December 1, 1911 (Friday)

• At Urga (now Ulan Bator), a new Mongolian Empire was declared independent from the Chinese Empire. Chinese officials of the Qing dynasty
  Qing Dynasty
  The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
  
   were expelled from what had been "Outer Mongolia
  Outer Mongolia
  Outer Mongolia was a territory of the Qing Dynasty = the Manchu Empire. Its area was roughly equivalent to that of the modern state of Mongolia, which is sometimes informally called "Outer Mongolia" today...
  
  ", and an setting up its own government on the 11th day of the First Winter Month of the year of the Pig. Unlike other provinces of China that would become part of the Republic of China, Mongolia remained a separate nation.
• Los Angeles Times bombing
  Los Angeles Times bombing
  The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California, on October 1, 1910 by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper...
  
  : James B. McNamara and John J. McNamara stunned Americans who had been following their trial for murder, when James pleaded guilty to the dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building on October 1, 1910
  October 1910
  January – February – March – April – May – June – July -August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in October 1910:-October 1, 1910 :...
  
  , and John, the secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, pled to having caused an explosion at the Llewellyn Iron Works. Chief counsel Clarence Darrow
  Clarence Darrow
  Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
  
   explained the plea, saying, "From the first, there was never the slightest chance to win," adding, "There was overwhelming evidence of all kinds which no one could have surmounted if he would." James was sentenced to life imprisonment and his brother John to 15 years.
• The first International Opium Conference
  International Opium Convention
  The International Opium Convention, signed at The Hague on January 23, 1912 during the First International Opium Conference, was the first international drug control treaty. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 23, 1922...
  
   opened at the Hague. The United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Persia (Iran), Portugal, Russia, and Siam (Thailand), sent representatives, presided over by Bishop Charles H. Brent, Episcopal bishop for the Philippines.
• Born: Walter Alston
  Walter Alston
  Walter Emmons Alston , nicknamed "Smokey," was an American baseball player and manager. He was born in Venice, Ohio but grew up in Darrtown. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he lettered three years in both basketball and baseball and is a member of the University's Hall...
  
  , American baseball manager who guided the Brooklyn Dodgers and then the Los Angeles Dodgers
  Los Angeles Dodgers
  The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
  
   to four World Series championships, in Venice, Ohio (d. 1984)

December 2, 1911 (Saturday)

• King Vajiravudh
  Vajiravudh
  Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramentharamaha Vajiravudh Phra Mongkut Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Phra Bat Somdet Phra Ramathibodi Si Sintharamaha Vajiravudh Phra Mongkut Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama VI was the sixth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, ruling from 1910 until his death...
  
   of Siam (now Thailand
  Thailand
  Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
  
  ) was crowned in Bangkok
  Bangkok
  Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
  
  .
• George V
  George V
  George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
  
  , who was not only the King of the United Kingdom, but also the Emperor of India
  Emperor of India
  Emperor/Empress of India was used as a title by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, and revived by the colonial British monarchs during the British Raj in India....
  
   (at that time a British colony), arrived at Bombay (now Mumbai
  Mumbai
  Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
  
  ), becoming the first British monarch to visit British India.
• The Australasian Antarctic Expedition
  Australasian Antarctic Expedition
  The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was an Australasian scientific team that explored part of Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition. In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart...
  
  , commanded by Douglas Mawson
  Douglas Mawson
  Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
  
  , began with the departure of the Aurora from Hobart
  Hobart
  Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
  
  , for the purpose of mapping the uncharted coastline of Antarctica directly south of Australia.
• Eladio Victoria
  Eladio Victoria
  Eladio Victoria y Victoria was a Dominican politician. He served as the provisional president of the Dominican Republic from December 5, 1911 until November 30, 1912.-Reference:...
  
   was elected as President of the Dominican Republic.

December 3, 1911 (Sunday)

• Maurice Prevost and a passenger reached an altitude of 9,800 feet over Courcy, France, breaking the record of 8,471 feet set the year before by Ralph Johnstone
  Ralph Johnstone
  Ralph Johnstone was a pioneering early aviator who died in a crash.-Biography:He was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1886. He started as a vaudeville trick bicycle rider. With a signature finale of performing a mid-air forward somersault. He became a Wright exhibition team pilot...
  
  .
• The "General Plan for the Organization of the Provisional Government" was promulgated by China's Republican revolutionaries, proposing an American-style presidential system. On March 11, 1912, the Provisional Constitution would change to a cabinet system headed by a Prime Minister.
• Born: Nino Rota
  Nino Rota
  Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
  
  , Italian film score composer, in Milan
  Milan
  Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
  
   (d. 1979)

December 4, 1911 (Monday)

• A mosque was bombed in Istib
  Štip
  Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796...
  
  , at the time a European possession of the Ottoman Empire, and now Štip
  Štip
  Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796...
  
   in the Republic of Macedonia
  Republic of Macedonia
  Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
  
  , killing 12 Muslim worshipers and wounding 20, and leading to the outbreak of rioting. The Turkish Army retaliated by attacking Bulgarian nationalists whom they blamed for the bombing, wounding 171, of whom 14 died.
• An antitrust suit was brought against the National Cash Register company, alleging conspiracy to restrain trade. NCR had 95% of cash register sales in the U.S.
• John D. Rockefeller
  John D. Rockefeller
  John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
  
   resigned as President of the company that he had founded, the recently dismembered Standard Oil Company, and John D. Archibold succeeded him.

December 5, 1911 (Tuesday)

• Voters in Los Angeles
  Los Ángeles
  Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
  
   rejected the prospect of electing a Socialist government, four days after the surprise conviction of the McNamara brothers. Mayor George Alexander, whose re-election had been uncertain, defeated Job Harriman by a more than 2-1 margin, and voters rejected the entire slate of city councilmen and Board of Education members.
• The Aerial Experiment Association
  Aerial Experiment Association
  The Aerial Experiment Association was a Canadian aeronautical research group formed on 30 September 1907, under the tutelage of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell...
  
  , headed by aviator Glenn Curtiss
  Glenn Curtiss
  Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...
  
  , was awarded U.S. Patent No. 1,011,106 for the aileron
  Aileron
  Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector...
  
   (which controls the rolling and turning of an aircraft) after being successful in litigation against the Wright Brothers.
• The town of Blackdom, New Mexico
  Blackdom, New Mexico
  Blackdom is a ghost town in Chaves County, New Mexico, that was founded by African-American settlers in 1901 and abandoned in the mid-1920s.- Geography :...
  
  , an all-black community located in Chaves County
  Chaves County, New Mexico
  -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*70.9% White*2.0% Black*1.2% Native American*0.6% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.2% Two or more races*22.0% Other races*52.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
  
  , was incorporated. The town was abandoned in the 1920s.
• Joseph Stalin
  Joseph Stalin
  Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
  
   was sent into exile for the third and last time, being sent to Vologda
  Vologda
  Vologda is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River. The city is a major transport knot of the Northwest of Russia. Vologda is among the Russian cities possessing an especially valuable historical heritage...
  
   for a five year stretch.
• Born: Władysław Szpilman, Polish Jewish composer and pianist who avoided capture during the Holocaust. His story was dramatized in the film The Pianist (d. 2000); and Carlos Marighella
  Carlos Marighella
  Carlos Marighella , was a Brazilian Marxist revolutionary and writer.Marighella's most famous contribution to guerrilla literature was the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, consisting of advice on how to disrupt and overthrow an authoritarian regime aiming a revolution. He also wrote For the...
  
  , Brazilian guerilla leader, in Salvador
  Salvador, Bahia
  Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...
  
   (killed 1969)

December 6, 1911 (Wednesday)

• The Prince Chun
  Zaifeng, 2nd Prince Chun
  The 2nd Prince Chun was born Zaifeng , of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro clan . He was the leader of China between 1908 and 1911, serving as regent for his son Puyi, the Xuantong Emperor.His courtesy name was Yiyun...
  
  , the regent for (and father of) the Emperor of China, resigned from office. He was succeded by Prince Shi-Hsu, former National Assembly president, and Hsu Shi-Chang, VP of the Privy Council.
• Western Union
  Western Union
  The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
  
   introduced discount rates for its trans-Atlantic cable service between New York and London.

December 7, 1911 (Thursday)

• More than 150 construction workers were killed in the collapse of a bridge over Russia's Volga River
  Volga River
  The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
  
   at Kazan
  Kazan
  Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
  
  . Pressured by a buildup of ice, the supports for the structure gave way without warning, throwing the men into the icy waters.
• New Zealand general election, 1911
  New Zealand general election, 1911
  The New Zealand general election of 1911 was held on Thursday, 7 and 14 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 18th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
  
  : The New Zealand Liberal Party
  New Zealand Liberal Party
  The New Zealand Liberal Party is generally regarded as having been the first real political party in New Zealand. It governed from 1891 until 1912. Out of office, the Liberals gradually found themselves pressed between the conservative Reform Party and the growing Labour Party...
  
  , headed by Prime Minister Joseph Ward
  Joseph Ward
  Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, GCMG was the 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand on two occasions in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
  
  , lost its majority of 50 of the 80 seats in Parliament
  Parliament of New Zealand
  The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and, until 1951, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The House of Representatives is often referred to as "Parliament".The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 Members of...
  
  , falling to 33. The Reform Party
  New Zealand Reform Party
  The Reform Party, formally the New Zealand Political Reform League, was New Zealand's second major political party, having been founded as a conservative response to the original Liberal Party...
  
   won 37, and, after the Liberals were unable to maintain a government, captured the post of premier under William Massey
  William Massey
  William Ferguson Massey, often known as Bill Massey or "Farmer Bill" served as the 19th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1912 to 1925, and was the founder of the Reform Party. He is widely considered to have been one of the more skilled politicians of his time, and was known for the particular...
  
  .
• The mandatory requirement for Chinese men to wear their hair in a queue
  Queue (hairstyle)
  The queue or cue is a hairstyle in which the hair is worn long and gathered up into a ponytail. It was worn traditionally by certain Native American groups and the Manchu of Manchuria.-Manchu Queue:...
  
   was abolished by Imperial edict, and provisions were announced for implementing the Western calendar.

December 8, 1911 (Friday)

• Thirteen years after the destruction of the USS Maine
  USS Maine (ACR-1)
  USS Maine was the United States Navy's second commissioned pre-dreadnought battleship, although she was originally classified as an armored cruiser. She is best known for her catastrophic loss in Havana harbor. Maine had been sent to Havana, Cuba to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt...
  
   in the Havana Harbor
  Havana Harbor
  Havana Harbor is the port of Havana, the capital of Cuba, and it is the main port in Cuba . Most vessels coming to the island make port in Havana...
  
  , a committee of naval experts concluded that the blast was, as originally suspected, caused by an external explosion which had ignited munitions stored on board.
• The San Francisco Symphony
  San Francisco Symphony
  The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
  
  , conducted by Henry Kimball Hadley
  Henry Kimball Hadley
  Henry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.-Life:Hadley was born into a musical family in Somerville, Massachusetts...
  
  , held its first concert.
• Born: Lee J. Cobb
  Lee J. Cobb
  Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
  
  , American stage and film actor, in New York City as Leo Jacob (d. 1976)

December 9, 1911 (Saturday)

• Cross Mountain Mine disaster
  Cross Mountain Mine Disaster
  The Cross Mountain Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on December 9, 1911 near the community of Briceville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. In spite of a well-organized rescue effort led by the newly-created Bureau of Mines, 84 miners died as a result of the...
  
  : The explosion of the Knoxville Iron and Coal Company's mine at Briceville, Tennessee
  Briceville, Tennessee
  Briceville is an unincorporated community in Anderson County, Tennessee. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is named for railroad tycoon and one-term Democratic U.S. Senator Calvin S...
  
  , killed 84 coal miners. Shortly after their shift had started, an explosion occurred at 7:30 am, entombing all but five survivors.
• Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
  's ambassador in Tehran
  Tehran
  Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
  
   delivered an ultimatum to the government of Persia, demanding that it dismiss W. Morgan Shuster within 48 hours, and pledge not to hire foreign subjects without the consent of Russia and Britain. The Persians initially ignored the demand.
• Born: Broderick Crawford
  Broderick Crawford
  Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
  
  , American film (All the King's Men) and TV (Highway Patrol
  Highway Patrol (TV series)
  Highway Patrol is a syndicated action crime drama series produced 1955-1959.-Overview:Highway Patrol stars Broderick Crawford as Dan Mathews, the gruff and dedicated head of a police force in an unidentified Western state...
  
  ) actor (d. 1986)

December 10, 1911 (Sunday)

• Dante's Inferno
  Dante's Inferno
  Dante's Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy.Dante's Inferno may also refer to:* Dante's Inferno , a silent film about a slum landlord sent to hell...
  
  , a 69 minute (five reel) silent film based on the 14th Century vision of Hell written by Dante Alighieri
  Dante Alighieri
  Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
  
  , premiered at the Gane's Manhattan Theater in New York. Bringing the Devil to the silver screen for the first time, the Italian made film was a success.
• Born: Chet Huntley
  Chet Huntley
  Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.-Early life:...
  
  , American newscaster who co-anchored NBC's evening news program, the The Huntley-Brinkley Report, from 1956 to 1970; in Cardwell, Montana
  Cardwell, Montana
  Cardwell is a census-designated place in Jefferson County, Montana, United States. The population was 40 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Helena Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Cardwell is located at ....
  
   (d. 1974)
• Died: Joseph Dalton Hooker
  Joseph Dalton Hooker
  Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
  
  , 94, British explorer and botanist

December 11, 1911 (Monday)

• Fourteen people were killed and 30 injured in the derailment of a train near the Portuguese city of Oporto, after the cars fell into the Douro River.
• Born: Qian Xuesen (Hsue-Shen Tsien), Chinese rocket scientist who had helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
  
   in the United States before becoming the "Father of Chinese Rocketry" for Communist China
  Communist China
  Communist China refers to:*Chinese Soviet Republic*People's Republic of China...
  
  , in Zhejiang
  Zhejiang
  Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
  
   (d. 2009); Val Guest
  Val Guest
  Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...
  
  , British film director, as Valmond Grossman in London (d. 2006); and Naguib Mahfouz
  Naguib Mahfouz
  Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie...
  
  , Egyptian novelist and winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, in Cairo
  Cairo
  Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
  
   (d. 2006)
• Died: Victor Lemoine
  Victor Lemoine
  Victor Lemoine was a celebrated and prolific French flower breeder who, among other accomplishments, created many of today's lilac varieties...
  
  , 88, French flower breeder who created the French lilac

December 12, 1911 (Tuesday)

• Coronation Durbar: King George V was formally proclaimed the Kaisar-i-Hind, King-Emperor of India, at Delhi
  Delhi
  Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
  
  , before an audience of 80,000 and master of the 315,000,000 subjects in British India, which included modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. (At the time, the population of the British Isles was 45,370,530). The Emperor announced, without consultation of the British Parliament, that the capital of British India would be moved from Calcutta to a new city built near Delhi
  Delhi
  Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
  
  . New Delhi
  New Delhi
  New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
  
   was built on the site southwest of Shahjahanabaad, the capital of the Mughal Emperors from 1658 to 1739, and finally and inaugurated on February 13, 1931.
• A bill proposed by U.S. Representative Isaac Sherwood, to provide a pension of $15 to $30 a month to every American military veteran, passed the House, 229-92.
• Voters in the Arizona Territory
  Arizona Territory
  The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
  
   elected to eliminate the provision in the proposed constitution for judicial recall, by a margin of 14,963 to 1,980 and cleared the last impediment for President Taft to sign the statehood bill. Arizona would become the 48th state in February.
• Born: Margo Jones
  Margo Jones
  Margo Jones was an influential American stage director and producer best known for launching the American regional theater movement and for introducing the theater-in-the-round concept in Dallas, Texas. In 1947, she established the first regional professional company when she opened Theatre ’47 in...
  
  , American stage director credited with launching "regional theater" in the United States; in Livingston, Texas
  Livingston, Texas
  Livingston is a town in Polk County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,433 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Polk County. Livingston was settled in 1835 as Springfield. Its name was changed to Livingston and became the county seat of Polk County in 1846.The Alabama-Coushatta...
  
   (died by accidental poisoning, 1955)

December 13, 1911 (Wednesday)

• The House passed the Sulzer Resolution, asking for abrogation of the 1832 treaty with Russia due to its discrimination against American Jews, by a margin of 300-1. The lone dissent came from Congressman George R. Malby
  George R. Malby
  George Roland Malby was am American politician who served as United States Representative from New York.-Life:He attended Canton Union School and St. Lawrence University...
  
   of New York.
• Five German nationals, convicted of espionage for Britain, were sentenced by a German court in Leipzig
  Leipzig
  Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
  
   to prison terms ranging from 2 to 12 years. The maximum sentence was for a Herr Hipsich, an engineer at the Bremen shipyards, who sold plans for the new German dreadnoughts to the British.
• Born: Trygve Haavelmo
  Trygve Haavelmo
  Trygve Magnus Haavelmo , born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an influential economist with main research interests centered on the fields of econometrics and economics theory. During World War II he worked with Nortraship in the Statistical Department in New York City. He received his Ph.D...
  
  , Norwegian economist, winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Economics, in Skedsmo
  Skedsmo
  Skedsmo is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillestrøm. About one third of the municipal population lives in Lillestrøm. Other important towns are Skedsmokorset, Skjetten and...
  
   (d. 1999); and Kenneth Patchen
  Kenneth Patchen
  Kenneth Patchen was an American poet and novelist. Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen's work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists, the Beats, and Surrealists...
  
  , American poet, in Niles, Ohio
  Niles, Ohio
  Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The city's population was 20,932 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area....
  
   (d. 1972)

December 14, 1911 (Thursday)

• The South Pole
  South Pole
  The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
  
   was reached by human beings for the first time, as the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition
  Amundsen's South Pole expedition
  The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott...
  
   arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon. The weather was sunny, winds were slight, and the temperature only -10° F. Roald Amundsen
  Roald Amundsen
  Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
  
  , the leader of the expedition, was accompanied by Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting, and all five planted the Norwegian flag. The pitched a tent and remained for three days at their settlement, which they called Polheim, on the plateau that they named for King Haakon VII of Norway
  Haakon VII of Norway
  Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
  
  .
• At the same time, the British Antarctic Expedition, led by Robert Falcon Scott
  Robert Falcon Scott
  Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
  
  , was continuing its ascent of the Beardmore Glacier
  Beardmore Glacier
  The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...
  
  . At 84°8', and unaware that Amundsen was at the South Pole, Scott wrote in his journal, ironically, "It is splendid to be getting along and to find some adequate return for the work we are putting into the business."
• Dr. Eleanor Davies-Colley
  Eleanor Davies-Colley
  Eleanor Davies-Colley FRCS was a British surgeon. Among the earliest women in the UK to pursue a career in surgery, at that time an almost entirely male-dominated profession, she was also the co-founder of the South London Hospital for Women and Children.-Early life:Born at Petworth in Sussex, her...
  
   became the first woman to be admitted as Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Britain.
• Born: Hans von Ohain
  Hans von Ohain
  Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain was a German engineer, one of the inventors of jet propulsion.Frank Whittle, who patented in 1930 in the United Kingdom, and Hans von Ohain, who patented in 1936 in Germany, developed the concept independently during the late 1930s...
  
  , German engineer who patented the jet engine; in Dessau
  Dessau
  Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
  
   (d. 1998)

December 15, 1911 (Friday)

• Anti-aircraft warfare
  Anti-aircraft warfare
  NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
  
   was pioneered by Turkish troops in Libya, two weeks after Italy pioneered aerial bomardment.
• British suffragettes began a new tactic, destroying mailboxes in order to attract attention to their cause. Emily Wilding Davison saturated a piece of linen with paraffin, set it on fire, and placed it into a public mail drop. By July, the group began setting fire to unoccupied buildings.
• The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911
  North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911
  The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911, formally known as the Convention between the United States and Other Powers Providing for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals, was an international treaty signed on July 7, 1911 designed to manage the commercial harvest of fur bearing mammals ...
  
  , signed by the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Russia on July 7
  July 1911
  January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in July 1911:-July 1, 1911 :...
  
  , went into effect.
• Born: Stan Kenton
  Stan Kenton
  Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
  
  , American bandleader, in Wichita, Kansas
  Wichita, Kansas
  Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
  
   (d. 1979)

December 16, 1911 (Saturday)

• The Javzundamba Khutagt, spiritual leader of Mongolia's Buddhists, was proclaimed as the Bogd Khan
  Bogd Khan
  The Bogd Khan was enthroned as the Great Khaan of Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty after the Xinhai Revolution. He was born in the Kham region of eastern Tibet, today's Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China...
  
  , Emperor of Mongolia.
• Britain's National Health Insurance Act received royal assent.
• Khalifa bin Harub of Zanzibar
  Khalifa bin Harub of Zanzibar
  Sayyid Sir Khalifa II bin Harub Al-Said, GCB, GCMG, GBE was the ninth Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from December 9, 1911 to October 9, 1960....
  
   was proclaimed as Sultan Khalifa II of Zanzibar upon the abdication of his cousin, Ali bin Hamud
  Ali bin Hamud of Zanzibar
  Sayyid Ali bin Hamud Al-Busaid was the eighth Sultan of Zanzibar. Ali ruled Zanzibar from July 20, 1902 to December 9, 1911, having succeeded to the throne of the death of his father, the seventh Sultan. He served only briefly as sultan because of illness...
  
  .
• British Chancellor of the Exchequer
  Chancellor of the Exchequer
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
  
   David Lloyd George
  David Lloyd George
  David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
  
   was struck in the face by a man who threw a "brass bound box" at the future Prime Minister as Lloyd George was departing a meeting of supporters of women's suffrage. The assailant, 18 year old Allan McDougall, was sentenced to two months hard labor.

December 17, 1911 (Sunday)

• Pope Pius X
  Pope Pius X
  Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
  
   broke a centuries-old tradition of Pontiffs always partaking of their meals alone. Following the ceremony for the consecration of two new cardinals, the Pope invited everyone to breakfast.

December 18, 1911 (Monday)

• With the encouragement of Russia, leaders of the Tuvan
  Tuvans
  Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
  
   minority declared the independence of their homeland, Tannu Tuva, from China. The mostly rural state on the Chinese-Russian border became a Russian protectorate in 1914 and was later annexed into the Soviet Union, and is now a part of the Russian Federation.
• Born: Jules Dassin
  Jules Dassin
  Julius "Jules" Dassin , was an American film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.-Early life:...
  
  , American film director who was blacklisted during the era of McCarthyism; in Middletown, Connecticut
  Middletown, Connecticut
  Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
  
   (d. 2008)

December 19, 1911 (Tuesday)

• U.S. President William H. Taft asked Congress to rescind the commercial treaty that the U.S. had made with Russia more than 70 years prior. The termination was ratified unanimously (72-0) by the U.S. Senate, and the next day by the House with only one dissenting vote, from Robert B. Macon
  Robert B. Macon
  Robert Bruce Macon was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas.Born near Trenton, Arkansas, Macon was left an orphan at the age of nine.He attended the public schools and studied at home.He engaged in agricultural pursuits....
  
   of Arkansas.
• Two thousand physicians met at Queen's Hall in London to protest against the limitations for payment under the Insurance Act.

December 20, 1911 (Wednesday)

• Agadir Crisis
  Agadir Crisis
  The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panthersprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911.-Background:...
  
  : The Chamber of Deputies of France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
   approved the Moroccan agreement with Germany by a vote of 393-36, but 141 of the deputies abstained. The matter then moved on to the French Senate.
• Votes were counted in the New Zealand
  New Zealand
  New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
  
   election, with Prime Minister Ward's party losing its majority in Parliament.
• Born: Hortense Calisher
  Hortense Calisher
  Hortense Calisher was an American writer of fiction.-Personal life:Born in New York City, New York, and a graduate of Hunter College High School and Barnard College , Calisher was the daughter of a young German Jewish immigrant mother and a somewhat older Jewish father from Virginia whose family...
  
  , American writer, in New York City (d. 2009)

December 21, 1911 (Thursday)

• The Illinois Supreme Court became the first in the United States to uphold the admissibility of fingerprint evidence, affirming the murder conviction of Thomas Jennings. Jennings was hanged on February 16, 1912. By 1925, all state courts had followed the reasoning in People v. Jennings.
• Russian troops arrived at the Persian city of Tabriz
  Tabriz
  Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
  
  , and exacted vengeance on the civilian population after having battled Persian troops earlier. In taking control of government buildings, the Russians reportedly attacked schoolchildren and women. The next day, bombardment of the Northern Iranian city began, and on Saturday, the burning of mosques and other buildings began.
• Explorer Hiram Bingham
  Hiram Bingham
  Hiram Bingham may refer to:*Hiram Bingham I, missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i*Hiram Bingham II, his son, also a missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i*Hiram Bingham III, U.S. Senator from Connecticut and explorer best known for uncovering Machu Picchu...
  
   returned to the United States and gave reporters their first interview concerning his expedition to Peru.
• Born: Josh Gibson
  Josh Gibson
  Joshua Gibson was an American catcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He played for the Homestead Grays from 1930 to 1931, moved to the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936, and returned to the Grays from 1937 to 1939 and 1942 to 1946...
  
  , African-American baseball player who hit 800 home runs in his career, mostly for the Homestead Grays
  Homestead Grays
  The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.-Franchise...
  
   in the Negro Leagues; in Buena Vista, Georgia
  Buena Vista, Georgia
  Buena Vista is a city in Marion County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,664 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Marion County. It is the birthplace of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Luther...
  
  . He would be admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
• Died: Emilio Estrada
  Emilio Estrada
  Emilio Estrada Carmona was President of Ecuador September 1-December 21, 1911....
  
  , 56, President of Ecuador since September

December 22, 1911 (Friday)

• Persia agreed to dismiss W. Morgan Shuster from his job as Treasurer, capitulating to the ultimatum made by Russia.
• The British steamer Menzaleh was seized in the Red Sea
  Red Sea
  The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
  
   by the Italian Navy warship Puglia, along with its cargo of $150,000 worth of gold coins. The Menzaleh had passed through the Suez Canal
  Suez Canal
  The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
  
   been on its way to the Turkish port of Hodeidah at Yemen
  Yemen
  The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
  
  .
• Born: Grote Reber
  Grote Reber
  Grote Reber was an amateur astronomer and pioneer of radio astronomy. He was instrumental in investigating and extending Karl Jansky's pioneering work, and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequencies...
  
  , amateur astronomer and ham radio enthusiast who pioneered radio astronomy
  Radio astronomy
  Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The initial detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was made in the 1930s, when Karl Jansky observed radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observations have identified a number of...
  
   in 1938; in Wheaton, Illinois
  Wheaton, Illinois
  Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
  
   (d. 2002)
• Died: Odilon Lannelongue
  Odilon Lannelongue
  Odilon Marc Lannelongue was a French surgeon who was a native of Castéra-Verduzan. In 1867 he earned his medical doctorate at Paris, where he was a student of Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers and Auguste Nélaton...
  
  , 71, French surgeon

December 23, 1911 (Saturday)

• Russian and Persian troops fought at Tabriz, and Russia sent reinforcements from Erivan.
• Born: James Gregory
  James Gregory (actor)
  James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...
  
  , American character actor, in the Bronx (d. 2002)

December 24, 1911 (Sunday)

• Persia's regent, Nasir al-Mulk, and the cabinet members dissolved Parliament, placing Prime Minister Samsam al-Saltanah in control of the nation until new elections could be held. The voting did not take place until 1914, by which time Iran's government was dependent on approval of Britain and Russia.
• French pilot M. Gobe set a record by flying 462 miles without landing.

December 25, 1911 (Monday)

• Sun Yat-sen
  Sun Yat-sen
  Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
  
   arrived in Shanghai, by way of the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
• The play Kismet
  Kismet (play)
  Kismet is a three-act play written in 1911 by Edward Knoblauch . The title means Fate or Destiny in Turkish and Urdu. The play ran for an extraordinary two years in London...
  
   premiered at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York City. The controversial drama included a scene of simulated nude bathing, with the actress wearing a skin colored outfit.
• Born: Louise Bourgeois
  Louise Bourgeois
  Louise Joséphine Bourgeois , was a renowned French-American artist and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern and contemporary art, and for her spider structures, titled Maman, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman...
  
  , French-American sculptor, in Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
   (d. 2010)

December 26, 1911 (Tuesday)

• Shortly after midnight, the first of 75 men, staying in Berlin's municipal homeless shelter, began dying from poisoning. The evening before, smoked herring
  Kipper
  A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold smoked.In the United Kingdom, in Japan, and in some North American regions they are often eaten for breakfast...
  
   had been offered at Christmas dinner, in addition to soup and bread. By the end of the day, 18 were dead. By Sunday, the deaths were traced to a wholesale liquor dealer who had been selling whiskey containing 2/3rds methyl alcohol, commonly used for antifreeze and as a solvent. The case was later referred to as the "Scharmach Catastrophe."

December 27, 1911 (Wednesday)

• The melody that would become India's National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana
  Jana Gana Mana
  Jana Gana Mana is the national anthem of India. Written in highly Sanskritized Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It was first sung at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress on 27 December 1911...
  
  , was first performed, on the occasion of a meeting in Calcutta of the Indian National Congress. Composed by Rabindranath Tagore, the song originally had lyrics in the Bengali language. A Hindi language version was adopted in 1950 as the Republic's anthem.

December 28, 1911 (Thursday)

• The first M1911 pistol, sidearm for the U.S. Army, was manufactured, part of a set of 40 made that day at the Colt firearms factory in Hartford. Serial numbers 1 through 50 were shipped on January 4.
• Born: Gustave Malécot
  Gustave Malécot
  Gustave Malécot was a French mathematician whose work on heredity had a strong influence on population genetics.- Biography :...
  
  , French mathematician and geneticist, in La Grand-Croix
  La Grand-Croix
  La Grand-Croix is a commune in the Loire department in central France....
  
   (d. 1998)

December 29, 1911 (Friday)

• At Nanjing
  Nanjing
  ' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
  
  , Dr. Sun Yat-Sen
  Sun Yat-sen
  Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
  
   was elected as the first President of the Republic of China
  President of the Republic of China
  The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
  
   by 16 of the 17 provincial representatives there. He would take office on January 1.
• General Pedro Montero, commander of troops in Guayaquil
  Guayaquil
  Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
  
  , was proclaimed as the new President of Ecuador by the Army, a week after the death of President Estrada. A brief civil war ensued, with General Montero being defeated by General Leonidas Plaza, and, on January 25, Montero was executed.
• Born: Klaus Fuchs
  Klaus Fuchs
  Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who in 1950 was convicted of supplying information from the American, British and Canadian atomic bomb research to the USSR during and shortly after World War II...
  
  , German-born nuclear physicist who secretly passed American nuclear secrets to the Soviets; in Rüsselsheim
  Rüsselsheim
  Rüsselsheim is the largest town in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status towns in Hesse and is located on the Main, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz. The suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten are included in Rüsselsheim...
  
   (d. 1988); and Antonio Arcaño, Cuban musician credited with popularizing mambo music; in Havana
  Havana
  Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
  
   (d. 1994)
• Died: Rosamund Marriott Watson
  Rosamund Marriott Watson
  Rosamund Marriott Watson was a Victorian poet and critic who wrote under the pseudonym of Graham R. Tomson. Her poems, which presaged modernism, are informed by aestheticism and occasionally avant-garde sensibilities. Watson's personal life was fraught with scandal, she left first husband George...
  
  , 51, British poet

December 30, 1911 (Saturday)

• Turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  's Grand Vizier and all of his ministers resigned after opposition members of the Chamber of Deputies boycotted the assembly.
• Born: Alfred Friendly
  Alfred Friendly
  Alfred Friendly was an American journalist, editor and writer for the Washington Post. He began his career as a reporter with the Post in 1939 and became Managing Editor in 1955. In 1967 he covered the Mideast War for the Post in a series of articles for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for...
  
  , American journalist and managing editor of the Washington Post, credited with bringing the newspaper to national prominence; in Salt Lake City (d. 1983)

December 31, 1911 (Sunday)

• China's National Assembly voted to begin using the "Western calendar
  Gregorian calendar
  The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
  
  " to replace the traditional Chinese lunar calendar used by the Emperor, with full use to begin effective January 1, 1912, which was declared as the "first day of the first month of the first year of the Republic of China" (and was the 13th day of 11th month of the 4609th year of the traditional calendar).
• Russian troops, occupying the Persian city of Tabriz
  Tabriz
  Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
  
  , carried out the execution of Shiite Muslim cleric Seqat-ol-Eslam Tabrizi
  Seqat-ol-Eslam Tabrizi
  Mirza Ali-Aqa Tabrizi, known as Seqat-ol-Eslam Tabrizi , was an Iranian nationalist who lived in Tabriz, Iran, around the time prior to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and was a reformist Shia cleric...
  
  , along with 12 other Iranian nationalists, in retaliation for their opposition to the Russian invasion.