This day in history - December 11th

Several significant events took place in history on December 11. Here are a few notable ones:

1. 1936: King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicated the throne to marry American Wallis Simpson. He was the only British monarch to voluntarily relinquish the throne.

2. 1941: The United States declared war on Germany and Italy, joining World War II.

3. 1972: Apollo 17, the final mission of NASA's Apollo program and the last manned mission to the Moon to date, was launched. Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans were part of the mission.

4. 1997: The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, was adopted in Kyoto, Japan.

5. 2008: Bernard Madoff, an American stockbroker and investment advisor, was arrested for operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, defrauding thousands of investors of billions of dollars.

6. 2017: The Thomas Fire, one of the largest wildfires in California history, broke out in Ventura County, eventually spreading to other parts of Southern California and causing significant destruction.

These are just a few notable events associated with December 11 throughout history. Many more events, both significant and lesser-known, have occurred on this date across various years and regions.

Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model