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December 20 in history

189 sourced entries recorded on December 20, from 69 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 217The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.source
  • 638Pyrrhus I becomes patriarch of Constantinople, after the death of Sergius I. He has been an advocate of Monothelitism and a close friend of Heraclius.source
  • 1046Pope Gregory VI is accused of simony at the Council of Sutri, and abdicates as pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 1237December 16–21 – Siege of Ryazan: The Mongols under Batu Khan lay siege to Ryazan. The townspeople repel the first Mongol attacks but after 5 days the city walls are breached by Chinese catapults. On December 21, the Mongols storm the walls and plunder the capital, killing Yuri Igorevich and all inhabitants. Yuri II of Vladimir stands by and does nothing to intervene while Ryazan burns.source
  • 1305Battle of Amroha: Mongol forces (some 30,000 men) invade the Delhi Sultanate again in northern India. Sultan Alauddin Khalji dispatches a cavalry force led by Vizier Ghazi Malik, to repulse the Mongols. During the battle (somewhere in the Amroha district), the Delhi forces inflict a crushing defeat upon the invaders. Many Mongols are taken prisoner and incorporated into the Delhi army.source
  • 1327The late King Edward II of England is buried in the Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucestershire, three months after his death.source
  • 1375Pope Gregory XI designates nine new cardinals at Avignon, having appointed 21 new cardinals to supplement the 20 who had been living when he became Pope. Among those selected are Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor, who becomes the second antipope at Avignon during the Western Schism between Avignon and Rome.source
  • 1417Richard Talbot is appointed as the new Archbishop of Dublin, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, eight months after the death of the Archbishop Thomas Cranley.source
  • 1436King Charles VII of France arrives at Lyon to personally begin an inquiry into the rebellion that had lasted in the city for two months, ending on June 6, 1436. Ultimately, three rebels are executed and 120 others are permanently banished from Lyon.source
  • 1448Pope Nicholas V appoints Rudolf of Diepholt, Bishop of Utrecht, as cardinal.source
  • 1459England's "Parliament of Devils" is dissolved after accomplishhing its purpose of passing bills of attainder for high treason, indictments of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York and other Yorkist supporters in the War of the Roses. Other prominent Yorkists charged are Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV), Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and his son, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.source
  • 1522Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights in Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta, and become known as the Knights of Malta.source
  • 1532The first payment for Atahualpa's ransom from the Spaniards is made as gold is delivered to Cuzco to fill up a room.source
  • 1543The Eight Years War, also called the "War of Rough Wooing", begins as Scotland's Parliament votes to declare war on the Kingdom of England.source
  • 1585Enraged by the disrespect shown to him by Yousuf Shah Chak, the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, orders the invasion of Kashmir with 5,000 men.source
  • 1607"Great Winter", 3 months of harsh weather, beginssource
  • 1608Karl of the House of Liechtenstein founds the Principality of Liechtenstein within the Holy Roman Empire, an independent nation that will continue more than 400 years later between Austria and Switzerland.source
  • 1615The Uskok War begins after the ports of the Holy Roman Empire on the Adriatic Sea are blockaded by the Republic of Venice, which has hired English and Dutch mercenaries.source
  • 1626Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Transylvanian monarch Bethlen Gabor sign the Peace of Pressburg.source
  • 1643Ottavio Piccolomini appointed commander in chief of the Army of Flanderssource
  • 1649The Puritan law enforcers of the Commonwealth of England raid the Red Bull Theatre in London for violations of the laws against performance of plays and arrest the actors, as well as confiscating their property.source
  • 1656Treaty of Labiau is signed between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.source
  • 1658Representatives of the Russian Empire and the Swedish Empire sign the Treaty of Valiesar at the Valiesar Estate near Narva, part of modern-day Estonia. In return for ceasing hostilities between the two empires in the Second Northern War, Russia is allowed to keep captured territories in Livonia (part of modern-day Latvia) for a term of three years.source
  • 1661Parliament passes the Corporation Act 1661 restricting public office to members of the Church of England.source
  • 1662Nicolas Fouquet is banished from France.source
  • 1686Edmund Andros arrives in Boston to become the British Governor of the newly created Dominion of New England, which includes most of the what are now the U.S. states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and much of the eastern portion of New York. The unpopular Andros, who reigns as a dictator after being appointed by King James II, is driven out of office in 1689 after the overthrow of James, and the Dominion of New England is broken up into its constituent colonies.source
  • 1690December 20 (December 10, 1690 O.S.) — The General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay creates the first authorized paper money issued by any government in the Western World as a substitute for coins. The first money is printed on February 13, 1691 (N.S.) and is dated "Feb. 3, 1690" based on the British old style calendar in use at the time.source
  • 1699Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed, from September 1 (the start of the Byzantine year) to January 1.source
  • 1712Great Northern War: the Battle of Gadebusch is Sweden's final great victory in the war, preventing the loss of the city of Stralsund to Danish and Saxon forces.source
  • 1712The Battle of Gadebusch.source
  • 1777Morocco recognizes the United States as a sovereign state.source
  • 1780The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War begins.source
  • 1786Robert Burns's Address to a Haggis is first published, in Edinburgh.source
  • 1792The Marriage of Figaro is given for the first time in Sweden at the Stenborg Theatre in Stockholm with Didrik Gabriel Björn and Eleonora Säfström.source
  • 1803The Louisiana Purchase is completed as the French prefect, de Laussat, formally transfers ownership of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains to the United States, by way of commissioners William C. C. Claiborne and James Wilkinson. Claiborne is appointed as the area's first American governor.source
  • 1808The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.source
  • 1810Manuel Belgrano crosses the Paraná River to Itapúa Department, starting his invasion of Paraguay.source
  • 1812The first volume of Grimms' Fairy Tales is published in Germany.source
  • 1814At Matauri Bay, Marsden persuades Ngāti Uru and Ngāpuhi to make peace.source
  • 1816December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • 1827Mexico passes its first "expulsion law", providing for citizens of Spain to be expelled within the next six months, and to remain barred from re-entry until the Kingdom of Spain recognizes Mexico's 1810 declaration of independence. Ultimately, because of all the exemptions within the expulsion act, only 1,779 of the 6,610 Spaniards are required to leave.source
  • 1828The U.S. State of Georgia legislature charters the Medical Academy of Georgia, which becomes the Medical College of Georgia, and authorizes it to award a Bachelor of Medicine degree, making it the 13th oldest U.S. medical school and the sixth public medical school to be established.source
  • 1828The Georgia state legislature charters the Medical Academy of Georgia, which becomes the Medical College of Georgia, and authorizes it to award a Bachelor of Medicine degree, making it the 13th oldest U.S. medical school and the 6th public medical school to be established.source
  • 1830The independence of Belgium is recognized by the Great Powers.source
  • 1835The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed by American residents rebelling against Mexico at Goliad, Texas.source
  • 1836Sudden freeze kills many travelers in Illinois.source
  • 1841The first multilateral treaty for the suppression of the African slave trade, the Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, signed in London by the representatives of Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia.source
  • 1842The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, is established.source
  • 1847British Royal Navy steam frigate HMS Avenger is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.source
  • 1847Royal Navy steam frigate HMS Avenger is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.source
  • 1848President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte takes his oath of office in front of the French National Assembly.source
  • 1848Ole Høiland, burglar and jail-breaker (born 1797)source
  • 1848Slavery is abolished in Réunion (this day is celebrated every year from 1981).source
  • 1857Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issues a decree, Es ist Mein Wille, which leads to the demolition of the city walls of Vienna, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.source
  • 1860American Civil War: South Carolina, led by Governor Francis Pickens, becomes the first state to secede from the United States.source
  • 1875The ICRM is renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).source
  • 1880First Boer War: The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit results in a Boer victory over the British.source
  • 1882Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, opened at Garnethill.source
  • 1886William, Prince of Hohenzollern renounces his heirship to the throne in favour of his younger brother Ferdinand.source
  • 1892The Socialist deputy Napoleone Colajanni reads out long extracts of a report on the Banca Romana in Parliament and Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti is forced to appoint an expert commission to investigate the Banca Romana scandal.source
  • 1893Evergreen Park, Illinois, is incorporated.source
  • 1901The final spike is driven into the Mombasa–Victoria–Uganda Railway, in modern-day Kisumu, Kenya.source
  • 1909Thomas Thomas is awarded the first Lonsdale Belt at middleweight.source
  • 1913serious fire at Portsmouth Dockyard destroys the semaphore tower.source
  • 1914The Taiwan Assimilation Association was established.source
  • 1914Tokyo Station officially opens in Japan, replacing Shinbashi Station as Tokyo's main terminal.source
  • 1914Tokyo Station opened with four platforms; two serving electric trains and two serving non-electric trains.source
  • 1919Six seamen drown while returning to their ship by boat at Milford Haven.source
  • 1920December 15–22 – The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.source
  • 1922Antigone by Jean Cocteau appears on stage in Paris, with settings by Pablo Picasso, music by Arthur Honegger and costumes by Coco Chanel.source
  • 1923BEGGARS Fraternity (the second social fraternity at a Jesuit college in the United States) is founded by nine men, who have secured permission to do so from the Pope.source
  • 1924In Germany, Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison after serving nine months for his crucial role in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.source
  • 1928Hubert Wilkins makes the first flight over Antarctica in his Lockheed Vega San Franciscosource
  • 1930R v Betts and Ridley: a landmark case in English criminal law which establishes that it is not necessary for an accessory actually to be present when an offence is carried out in order to be convicted of a crime.source
  • 1937According to former Japan Education Ministry official confirmed report, a caught fire in South Tonda Primary School, Wakayama Prefecture, kills 81 persons, mostly school children.source
  • 1940Earthquake in the East Anatoliasource
  • 19401940 New Hampshire earthquakes: A 5.3 Mw earthquake shakes New England with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This first event in a doublet earthquake is followed four days later by a 5.6 Mw shock, but total damage from the events is light.source
  • 1941Admiral Ernest King is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. fleet.source
  • 19421942 Niksar–Erbaa earthquakesource
  • 1943Repatriation of Jews that survived the Holocaust in Transnistria begins. By 30 March 1944, nearly 11,000 people, including orphans, had been repatriated.source
  • 1943First flight of a true four-engined version of the troubled He 177A heavy bomber, as the Heinkel He 177 V102 prototype of the Heinkel He 177B series makes its maiden flight with four separate Daimler-Benz DB 603 engines at the Heinkel-Sud factory airfield in Schwechat.source
  • 1944General Dwight D. Eisenhower is promoted to the rank of U.S. Five-Star General.source
  • 1946Film It's a Wonderful Life is released in the United States; it becomes an enduring classic.source
  • 1948Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.source
  • 1948American economist and former State Department official and spy for the Soviet Union Laurence Duggan falls to his death, from the 16th story window of his Manhattan office.source
  • 1951Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-1), the world's first (experimental) nuclear power plant, opens in Idaho, United States.source
  • 1951The World Meteorological Organization becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • 1951A chartered Curtiss C-46 Commando crash-lands in Cobourg, Ontario Canada; all on board survive.source
  • 1952The crash of a United States Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.source
  • 1952The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, Washington kills 86 servicemen.source
  • 1955Cardiff is declared by the British Government as the capital of Wales.source
  • 1957The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.source
  • 1961Adilson Marcelino Alves, known as Dequinha, is arrested by the Rio de Janeiro police and confesses to being responsible for the fire at the Niterói circus.source
  • 1961The last legal execution in Ireland occurs in Belfast - it is of Robert McGladdery for murder.source
  • 1963The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials begin.source
  • 1965The World Food Programme is made a permanent agency of the United Nations.source
  • 1968The first known Zodiac Killer murder takes place in Lake Herman Road, Vallejo, California.source
  • 19691969 Republic of China National Assembly and legislative election.source
  • 1970General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, Władysław Gomułka, resigns, and is replaced by Edward Gierek.source
  • 1970An Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid.source
  • 1970Fire broke out at Royal Selangor Club.source
  • 1971Yahya Khan resigns and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes new president.source
  • 1971Two groups of French doctors involved in humanitarian aid merge to form Médecins Sans Frontières.source
  • 1977Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.source
  • 1979A bus plunges into a river in Isabela, killing at least 50 persons.source
  • 1981The Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.source
  • 1984Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on 23 July 2019, located about 15 mi southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head".source
  • 1985Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day for Catholic youths.source
  • 1986Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.source
  • 1987In history's worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).source
  • 1987Interisland passenger ferry MV Doña Paz, travelling from Leyte to Manila and said to be overloaded, and oil tanker MT Vector collide at Tablas Strait off Mindoro Island, setting both on fire; 26 survived, death toll later estimated to be 4,386; considered the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.source
  • 1988The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.source
  • 1988The fifth section of the MRT is opened from Yishun to Khatib.source
  • 1988The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances takes place in Vienna.source
  • 1989The United States invasion of Panama ("Operation Just Cause") is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.source
  • 1990Tim Berners-Lee completes the test for the first webpage at CERN.source
  • 1993The first corrected images from the Hubble Space Telescope are taken.source
  • 1995NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.source
  • 1995American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, killing 160 of the 164 on board.source
  • 1995American Airlines Flight 965 crashes on route to Cali, killing 155 of the 163 people on board.source
  • 1999Handover of Macau: the Portuguese Republic transfers administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China after 442 years of Portuguese rule in the settlement.source
  • 2001Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires. Violent incidents in Plaza de Mayo between protestors and police, and in other parts of the country. 26 people die. The president resigns. President Fernando de la Rúa resigns two days later.source
  • 2003Former Argentinian president Carlos Menem is charged with tax fraud for failing to declare a Swiss bank account containing $600,000. If convicted he could be debarred from public office.source
  • 2004Northern Bank robbery: A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from Northern Bank's Donegall Square West headquarters in Belfast, one of the largest bank robberies in British history; no-one is ever found directly responsible for the crime.source
  • 2007The Pablo Picasso painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, together with Candido Portinari's O Lavrador de Café, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.source
  • 2012The British government sets to send aid to ease hunger crisis of countries in the Sahel region.source
  • 2014A bomb detonates in Bani Jamra, injuring 3 police officers.source
  • 20152015 Slovenian same-sex marriage referendumsource
  • 2018In the Sea of Japan, the South Korean warship ROKS Gwanggaeto the Great targets a Japanese P-1 maritime patrol airplane with its fire control radar while it was responding to a North Korean fishing boat in distress, creating a cause célèbre between the two countries.source
  • 2018December 19–21 – Gatwick Airport drone incident: Reports of drone sightings close to the runway at Gatwick Airport in England causes major disruption, affecting approximately 140,000 passengers and 1,000 flights, making it the largest disruption since ash from an Icelandic volcano shut the airport in 2010.source
  • 2019Production of crude oil starts from the Liza oil field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.source
  • 2019The United States founds the United States Space Force, a branch of the United States Armed Forces dedicated to space warfare.source
  • 2019Ethiopia launches the first experimental satellite into space with the help of China from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.source
  • 2020COVID-19 pandemic: A highly infectious new strain of SARS-CoV-2 spreading in Europe and Australia provokes international border closures.source
  • 20212021 Madagascar shipwrecksource
  • 2023Dési Bouterse, former president of Suriname, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for the December murders of 1982.source
  • 2024The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues a formal protest to Venezuela over the completed bridge to Ankoko Island, stating that the military base is partly on Guyanese territory.source
  • 2025German engineer Michaela Benthaus becomes the first wheelchair user to travel into space, aboard the Blue Origin NS-37.source

Births

  • 1291Margareta Ebner, German nun and mystic (died 1351)source
  • 1496Joseph ha-Kohen, Spanish-born French Jewish historian and physician (died 1575)source
  • 1537King John III of Sweden (died 1592)source
  • 1537John III of Sweden, monarch (died 1592)source
  • 1549John Petre, 1st Baron Petre, English politician and baron (died 1613)source
  • 1576Saint John Sarkander, Moravian priest (died 1620)source
  • 1579December 20 (bapt.) – John Fletcher, English dramatist (died 1625)source
  • 1629Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (died 1684)source
  • 1663Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man (died 1755)source
  • 1680Anders Daae, priest and landowner (died 1763)source
  • 1884Ehsanollah Khan Dustdar, an early twentieth century Iranian Marxist revolutionary and leader of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic.source
  • 1894Sir Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1978)source
  • 1898Irene Dunne, American actress (died 1990)source

Deaths

  • 69Titus Flavius Sabinus, Roman consul (murdered)source
  • 217Zephyrinus, pope of Romesource
  • 860Æthelbald, king of Wessexsource
  • 860King Æthelbald of Wessex dies after a 2½-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother, sub-king Æthelberht of Kent, who becomes sole ruler of Wessex.source
  • 910Alfonso III, king of Asturiassource
  • 977Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Japanese statesman (born 925)source
  • 1015Eido I, bishop of Meissen (born 955)source
  • 1038Beorhtheah, bishop of Worcestersource
  • 1073Dominic of Silos, Spanish abbot (born 1000)source
  • 1170Al-Mustanjid, Abbasid caliph (born 1124)source
  • 1295Margaret of Provence, queen consort of France (born 1221)source
  • 1340John I, Duke of Bavaria (born 1329)source
  • 1355Stefan Dušan, Emperor of Serbiasource
  • 1370The 200th Roman Catholic pontiff, Pope Urban V, dies in Avignon after eight years, the first five of which were in Rome.source
  • 1540Stephen V, Prince of Moldavia, is assassinated by two of the Moldavian nobles (boyars), Mihul and Trotsanul, after word arrives that he will be replaced by Petru Rareş, who had paid a bribe to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in order to be appointed the new Prince. Alexandru Cornea is crowned temporarily as Prince Alexandru III.source
  • 1552Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (born 1499)source
  • 1590Ambroise Paré, French surgeon (born 1510)source
  • 1610(December 10 O.S.), John Roberts, a Benedictine monk in Wales, is executed five days after being convicted of high treason for violating a law against Catholic ministry. He is hanged, drawn and quartered. Roberts will be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint almost 360 years later, on October 25, 1970.source
  • 1632Melchior Borchgrevinck composer (born 1572)source
  • 165520 December Gregers Krabbe dies at Akershus Castle, the first Governor-General of Norway to die in office.source
  • 1658Jean Jannon, French typefounder (born 1580)source
  • 1664All but 3 members of the over 200-person crew of the Dutch ship Kennemerland are killed when the trade ship sinks in a storm near the Out Skerries islands off of the coast of Scotland.source
  • 1679John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (born 1604)source
  • 1722After the longest reign by a Chinese Emperor in history (61 years), the Kangxi Emperor dies, and is succeeded by his son Yinzhen as Yongzheng Emperor.source
  • 1722Kangxi Emperor of China (born 1654)source
  • 1726Jens Juel-Vind, landowner (born 1694)source
  • 1731Chhatrasal, Maharaja of Madhya Pradesh (born 1649)source
  • 1740Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, British military officer and statesman (born 1675)source
  • 1764Erik Pontoppidan, author, bishop, historian and antiquary (born 1698)source
  • 1765Louis, Dauphin of France, heir apparent to the French throne (born 1729)source
  • 1812Sacagawea, Shoshone guide (born ca. 1788)source
  • 1889George F. Durand, Canadian architect (born 1850)source
  • 1902Kitabgi, Persian general.source
  • 1937Erich Ludendorff, German general (born 1865)source
  • 1968John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)source
  • 1973Spanish prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by the separatist organization ETA.source
  • 1996Carl Sagan, 62, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and author (Cosmos, Contact), pneumonia.source
  • 2024Six people are killed, while over 300 are injured, after a car is driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.source