December 13, 1916: The White Fridayavalanche kills hundreds of soldiers in one of the deadliest snow avalanches ever.
December 13, 1928: George Gershwin’s An American in Paris is first performed, conducted by Walter Damrosch. Gershwin stated that Damrosch’s sluggish, dragging tempo caused him to walk out of the hall. The audience was much more enthusiastic.
December 14, 1941: The HMS Galateais torpedoed and sunk off Alexandria, Egypt killing 469. The German submarine responsible, U-557, is rammed by an Italian ship two days later, killing everyone aboard that u-boat.
December 14, 1799 - George Washington dies on this day at his Mount Vernon home along the banks of the Potomac
December 15,1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet
December 15, 1973: The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.
December 15, 1966: Walt Disney dies.
December 15, 1593: Holland grants a patent on a windmill with a crankshaft.
December 16, 1773: Members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians, dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
December 17, 1989: The Simpsons, America’s longest-running sitcom, debuts.
December 18, 1966: *How the Grinch Stole Christmas *airs for the first time, on CBS.
December 18, 1892: Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In general, the performance was not a success.
December 18, 1620: The British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts
December 18, 1603: The first fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East Indies.
December 19, 1941: HMS Neptune (20) strikes several Italian mines. All but 1 of her crew of 767 perish.
December 19, 1998: President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.
December 19, 1944: Japanese aircraft carrier *Unryu *is torpedoed by a US submarine in the South China Sea. 1238 die.
December 19, 1154 – King Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
December 20, 1987: A Filipino passenger ferry, the MV* Dona Paz *collides with an oil tanker. The ferry catches fire and both ships sink in shark infested waters. 4386 people die, making this the single deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.
December 20, 1991: A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the “honor killing” of their daughter Palestina.