1832 – Born in the village of Shoshan in the Gjakova Highlands, Haxhi Zeka was one of the organizers of the League of Prizren and a supporter of its autonomous wing, leader of the Peja branch of the League, where he distinguished himself as a military leader with contribution to the Defense of Plava and Gucia. Years later he tried to renew the same spirit of movement through the League of Peja. At the first Assembly of the League, on June 10, 1878, he was elected a member of its Central Committee. He took part, as a military commander, at the head of the League forces in the action of Gjakova, in September 1878 against Mehmet Ali Pasha. Together with Sulejman Vokshi and Kadri Bajri, Haxhi Zeka in 1884-1885 led the anti-Ottoman uprisings of Kosovo Albanians, which aimed to restore the League and bring to life its autonomous ideas. In 1893 Haxhi Zeka and Bajram Curri organized the uprising that included Peja, Gjakova and other parts of Kosovo against the economic and political injustices of the empire. Serbian authorities sent their consul in Pristina, Sima Abramovic, to Haxhiu personal enemy, Mehmed Zaimi from Gjakova. He incited his son, the captain of the occupations, Adem Zajmi, to kill Haxhi Zeka; this happened on February 21, 1902 in the Peja bazaar. Haxhiu was buried in the cemetery of the Sultan Mehmed Fatih Mosque in Peja. His assassination shattered the Albanian uprisings that had erupted throughout the province of Kosovo. The handmaiden was killed in 1912 by Serbian authorities after demanding the ransom promised before the assassination.
1915 – Born in Heybeliada, Aziz Nesin. Nesin, was a Turkish writer, humorist and author of more than 100 books. Born at a time when the Turks had no official surnames, he had to adopt a surname after the 1934 Law on Surnames was passed. He chose the surname “Nesin”. In Turkish, Nesin, means, what are you?
1917 – Cheka, the first secret police force of the Soviet Union, is founded. Cheka, would be led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. This organization will be remembered for the great violence and repression it would cause to its political opponents. It would be the forerunner of the NKVD and the KGB, the future intelligence services of the USSR. Its headquarters were in Lubyanka, Moscow.
1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 takes its first flight. The Boeing 707 is a four-engine, narrow-body aircraft. It was built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and tested, from 1958 to 1979. The aircraft versions have a capacity of 140 to 220 passengers and fly a distance of 2,500 to 5,750 air miles.
1971 – Médecins Sans Frontières is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France. Médecins Sans Frontières is an international non-governmental medical and humanitarian organization. This organization is best known for its projects in conflict areas and in countries affected by endemic diseases.
1973 – Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated by a car bomb in Madrid. Admiral Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid by the Basque separatist group ETA on December 20, 1973. The assassination is considered to have been the largest attack against the Frankish State since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
1994 – Dean Rusk dies at the age of 85 in Georgia. Rusk, was Secretary of State of the United States from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Rusk is one of the longest serving US secretaries of state after Cordell Hull. In 1952, Rusk became president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
1999 – Macau is extradited to China from Portugal. On the afternoon of December 19, 1999, the 127th Portuguese Governor of Macau Vasco Vieira lowered the flags in Macau, which was the prelude to the ceremony for the creation of the Special Administrative Region of this region. The official transfer of sovereignty took place at midnight that day in Macau Garden. The ceremony began in the evening and ended at dawn on December 20th.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the UK’s oldest monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, seven months and 29 days. Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
