268 - Saint Dionysius, Roman Pope (259-260), dies
1825 - Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I begins [O.S. 14 December]
1979 - Soviet special forces take over the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan
1993 - Antonov-26 crashes in Gyumri, Armenia, killing 36 people
2012 - China opens the world’s longest high speed rail route from Beijing to Guangzhou

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1820 - Gustavus Adolphus Smith, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (d. 1885)
1837 - George Dewey, American admiral, naval hero in Battle of Manila Bay, born in Montpelier, Vermont (d. 1917)
1855 - Arnold Mendelssohn, German composer, born in Ratibor, Province of Silesia (now Poland) (d. 1933)
1945 - John Walsh, American activist and television host (America's Most Wanted), born in Auburn, New York
1948 - Chris Chambliss, American baseball first baseman (MLB All Star 1976; World Series 1977, 78 NY Yankees; AL Rookie of the Year 1971 Cleveland Indians), born in Dayton, Ohio

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1530 - Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, Timurid founder and 1st Emperor of the Mughal dynasty in the Indian Subcontinent (1526-30), dies at 47
1918 - Bertram Luard-Selby, British organist and composer, dies at 65