On December 5

A gunman killed nine people at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska.

Gough Whitlam took office as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia and formed a duumvirate with his deputy Lance Barnard, ending 23 years of Liberal–Country Party government.

The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country.

Britain's first motorway, the Preston Bypass, opened to the public.

The "Great Smog of London" (pictured) began and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956.

The 1936 Soviet constitution, also known as the "Stalin constitution", was adopted.

National Guards and Sokol volunteers protested in Zagreb, leading to an armed clash with regiments of the Home Guard and former Common Army.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

Napoleonic Wars: British ships began a raid on Griessie after the Dutch captain refused a British demand for surrender.

American Revolutionary War: Continental Army colonel Henry Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60 tons of artillery (depicted) to support the siege of Boston.

Seven Years' War: Prussian troops under Frederick the Great defeated Austrian forces at the Battle of Leuthen (pictured).

Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which gave the Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer the explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.

The first of two major earthquakes struck the Kingdom of Naples, killing up to 70,000 people.