December 22 - Events

Events

  • 69 – Emperor Vitellius is captured and murdered at the Gemonian stairs in Rome.
  • 1790 – The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies.
  • 1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.
  • 1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).
  • 1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, is passed by the U.S. Congress.
  • 1851 – The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
  • 1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his "March to the Sea".
  • 1885 – Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
  • 1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kingsport and Kentville, Nova Scotia.
  • 1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.
  • 1920 – The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR.
  • 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.
  • 1940 – World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
  • 1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
  • 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"
  • 1944 – World War II: The People's Army of Vietnam is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam.
  • 1947 – The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves the Constitution of Italy.
  • 1951 – The Selangor Labour Party is founded in Selangor, Malaya.
  • 1956 – Colo is born, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity.
  • 1963 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.
  • 1964 – First flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird).
  • 1965 – In the United Kingdom, a 70mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit.
  • 1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under Frenchadministration.
  • 1974 – The house of former British Prime Minister Ted Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.
  • 1978 – The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
  • 1984 – Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four African-American would-be muggers on an express train in Manhattan, New York City.
  • 1988 – Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
  • 1989 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communistdictatorship.
  • 1989 – Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
  • 1990 – Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship.
  • 1990 – The Parliament of Croatia adopts the current Constitution of Croatia.
  • 1992 – The Archives of Terror are discovered.
  • 1997 – Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces.
  • 1997 – Hussein Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991.
  • 1999 – Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F crashes shortly after take-off from London Stansted Airport due to pilot error. All 4 crew members are killed.
  • 2001 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
  • 2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
  • 2008 – An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion gallons (4.2 million m³) of coal fly ash slurry.
  • 2010 – The repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning on homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, was signed into law by President Barack Obama.

No comments:

Post a Comment