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This Day in History - December

Can you guess these things that happened in the month of December?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 3, 2021
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First submittedDecember 9, 2012
Times taken29,806
Average score67.7%
Rating4.22
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Date
Year
Clue
Answer
Dec 1
1955
This woman refuses to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks
Dec 2
1848
Franz Josef I becomes the leader of this empire
Austrian Empire
Dec 3
1984
Thousands die after a toxic gas leak near the city of Bhopal in this country
India
Dec 4
1965
This rock band performs at a California "acid test"
The Grateful Dead
Dec 5
1933
This period of American history comes to an end, following the
ratification of the 21st amendment
Prohibition
Dec 6
1998
This socialist is elected President of Venezuela
Hugo Chávez
Dec 7
1941
This American naval base is attacked by Japan
Pearl Harbor
Dec 8
1980
This musician is killed by Mark David Chapman in New York City
John Lennon
Dec 9
1979
This disease is declared to be eradicated
Smallpox
Dec 10
1901
In Stockholm, these awards are given for the first time
Nobel Prizes
Dec 11
1936
This British king abdicates
Edward VIII
Dec 12
1901
This Italian inventor receives the first international radio transmission
Guglielmo Marconi
Dec 13
1972
Gene Cernan becomes the last of twelve people to walk here
The Moon
Dec 14
1994
Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on this river
Yangtze
Dec 15
1978
The U.S. announces it will establish official diplomatic relations
with China, and sever them with this country
Taiwan
Dec 16
1653
This leader becomes Lord Protector of England
Oliver Cromwell
Dec 17
2011
This notorious dictator dies, leaving his doughy young son in charge
Kim Jong-il
Dec 18
1892
This Tchaikovsky ballet is performed for the first time
The Nutcracker
Dec 19
1998
This politician is impeached
Bill Clinton
Dec 20
1999
Portugal returns this territory to China
Macau
Dec 21
1988
Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland.
This country later admits responsibility.
Libya
Dec 22
1942
Hitler orders the mass production of this technically impressive,
but largely useless, ballistic missile
V-2
Dec 23
1815
"Emma", by this British novelist, is first published
Jane Austen
Dec 24
1777
This English sea captain discovers Kiritimati, aka, Christmas Island
James Cook
Dec 25
271
A temple to the sun god Sol Invictus is dedicated in this city
Rome
Dec 26
2004
A deadly tsunami is caused by 9.3 earthquake off the coast of this country
Indonesia
Dec 27
1831
This naturalist embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle
Charles Darwin
Dec 28
1065
This abbey, burial place of British monarchs, is consecrated
Westminster Abbey
Dec 29
1916
This "mad monk" is murdered in St. Petersburg, Russia
Grigori Rasputin
Dec 30
2006
This former Iraqi leader is hanged
Saddam Hussein
Dec 31
1991
This country is officially dissolved
Soviet Union
+2
Level 92
Apr 22, 2014
Took me forever to come up with the right ballet, even with the December clue. Couldn't get past Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.
+1
Level 67
Mar 7, 2023
Ah nuts!
+1
Level 67
Dec 1, 2015
Great job on the quiz - happy December to everyone!
+2
Level 84
Dec 1, 2015
Ugh, kept trying Gadaffi, but turns out he's October.
+6
Level 29
Dec 1, 2015
Can you accept Harbour for the Pearl Harbour question for all the Brits.
+1
Level ∞
Dec 3, 2015
Yes
+2
Level 78
Apr 30, 2021
I don't think you should accept that. Everyone interested in history should know about Pearl Harbour.
+5
Level 73
Aug 1, 2021
@EcceHomo: Pearl Harbour vs Pearl Harbor, not Harbour vs Pearl Harbor.
+2
Level 77
Dec 1, 2021
Well this made me chuckle. Thanks for making me laugh, EcceHomo.
+2
Level 82
Dec 6, 2018
in that case please also accept "Paeourques" for "Parks"
+11
Level 79
Mar 28, 2020
'park' has the same spelling in British and American English, and in this case is a surname, so should be spelt the same way in any variety of English.
+3
Level 67
Dec 1, 2021
But "Pearl Harbor" is a proper name. You don't adjust spelling for proper names.
+1
Level 67
Dec 1, 2015
Can you accept Variola or Variola vera for smallpox cause it's the name for disease in Latin?
+3
Level 82
Oct 15, 2017
It's an English quiz though.
+5
Level 74
Dec 4, 2018
That may be, but it's also called Variola in English.
+3
Level 37
Dec 6, 2015
I resent "Edward" being a correct answer.
+14
Level 89
Sep 2, 2018
Tell that massively inbred family to choose from more than 12 names in 900 years, naming each other after their brother-uncles, i.e., bruncles.
+2
Level 79
Mar 28, 2020
What's wrong with a monarch naming himself after an ancestor? There were 28 different Louis's in France.
+4
Level 75
Dec 1, 2018
If one knows the name but is unsure of the number, it's easy to write the name then quickly run through the numbers. This is one shortcut that makes perfect sense. (As Someone said, there are a limited number of names so even if one doesn't know the name, it is easy to try them all with all the low numbers.)
+3
Level 71
Jun 17, 2016
You might not resent it if you had to put in the alternatives when making the quiz e.g. 'the eighth'....... VIII...... v111 ..... 8th ....... the viii..... the V111..... etc .....etc
+3
Level 37
Apr 22, 2018
Besides, only one "King" Edward abdicated that year, so the answer is obvious. (I put King in quotation marks because, although as the elder son he succeeded his father, the coronation ceremony had not yet taken place at the time of his abdication).
+2
Level 55
Dec 2, 2018
He was King the moment his father died.
+1
Level 55
Aug 21, 2020
"The king is dead. Long live the king".
+2
Level 86
Nov 3, 2018
You would really accept "V111"?
+1
Level 79
Mar 28, 2020
certainly not.
+1
Level 75
Dec 1, 2021
Edward 5III?
+2
Level 69
Jul 21, 2017
Nice quiz! Would it work if you removed the name of the guy who shot Lennon seeing as he only did it to be famous - prefer not to pander to his reason
+3
Level 70
Apr 1, 2018
Gaddafi? No? Then, Ghaddafi? Ghadaffi? Ghadavi? - well, it turns out he wasn‘t the only dictator to die in 2011 *facepalm*
+5
Level 81
Dec 1, 2018
Don't forget the versions that start with Q
+1
Level 52
Dec 8, 2020
Qadaffi? Khadaffi? You spell it any way you pronounce it.
+2
Level 85
May 5, 2020
The USSR was dissolved on December 26th when the Supreme Soviet voted itself and the USSR out of existence. On December 31, the Russian Federation was designated as the successor to the USSR by the United Nations.
+3
Level 72
Aug 21, 2020
The wording for the moon question seems to imply that no one will ever walk on the moon again - maybe replace 'final' with 'latest?
+1
Level ∞
Aug 21, 2020
Okay
+1
Level 86
Aug 21, 2020
Twelve people walked on the moon, not eleven.
+1
Level ∞
Aug 21, 2020
Confusing because Cernan was the eleventh, but also the last. Someone must have walked on the moon in between. I changed the clue slightly.
+1
Level 79
Aug 21, 2020
it may have been the Soup Dragon
+2
Level 84
Aug 21, 2020
Doughy? Look out, they have nukes and have gotten angry for less. :D
+1
Level 72
Aug 22, 2020
On the Cernan question, the plural of "person" is "people". Just saying.
+2
Level 57
Dec 1, 2020
Today's the 65th Anniversary of Rosa Parks' Montgomery Bus Boycott!
+2
Level 79
Dec 20, 2020
Arrgghghh.... got everything but the 'Grateful Dead'.
+1
Level 79
Dec 20, 2020
For Dec 13 (my birthday incidentally), 'person' should be 'people'.
+1
Level 59
Jan 3, 2021
In the one about the moon, there is a type instead of saying 12 people it says 12 person
+1
Level ∞
Jan 3, 2021
Fixed
+5
Level 66
Apr 2, 2021
Love this series - I don't think the grateful Dead belong anywhere near here

The Beatles, Hendrix, Bowie, sure, the Grateful Dead aren't something to have the same global impact!

+1
Level 82
Aug 1, 2021
Hey! that's my dad's favorite band you're talking about!! But yeah you're right
+1
Level 82
Aug 1, 2021
Hey! that's my dad's favorite band you're talking about!! But yeah you're right
+1
Level 75
Oct 1, 2021
Until this quiz I thought the Grateful Dead were a much more recent band, kinda like Weezer or Green Day or something. Huh.
+1
Level 77
Dec 1, 2021
I don't think the Beatles, Hendrix, or Bowie were named on December 4, though. Also, Grateful Dead were an extremely influential band. They were a touring band that had/has a massive following and inspired countless acts. They're also listed at 52nd best artist/group of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. They kind of like the... Phish of their time. They're not giant pop stars, but I certainly respect them more as artists than many of their "more successful" contemporaries like, say, Pink Floyd.
+2
Level 67
Dec 1, 2021
More than their influence on music, their significance in 60s culture is significance. They were the standard bearers for the hippie/acid/free love movement. The tie-dye shirts, druggy music, San Francisco...that was all bound up in the Dead. I don't like their music (or any of the bands they influenced), but they have an outsized cultural influence, which makes them stand out.
+2
Level 60
Dec 1, 2021
The V2 wasn't 'largely useless' except in strategic terms. It killed many thousands in London, Antwerp and elsewhere.
+2
Level 60
Sep 26, 2022
It was one of the most useless weapons in history. It killed more people making it than when it was fired. It was a substantial net drain on German resources. You can't get much more useless than that.
+2
Level 78
Dec 1, 2021
I like this series, but this one is not a great entry. I could do with some more variety (very skewed towards recent times, and more than half of the questions are US or UK based).
+2
Level 77
Dec 1, 2021
More than half of these are not about the US or UK.
+1
Level 83
Nov 16, 2023
*Significantly* more than half of the world is not the US or the UK
+1
Level 53
Dec 5, 2021
I was expecting Charlemagne, but learned a lot instead. Good quiz!