History Events on December 04

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.

#Woodrow_Wilson

South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa).

#Ciskei

World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.

#World_War_II

The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in the world, is founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.

#Montreal_Canadiens

World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.

#Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill 107-150 civilians in Mannar.

#Sri_Lankan_Civil_War

The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.

#Mary_Celeste

Vietnam War: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta.

#Vietnam_War

Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100.

#Malaysian_Airline_System_Flight_653

In Canadian football, the First Grey Cup game is played. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeat the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club, 26-6.

#Canadian_football

Battle of Lund: A Danish army under the command of King Christian V engages the Swedish army commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.

#Battle_of_Lund

The Hastie fire in Hull kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.

#Kingston_upon_Hull

First Matabele War: A patrol of 34 British South Africa Company soldiers is ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors on the Shangani River in Matabeleland.

#First_Matabele_War

World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.

#Franklin_D._Roosevelt

Charles Edward Stuart's army reaches Derby, its furthest point during the Second Jacobite Rising.

#Charles_Edward_Stuart

North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed soon by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within 2 weeks

#North_Carolina

The Thomas Fire started near Santa Paula and became the largest wildfire in modern California history after burning 440 square miles (281,893 acres; 114,078 ha) in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

#Thomas_Fire

Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).

#Minnesota

The Kingdom of Jerusalem captures Sidon.

#Kingdom_of_Jerusalem

In the face of fierce local opposition, British Governor-General Lord William Bentinck issues a regulation declaring that anyone who abets suttee in Bengal is guilty of culpable homicide.

#Governor-General_of_India

Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia. The group's charter proclaims that the day "be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."

#Colony

World War II: Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign ends.

#Carlson's_patrol

At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bids farewell to his officers.

#Fraunces_Tavern

The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name.

#Grateful_Dead

The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and Karachi.

#Indian_Navy

Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.

#Somali_Civil_War

Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.

#Jean-Bédel_Bokassa

The Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan has been imploded, after a day of failure to be imploded. It is about 30 miles from Detroit, Michigan. It first opened on August 23, 1975.

#Pontiac_Silverdome

Islamic insurgents kill three state police at a traffic circle before taking an empty school and a "press house" in Grozny. Ten state forces die with 28 injured in gun battles ending with ten insurgents killed.

#2014_Grozny_clashes

The PNS Ghazi, a submarine belonging to the Pakistan Navy, sinks during the course of the Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971.

#PNS_Ghazi

The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.

#Burger_King

Launch of Gemini 7 with crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. The Gemini 7 spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.

#Gemini_7

Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage.

#December_2005_protest_for_democracy_in_Hong_Kong

Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.

#Terry_A._Anderson

American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General William T. Sherman's campaign destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to the Atlantic Ocean from Atlanta.

#American_Civil_War

The final session of the Council of Trent is held. (It had opened on December 13, 1545.)

#Council_of_Trent

Mission Santa Barbara is dedicated (on the feast day of Saint Barbara).

#Mission_Santa_Barbara

By a vote of 65-7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations. (The UN had been established on October 24, 1945.)

#United_States_Senate

Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.

#Louis_IX_of_France

Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne king of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.

#Austrasia

A firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing 17 people.

Six black youths assault a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana.

The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.

Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.

The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.

Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor.

Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.

The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time.

Sir Duncan George Stewart was fatally stabbed by Rosli Dhobi, a member leader of the Rukun 13, in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia during the British crown colony era in that state.

Alpha Phi Alpha the first black intercollegiate Greek lettered fraternity was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.

Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison; he is later recaptured in Spain.

The 109 Electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President.

The first edition of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.