December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Tuesday or Wednesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Friday or Sunday (56). It is widely known as New Year's Eve since the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year. The following day is January 1 of the following year.
NATIONAL CHAMPAGNE DAY
406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul. The Rhine-crossing transgressed one of the Late Roman Empire's most secure limites or boundaries, and so was a climactic moment in the decline of the Empire. It initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul. That, in turn, occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Britannia. Therefore, the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migration Period, during which various Germanic tribes moved westward and southward, out of southern Scandinavia and northern Germania.
NATIONAL CHAMPAGNE DAY
406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul. The Rhine-crossing transgressed one of the Late Roman Empire's most secure limites or boundaries, and so was a climactic moment in the decline of the Empire. It initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul. That, in turn, occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Britannia. Therefore, the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migration Period, during which various Germanic tribes moved westward and southward, out of southern Scandinavia and northern Germania.
1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness. The Irish dry stout is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. It is brewed in almost 50 countries and is available in over 120. Annual sales total 850 million litres (1.5 billion Imperial or 1.8 billion US pints).
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Quebec ― British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The battle was the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the Civil War, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Although the battle itself was inconclusive, the Union Army's repulse of two Confederate attacks and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal were a much-needed boost to Union morale after the defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and it dashed Confederate aspirations for control of Middle Tennessee.
1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879.
1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan.
1944 – World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the Western Front begins.
The goal of the offensive was to break through the lines of the U.S. Seventh Army and French 1st Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, and destroy them. This would leave the way open for Operation Dentist (Unternehmen Zahnarzt), a planned major thrust into the rear of the U.S. Third Army which would lead to the destruction of that army.
The German offensive finally drew to a close on 25 January, after the US 222nd Infantry Regiment stopped their advance near Haguenau, and earning the Presidential Unit Citation in the process. This was the same day that the reinforcements began to arrive from the Ardennes. Strasbourg was saved but the Colmar Pocket was a danger which had to be eliminated.
1946 – President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
The goal of the offensive was to break through the lines of the U.S. Seventh Army and French 1st Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, and destroy them. This would leave the way open for Operation Dentist (Unternehmen Zahnarzt), a planned major thrust into the rear of the U.S. Third Army which would lead to the destruction of that army.
The German offensive finally drew to a close on 25 January, after the US 222nd Infantry Regiment stopped their advance near Haguenau, and earning the Presidential Unit Citation in the process. This was the same day that the reinforcements began to arrive from the Ardennes. Strasbourg was saved but the Colmar Pocket was a danger which had to be eliminated.
1946 – President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1951 – The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion ($174 billion in 2015 dollars) in foreign aid to rebuild Europe. [22.3% the amount of the $780 billion Obama threw away somewhere with his alledged "recovery".]
1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
1999 – First President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
1999 – The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
TODAY'S BIRTHS
1491 – Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer (d. 1557)
1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English general and politician, surrendered at Yorktown ending the American Revolution, 3rd Governor-General of India (d. 1805)
1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor (d. 1954)
1880 – George Marshall, American general and politician, 50th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
TODAY'S BIRTHS
1491 – Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer (d. 1557)
1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English general and politician, surrendered at Yorktown ending the American Revolution, 3rd Governor-General of India (d. 1805)
1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor (d. 1954)
1880 – George Marshall, American general and politician, 50th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
From Wikipedia and Google, ex as noted.
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