What happened on 13 December?

8 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1545 Council of Trent Ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that responded to the Reformation by defining doctrine, reforming clerical training and standardising the Mass.
2. 1937 Nanjing Massacre Japanese forces murder and rape hundreds of thousands in the Chinese capital.
3. 1545 Council of Trent begins Conventional start of Council of Trent.
4. 1989 Born: Taylor Swift American singer-songwriter; one of the most commercially successful musicians ever.
5. 1895 Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) Vast symphony for voices and orchestra exploring death and rebirth.
6. 1981 Martial law in Poland General Jaruzelski declares martial law to crush Solidarity; thousands interned; Solidarity goes underground.
7. 2003 Capture of Saddam Hussein US troops find the deposed Iraqi dictator hiding in a spider hole near Tikrit during Operation Red Dawn.
8. 1577 Drake's circumnavigation of the globe Francis Drake completes the second circumnavigation of the world and is knighted aboard the Golden Hind.