• 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office.
• 1282 - Llywelyn the Last (b. c.1228), the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
• 1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. Commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.
• 1792 - French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
• 1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
• 1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback becomes the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 1905 - A workers uprising occurs, establishing the Shuliavka Republic in Kiev.
• 1907 - New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire.
• 1917 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1925 - Quas Primas encyclical is promulgated, introducing the Feast of Christ the King.
• 1927 - Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker red guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
• 1931 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
• 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
• 1937 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.
• 1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The United States, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.
• 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
• 1958 - Upper Volta gains self-government from France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community.
• 1960 - A violent clash occurred with French forces cracking down on protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.
• 1964 - Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.
• 1971 - The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed.
• 1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.
• 1980 - The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• 1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
• 1993 - Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 1994 - First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
• 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
• 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
• 2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• 2005 - The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
• 2005 - Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
• 2006 - The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• 2007 - Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.

Births