December 8 in History

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

The anarchist insurrection of December 1933 was an attempted revolution by Spanish anarchists, in response to the victory of the right-wing in the 1933 Spanish general election. It was the third of a series of anarchist insurrections in Spain, following those in January 1932 and January 1933.

The Shanghai International Settlement originated from the 1863 merger of the British and American concessions in Shanghai, in which British and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction under the terms of unequal treaties agreed by both parties. These treaties were abrogated in 1943.

Dwight David Eisenhower, also known as Ike, was the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He led the Allied Expeditionary Force during the Second World War, launching decisive campaigns in North Africa and Normandy and becoming a General of the Army.

The 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike was a strike action within the newspaper industry of New York City which ran from December 8, 1962 until March 31, 1963, lasting for a total of 114 days. Besides protesting low wages, the unions were resisting automation of the printing presses.

SS Heraklion was a roll on/roll off car ferry operating the lines Piraeus – Chania and Piraeus – Heraklion (Irakleio) between 1965 and 1966. The ship capsized and sank on 8 December 1966 in the Aegean Sea, resulting in the death of more than 200 people. Its demise was one of the greatest maritime disasters of Greek history.

The India–Pakistan war of 1971, also known as the third Indo-Pakistani war, was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war began with Pakistan's Operation Chengiz Khan, consisting of preemptive aerial strikes on eight Indian air stations. The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan, marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence, on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts.

A referendum on the constitutional form of the state was held in Greece on 8 December 1974.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an intergovernmental organization comprising eight sovereign states with full membership: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It also includes nine non-member observers: Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea, and the United States. As of 2021, SAARC members collectively account for about 21% of the world's population and 5.21% of the global economy.

In 1949, UNRWA formally defined the term "Palestine refugee" to refer to any Palestinian citizen or the descendant of any male Palestinian citizen who—if their regular place of residence was located within Mandatory Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948—was found to have "lost both home and means of livelihood" during the 1948 Palestine war. While this definition originally included Arab Palestinians displaced from or within Israel as well as Jewish Palestinians displaced from Arab-controlled territory, it ceased to apply to Arabs and Jews who became Israeli citizens in 1952; Arab Palestinians who were displaced from their homes while ultimately remaining within Israeli territory were instead designated as "present absentees" and not subject to UNRWA's jurisdiction. In addition to more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled by Israel before the 1949 Armistice Agreements, another 285,000 to 325,000 Palestinians were displaced due to the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status.

The Internal Security Department (ISD) is the principal security agency and domestic intelligence service of Singapore. The department is tasked with collecting and analysing intelligence, making assessments, and taking executive actions to counter national security threats to the country's sovereignty, safety, and stability. As a counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism organisation, the ISD is responsible for protecting Singapore from espionage or spying, foreign interference, covert operations, subversion, terrorism, organised crime, and political, racial or religious extremism.

On December 8, 2004, four men were killed and three others wounded in a mass shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main target of the attack was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was on stage performing with his band Damageplan at the time of the shooting. During the opening song, 25-year-old Nathan Gale rushed the stage and fired his gun several times, killing Abbott. Three minutes after opening fire, Gale took a hostage in a negotiation attempt, but was shot in the forehead with a shotgun by responding officer James Niggemeyer.

SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1 was the first orbital spaceflight of the Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the second overall flight of the Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by SpaceX. It was also the first demonstration flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The primary mission objectives were to test the orbital maneuvering and reentry of the Dragon capsule. The mission also aimed to test fixes to the Falcon 9 rocket, particularly the unplanned roll of the first stage that occurred during flight 1. Liftoff occurred on 8 December 2010 at 15:43 UTC.

The Little India riot took place in the Singaporean subzone of Little India on 8 December 2013 at SST 21:21, after a fatal traffic accident at the road junction of Race Course Road and Tekka Lane caused the death of 33-year-old Indian construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu. Angry mobs of migrant workers – largely composed of Indian nationals – attacked the bus involved and emergency vehicles that arrived shortly after. There were around 300 rioters involved in the incident, which lasted for about two hours.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Starting in January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global health emergency; they declared the end of the emergency in May 2023.