC World Service English maintains eight regional feeds with several programme variations, covering, respectively, East and South Africa; West and Central Africa; Europe and Middle East; the Americas and Caribbean; East Asia; South Asia; Australasia; and the United Kingdom. There are also two separate online-only streams with one being more news-oriented, known as News Internet. The service broadcasts 24 hours a day.

The World Service claims that its aim is to be "the world's best-known and most-respected voice in international broadcasting",^[6] while retaining a "balanced British view" of international developments.^[7] Former director Peter Horrocks visualised the organisation as fighting an "information war" of soft power against Russian and Chinese international state media, including RT.^[8][9][10] As such, the BBC has been banned in both Russia and China, the former following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the latter for having "violated regulations that news bulletins should be 'truthful and fair".^[11][12]

The director of the BBC World Service is Liliane Landor;^[13] the controller of the BBC World Service in English is Jon Zilkha.

1. ^ "The Work of the BBC World Service 2008-09" (PDF). House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. 5 February 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
2. ^ "News in your language". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
3. ^ "BBC World Service". Facebook. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
4. ^ "BBC's combined global audience revealed at 308 million". BBC. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
5. ^ "BBC World Service announces biggest expansion 'since the 1940s'", BBC News, 16 November 2016.Archived 18 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
6. ^ "Annual Review 2008/2009". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
7. ^ "BBC protocol". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
8. ^ "The Implications of Cuts to the BBC World Service: Responses from the Government and the BBC to the Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2010–12" (PDF). Foreign Affairs Committee. UK Parliament. 17 May 2011. HC 1058. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
9. ^ Lewis, Gavin (April 2016). "The Broken BBC". The Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
10. ^ Halliday, Josh (21 December 2014). "BBC World Service fears losing information war as Russia Today ramps up pressure". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
11. ^ "China bans BBC World News from broadcasting inside the country". South China Morning Post. Bloomberg. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
12. ^ "Russia blocks access to BBC and Voice of America websites". Reuters. Reuters. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
13. ^ "BBC announces Liliane Landor as Senior Controller of BBC News International Services". BBC World News. BBC. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2022.

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20 December 1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.

World Youth Day

International Catholic youth event

"WYD" redirects here. For the song, see #WYD.

Not to be confused with International Youth Day or World Festival of Youth and Students.

World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where during summer camps Catholic young adults over 13 days of camp celebrated a "day of community". For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses. Nicknamed "The Catholic Woodstock", it is celebrated at the diocesan level annually—in most places on Palm Sunday from 1986 to 2020, and from 2021 on Christ the King Sunday—and at the international level every two to three years at different locations. The 1995 World Youth Day closing Mass in the Philippines set a world record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious event with 5 million attendees. This record was surpassed when 6 million attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis—again in the Philippines—20 years later in 2015.^[1][2][3]

1. ^ Rodriguez, Jon Carlos. "Luneta Mass is largest Papal event in history". CBNNews.com. Christian Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
2. ^ De La Vaissiere, Jean-Louis; Corella, Cecil. "Pope attracts world-record crowd in Luneta mass". CBNNews.com. Christian Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
3. ^ Pullella, Philip; Francisco, Rosemarie (18 January 2017). "Pope Manila Mass drew record crowd of 6–7 million: Vatican". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017.

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20 December 1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.

World Youth Day

International Catholic youth event

"WYD" redirects here. For the song, see #WYD.

Not to be confused with International Youth Day or World Festival of Youth and Students.

World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where during summer camps Catholic young adults over 13 days of camp celebrated a "day of community". For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses. Nicknamed "The Catholic Woodstock", it is celebrated at the diocesan level annually—in most places on Palm Sunday from 1986 to 2020, and from 2021 on Christ the King Sunday—and at the international level every two to three years at different locations. The 1995 World Youth Day closing Mass in the Philippines set a world record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious event with 5 million attendees. This record was surpassed when 6 million attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis—again in the Philippines—20 years later in 2015.^[1][2][3]

1. ^ Rodriguez, Jon Carlos. "Luneta Mass is largest Papal event in history". CBNNews.com. Christian Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
2. ^ De La Vaissiere, Jean-Louis; Corella, Cecil. "Pope attracts world-record crowd in Luneta mass". CBNNews.com. Christian Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
3. ^ Pullella, Philip; Francisco, Rosemarie (18 January 2017). "Pope Manila Mass drew record crowd of 6–7 million: Vatican". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017.

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21 December 1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

Bethlehem

City in the West Bank, Palestine

This article is about the city in the West Bank. For other uses, see Bethlehem (disambiguation).

Municipality type A in Palestine

Bethlehem (/ˈbɛθlɪhɛm/; Arabic: بيت لحم, Bayt Laḥm, pronunciation^ⓘ; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem) is a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the State of Palestine, located about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate, and has a population of approximately 25,000 people.^[3][4] The city's economy is largely tourist-driven; international tourism peaks around and during Christmas, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, revered as the location of the Nativity of Jesus.^[5][6]

The earliest-known mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt, dated to 1350–1330 BCE, when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites. In the Hebrew Bible, the period of the Israelites is described; it identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of David.^[7] In the New Testament, the city is identified as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. Under the Roman Empire, the city of Bethlehem was destroyed by Hadrian, but later rebuilt by Helena, and her son, Constantine the Great, who commissioned the Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. In 529, the Church of the Nativity was heavily damaged by Samaritans involved in the Samaritan revolts; following the victory of the Byzantine Empire, it was rebuilt by Justinian I.

Amidst the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin in 637. Muslims continued to rule the city until 1099, when it was conquered by the Crusaders, who replaced the local Christian Greek Orthodox clergy with Catholic ones. In the mid-13th century, Bethlehem's walls were demolished by the Mamluk Sultanate. However, they were rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War.^[8] After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, it became part of Mandatory Palestine until 1948, when it was annexed by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. During the 1967 Six Day War, Bethlehem was occupied by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank. Since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, Bethlehem has been designated as part of Area A of the West Bank, nominally rendering it as being under Palestinian control.^[8] Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier.

While it was historically a city of Arab Christians, Bethlehem now has a majority of Arab Muslims; it is still home to a significant community of Palestinian Christians, however it has dwindled significantly, mostly due to difficulties resulting from living under the Israeli occupation.^[9] Presently, Bethlehem has become encircled by dozens of Israeli settlements, which significantly hinder the ability of Palestinians in the city to openly access their land and livelihoods, which has contributed to the exodus of Palestinians.^[10]

1. ^ "Members of the Municipal Council". Bethlehem municipality. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
2. ^ Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
3. ^ Amara, 1999, p. 18 Archived May 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
4. ^ Brynen, 2000, p. 202 Archived May 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
5. ^ Kaufman, David; Katz, Marisa S. (April 16, 2006). "In the West Bank, Politics and Tourism Remain Bound Together Inextricably – New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
6. ^ "Places to Visit In & Around Bethlehem". Bethlehem Hotel. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
7. ^ 2 Chronicles 11:5–6 (Note: Though v. 6 is frequently translated to say simply that Rehoboam built the city, the Hebrew phrase in v. 5, just prior, וַיִּ֧בֶן עָרִ֛ים לְמָצ֖וֹר wayyiḇen ‘ārîm l^emāṣôr means "(and) he built cities into fortresses". Verse 5 is cited by at least one prominent Hebrew lexicon in illustration of this fact. See Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic edition; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), entry for the pertinent root בנה bnh, p. 139. Def. 3 reads as follows: "—3. with לְ to develop buildings: עָרִים לְמָצוֹר cities into fortresses 2C[hronicles] 11:5".)
8. ^ ^{a b} "History and Mithology of Bethlehem". Bethlehem Municipality. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJ1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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21 December 1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

Bethlehem

City in the West Bank, Palestine

This article is about the city in the West Bank. For other uses, see Bethlehem (disambiguation).

Municipality type A in Palestine

Bethlehem (/ˈbɛθlɪhɛm/; Arabic: بيت لحم, Bayt Laḥm, pronunciation^ⓘ; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem) is a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the State of Palestine, located about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate, and has a population of approximately 25,000 people.^[3][4] The city's economy is largely tourist-driven; international tourism peaks around and during Christmas, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, revered as the location of the Nativity of Jesus.^[5][6]

The earliest-known mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt, dated to 1350–1330 BCE, when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites. In the Hebrew Bible, the period of the Israelites is described; it identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of David.^[7] In the New Testament, the city is identified as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. Under the Roman Empire, the city of Bethlehem was destroyed by Hadrian, but later rebuilt by Helena, and her son, Constantine the Great, who commissioned the Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. In 529, the Church of the Nativity was heavily damaged by Samaritans involved in the Samaritan revolts; following the victory of the Byzantine Empire, it was rebuilt by Justinian I.

Amidst the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin in 637. Muslims continued to rule the city until 1099, when it was conquered by the Crusaders, who replaced the local Christian Greek Orthodox clergy with Catholic ones. In the mid-13th century, Bethlehem's walls were demolished by the Mamluk Sultanate. However, they were rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War.^[8] After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, it became part of Mandatory Palestine until 1948, when it was annexed by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. During the 1967 Six Day War, Bethlehem was occupied by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank. Since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, Bethlehem has been designated as part of Area A of the West Bank, nominally rendering it as being under Palestinian control.^[8] Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier.

While it was historically a city of Arab Christians, Bethlehem now has a majority of Arab Muslims; it is still home to a significant community of Palestinian Christians, however it has dwindled significantly, mostly due to difficulties resulting from living under the Israeli occupation.^[9] Presently, Bethlehem has become encircled by dozens of Israeli settlements, which significantly hinder the ability of Palestinians in the city to openly access their land and livelihoods, which has contributed to the exodus of Palestinians.^[10]

1. ^ "Members of the Municipal Council". Bethlehem municipality. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
2. ^ Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
3. ^ Amara, 1999, p. 18 Archived May 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
4. ^ Brynen, 2000, p. 202 Archived May 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
5. ^ Kaufman, David; Katz, Marisa S. (April 16, 2006). "In the West Bank, Politics and Tourism Remain Bound Together Inextricably – New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
6. ^ "Places to Visit In & Around Bethlehem". Bethlehem Hotel. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
7. ^ 2 Chronicles 11:5–6 (Note: Though v. 6 is frequently translated to say simply that Rehoboam built the city, the Hebrew phrase in v. 5, just prior, וַיִּ֧בֶן עָרִ֛ים לְמָצ֖וֹר wayyiḇen ‘ārîm l^emāṣôr means "(and) he built cities into fortresses". Verse 5 is cited by at least one prominent Hebrew lexicon in illustration of this fact. See Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic edition; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), entry for the pertinent root בנה bnh, p. 139. Def. 3 reads as follows: "—3. with לְ to develop buildings: עָרִים לְמָצוֹר cities into fortresses 2C[hronicles] 11:5".)
8. ^ ^{a b} "History and Mithology of Bethlehem". Bethlehem Municipality. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJ1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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22 December 1942 Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

V-2 rocket

World's first long-range ballistic missile

"V-2" redirects here. For other uses, see V2.

The V2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit. 'Retaliation Weapon 2'), with the technical name Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-range^[4] guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon" and assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings of German cities. The V2 rocket also became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line (edge of space) with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.^[5]

Research of military use of long-range rockets began when the graduate studies of Wernher von Braun were noticed by the Wehrmacht Heer. A series of prototypes culminated in the A4, which went to war as the V2. Beginning in September 1944, more than 3,000 V2s were launched by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary,^[6] the attacks from V-2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while a further 12,000 laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons.^[7]

The rockets travelled at supersonic speeds, impacted without audible warning, and proved unstoppable, as no effective defense existed. Teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union—raced to seize major German manufacturing facilities, procure the Germans' missile technology, and capture the V-2s' launching sites. Von Braun and more than 100 core R&D V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans, and many of the original V-2 team transferred their work to the Redstone Arsenal, where they were relocated as part of Operation Paperclip. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, and moved it to the Soviet Union.

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kennedy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ 10% of the Mittelwerk rockets used a guide beam for cutoff.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Neufeld was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ "Long-range" in the context of the time. See NASA history article Archived 7 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^ Neufeld, 1995 pp 158, 160–162, 190
6. ^ Ramsey 2016, p. 89.
7. ^ "Am Anfang war die V2. Vom Beginn der Weltraumschifffahrt in Deutschland". In: Utz Thimm (ed.): Warum ist es nachts dunkel? Was wir vom Weltall wirklich wissen. Kosmos, 2006, p. 158, ISBN 3-440-10719-1.

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22 December 1942 Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

V-2 rocket

World's first long-range ballistic missile

"V-2" redirects here. For other uses, see V2.

The V2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit. 'Retaliation Weapon 2'), with the technical name Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-range^[4] guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon" and assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings of German cities. The V2 rocket also became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line (edge of space) with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.^[5]

Research of military use of long-range rockets began when the graduate studies of Wernher von Braun were noticed by the Wehrmacht Heer. A series of prototypes culminated in the A4, which went to war as the V2. Beginning in September 1944, more than 3,000 V2s were launched by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary,^[6] the attacks from V-2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while a further 12,000 laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons.^[7]

The rockets travelled at supersonic speeds, impacted without audible warning, and proved unstoppable, as no effective defense existed. Teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union—raced to seize major German manufacturing facilities, procure the Germans' missile technology, and capture the V-2s' launching sites. Von Braun and more than 100 core R&D V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans, and many of the original V-2 team transferred their work to the Redstone Arsenal, where they were relocated as part of Operation Paperclip. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, and moved it to the Soviet Union.

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kennedy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ 10% of the Mittelwerk rockets used a guide beam for cutoff.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Neufeld was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ "Long-range" in the context of the time. See NASA history article Archived 7 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^ Neufeld, 1995 pp 158, 160–162, 190
6. ^ Ramsey 2016, p. 89.
7. ^ "Am Anfang war die V2. Vom Beginn der Weltraumschifffahrt in Deutschland". In: Utz Thimm (ed.): Warum ist es nachts dunkel? Was wir vom Weltall wirklich wissen. Kosmos, 2006, p. 158, ISBN 3-440-10719-1.

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25 December 1559 – Pope Pius IV is elected.

Pope Pius IV

Head of the Catholic Church from 1559 to 1565

Pope Pius IV (Italian: Pio IV; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death, in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered itself a branch of the House of Medici and used the same coat of arms. Although modern historians have found no proof of this connection, the Medici of Florence recognized the claims of the Medici of Milan in the early 16th century.^[1][2]

Pope Paul III appointed Medici Archbishop of Ragusa, and sent him on diplomatic missions to the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary. He presided over the final session of the Council of Trent. His nephew, Cardinal Charles Borromeo, was a close adviser. As pope, Pius IV initiated a number of building projects in Rome, including one to improve the water supply.

1. ^ "Treccani - la cultura italiana | Treccani, il portale del sapere".
2. ^ "The List of Popes." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 4 September 2014

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26 December 1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

I Want to Hold Your Hand

1963 single by the Beatles

For other uses, see I Want to Hold Your Hand (disambiguation).

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track recording equipment.

With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the UK, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would have gone straight to the top of the British record charts on its day of release had it not been blocked by the group's first million-seller "She Loves You", their previous UK single, which was having a resurgence of popularity following intense media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" stayed at number one for five weeks and remained in the UK top 50 for 21 weeks in total.^[3]

It was also the group's first American number-one hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number 45 and starting the British Invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February, it topped the Hot 100 and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by "She Loves You". It remained on the Billboard chart for 15 weeks.^[4] "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide, selling more than 12 million copies.^[5] In 2018, Billboard magazine named it the 48th biggest hit of all time on the Billboard Hot 100.^[6] In the UK, it was the second-highest-selling single of the 1960s, behind "She Loves You".^[7]

1. ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 89.
2. ^ Breihan, Tom (15 November 2022). "The Beatles - "I Want To Hold Your Hand". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York: Hachette Book Group. p. 39.
3. ^ Gambaccini 1991, pp. 27.
4. ^ Harry 1985, pp. 66.
5. ^ Harry 2000, p. 561.
6. ^ "Hot 100 turns 60". Billboard. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
7. ^ "Ken Dodd 'third best-selling artist of 1960s'". BBC News. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2020.

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27 December 1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.

Crawford Long

19th-century American physician

Crawford Williamson Long (November 1, 1815 – June 16, 1878) was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled sulfuric ether as an anesthetic.^[1][2]

1. ^ Madden, M. Leslie (May 14, 2004). "Crawford Long (1815–1878)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. University of Georgia Press. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
2. ^ "Crawford W. Long". Doctors' Day. Southern Medical Association. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.

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28 December 1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

Westminster Abbey

Church in London, England

For other uses, see Westminster Abbey (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Westminster Cathedral or Westminster Chapel.

Church in London, England

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100.

Although the origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks was on the site by the mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor, who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III. The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar – a Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I. The abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 because of their historic and symbolic significance.

The church's Gothic architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, although some sections of the church have earlier Romanesque styles or later Baroque and modern styles. The Henry VII Chapel, at the east end of the church, is a typical example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture; antiquarian John Leland called it orbis miraculum ("the wonder of the world").

The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people, many prominent in British history: monarchs, prime ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior. Due to the fame of the figures buried there, artist William Morris described the abbey as a "National Valhalla".

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Dimensions of Westminster Abbey" (PDF). Westminster Abbey. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
2. ^ "Westminster Abbey (The Collegiate Church of St Peter)". Historic England. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.

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29 December 1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

1939 bomber aircraft family by Consolidated Aircraft

"B-24" redirects here. For other uses, see B-24 (disambiguation).

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.

At its inception, the B-24 was a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. In comparison with its contemporaries, the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low-speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling and was less robust than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. While aircrews tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24 and procured it in huge numbers for a wide variety of roles.^[3][4] At approximately 18,500 units – including 8,685 manufactured by Ford Motor Company – it holds records as the world's most produced bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history.

The B-24 was used extensively in World War II where it served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several Allied air forces and navies. It saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic bombing campaign in the Western European theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan. Long-range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The C-87 transport derivative served as a longer range, higher capacity counterpart to the Douglas C-47 Skytrain.

By the end of World War II, the technological breakthroughs of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and other modern types had surpassed the bombers that served from the start of the war. The B-24 was rapidly phased out of U.S. service, although the PB4Y-2 Privateer maritime patrol derivative carried on in service with the U.S. Navy in the Korean War.

1. ^ Bhargava, Kapil, Group Captain (ret'd). "India's Reclaimed B-24 Bombers". Archived 12 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved: 16 June 2010.
2. ^ Munson, Kenneth, "Bombers 1939-45, Patrol and Transport Aircraft", Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., New York, Blandford Press Ltd., 1969, LCCN 77-92035, page 156.
3. ^ Birdsall (1968). Famous Aircraft: The B-24 Liberator.
4. ^ "The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress vs. the Consolidated B-24 Liberator". warfarehistorynetwork.com. 30 June 2017.

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29 December 1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

1939 bomber aircraft family by Consolidated Aircraft

"B-24" redirects here. For other uses, see B-24 (disambiguation).

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.

At its inception, the B-24 was a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. In comparison with its contemporaries, the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low-speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling and was less robust than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. While aircrews tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24 and procured it in huge numbers for a wide variety of roles.^[3][4] At approximately 18,500 units – including 8,685 manufactured by Ford Motor Company – it holds records as the world's most produced bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history.

The B-24 was used extensively in World War II where it served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several Allied air forces and navies. It saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic bombing campaign in the Western European theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan. Long-range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The C-87 transport derivative served as a longer range, higher capacity counterpart to the Douglas C-47 Skytrain.

By the end of World War II, the technological breakthroughs of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and other modern types had surpassed the bombers that served from the start of the war. The B-24 was rapidly phased out of U.S. service, although the PB4Y-2 Privateer maritime patrol derivative carried on in service with the U.S. Navy in the Korean War.

1. ^ Bhargava, Kapil, Group Captain (ret'd). "India's Reclaimed B-24 Bombers". Archived 12 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved: 16 June 2010.
2. ^ Munson, Kenneth, "Bombers 1939-45, Patrol and Transport Aircraft", Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., New York, Blandford Press Ltd., 1969, LCCN 77-92035, page 156.
3. ^ Birdsall (1968). Famous Aircraft: The B-24 Liberator.
4. ^ "The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress vs. the Consolidated B-24 Liberator". warfarehistorynetwork.com. 30 June 2017.

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30 December 2006 – The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths.

MV Senopati Nusantara

Indonesian ferry; sank in a 2006 storm

The MV Senopati Nusantara was an Indonesian ferry that sank in a storm on December 30, 2006. The Japanese-made ship was a scheduled passenger liner from the port of Kumai in Central Kalimantan (Borneo) to Tanjung Emas port in Semarang, Central Java. About 40 km (25 mi) off Mandalika Island, the ship sank during a violent storm in the Java Sea. At least 400–500 people are thought to have drowned.

Initial reports claimed as many as 800 were on board, although this was later lowered to around 628, including 57 crew. Design capacity was 1,300 passengers.

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31 December 1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.

Ottawa

Capital city of Canada

This article is about the capital of Canada. For other uses, see Ottawa (disambiguation).

Federal capital city in Ontario, Canada

Ottawa^[15] is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) and the National Capital Region (NCR).^[16] As of 2021,^[update] Ottawa had a city population of 1,017,449 and a metropolitan population of 1,488,307, making it the fourth-largest city and fourth-largest metropolitan area in Canada.

Ottawa is the political centre of Canada and the headquarters of the federal government. The city houses numerous foreign embassies, key buildings, organizations, and institutions of Canada's government; these include the Parliament of Canada, the Supreme Court, the residence of Canada's viceroy, and Office of the Prime Minister.^[17]

Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as Ottawa in 1855,^[18] its original boundaries were expanded through numerous annexations and were ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and amalgamation in 2001. The municipal government of Ottawa is established and governed by the City of Ottawa Act of the Government of Ontario. It has an elected city council across 24 wards and a mayor elected city-wide.

Ottawa has the highest proportion of university-educated residents among Canadian cities^[19] and is home to several colleges and universities, research and cultural institutions, including the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College, the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Canada; and numerous national museums, monuments, and historic sites.^[20] It is one of the most visited cities in Canada, with over 11 million visitors annually contributing more than $2.2B to the city's economy.^[21][22]

1. ^ Kennedy, Ryan (8 December 2008). "A few blue and white things to be thankful for". Metro International. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
2. ^ "Ottawa". Britannica Student Encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2014. ISBN 978-1-62513-172-0. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
3. ^ Peter Hum (9 November 2009). "O-Town Originals". Ottawa Citizen. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
4. ^ ^{a b} Art Montague (2008). Ottawa Book of Everything (PDF). MacIntyre Purcell Publishing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
5. ^ "Ottawa". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
6. ^ "Census Profile, 2021 Census Ottawa, [City Census subdivision], Ontario". Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
7. ^ ^{a b} Justin D. Edwards; Douglas Ivison (2005). Downtown Canada: Writing Canadian Cities. University of Toronto Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8020-8668-6. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
8. ^ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2006 and 2011 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
9. ^ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and urban areas, 2006 and 2001 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
10. ^ "Population and dwelling counts, for census metropolitan areas, 2006 and 2011 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
11. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 25 November 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
12. ^ "City of Ottawa – Design C". Ottawa.ca. 20 May 2010. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
13. ^ "Rapport au / Report to". Ottawa.ca. 2011. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
14. ^ "Table 36-10-0468-01 Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by census metropolitan area (CMA) (x 1,000,000)". Statistics Canada. 6 December 2023. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
15. ^ (/ˈɒtəwə/ ^ⓘ, /ˈɒtəwɑː/; Canadian French: [ɔtawɑ])
16. ^ "National Capital Act (R. S. C., 1985, c. N-4)" (PDF). Department of Justice. 22 June 2011. p. 13 Schedule (Section 2) 'Description of National Capital Region'. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
17. ^ Bosc, Marc; Gagnon, André, eds. (2017). "Ottawa as the Seat of Government". House of Commons Procedure and Practice (3rd ed.). Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
18. ^ "A Brief History of Bytown". Run Ottawa. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
19. ^ "Is Ottawa Canada's smartest city? Capital edges Toronto, Calgary in university-educated population". National Post. Postmedia News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
20. ^ "Ottawa's Seven National Museums". Ottawa Tourism. Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority, Inc. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
21. ^ "Canada's third consecutive record-breaking year in tourism in 2019 a win for Ottawa". City News. Rogers Sports & Media. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
22. ^ "Ottawa attracts more than 11 million visitors each year". Ottawa Citizen. Post Media. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.

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