WHAT HAPPENED ON 13. DECEMBER
Want to find out what all happened on 13. December

Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit. (13. December 1294)

The Council of Trent begins. (13. December 1545)

Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage. (13. December 1577)

The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the National Guard of the United States. (13. December 1636)

Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand. (13. December 1642)

English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire. (13. December 1643)

The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people. (13. December 1758)

Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth. (13. December 1769)

American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union Major General Ambrose Burnside. (13. December 1862)

A Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, England, killing six. (13. December 1867)

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking – Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and murder hundreds of thousands of civilians. (13. December 1937)

The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany. (13. December 1938)

World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles. (13. December 1939)

World War II: The Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Romania declare war on the United States. (13. December 1941)

World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece. (13. December 1943)

The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. (13. December 1949)

Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus. (13. December 1959)

While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor. (13. December 1960)

NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit. (13. December 1962)

Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels. (13. December 1967)