History Events on December 08

Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history.

#Olympic_Airways_Flight_954

World War II: The German 117th Jäger Division destroys the monastery of Mega Spilaio in Greece and executes 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta.

#117th_Jäger_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Galileo (spacecraft) flies past Earth.

#Galileo_(spacecraft)

Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiègne.

#Louis_the_Stammerer

Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all 7 continents.

#Metallica

The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.

#Flag_of_Europe

Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.

#Pan_Am_Flight_214

A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.

#Margaret_Hughes

Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

#Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.

#German_Empire

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

#Dwight_D._Eisenhower

The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.

#Brookings_Institution

Northern Ireland ceases to be part of the Irish Free State.

#Partition_of_Ireland

Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.

#Du_Fu

Galileo (spacecraft) flies past Earth.

#Galileo_(spacecraft)

Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.

#Pope_Pius_IX

World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.)

#Shanghai_International_Settlement

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia is established.

#South_Asian_Association_for_Regional_Cooperation

A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.

#United_States_Air_Force

United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. This is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737.

#United_Airlines_Flight_553

Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House.

#Cold_War

World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

#World_War_I

Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope.

#Later_Yan

Former Beatle John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

#The_Beatles

Premiere of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.

#Symphony_No._7_(Beethoven)

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

#Belarus

World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

#World_War_II

The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund K?stutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the Lithuanian Civil War.

#Švitrigaila

Syrian Army starts final phase of the attack and progress has been made in the district of, "Sheikh Said" and preparing to storm the neighborhood "Sukkari" in East of Aleppo.

#Syrian_Army

Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India.

The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.

With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 people and injure 448 others.

The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Intifada.

A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.

The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.

Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.

King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.

In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin.

Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah penned his Oran fatwa, arguing for the relaxation of Islamic law requirements for the forcibly converted Muslims in Spain.