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On this day in History Archives

 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
02 December, 2005
Van Tuong Nguyen is executed in Singapore for drug trafficking.
02 December, 2001
Enron files for Chapter 12 bankruptcy.
02 December, 1999
The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
02 December, 1993
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
02 December, 1993
Space Shuttle program: STS-61 - NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
02 December, 1990
A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
02 December, 1988
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
02 December, 1980
Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.
02 December, 1976
Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
02 December, 1975
Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic.
02 December, 1972
Gough Whitlam becomes the first Australian Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years.
02 December, 1971
Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
02 December, 1970
The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
02 December, 1962
Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the wars progress.
02 December, 1961
In a nationally-broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
02 December, 1956
The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cubas Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.
02 December, 1956
Meher Baba and followers suffer auto accident in Satara,India.
02 December, 1954
Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
02 December, 1954
The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and the Republic of China, is signed in Washington, DC.
02 December, 1947
Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
02 December, 1946
British Government invites four Indian leaders, Nehru, Baldev Singh, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.
02 December, 1943
A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile. Numerous fatalities (though the exact death toll is unresolved as the bombing raid itself caused hundreds of deaths too).
02 December, 1942
Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
02 December, 1939
New York Citys La Guardia Airport opens.
02 December, 1930
Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
02 December, 1927
Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
02 December, 1920
Following more than a month of Turkish-Armenian War, the Turkish dictated peace treaty is concluded -Treaty of Alexandropol
02 December, 1908
Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two
02 December, 1899
Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
02 December, 1867
In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
02 December, 1859
Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harpers Ferry.
02 December, 1852
Napoleon III becomes Emperor of the French.
02 December, 1851
Newly-elected French President Charles Louis Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
02 December, 1848
Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.
02 December, 1845
Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
02 December, 1823
Monroe Doctrine: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
02 December, 1805
Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz - French troops under Napoleon defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
02 December, 1804
At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
02 December, 1755
The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
02 December, 1402
The University of Leipzig opens.

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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