1750 – Carlo Goldoni’s comedy play “Il Teatro Comico” premieres in Venice
1793 – French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France
1869 – A strong hurricane known as the Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region in Maritime Canada. Incredibly, British naval officer Stephen Martin Saxby predicts the storm 10 months earlier in December 1868 through astronomy.
1887 – 1st US National Championship Women’s Tennis, Philadelphia Cricket Club: Ellen Hansell wins inaugural event; beats Laura Knight 6-1, 6-0
1916 – Adolf Hitler is wounded in the left thigh by an exploding shell during the Battle of the Somme
1983 – Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa wins the Nobel Peace Prize
1991 – USSR reduces its nuclear weapons arsenal
1994 – 52 members of the cult Order of the Solar Temple (Zonnetempel) die in a mass murder-suicide in Salvan, Switzerland