At 7:48 on the morning of the 7th December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack against the United States’ Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Meredith Hunter was killed at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival during a performance by the Rolling Stones.
On the 5th December 1934, the Wal-Wal Incident took place which laid the foundations for the Abyssinia Crisis.
Mary Celeste had departed New York on 7 November.
On the 3rd December 1910, the first neon light went on show at the Paris Motor Show.
United States Senator Joseph McCarthy was censured for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonour and disrepute.”
On the 1st December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama after the white section of the bus became full.
On 30 November 1786 Leopold formally abolished the death sentence as well as banning the use of torture.
On the 29th November 1781, the crew of the slave ship Zong threw the first of at least 132 African slaves overboard in a massacre intended to allow them to cash in their insurance policy.
Every New Zealand woman over the age of 21 was able to vote in the world’s first general election in a self-governing colony.
On the 27th November 1095, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade with an impassioned speech at the Council of Clermont.
The Damned had released what is recognised as the first ever punk single a month earlier.
On the 25th November 1936, Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact.
Improved fencing systems were vital to the farmers who had headed west to settle in the Great Plains.