After nearly a decade of planning, Rondane was established as the first Norwegian National Park on December 21, 1962.
It was first established as a nature protection area, but was later named a national park. The main reasons for protecting the park were “to safeguard the natural environment with its native plants, animal life, and cultural […]

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Netherlands New Guinea was the official name of Western New Guinea while it was a colonial possession of the Netherlands. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea.
Indonesia attempted to invade the region on 18 December 1961. Following some skirmishes between Indonesian and Dutch forces the territory was placed under United Nations administration in October […]

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The Battle of Sevastopol was fought from October 30, 1941 to July 4, 1942 between German forces and the USSR over the main Soviet naval base on the Black Sea during World War II.
On 17 December 1941 six German infantry divisions and two Romanian brigades with 1,275 guns and mortars, over 150 tanks and 300 […]

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Miri is the birthplace of Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s petroleum industry, which remains the major industry of the city.
Japan invaded Sarawak and occupied the island of Borneo in 1941, occupying Miri on December 16 and Kuching on December 24. The Brooke Government which had already heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (on 7 December […]

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The December 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16-December 19, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom.
These strikes were undertaken in response to Iraq’s continued failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions as well as their interference with United […]

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The Golan Heights Law is the Israeli Knesset’s law, ratified on December 14, 1981, which applies Israel’s laws to the Golan Heights.
The law was passed half a year before Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai in a rare third hearing which was heavily criticized by the centre-left opposition. It was also criticized for potentially hindering future […]

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Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski became the Polish United Workers’ Party (the former Polish Communist Party) General Secretary and Prime Minister in 1981, when Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement was starting to gain popularity, both within Poland and abroad.
On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland, actually called in Polish stan wojenny literally translated as ’state […]

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The Batang Kali massacre took place in Malaysia on December 12, 1948. It is claimed that 14 members of the Scots Guards murdered 26 unarmed men and then set fire to the village.
The only adult male survivor was Chong Hong, who was in his 20s at the time. He claimed to have fainted and was […]

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Upper Volta was the name of the African country now called Burkina Faso. The name change occurred on August 4, 1984, instigated by Thomas Sankara, the leader of the country at that time.
The old name indicates that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River. The river is divided into three parts, called […]

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Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is a Mongolian politician. He has been one of the principal leaders of the peaceful democratic revolution in 1990 that ended nearly 75 years of communist rule.
On the morning of December 10, 1989, the first open pro-democracy demonstration met in front of the Youth Palace in Ulaanbaatar. There Elbegdorj announced the creation of […]

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