     ==events== * 627 &ndash; battle of nineveh: a byzantine army under emperor heraclius defeats emperor khosrau ii's persian forces, commanded by general rhahzadh. *1098 &ndash; first crusade: siege of ma'arrat al-numan &ndash; crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. after finding themselves with insufficient food, they reportedly resort to cannibalism. *1388 &ndash; mary of enghien sells the lordship of argos and nauplia to the republic of venice. *1408 &ndash; the order of the dragon a monarchical chivalric order is created by sigismund of luxembourg, then king of hungary. *1781 &ndash; american revolutionary war: second battle of ushant &ndash; a british fleet led by  defeats a french fleet. *1787 &ndash; pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the united states constitution, five days after delaware became the first. *1862 &ndash;  sinks on the yazoo river, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine. *1870 &ndash; joseph h. rainey of south carolina becomes the second black u.s. congressman, the first being hiram revels. *1897 &ndash; belo horizonte, the first planned city in brazil, is founded. *1901 &ndash; guglielmo marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "s" [***] in morse code), at signal hill in st john's, newfoundland. *1911 &ndash; delhi replaces calcutta as the capital of india. * 1911 &ndash; king george v and mary of teck are enthroned as emperor and empress of india. *1915 &ndash; president of the republic of china, yuan shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself emperor of china. *1917 &ndash; in nebraska, father edward j. flanagan founds boys town as a farm village for wayward boys. *1918 &ndash; the flag of estonia is raised atop the pikk hermann for the first time. *1925 &ndash; the majlis of iran votes to crown reza khan as the new shah of iran, starting the pahlavi dynasty. *1935 &ndash; lebensborn project, a nazi reproduction program, is founded by heinrich himmler. *1936 &ndash; xi'an incident: the generalissimo of the republic of china, chiang kai-shek, is kidnapped by [[zh
Days_of_the_year December