1492: First Spanish settlement in the New World, La Navidad, is founded by Christopher Columbus (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Haiti)

1792: Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by Raymond Desèze

1825: Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I begins [O.S. 14 December]

1944: Battle of Bastogne: US General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army repulses German forces

2004: A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami, causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives, and the edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people

Source: Onthisday.com