| 1789 |
|
The National Guard is created in France. |
| 1812 |
|
The last remnants of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armeé reach the safety of Kovno, Poland, after the failed Russian campaign. Napoleon’s costly retreat from Moscow |
| 1814 |
|
General Andrew Jackson announces martial law in New Orleans, Louisiana, as British troops disembark at Lake Borne, 40 miles east of the city. The Battle of New Orleans |
| 1862 |
|
The Battle of Fredericksburg ends with the bloody slaughter of onrushing Union troops at Marye’s Heights. Maine’s Colonel Chamberlain at Marye’s Heights. |
| 1902 |
|
The Committee of Imperial Defense holds its first meeting in London. |
| 1908 |
|
The Dutch take two Venezuelan Coast Guard ships. |
| 1937 |
|
The Japanese army occupies Nanking, China. Boeing’s Trailblazing P-26 Peashooters. |
| 1940 |
|
Adolf Hitler issues preparations for Operation Martita, the German invasion of Greece. |
| 1941 |
|
British forces launch an offensive in Libya. A secret ear for the Desert Fox. |
| 1945 |
|
France and Britain agree to quit Syria and Lebanon. |
| 1951 |
|
After meeting with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, President Harry S Truman vows to purge all disloyal government workers. |
| 1968 |
|
President Lyon B. Johnson and Mexico’s President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz meet on a bridge at El Paso, Texas, to officiate at ceremonies returning the long-disputed El Chamizal area to the Mexican side of the border. |
| 1972 |
|
Astronaut Gene Cernan climbs into his lunar lander on the moon and prepares to lift off. He is the last man to set foot on the moon. |
| 1973 |
|
Great Britain cuts the work week to three days to save energy. |
| 1981 |
|
Polish labor leader Lech Walesa is arrested and the government decrees martial law, restricting civil rights and suspending operation of the independent trade union Solidarity. |
| 1985 |
|
France sues the United States over the discovery of an AIDS serum. |
|
Born on December 13 |
| 1585 |
|
William Drummond, Scottish poet. |
| 1797 |
|
Heinrich Heine, German poet, satirist and journalist. |
| 1818 |
|
Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. |
| 1835 |
|
Phillips Brooks, Episcopal clergyman who wrote the lyrics for "O Little Town of Bethlehem." |
| 1838 |
|
Alexis Millardet, botanist who developed the first successful fungicide. |
| 1890 |
|
Marc Connelly, playwright, actor, director and journalist (The Green Pastures). |
| 1911 |
|
Kenneth Patchen, American poet and author (Before the Brave, Hurrah for Anything). |
| 1923 |
|
Phillip Anderson, physicist. |
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