755: An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Chinese Tang dynasty

1598: Battle of Noryang Point: In the final naval battle of the Imjin War, the allied Korean and Chinese fleets decisively defeat the Japanese

1653: Parliamentarian General Oliver Cromwell appointed as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland

1773: Boston Tea Party incident – Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston Harbor to protest the British-imposed Tea Act and escalating taxation without representation in the British Parliament

1920: 8.5 magnitude earthquake rocks Gansu Province in China, killing an estimated 200,000 people

1944: Nazi Germany launches a counteroffensive against the Allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium, beginning the Battle of the Bulge

1998: Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – the United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq to degrade its ability to produce, store, maintain, and deliver weapons of mass destruction

Source: Onthisday.com