December 8 in History
What happened on December 8 in history?
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on december 8 in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened on december 8 in history.
?>2010
SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
2010
The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus.
2004
The Cuzco Declaration signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
1991
The leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine sign an agreement that dissolves the Soviet Union and establishes the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1987
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed.
1987
An Israeli army tank transporter kills 4 Palestinian refugees and injures 7 others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, leading to the First Intifada.
1982
The Washington, D.C., police shoot and kill a man threatening to blow up the Washington Monument.
1980
John Lennon is shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.
1968
South Vietnam’s Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky arrives in Paris for peace talks.
1967
In the biggest battle yet in the Mekong Delta, 365 Viet Cong are killed.
1948
The United Nations approves the recognition of South Korea.
1944
The United States conducts the longest, most effective air raid on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima.
1943
U.S. carrier-based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands.
1941
Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita begins his attack against the British army at Singapore.
1932
Japan tells the League of Nations that it has no control over her designs in China.
1920
President Woodrow Wilson declines to send a representative to the League of Nations in Geneva.
1914
The German cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg, and Liepzig are sunk by a British force in the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
1863
Union General William Averell’s cavalry destroys railroads in the southwestern part of West Virginia.
1861
CSS Sumter captures the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The American Civil War is now affecting the Northern whaling industry.
1660
The first Shakespearian actress to appear on an English stage (she is believed to be a Ms. Norris) makes her debut as Desdemona.