This Day in History
Today: December 20, 2025
69
Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.[1]
1192
Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.[2]
1334
Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII.[3]
1803
The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.[4]
1808
Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
1832
HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.[5]
1848
French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.[6]
1860
South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession.[7]
1915
World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917
Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
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