History of 16th December


755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty of China.
882 - Marinus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding John VIII
1392 - Nanboku-chō - Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
1431 - King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
1538 - King Francois I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1575 - The 1575 Valdivia earthquake takes place.
1577 - Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king Istvan Bathory
1598 - Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - The final battle of the Seven Year War is fought between the Korean and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive Korean victory.
1617 - Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Rio de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)
1631 - Mount Vesuvious, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000
1653 - Oliver Cromwell sworn in as English Lord Protector
1659 - General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1707 - Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
1740 - Prussian Libya falls to Silezie
1761 - Russian army occupies Kolberg
1761 - Seven Years' War: After four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg.
1767 - Van Ritter von Glucks opera "Alceste" premiers
1773 - Big tea party in Boston harbor-indians welcome (Boston Tea Party)
1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by French Senate
1811 - 8.0 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri
1817 - Leaders of Molukkas uprising hanged in Ambon
1824 - Great North Holland Canal opens
1826 - Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC
1838 - Boers beat Zulu chieftain Dingaan in South Africa
1850 - History of New Zealand: The Charlotte-Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton.
1857 - Earthquake in Naples, Italy
1858 - Dutch govt decides to vacate Schokland Island
1862 - Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution
1864 - Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities
1877 - Anton Bruckner's 3rd Symphony in D, premieres
1880 - Republic of South-Africa forms
1884 - Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1886 - Rift at Dutch Reformed Church over "Doleantie"
1890 - Negro Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Jackson, TN
1892 - Commencement of 1st Sheffield Shield cricket game, SA v NSW
1893 - Anton Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premieres
1897 - 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1900 - Boer army under gen Kritzinger take Cape colony
1901 - Boer general Kritzinger captured
1903 - Majestic Theater, NYC, becomes 1st in US to employ women ushers
1905 - "Variety," covering all phases of show business, 1st published
1907 - Eugene H Farrar is 1st to sing on radio (Bkln Navy Yard NY)
1907 - Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on it's World Cruise
1908 - 1st credit union in US forms (Manchester NH)
1909 - US pressure forces Nicaraguan Pres Jose Santos Zelaya from office
1912 - 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20 cent parcel post, issued
1912 - Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
1913 - Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1914 - French offensive in Artois (Pétain)
1914 - World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
1915 - Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity"
1918 - Jack Dempsey KOs Carl Morris in 14 seconds
1920 - 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000 square miles and kills over 180,000 in Kansu China
1920 - The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
1922 - Mutual Assn of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs) formally organizes
1922 - NSW all out for 786 against South Australia Cricket
1924 - Noel Coward's "Vortex," premieres in London
1925 - Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity is founded at Lafayette College.
1926 - Darius Milhauds opera "Le Pauvre Matelot," premieres in Paris
1926 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis renewed 7-years as baseball commissioner
1926 - WOW-AM in Omaha NE begins radio transmissions
1927 - Cricket 1st-class debut of Don Bradman, NSW v South Australia
1929 - Chic Blackhawks 1st game at Chicago Stadium, beat Pitts Pirates, 3-1
1930 - Golfer Bobby Jones wins James E Sullivan Award
1931 - German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism
1932 - Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed
1933 - Abe de Vries & Sipke Castelein win Elfstedentocht
1936 - John Monks/Fred Finklehoff's "Brother Rat," premieres in NYC
1937 - Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
1938 - Bradman scores 143 South Aust v NSW, 11 fours 91 singles
1939 - Bradman scores 251* SA v NSW, 271 minutes, 38 fours 2 sixes
1940 - British air raid on Mannheim
1940 - Joe Louis KOs Al McCoy in 6 for heavyweight boxing title in Chicago
1941 - Sarawak occupied by Japanese
1942 - Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia & Balkan
1943 - "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
1944 - Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
1944 - Gen Eisenhower's clerk Rickey marries corporal Pearlie
1944 - German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill)
1944 - US 2nd Inf division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads" Wahlerscheid
1945 - Cleveland Rams win NFL championship
1948 - "Lend an Ear" opens at National Theater NYC for 460 performances
1949 - Sukarno becomes president Indonesia, Mokammed Hatta premier
1949 - Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, later knows as SAAB, is founded in Sweden.
1950 - "Let's Make an Opera" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 5 perfs
1950 - Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1953 - 1st White House Press Conference (Pres Eisenhower & 161 reporters)
1953 - Charles E Yeager fly > 2,575 kph in Bell X-1A
1956 - "Fanny" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 888 performances
1957 - Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1958 - Bogota warehouse fire kills 82
1959 - Snow falling in Lowarai Pass West Pakistan kills 48
1960 - "Wildcat" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 172 performances
1960 - TWA 266 & United 826 collide over Staten Island, kills 134
1961 - "Evening with Yves Montand" opens at John Golden NYC after 55 perfs
1962 - David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" premieres
1962 - NY Giant YA Title sets NFL season touchdown pass record at 33 with 6 touchdowns vs Dallas (41-31)
1962 - Nepal gets constitution/becomes Constitutional Hindu Monarchy

1964 - US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
1965 - Gemini 6 returns to Earth
1965 - Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit
1965 - Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, becomes King of Tonga
1966 - Beatles release "Everywhere its Christmas" in UK
1966 - Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its 1st single, "Hey Joe," in the UK
1967 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Phila 76ers scores 68 points vs Chicago
1968 - KFIZ TV channel 34 in Fond du Lac, WI begins broadcasting
1969 - Brit House of Commons votes 343-185 abolishing the death penalty
1969 - "War is Over! If You Want It, Happy Christmas from John & Yoko" posters begin appearing
1970 - 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR)
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1971 - Don McLean's 8+ minute version of "American Pie" released
1971 - India's army occupies Dacca, West Pakistani troops surrenders
1972 - Bangladesh Constitution goes into effect
1972 - Miami Dolphins become 1st undefeated NFL team (14-0-0)
1973 - O J Simpson becomes 1st NFLer to rush 2,000 yard in a season
1973 - US kidnap victem Paul Getty III freed
1974 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 - 1st broadcast of "One Day at a Time" on CBS TV
1975 - Bill Veeck buys 80% of White Sox from John Allyn
1976 - Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN
1976 - Charlie Finley's $10 million damage suit against Bowie Kuhn begins
1976 - Govt halts swine flu vaccination prog following reports of paralysis
1976 - Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
1978 - Ronald Reagan denounces Pres Jimmy Carter's recognition of China PR
1978 - Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.
1979 - 68th Davis Cup: USA beats Italy in San Francisco (5-0)
1979 - QB Roger Staubach's last regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys
1980 - Alexander Haig named Reagan's Secretary of State
1980 - Pres-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as secretary of state
1981 - Dutch Van Agt's 2nd govt falls
1982 - Tom Seaver agrees to new contract with Mets
1982 - The Federal Reserve announces that the operating capacity of factories has gone down to 67.8%.
1983 - Spokesperson for The Who announces the group is disbanding
1983 - Yogi Berra named Yankee manager for 2nd time
1983 - Riverside, Cal judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
1985 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 51-L mission
1986 - Revolt in Kazakhstan against Communist party, known as Zheltoksan, which becomes the first sign of ethnic strife during Gorbachev's tenure
1987 - Roh Tae Woo elected president of South Korea
1988 - Political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax, mail fraud
1989 - Commencement of 1st Test Cricket play at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (v SL)
1989 - Geoff Marsh completes 355* for WA against South Australia
1989 - Protest breaks out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor, László Tőkés.
1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected pres of Haiti
1990 - KUSW, Salt Lake City Utah, final shortwave radio transmissions
1990 - Rev Jean Betrand Aristide elected president of Haiti
1991 - Fla Marlins sign their 1st player, 16 year old pitcher Clemente Nunez
1991 - UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
1991 - Independence of The Republic of Kazakhstan.
1993 - "Red Shoes" opens at Gershwin Theater NYC for 5 performances
1993 - Shannen Doherty (Brenda) is fired from Beverly Hills 90210
1994 - Davy Jones (Monkees), charged with DWI
1997 - President Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"
1998 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox - The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.