| 142321 | December 17 | Death | 2014 – Richard C. Hottelet, American journalist (b. 1917) |
| 142322 | December 17 | Death | 2014 – Oleh Lysheha, Ukrainian poet and playwright (b. 1949) |
| 142323 | December 17 | Death | 2014 – Lowell Steward, American captain (b. 1919) |
| 142324 | December 17 | Death | 2014 – Ivan Vekić, Croatian colonel, lawyer, and politician, Croatian Minister of the Interior (b. 1938) |
| 142325 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | Accession Day (Bahrain) |
| 142326 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | Christian feast day:Daniel the ProphetJosep Manyanet i VivesLazarus of Bethany (local commemoration in Cuba)O antiphon (Catholic Church)WivinaSturmDecember 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) |
| 142327 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (United States) |
| 142328 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | National Day (Bhutan) |
| 142329 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn (Roman festivals) |
| 142330 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | Urs of Rumi, the final and main day of the two weeks Mewlānā Festival (Turkey) |
| 142331 | December 17 | Holiday and observance | Wright Brothers Day, a United States federal observance by Presidential proclamation |
| 142332 | December 18 | Event | 218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic. |
| 142333 | December 18 | Event | 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China. |
| 142334 | December 18 | Event | 1622 – Portuguese forces score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola. |
| 142335 | December 18 | Event | 1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290. |
| 142336 | December 18 | Event | 1688 – The inhabitants of Derry shut the city gates against the Irish Army of James II. |
| 142337 | December 18 | Event | 1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over British General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October. |
| 142338 | December 18 | Event | 1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. |
| 142339 | December 18 | Event | 1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French Royalists to Lord Samuel Hood renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck. |
| 142340 | December 18 | Event | 1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the United States. |
| 142341 | December 18 | Event | 1867 – The Angola Horror train wreck occurred. |
| 142342 | December 18 | Event | 1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania. |
| 142343 | December 18 | Event | 1878 – The Al-Thani family become the rulers of the state of Qatar |
| 142344 | December 18 | Event | 1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde. |
| 142345 | December 18 | Event | 1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia. |
| 142346 | December 18 | Event | 1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car |
| 142347 | December 18 | Event | 1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook, Victoria Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic. |
| 142348 | December 18 | Event | 1912 – The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is announced by Charles Dawson. |
| 142349 | December 18 | Event | 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief of staff Erich von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French, and suffer 337,000 casualties. |
| 142350 | December 18 | Event | 1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress. |