December 15 Historical Events

The following events took place on December 15. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 48 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 533
  Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.
• 687
  Pope Sergius I is elected.
• 1161
  Jin–Song wars: Military officers conspire against Emperor Hailing of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his camp.
• 1167
  Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.
• 1256
  Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran) as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
• 1467
  Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.
• 1778
  American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.
• 1791
  The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.
• 1864
  American Civil War: Battle of Nashville – Union forces under George Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John Hood.
• 1890
  Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• 1905
  The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin
• 1906
  The London Underground’s Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.
• 1913
  Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.
• 1914
  World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.
• 1914
  A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.

• 1917
  World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
• 1933
  The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.
• 1939
  Gone with the Wind receives its premiere at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
• 1941
  The Holocaust: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Soviet Union.
• 1942
  World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
• 1943
  World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain Campaign.
• 1945
  Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.
• 1946
  U.S.-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.
• 1946
  The first election to the Representative Assembly of French India was held.
• 1954
  The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is signed.
• 1960
  Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate U.S. President-Elect John F. Kennedy.
• 1960
  King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country’s constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.
• 1961
  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.
• 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.
• 1967
  The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapses, killing 46 people.