What is December 2?
{{calendar}} {{Day}} ==Events== === Up to 1950 === *[[1409]] &ndash; The [[University of Leipzig]] opens. *[[1697]] &ndash; The new [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] in [[London]], designed by [[Christopher Wren]], opens. *[[1755]] &ndash; The second Eddystone [[Lighthouse]] on the English [[coast]] is destroyed by [[fire]]. *[[1763]] &ndash; [[Dedication]] of the Touro [[Synagogue]] in [[Rhode Island]]. *[[1804]] &ndash; At [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]] in [[Paris]], [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]] crowns himself [[List of French monarchs|Emperor of the French]], the first French Emperor in a thousand years. *[[1805]] &ndash; [[Napoleonic Wars]]: [[France|French]] troops under [[Napoleon]] defeat a joint [[Imperial Russia|Russo]]–[[Austrian Empire|Austria]]n force. *[[1823]] &ndash; US President [[James Monroe]] delivers a speech establishing [[United States|American]] neutrality in future European conflicts. *[[1845]] &ndash; US President [[James K. Polk]] announces to Congress that the [[United States]] should aggressively expand into the West. *[[1848]] &ndash; [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] becomes [[Emperor]]. *[[1851]] &ndash; French [[President]] Louis–Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Second [[Republic]]. *[[1854]] &ndash; [[Napoleon III]] crowns himself [[Emperor]] of [[France]]. *[[1859]] &ndash; Militant abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] is hanged for the [[October 16]] [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry|raid on Harpers Ferry]], [[Virginia]]. *[[1867]] &ndash; In a [[New York City]] theater, British writer [[Charles Dickens]] gives his first public reading in the [[United States]]. *[[1879]] &ndash; British [[passenger]] [[ship]] ''Borussia'' sinks in the North [[Atlantic Ocean]], killing 169 people. *[[1899]] &ndash; [[Philippine-American War]]: [[Battle of Tirad Pass]]. *[[1908]] &ndash; Child [[Emperor]] [[Henry Pu-yi|Pu Yi]] ascends the [[China|Chinese]] throne at the age of two. *[[1917]] &ndash; [[World War I]]: [[Russia]] and the Central Powers sign an [