WHAT HAPPENED ON 16. DECEMBER
Want to find out what all happened on 16. December

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. (16. December 1918)

The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000. (16. December 1920)

President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw. (16. December 1922)

Donald Bradman makes his debut in first-class cricket for New South Wales against South Australia. Batting at No. 7, he scores a century. (16. December 1927)

Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a 200-strong posse, following a botched bank robbery in Clinton, Indiana. (16. December 1930)

Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again. (16. December 1937)

Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honor of the German Mother. (16. December 1938)

World War II: Japanese forces occupy Miri, Sarawak. (16. December 1941)

The Holocaust: Schutzstaffel chief Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz. (16. December 1942)

World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest. (16. December 1944)

Thailand joins the United Nations. (16. December 1946)

William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor. (16. December 1947)

Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight in support of communist North Korea. (16. December 1950)

Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan. (16. December 1957)

1960 New York air disaster: While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134. (16. December 1960)

Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966. (16. December 1965)

Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain. (16. December 1968)

Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh, and as Vijay Diwas in India. (16. December 1971)

The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence. This is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day. (16. December 1971)

Cleveland, Ohio, becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression. (16. December 1978)