Events 1545 - Council of Trent begins 1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage 1642 - Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand 1862 - The Confederates win the Battle of Fredericksburg in the American Civil War 1937 - Battle of Nanjing concludes with the Japanese victory and the fall of the city which became the site of the Nanjing Massacre 1938 - 100 deportees from Sachsenhausen built the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg 1949 - The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem 1959 - Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus 1972 - A chartered Spanish airliner crashes on takeoff from the Canary Islands, killing 155 1974 - Malta becomes a republic 1977 - A United States government DC-3 crashes after takeoff at Evansville, Indiana, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team 1978 - First Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation 1981 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland 1996 - Kofi Annan elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations 2000 - The so-called "Texas 7" escape from a Texas prison and go on a crime spree. 2001 - Parliament of India attacked by armed militants. Attempt foiled. 2002 - The European Union announces the addition of ten new members in Copenhagen: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The countries' membership will be effective May 1, 2004 2003 (Iraqi time) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit. Births 1521 - Pope Sixtus V, religious leader 1553 - King Henry IV of France (+ 1610) 1797 - Heinrich Heine, poet (+ 1856) 1798 - Joseph Walker, explorer 1816 - Werner von Siemens, engineer, inventor and industrialist (+ 1892) 1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (+ 1882) 1829 - Hugo von Ziemssen, physicist (+ 1902) 1836 - Franz von Lenbach, painter (+ 1904) 1854 - Thomas Watson, telephone pioneer 1864 - Emil Seidel, politician, mayor of Milwaukee, Socialist vice-presidential candidate 1874 - Josef Lhévinne, pianist (+ 1944) 1887 - George Polya, mathematician 1897 - Drew Pearson, journalist, political columnist (+ 1969) 1903 - Carlos Montoya, guitarist (+ 1993) 1910 - Van Heflin, actor (+ 1971) 1913 - Archie Moore, world champion boxer (+ 1998) 1915 - Curd Jürgens, actor (+ 1982) 1915 - Ross Macdonald, author (+ 1983) 1923 - Larry Doby, Baseball Hall of Famer (+ 2003) 1925 - Dick Van Dyke, actor, comedian 1927 - Christopher Plummer, actor 1943 - Ferguson Jenkins, Baseball Hall of Famer 1948 - Ted Nugent, musician 1950 - Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa 1981 - Amy Lee, Evanescence frontwoman Deaths 1204 - Maimonides, sephardi philosopher 1565 - Konrad von Gesner, naturalist 1944 - Wassily Kandinsky, artist 1961 - Grandma Moses, artist 2001 - Leonardo Mondadori, publisher 2003 - Keiko, famous orca who starred in the Free willy movies. Holidays and observances Catholicism - Saint Lucy's day See Also: December 12 - December 14 - November 13 - January 13 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n
December 12 - December 14 - November 13 - January 13 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n