On This Day — 15 December

2017

A 6.5Mw earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Java in the city of Tasikmalaya, resulting in four deaths.

2017 Java earthquake

2014

Gunman Man Haron Monis takes 18 hostages inside a café in Martin Place for 16 hours in Sydney. Monis and two hostages are killed when police raid the café the following morning.

Man Haron Monis

2013

The South Sudanese Civil War begins when opposition leaders Dr. Riek Machar, Pagan Amum and Rebecca Nyandeng vote to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council at Nyakuron.

South Sudanese Civil War

2010

A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.

Refugee

2005

Introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

2001

The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

2000

The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

1997

Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 crashes in the desert near Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, killing 85.

Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183

1993

The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

The Troubles

1989

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights relating the abolition of capital punishment is adopted.

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1981

A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.

1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut

1978

U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Jimmy Carter

1973

John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10.

John Paul Getty III

1973

The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

American Psychiatric Association

1970

Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet.

Venera 7

1967

The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.

Silver Bridge

1965

Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

Project Gemini

1961

Eichmann trial: Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization.

Eichmann trial

1960

Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate U.S. President-Elect John F. Kennedy.

Richard Paul Pavlick

1960

King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country's constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.

Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah

1945

Occupation of Japan/Shinto Directive: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.

Occupation of Japan

1944

World War II: a single-engine UC-64A Norseman aeroplane carrying United States Army Air Forces Major Glenn Miller is lost in a flight over the English Channel.

Noorduyn Norseman

1943

World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain campaign.

Battle of Arawe

1942

World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

World War II

1941

The Holocaust in Ukraine: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv.

The Holocaust in Ukraine

1939

Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Gone with the Wind (film)

1933

Anarchist insurrection suppressed in Zaragoza, Spain.

Anarchist insurrection of December 1933

1917

World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers is signed.

Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers

1914

World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

World War I

1914

A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.

Hōjō Coal Mine Disaster

1906

The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.

London Underground

1905

The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.

Pushkin House

1903

Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that makes ice cream cones.

Italian Americans

1899

British Army forces are defeated at the Battle of Colenso in Natal, South Africa, the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War.

British Army

1893

Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World" a.k.a. the "New World Symphony") by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16.

Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)

1890

Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Hunkpapa

1871

Sixteen-year-old telegraphist Ella Stewart keys and sends the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory at the Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring.

Telegraphist

1869

The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.

Republic of Ezo

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas.

Battle of Nashville

1862

American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg ends in a Union defeat as General Ambrose Burnside withdraws the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River.

American Civil War

1836

The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models.

Old Patent Office Building

1791

The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

United States Bill of Rights

1778

American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.

American Revolutionary War

1651

Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.

Castle Cornet

1546

The town of Ekenäs (Finnish: Tammisaari) is founded by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden.

Ekenäs, Finland

1467

Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.

Stephen the Great

1270

The Nizari Ismaili garrison of Gerdkuh, Persia surrender after 17 years to the Mongols.

Nizari Ismaili state

1256

Mongol forces under Hulagu enter and dismantle the Nizari Ismaili (Assassin) stronghold at Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran) as part of their offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.

Mongols

1167

Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.

Kingdom of Sicily

1161

Jin–Song wars: Military officers conspire against the emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his camp.

Jin–Song wars

1025

Constantine VIII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.

Constantine VIII

687

Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theodore.

Pope Sergius I

533

Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

Vandalic War