• The Leonids are visible each year around this day.
• 1292 - (Julian calendar) John Balliol becomes King of Scotland.
• 1558 - Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.
• 1603 - Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason in the converted Great hall of Winchester Castle.
• 1796 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Arcole - French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
• 1800 - The United States Capitol building in Washington, DC holds its first session of Congress.
• 1820 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica (the Palmer Peninsula was later named after him).
• 1839 - Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio opens in Milan.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins - Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege (the two week long siege and one failed attack was unsuccessful).
• 1856 - American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
• 1869 - In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.
• 1871 - The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.
• 1903 - The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority"). (NOTE: Later the Mensheviks became the majority party, meaning that the Mensheviks became the bolsheviks and the Bolsheviks mensheviks).
• 1922 - Former Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI went on exile in Italy.
• 1941 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables the State Department that Japan had plans to launch an attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (his cable was ignored).
• 1962 - In Washington, DC, US President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports he was given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells his nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." (two months later the Tet Offensive made him regret his words).
• 1969 - Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
• 1970 - Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
• 1973 - Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, US President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."
• 1979 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
• 1983 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation founded.
• 1988 - The Netherlands becomes the second country to get connected to the Internet.
• 1989 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins - In Czechoslovakia a peaceful student demonstration in Prague is severely beaten back by the communist riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeded on December 29).
• 1993 - Annie Proulx wins the National Book Award for her novel The Shipping News.
• 1995 - Public Radio International's radio program This American Life broadcasts its first episode, "New Beginnings".
• 1997 - In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut (police killed the assailants).
• 2000 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.

Births

• 9 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor (d. 79)
• 1503 - Angelo Bronzino, Italian painter (d. 1572)
• 1587 - Joost van den Vondel, Dutch poet (d. 1679)
• 1685 - Pierre Gaultier La Verendrye, French-Canadian trader and explorer (d. 1749)
• 1717 - Jean le Rond d'Alembert, mathematician (d. 1783)
• 1755 - King (1814-1824) Louis XVIII of France (d. 1824)
• 1790 - August Ferdinand Möbius, mathematician (d. 1868)
• 1799 - Titian Peale, artist
• 1816 - August Wilhelm Ambros, composer (d. 1876)
• 1878 - Grace Abbott, social worker, activist (d.1939)
• 1887 - Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, British commander in World War II (d. 1976)
• 1888 - Kurt Goetz, author (d. 1960)
• 1895 - Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Mexican author (d.1966)
• 1899 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer (d. 1971)
• 1901 - Lee Strasberg, director, acting teacher (d. 1982)
• 1901 - Walter Hallstein, politician (d. 1982)
• 1904 - Isamu Noguchi, sculptor (d. 1988)
• 1905 - Queen Astrid of Belgium (d. 1935)
• 1905 - Mischa Auer, American actor (d. 1967)
• 1906 - Soichiro Honda, automobile pioneer (d. 1992)
• 1911 - Christian Fouchet, diplomat (d. 1974)
• 1916 - Shelby Foote, historian
• 1925 - Rock Hudson, actor (d. 1985)
• 1925 - Charles Mackerras, conductor
• 1937 - Peter Cook, comedian, satirist and writer (d. 1995)
• 1938 - Gordon Lightfoot, singer
• 1942 - Martin Scorsese, film director
• 1943 - Lauren Hutton, actress
• 1944 - Danny DeVito, actor
• 1944 - Lorne Michaels, producer
• 1944 - Tom Seaver, Baseball Hall of Fame player
• 1945 - Elvin Hayes, Basketball Hall of Fame player
• 1949 - Jon Avnet, producer, director
• 1958 - Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, actress
• 1960 - RuPaul, actor
• 1966 - Sophie Marceau, actress
• 1966 - Jeff Buckley, musician
• 1973 - Alexei Urmanov, figure skating champion

Deaths

• 375 - Valentinian I, Roman Emperor
• 1558 - Queen Mary I of England
• 1592 - King John_III_of_Sweden
• 1796 - Catherine the Great of Russia
• 1917 - Auguste Rodin, sculptor
• 1929 - Herman Hollerith, statistician
• 1936 - Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, opera singer
• 1940 - Eric Gill, sculptor, typographer and writer
• 1959 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer
• 1982 - Eduard Tubin, composer
• 2002 - Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat and politician

Holidays and observances

• International Students' Day (note: not specifically for international students)