| 16 December 705 | China [births and deaths] | Wu Hou, Chinese concubine who became empress of China 655–705, and who unified the Chinese Empire, dies in China (80). |
| 16 December 944 | Byzantine Empire [political events] | The Byzantine emperor, Romanus I Lecapanus, is deposed and exiled by his sons. The co-emperor, Constantine VII, assumes sole rule and crushes the rebellion of Romanus's sons. |
| 16 December 1431 | England, France [political events] | The nine-year old King Henry VI of England is crowned as king of France in Paris, France. |
| 16 December 1740 | Prussia, Silesia [political events] | King Frederick (II) the Great of Prussia enters Silesia and begins the first Silesian War. |
| 16 December 1773 | America, UK [American Revolution] | In the Boston Tea Party, Americans protest against the tax on tea by boarding ships in Boston Harbour and throwing 342 chests of British tea overboard. |
| 16 December 1775 | England [births and deaths] | Jane Austen, English novelist, born in Steventon, Hampshire, England (–1817). |
| 16 December 1811 | USA [natural disasters] | The first, and largest, earthquake recorded in the USA destroys the city of New Madrid, Missouri. Two other earthquakes hit the town on 23 January and 7 February 1812. |
| 16 December 1838 | Natal [colonization] | The Boers (Dutch settlers) decisively defeat a Zulu army at Blood River, in retaliation for the attack on Pieter Retief's force on 6 February, and secure their position in Natal, southern Africa. |
| 16 December 1897 | Greece, Ottoman Empire [treaties] | The Peace of Constantinople ends the war between Greece and Turkey. |
| 16 December 1931 | Spain [elections] | Niceto Alcalá Zamora, leader of the Liberal Republican Right, is elected president of Spain, and the left-wing Manuel Azaña is appointed prime minister. |
| 16 December 1944 | Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium [World War II (1939–45)] | German forces launch the Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes offensive, against the Allies in the Ardennes, a wooded plateau in Luxembourg and Belgium. It is the last major German offensive of World War II |
| 16 December 1951 | USA [food and drink] | A study finds that on an average weekend 1.2 million bagels are consumed in New York City. |
| 16 December 1960 | USA [transport disasters] | The worst airline disaster to date occurs when a United Air Lines and a TWA plane collide in fog over New York City killing 132 passengers and crew members. |
| 16 December 1971 | India, Pakistan [political events] | East Pakistani forces surrender to India after its recognition of East Pakistan's independence as Bangladesh. India orders a ceasefire on the West Pakistan front, and on 17 December a ceasefire is declared in West Pakistan. |
| 16 December 1971 | Rhodesia [political events] | Leaders of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) (ZANU (PF)) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) form the African National Council with the aim of rejecting the Anglo-Rhodesian independence settlement, which favours white majority rule. |
| 16 December 1976 | UK [legislation] | Legislation is passed permitting all-day pub opening (from 11 in the morning to 11 at night) in Scotland. |
| 16 December 1998 | USA, UK, Iraq [wars] | In Operation Desert Fox, the USA and the UK launch air strikes against Iraq for failing to cooperate with UN weapons inspections. |
