On Dec. 18, 1916, during World War I, the 10-month Battle of Verdun ended with French troops succeeding in repulsing a major German offensive.
In 1863, in a speech to the Prussian Parliament, Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck declared, "Politics is not an exact science."
In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward.
In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government's wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that "concededly loyal" Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.
In 1962, "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," an animated musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens story, first aired on NBC-TV.
In 1966, the animated TV special "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" starring Boris Karloff as the narrator as well as the voice of the Grinch, first aired on CBS.
The NBA suspended seven players for their roles in a brawl between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks; each team was fined $500,000.
The last convoy of heavily armored U.S. troops left Iraq, crossing into Kuwait in darkness in the final moments of a nine-year war.
Vaclav Havel (VAHTS'-lahv HAH'-vel), 75, the dissident playwright who became Czechoslovakia's first democratically elected president, died in the northern Czech Republic.
Medical student Sophie Clarke was crowned the winner of CBS' Survivor:
Congress ended a chaotic year on a surprising note of bipartisan unity and productivity as it overwhelmingly approved a massive 2016 tax and spending package and sent it to President Barack Obama, who promptly signed it.
