This is a list of selected December 8 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
| ← December 7 | December 9 → |
|---|
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
Pope Pius IX
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
John Lennon
Model of the IKAROS spacecraft
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Constitution Day in Romania (1991); | refimprove |
| 395 – The state of Later Yan was defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. | refimprove section |
| 1609 – Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana opened its reading room to the public, becoming the second public library in Europe. | refimprove section |
| 1912 – Leaders of the German Empire held an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. | unreferenced section |
| 1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, was founded through the merger of three separate organizations established by Robert S. Brookings. | refimprove section |
| 1993 – Leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed the final agreements of the North American Free Trade Agreement, forming a regional trade bloc. | multiple issues |
| 2004 – Twelve South American countries signed the Cusco Declaration, announcing the foundation of what is now the Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental union modelled after the European Union. | refimprove section |
| 2010 – The Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS passed by Venus at about 80,800 km distance, completing its planned mission to demonstrate solar sail technology. | outdated |
Eligible
- 1432 – The first battle of the Lithuanian Civil War between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis was fought near the modern town of Ashmyany.
- 1941 – Second World War: Led by Takashi Sakai, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Hong Kong and quickly achieved air superiority by bombing Kai Tak Airport.
- 1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed in the entrance of the Dakota apartments in New York City.
- 1987 – A man shot and killed eight people at the Australia Post building in Melbourne, before jumping to his death.
- 1991 – Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the Belavezha Accords, agreeing to dissolve the Soviet Union and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- 1998 – The Australian Cricket Board's cover-up of Shane Warne and Mark Waugh's involvement with bookmakers was revealed.
December 8: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic Church); Bodhi Day in Japan
- 1854 – In his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX (pictured) proclaimed the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.
- 1941 – The Holocaust: The Chełmno extermination camp in occupied Poland, the first such Nazi camp to kill the Jews of the Ghetto Litzmannstadt and the Warthegau by poison gas, began operating.
- 1963 – After being hit by a lightning strike while in a holding pattern, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, US, killing all 81 people on board.
- 1987 – Arab–Israeli conflict: An Israeli army tank transporter killed four Palestinian refugees and injured seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, sparking the First Intifada.
- 2009 – Bombings carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 127 and injured 448.
More anniversaries: