Previous Day - Next Day
“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one; I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one.”
~ John Lennon
Wikiquote (John Lennon (John Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon; October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. With Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.)
December 8th, 1432
Lithuanian Civil War: The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany).
Wikipedia Image: Lithuania (Republic of Lithuania) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. ● Trakai Island Castle Photo: ● Hill of Crosses (more than 50,000 crosses, not a cemetery) ● Vilnius ● Battle of Grunwald and Vytautas the Great in the centre.
December 8th, 1660
William Shakespeare:
1660 - William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello: A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona.
Wikipedia Painting: William Shakespeare. credit Shakespeare.org.uk; Desdemona (Othello), credit Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896)
December 8th, 1854
In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
Wikipedia Painting: The Madonna in Sorrow, Sassoferrato
December 8th, 1912
Pre-World War I:
1912 - Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.
World War I:
1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands; A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the South Atlantic.
Wikipedia Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.
Painting: Battle of the Falkland Islands, War at Sea.
December 8th, 1927
The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.
Wikipedia Iimage: The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks.
December 8th, 1941
World War II:
1941 - United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy:" 
, after which the U.S. and the Republic of China declare war against Japan.
1941 - Japanese forces simultaneously invade Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. These happen concurrently with the Attack on Pearl Harbor, which was on December 7 in the United States.
Wikipedia Photo: Battleship Row: taken from a Japanese plane at the beginning of the attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo strike on the USS Oklahoma. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over the USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard; Battleship Row: aerial view of moorings on the southern side of Ford Island, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In upper left is the sunken California, with smaller vessels clustered around her. Diagonally, from left center to lower right are: Maryland, lightly damaged, with the capsized Oklahoma outboard. A barge is alongside Oklahoma, supporting rescue efforts.[1] Tennessee, lightly damaged, with the sunken West Virginia outboard. Arizona, sunk, with her hull shattered by the explosion of the magazines below the two forward turrets. Note dark oil streaks on the harbor surface, originating from the sunken battleships; USS Arizona (BB-39) during the attack; Sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48) during or shortly after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor. credit National Archives.
December 8th, 1949
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: (1947 - 1948)
1949 - (1948) Palestinian exodus: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
Wikipedia Photo: Potsdam Conference; Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945. (The Potsdam Conference: held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945)
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine; Arab volunteers fighting in Palestine in 1947; Jewish soldiers at Katamon, Jerusalem; Jerusalem convoy, 1948.
December 8th, 1953
1953 - United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, and the U.S. launches its "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipment and information to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.
Wikipedia Photo: Dwight D. Eisenhower (June 4, 1956) courtesy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.
December 8th, 1962
New York City newspaper strike: workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.
Wikipedia Photo: The New York Times
December 8th, 1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971:
1971 - Operation Python: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.
Wikipedia Image: Map Satellite India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet AR, Bangladesh.
December 8th, 1980
John Lennon, an English musician (former member of The Beatles), and peace activist, is murdered by Mark David Chapman, a mentally unstable fan, in front of The Dakota apartment building in New York City.
Wikipedia Photo: John Lennon performing for Dutch television in 1964.
December 8th, 2010
Second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
Wikipedia Photo: SpaceX Falcon 9 ● A Falcon 9 v1.0 launches with first Dragon spacecraft ● Falcon 9 booster tank at the SpaceX factory, 2008.
December 8th, 2010
Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.
Wikipedia Image: IKAROS spaceprobe with solar sail in flight (artist's depiction) showing a typical square sail configuration.