/year

December 15 in history

184 sourced entries recorded on December 15, from 37 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 530Emperor Justinian I selects a second commission to excerpt and codify the writings of the jurists on Roman law. This becomes the Digest (Pandects).source
  • 533Battle of Tricamarum: Gelimer assembles an army of about 50,000 men at Bulla Regia (Numidia), and advances towards Carthage. Belisarius moves out to meet the Vandals; he leads the Byzantine cavalry (5,000 men) into battle. Without waiting for his infantry to come up, he charges, despite odds of almost 10-to-1, and throws Gelimer in confusion. Belisarius captures the Vandal camp by storm. Tzazo is killed in an all-cavalry fight, and Gelimer is forced to seek refuge in the mountains of Tunis with the Berbers.source
  • 925At Chengdu, capital of the Former Shu dynasty state in China, the Later Tang dynasty generals Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao accept the surrender of the surviving Shu official, Li Yan, representative of the Shu Emperor Wang Zongyan.source
  • 1222The Golden Bull of 1222 is issued in Hungary, limiting the power of the monarchy over the nobility.source
  • 1256Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan capture and dismantle Alamut Castle (near the Masoudabad region) after the surrender of the Nizari Ismaili leaders. Hulagu founds the Ilkhanate dynasty of Persia, which becomes one of the four main divisions of the Mongol Empire. The Nizari Ismaili government is disestablished; some of them migrate to Afghanistan, Badakhshan and Sindh (modern Pakistan).source
  • 1270The Nizari Ismaili garrison of Gerdkuh, Persia surrender after 17 years to the Mongols.source
  • 1312In Germany, Henry II the Lion, ruler of Mecklenburg, succeeds in his conquest of the Lordship of Rostock, at the time a protectorate of King Eric VI Menved of Denmark.source
  • 1393King Robert III of Scotland compensates the Monastery of Scone, where he had been crowned in 1390, for the expenses and inconvenience caused by his coronation and those of previous kings.source
  • 1423After a two-year expedition to Byzantium, Giovanni Aurispa arrives in Venice with largest and finest collection of Greek language texts up to that time, including 238 ancient manuscripts.source
  • 1433The Truce of Leczyca is signed between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order and temporarily ends the Polish–Teutonic War. The Teutons agree to stop their support of the former Lithuanian Grand Duke Švitrigailasource
  • 1448Jonas, a Russian bishop, is installed by the Council of Russian Bishops in Moscow, as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus. The event marks the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church because the election of Jonas is made without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as this is without the consent of the Patriarch of Constantinople, it signifies the beginning of an effectively independent church structure in the Grand Duchy of Moscow.source
  • 1449The Ottoman Empire Sultan Mehmed II marries Sittişah Hatun, daughter of Suleiman of Dulkadir, in an elaborate ceremony at Edirne, followed by three months of celebrations.source
  • 1455At the Battle of Clyst Heath, part of the Bonville–Courtenay feud fought during the Wars of the Roses, Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon defeats the Baron William Bonville. Bonville had made the attack after the October 23 murder of his councillor, the lawyer Nicholas Radford.source
  • 1455The first battle of Clyst Heath is fought as part of the Bonville–Courtenay feudsource
  • 1467At the Battle of Baia, troops under Stephen III of Moldavia decisively defeat the forces of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, at Baia (present-day Romania). This is the last Hungarian attempt to subdue the Principality of Moldavia.source
  • 1484The city of Galway is granted a royal charter and mayoralty by Richard III of England.source
  • 1526(12th day of 11th month of Daiei 6) The siege of Kamakura takes place in Japan as the Uesugi clan defeats the Hōjō clansource
  • 1527Two of the three ships of Álvaro de Saavedra are separated from his own vessel, La Florida, during a storm. The Espiritu Santo and Santiago, sailing ahead of La Florida, are never heard from again.source
  • 1594King Udai Singh of Marwar (now the Rajasthan and Punjab states of India and the Punjab province of Pakistan) returns to Lahore after having captured the Siwana fort.source
  • 1612Simon Marius becomes the first person on Earth to observe the Andromeda Galaxy through a telescope.source
  • 1617Sir Thomas Roe, a representative of England's East India Company, arrives in Ahmedabad at India's Mughal Empire, and seeks an audience with the Emperor, Shah Jahan. The Emperor receives Roe in an audience three weeks later, on January 6.source
  • 1660Andres Malong, a native chieftain of the town of Binalatongan (now San Carlos) in the Philippines, leads a successful revolt against the Spanish colonial administrators to liberate Pangasinan. He is proclaimed the King of Pangasinan, but the rebellion is suppressed on January 17, 1661, and Pangasinan is reconquered by February.source
  • 1670Henry Morgan, a Welsh privateer in English service, recaptures Santa Catalina Island, Colombia.source
  • 1677The Siege of Stettin (the modern-day Polish city of Szczecin but, at this time, a possession of Sweden) ends after almost five months with Sweden's surrender of the city to Prussia's Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. The siege, part of the Scanian War, had begun on June 25.source
  • 1711The Old Pummerin, a massive bell cast from 208 captured cannons, is consecrated by Bishop Franz Ferdinand Freiherr von Rummel in preparation for its installation in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna (the Stephansdom).source
  • 1711Penal Laws (Ireland): the Occasional Conformity Act ("An Act for preserving the Protestant Religion"), passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, bars Roman Catholics from public office.source
  • 1711Occasional Conformity Act, intending to bar nonconformists and Roman Catholics from public office.source
  • 1725A treaty is signed by chiefs of four member tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy (the Abenaki, Pequawket, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet) and representatives of three British provinces in North America (Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire and Nova Scotia) and their allies, the Mohawk nation, bringing an end to Dummer's War, named for acting Massachusetts Bay Governor William Dummer.source
  • 1753Lady Charlotte Cavendish, married to William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (future Prime Minister of Great Britain & Ireland), inherits her family's estates, including Lismore Castle, from her father, Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, bringing them into the Devonshire family.source
  • 1768The king's refusal to sign state documents results in the December Crisis (1768) in Sweden.source
  • 1791Ratification by the states of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution is completed, creating the United States Bill of Rights. Two additional amendments remain pending, and one of these is finally ratified in 1992, becoming the Twenty-seventh Amendment.source
  • 1811The King George, Captain Lasco Jones, leaves Port Jackson to go whaling with 2 Māori among the crew. (see 1812)source
  • 1814The Hartford Convention is convened by members of the American Federalist Party.source
  • 1814War of 1812: The Hartford Convention is convened, by members of the American Federalist Party.source
  • 1814The Active passes North Cape.source
  • 1816December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • 1820PS Comet (1812) is wrecked near Craignish.source
  • 1821The world's first geographical society, the Société de géographie, is established in Paris.source
  • 1832The CGS system goes back to a proposal in 1832 by the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss to base a system of absolute units on the three fundamental units of length.source
  • 1833José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva is suspended from his duties as Dom Pedro II's tutor and is replaced by the Marquis of Itanhaém by decree.source
  • 1836The United States Patent Office burns in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1840The body of Napoleon is laid to rest in Les Invalides in Paris.source
  • 1844Saint Malachy's Church, Belfast is dedicated by Dr William Crolly, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.source
  • 1853The Sierra redwood Sequoiadendron giganteum is introduced to England as Wellingtonia by William Lobb.source
  • 1855Fredrik Meltzer, businessman and politician (born 1779).source
  • 1863Gerard Adriaan Heineken, 22, buys the brewery 'De Hooiberg' ("The Haystack") in Amsterdam.source
  • 1863Romania opens its first mountain railway (from Anina to Oravița).source
  • 1864December 15–16 – American Civil War: Battle of Nashville – Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee.source
  • 1871The Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring begins service with a message keyed by Ella Stewart. It is the first telegraph sent from Arizona Territory.source
  • 1873Women of Fredonia, New York, march against the retail liquor dealers in town, to inaugurate the Woman's Crusade of 1873–74.source
  • 1895Transvaal – Natal-Transvaal border to Union Junction near Alberton, 157 mi.source
  • 1895The railways of the Cape of Good Hope, Colony of Natal, the Orange Free State, the South African Republic and southern Mozambique are all linked at Union Junction near Alberton.source
  • 1895The railways of the Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State, the South African Republic and southern Mozambique are all linked at Union Junction near Alberton, completing the logistics supply lines for the British military invasion of the Boer Republics in the Second Boer War.source
  • 1898The French Chamber of Deputies votes to extend a loan of 200,000,000 francs for the construction of railroads in French Indochina.source
  • 1898A warrant issued in Paris for the arrest of Count Ferdinand Esterhazy in connection with the Dreyfus case.source
  • 1899Glasgow School of Art, the most notable work of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, opens.source
  • 1900all three keepers of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse are drowned.source
  • 1905December 7–18 – Moscow Uprising: A Bolshevik-led revolt is suppressed by the army.source
  • 1905The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.source
  • 1906The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.source
  • 1914Hōjō Coal Mine Disaster: A gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hōjō mine in Kyūshū, Japan, kills 687 people (the worst coal mine disaster in Japanese history).source
  • 1915December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.source
  • 1920December 15–22 – The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.source
  • 1923The British and Intercolonial Exhibition opens in Hokitikasource
  • 1925Reza Shah takes the oath to become the first shah of Persia of the Pahlavi dynasty.source
  • 1929Beatification of the One Hundred and Seven Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Pius XI.source
  • 1939The epic historical romance film Gone with the Wind, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. Based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel of 1936, it is the longest American film made up to this date (at nearly four hours) and rapidly becomes the highest-grossing film up to this time.source
  • 1941The opening of Pingtung Line of Taiwan Railways Administration.source
  • 1944A USAAF utility aircraft carrying bandleader Major Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the English Channel, while flying to Paris.source
  • 1946Iran crisis of 1946: Iranian troops recapture the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad.source
  • 1946the Iran crisis of 1946 ends with the Dissolution of the Azerbaijan People's Government and the Republic of Mahabad following the withdraw of the last remaining Soviet troops from Iran.source
  • 1948The United States Department of Justice indicts Alger Hiss, on two counts of perjury.source
  • 1949A typhoon strikes a fishing fleet off Korea, killing several thousand.source
  • 1954The Netherlands Antilles is created out of the Dutch Caribbean nations. It is dissolved between 1986 and 2010.source
  • 1958Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.source
  • 1959SUDENE is created by Law nº 3.692, which would seek the development of the Northeast region of Brazil.source
  • 1960King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the democratic government in his country and takes direct control himself.source
  • 1960Tomás Torres Mercado, politician PVEM, federal deputy (2012-2015), (died October 22, 2015).source
  • 1960King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.source
  • 1961An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to death for his part in The Holocaust.source
  • 1962Storm over the North Sea: Belgian pirate radio station Radio Uylenspiegel is knocked off the airwaves, never to operate again.source
  • 1963Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan established following recommendations of Second Pay Commission.source
  • 1965The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) is formed.source
  • 1965Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.source
  • 1967The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapses, killing 46 people.source
  • 1970Polish 1970 protests: Riots and looting lead to a confrontation with the government.source
  • 1970The USSR's Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus and transmit data back to Earth.source
  • 1971The 1971 Intercontinental Cup took place in Greece.source
  • 1972SATS Ltd is established as a separate company from Singapore Airlines to manage ground operations and inflight catering services.source
  • 1972The United Nations Environment Programme is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • 1976Luis Werner discovers the archaeological site of Monte Verde.source
  • 1976Georges Thorn is appointed to the Council of State, replacing Norbert Droessaert, who resigned in November.source
  • 1976The Trolleybuses in Guadalajara start operating.source
  • 1978Superman: The Movie is released in cinemas in the United States.source
  • 1979The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, The Castle of Cagliostro, is released in Japan.source
  • 1980Thirty more IRA prisoners join the hunger strike.source
  • 1980The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian language) is created.source
  • 19811981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut: An Islamic Dawa Party car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon, killing 61 people in one of the earliest significant post-World War II suicide attacks.source
  • 1981December 14–15. Rallies at Warsaw University, Wrocław University of Technology and Warsaw University of Technology.source
  • 1987Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.source
  • 1991The Egyptian ferry MV Salem Express sinks in the Red Sea, killing more than 450 people.source
  • 1992The Sentosa Causeway is officially opened. It is a road link that connects Sentosa with mainland Singapore.source
  • 1993The Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks reach a successful conclusion after seven years.source
  • 1996The opening of the Representative Office in Taipei for the Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation in Taipei.source
  • 1996The Zambia Open golf tournament becomes part of the Sunshine Tour for the first time. It is won by Desvonde Botes of South Africa.source
  • 1997Microsoft releases Windows 98 Beta 3.source
  • 1997The Monument to the Heroes of Warsaw was placed on a new pedestal in Warsaw.source
  • 2000The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down and the station is shut down completely.source
  • 2001The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened to the public after 12 years of reconstruction.source
  • 2009December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • 2009First flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.source
  • 2012December 6–16 – The 2012 FIFA Club World Cup is held in Japan and won by Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.source
  • 2013South Sudanese Civil War: Fighting between ethnic Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard break out in Juba, South Sudan, plunging the country into civil war.source
  • 2013President Kiir accuses his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état, leading to the start of the South Sudanese Civil War.source
  • 2015The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition is formed in order to fight terrorism.source
  • 2015Kosovo participated in the Bala Turkvision Song Contest in Istanbul, finishing tenth.source
  • 2018Egyptian archeologists discover a 4,400 year old tomb from the Pharaonic period, belonging to a high priest called Wahtye, decorated with statues and hieroglyphs.source
  • 2022Police in Zambia arrest a truck driver alleged to have transported 27 Ethiopian migrants found dead on the outskirts of Lusaka on Sunday. The bodies were dumped in a farm.source
  • 2023An ECOWAS court orders former President Mohamed Bazoum to be freed from arrest and reinstated as president.source
  • 2024Cyclone Chido makes landfall over Cabo Delgado Province, killing at least 120 people.source
  • 2025The United States State Department threatens to reduce aid to Fiji unless the Fijian government takes action against a South Korean religious cult called the Grace Road Church, which has been accused of forced labour and human trafficking.source

Births

  • 37Nero, Roman emperor (died 68 AD)source
  • 130Lucius Verus, Roman emperor (died 169)source
  • 1242Munetaka, Japanese shogun (died 1274)source
  • 1291Aymon ("the Peaceful"), Savoyan nobleman (died 1343)source
  • 1447Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (died 1508)source
  • 1488Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (died 1550)source
  • 1569Muzio Oddi, Italian mathematician (died 1639)source
  • 1584Queen Inmok, Korean royal consort (died 1632)source
  • 1610David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist born in Antwerp (died 1690)source
  • 1634Thomas Kingo, Danish bishop (died 1703)source
  • 1634Thomas Kingo, bishop, poet and hymn-writer (died 1703).source
  • 1684James Jurin, British mathematician, doctor (died 1750)source
  • 1754Usman dan Fodio, Nigerian Islamic theologian (died 1817)source
  • 1859L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (died 1917)source
  • 1986Lauren Boebert, American politiciansource
  • 1996Oleksandr Zinchenko, footballersource

Deaths

  • 933Li Siyuan, emperor of Later Tang (born 867)source
  • 1025Basil II, Byzantine emperor (born 958)source
  • 1025Byzantine Emperor Basil II ("Bulgar Slayer") dies in Constantinople after a 50-year reign. Never married, he is succeeded by his brother and co-emperor Constantine VIII, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Constantine calls the Sicilian invasion off. Catapan Basil Boioannes diverts the Byzantine expeditionary force already assembled on Calabria, to join the siege of Capua.source
  • 1072Sultan Alp Arslan ("Heroic Lion") dies after a 9-year reign, during his campaign in Transoxiana. He is succeeded by his 17-year-old son Malik-Shah I, who is declared new ruler of the Seljuk Empire. Qavurt, a brother of Alp Arslan, claims the Seljuk throne for himself and occupies the capital of Isfahan.source
  • 1072Alp Arslan, sultan of the Seljuk Empire (born 1029)source
  • 1128Fulco I, Margrave of Milan, Lombard noblemansource
  • 1158Frederick II, German archbishopsource
  • 1161Wanyan Liang, Chinese emperor (born 1122)source
  • 1161Wanyan Liang, Chinese prince of Hailing, is assassinated while on campaign. He is succeeded by Emperor Shizong of Jin (until 1189).source
  • 1191Welf VI, margrave of Tuscany (born 1115)source
  • 1230Ottokar I of Bohemia, German noblemansource
  • 1283Philip I (or Courtenay), Latin Emperor of Constantinople (born 1243)source
  • 1317Maria of Bytom, queen consort of Hungary and Croatiasource
  • 1343Hasan Kucek, Chobanid prince (born c. 1319)source
  • 1423Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knightssource
  • 1467Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, archbishop and Regent of Sweden (born 1417)source
  • 1569Ludowika Margaretha of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, spouse of Count Philip V of Hanau-Lichtenberg (born 1540)source
  • 1570Frederick III of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (born 1520)source
  • 1574Selim II, the 50-year-old Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, is killed after becoming drunk, falling, and fracturing his skull on the floor of the Topkapi Palace.source
  • 1651Virginia Centurione Bracelli, Italian saint (born 1587)source
  • 1664Dietrich Reinkingk, German lawyer and politician (born 1590)source
  • 1673Margaret Cavendish, English writer (born 1623)source
  • 1673Margaret Cavendish, writer (born 1623)source
  • 1675December 15 (bur.) – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (born 1632)source
  • 1681James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton, English politician (born 1622)source
  • 1683Izaak Walton, English writer (born 1593)source
  • 1692Georg Adam Struve, German judge (born 1619)source
  • 1713Carlo Maratta, Italian painter (born 1625)source
  • 1719Mitford Crowe, English politician (born 1669)source
  • 1783Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi, first ruler of Oman of the Al Said dynasty (born 1710)source
  • 1796Anthony Wayne, United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives (born 1745)source
  • 1801Hadži Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman commander and politician, is assassinated in Belgrade, Sanjak of Smederevo, by Kučuk-Alija.source
  • 1812Schneur Zalman, Polish rabbi and founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement (born 1745)source
  • 1817Usman dan Fodio, founder of Sokoto caliphate (born 1754)source
  • 1831Hannah Adams, American author (born 1755)source
  • 1853Georg Friedrich Grotefend, German epigraphist, philologist (born 1775)source
  • 1854Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii (born c. 1814)source
  • 1857Sir George Cayley, English aviation pioneer (born 1773)source
  • 1857Anna Maria Truter, Cape Colony botanical artist and wife of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet. (born 1777)source
  • 1890Sitting Bull, Native American chief (born c. 1831)source
  • 1890Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed by police on Standing Rock Indian Reservation.source
  • 1907Carola of Vasa, queen consort of Saxony (born 1833)source
  • 1944Glenn Miller, American band leader (accident) (born 1904)source
  • 1950Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian political leader (born 1875)source
  • 1966Walt Disney, American animated film producer and founder of The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland Resort (born 1901)source
  • 2011Christopher Hitchens, 62, British writer (God Is Not Great) and commentator (Vanity Fair), esophageal cancer.source
  • 2014Two hostages and terrorist Man Haron Monis are killed in the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney, Australia.source