History Events on December 27

The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

#Soviet-Afghan_War

War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.

#War_of_1812

"Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

#Jana_Gana_Mana

Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.

#Charles_Darwin

Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.

#Palestinians

Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.

#Methuen_Treaty

Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.

#Winter_War

Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".

#General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union

Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.

#Indonesian_National_Revolution

The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.

#Lewes_avalanche

Japanese aircraft carrier H?sh? becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

#Japanese_aircraft_carrier_H?sh?

Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.

#Diethyl_ether

The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed.

#Hagia_Sophia

Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Cz?stochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

#Second_Northern_War

The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.

#Flushing_Remonstrance

Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

#Taliban

Journalist John L. O'Sullivan, writing in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argues that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny".

#John_L._O'Sullivan

Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.

#Regina_Jonas

Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.

#Apollo_program

The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

#Cave_of_Swallows

The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.

#Romanian_Revolution

Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

#Radiation

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

#Prime_minister

Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.

#Radio_City_Music_Hall

Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali A?ca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.

#Pope_John_Paul_II

The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg, disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse.

#Zwickau_prophets

Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

#Spanish_transition_to_democracy

The 7.8 Mw? Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.

#1939_Erzincan_earthquake

Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.

#2009_Iranian_presidential_election_protests

The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.

#International_Monetary_Fund

Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza.

Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.

Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.

Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.