218 BC
The Second Punic War: Hannibal's Carthaginian army defeats the Roman Republic at the Battle of the Trebia in Italy.
1620
Passengers on the British ship Mayflower come ashore at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.A. to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
1892
Tchaikovsky's ballet, 'The Nutcracker', premiers at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
1912
In England, the 'Piltdown Man' is discovered in Sussex. It's claimed to be the fossilised skull and remains of the earliest known European but in 1953 it is proved to be a hoax - the skull was that of an orangutan.
1941
The Second World War: Japan invades Hong Kong.
1973
A second test flight of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 13 takes off.
1982
A fire begins in a power plant begins in Venezuela. By the time it ended, it killed 128 people and injured hundreds more. Half the capital city of Caracas lost electrical power and 40,000 people had to be evacuated.
pretty neat :D