On This Day — 8 December

2024

Damascus falls to rebels after Syrian troops withdraw and president Bashar al-Assad leaves the country as his government collapses. Israel as a result invaded into the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Fall of Damascus (2024)

2019

First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China.

COVID-19

2013

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

2013 Little India riot

2013

Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first musical act to perform on all seven continents.

Metallica

2010

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

SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1

2010

The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km (50,200 mi).

Solar sail

2009

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

December 2009 Baghdad bombings

2004

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

Cusco Declaration

2004

Columbus nightclub shooting: Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer.

Columbus nightclub shooting

2001

A raid conducted by the Internal Security Department (ISD) of Singapore foils a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot to bomb foreign embassies in Singapore.

Internal Security Department (Singapore)

1998

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

Tadjena massacre

1991

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

Belarus

1988

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

United States Air Force

1987

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

1987

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.

Palestinian refugees

1985

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

1980

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

John Lennon

1974

A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.

1974 Greek republic referendum

1972

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 Air Lines Flight 553

1971

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

India–Pakistan war of 1971

1969

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

1966

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

SS Heraklion

1963

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

1962

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

1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike

1955

The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.

Flag of Europe

1953

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

1943

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

1941

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

1941

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

1933

Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain.

Anarchist insurrection of December 1933

1922

Two days after coming into existence, the Irish Free State executes four leaders of the Irish Republican Army: Dick Barrett, Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O'Connor.

Irish Free State

1914

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

1912

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

German Empire

1907

King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.

Gustaf V

1864

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

1863

Between two and three thousand churchgoers die in the Church of the Company Fire, possibly the largest single building fire by number of victims in modern history.

Iglesia de la Compañía Fire

1854

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.

Apostolic constitution

1851

Conservative Santiago-based government troops defeat rebels at the Battle of Loncomilla, signaling the end of the 1851 Chilean Revolution.

Pelucones

1660

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

1504

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

Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah

877

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

Louis the Stammerer

757

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

AD 757

395

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

Later Yan