Editing December 15 (section)

==Events==
===Pre-1600===
* [[533]] &ndash; [[Vandalic War]]: [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] general [[Belisarius]] defeats the [[Vandals]], commanded by King [[Gelimer]], at the [[Battle of Tricamarum]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobsen|first=Torsten Cumberland|title=The Gothic War: Rome's Final Conflict in the West|location=Yardley, Pa.|publisher=Westholme|date=2009|isbn=9781594160844|page=345}}</ref>
* [[687]] &ndash; [[Pope Sergius I]] is elected as a compromise between [[antipope]]s Paschal and Theodore.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ekonomou|first=Andrew|date=2007|title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern influences on Rome and the papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590–752|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0739119778}}</ref>
*[[1025]] &ndash; [[Constantine VIII]] becomes sole [[Byzantine Emperor|emperor]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]], 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vogt|first=Albert|chapter=The Macedonian Dynasty From 976 to 1057 A.D.|title=The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4: The Eastern Roman Empire|editor-last1=Tanner|editor-first1=J.R.|editor-last2=Previté-Orton|editor-first2=C.W.|editor-last3=Brooke|editor-first3=Z.N.|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan|date=1926|oclc=14739796|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihg_2ZXHB1cC|page=96}}</ref>
*[[1161]] &ndash; [[Jin–Song wars]]: Military officers conspire against the emperor [[Wanyan Liang]] of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] after a military defeat at the [[Battle of Caishi]], and assassinate the emperor at his camp.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kuhn|first=Dieter|title=The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China|location=Cambridge, Mass.|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|date=2011|isbn=9780674031463|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnCbDwAAQBAJ|page=81}}</ref>
*[[1167]] &ndash; [[Kingdom of Sicily (Medieval and Early Modern)|Sicilian]] [[Chancellor]] [[Stephen du Perche]] moves the royal court to [[Messina]] to prevent a rebellion.
*[[1256]] &ndash; [[Mongols|Mongol]] forces under [[Hulagu Khan|Hulagu]] enter and dismantle the [[Nizari Ismaili state|Nizari Ismaili]] ([[Order of Assassins|Assassin]]) stronghold at [[Alamut Castle]] (in present-day [[Iran]]) as part of [[Mongol campaign against the Nizaris|their offensive]] on Islamic southwest Asia.
*[[1270]] &ndash; The [[Nizari Ismaili state|Nizari Ismaili]] garrison of [[Gerdkuh]], Persia surrender after 17 years to the [[Mongol campaign against the Nizaris|Mongols]].<ref name="Daftary1992p429">{{cite book |last1=Daftary |first1=Farhad |title=The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42974-0 |page=429 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[1467]] &ndash; [[Stephen III of Moldavia]] defeats [[Matthias Corvinus]] of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the [[Battle of Baia]].
*[[1546]] &ndash; The town of [[Ekenäs, Finland|Ekenäs]] ({{langx|fi|Tammisaari}}) is founded by [[Gustav I of Sweden|King Gustav Vasa of Sweden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/paimenmuisto/seurakunta/5105|title=Tammisaari (Ekenäs)|publisher=[[Kansallisbiografia]]|access-date=8 January 2023|language=fi}}</ref>

===1601–1900===
*[[1651]] &ndash; [[Castle Cornet]] in [[Guernsey]], the last stronghold which had supported the King in the [[Third English Civil War]], surrenders.
*[[1778]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] and French fleets clash in the [[Battle of St. Lucia]].
*[[1791]] &ndash; The [[United States Bill of Rights]] becomes law when ratified by the [[Virginia General Assembly]].
*[[1836]] &ndash; The [[Old Patent Office Building|U.S. Patent Office]] building in Washington, D.C., nearly [[1836 U.S. Patent Office fire|burns to the ground]], destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related [[patent model]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Niemann|first=Paul|title=More Invention Mysteries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tx9Zkz0XqA4C&q=%22In%201877%22|location=Quincy, Ill.|publisher=Horsefeathers Publishing Company|year=2006|isbn=9780974804118|page=130}}</ref>
*[[1862]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: The [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] ends in a [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] defeat as General [[Ambrose Burnside]] withdraws the [[Army of the Potomac]] across the [[Rappahannock River]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Battle of Fredericksburg History: Marye's Heights|url=https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/historyculture/fburg-hist-maryesh.htm|website=nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service|date=July 25, 2015|access-date=January 4, 2025}}</ref>
*[[1864]] &ndash; American Civil War: The [[Battle of Nashville]] begins at [[Nashville, Tennessee]], and ends the following day with the destruction of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Army of Tennessee]] under General [[John Bell Hood]] as a fighting force by the Union [[Army of the Cumberland]] under General [[George Henry Thomas|George H. Thomas]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rigdon|first=John C.|title=Historical Sketch and Roster of the Mississippi 29th Infantry Regiment|location=Cartersville, Ga.|publisher=Eastern Digital Resources|date=2005|isbn=9780359384303|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlmIDwAAQBAJ|page=58}}</ref>
*[[1869]] &ndash; The short-lived [[Republic of Ezo]] is proclaimed in the [[Ezo]] area of [[Japan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lu|first=Sidney Xu|title=The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2019|isbn=9781108482424|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDGdDwAAQBAJ|page=94, fn. 95}}</ref> It is the first attempt to establish a [[democracy]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite book|last=Willcock|first=Hiroko|title=The Japanese Political Thought of Uchimura Kanzō (1861-1930): Synthesizing Bushidō, Christianity, Nationalism, and Liberalism|location=Lewiston, N.Y.|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|date=2008|isbn=9780773451513|page=10}}</ref>
*[[1871]] &ndash; Sixteen-year-old [[telegraphist]] [[Ella Stewart Udall|Ella Stewart]] keys and sends the first telegraphed message from [[Arizona Territory]] at the [[Deseret Telegraph Company]] office in [[Pipe Spring National Monument|Pipe Spring]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKoy |first=Kathleen L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JsD9o6SQQ6UC&q=%22The%20first%20message%20was%20sent%20from%20there%20on%20December%2015,%201871.%22 |title=Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History of Pipe Spring National Monument |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior|U. S. Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]], Intermountain Region |year=2000 |pages=35}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Boren |first=Ray |date=February 28, 2013 |title=A Visit to Pioneer Oasis: Arizona's Pipe Spring |work=Deseret News |url=https://www.deseret.com/2013/2/28/20515246/a-visit-to-pioneer-oasis-arizona-s-pipe-spring |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109160947/https://www.deseret.com/2013/2/28/20515246/a-visit-to-pioneer-oasis-arizona-s-pipe-spring#a-year-round-water-source-and-range-lands-south-of-the-vermilion-cliffs-drew-pioneer-cattlemen-to-pipe-spring-in-the-mid-1800s-however-drought-and-over-grazing-turned-the-once-grassy-plain-into-a-terrain-dominated-by-sagebrush-and-tumbleweeds-by-the-late-19th-century |archive-date=November 9, 2020}}</ref>
*[[1890]] &ndash; [[Hunkpapa]] [[Lakota people|Lakota]] leader [[Sitting Bull]] is killed on [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]], leading to the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]].
*[[1893]] &ndash; [[Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)|''Symphony No. 9'' ("From the New World" {{aka}} 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Philharmonic Society|work=The New York Times|date=December 16, 1893|page=8|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/16/109271873.html?pageNumber=8|access-date=December 15, 2020|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Dr. Dvorak's Latest Work|work=The New York Times|date=December 17, 1893|page=19|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/17/109272197.html?pageNumber=19|access-date=December 15, 2020}}</ref>
*[[1899]] &ndash; [[British Army]] forces are defeated at the [[Battle of Colenso]] in [[Natal (province)|Natal]], [[South Africa]], the third and final battle fought during the [[Black Week]] of the [[Second Boer War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bunting|first=Tony|chapter=Colenso|title=1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History|editor-last=Grant|editor-first=R.G.|location=New York|publisher=Chartwell Books|date=2017|isbn=9780785835530|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZNADwAAQBAJ|page=683}}</ref>

===1901–present===
*[[1903]] &ndash; [[Italian American]] food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a [[United States patent law|U.S. patent]] for inventing a machine that makes [[ice cream cone]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barth|first=Linda J.|title=A History of Inventing in New Jersey: From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone|location=Charleston, S.C.|publisher=The History Press|date=2013|isbn=9781626192065|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lex2CQAAQBAJ|page=61}}</ref>
*[[1905]] &ndash; The [[Pushkin House]] is established in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of [[Alexander Pushkin]].
*[[1906]] &ndash; The [[London Underground]]'s [[Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway]] opens.
*[[1914]] &ndash; [[World War I]]: The [[Serbian Army]] recaptures [[Belgrade]] from the invading [[Austro-Hungarian Army]].
*  1914   &ndash; [[Hōjō Coal Mine Disaster|A gas explosion]] at [[Mitsubishi]] Hōjō coal mine, in [[Kyushu]], Japan, kills 687.
*[[1917]] &ndash; World War I: An [[armistice between Russia and the Central Powers]] is signed.
*[[1933]] &ndash; [[Anarchist insurrection of December 1933|Anarchist insurrection]] suppressed in [[Zaragoza]], [[Second Spanish Republic|Spain]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Casanova|first=Julián|author-link=Julián Casanova|year=2005|chapter=On the road to insurrection|title=Anarchism, the Republic and Civil War in Spain: 1931–1939|publisher=[[Routledge]]|translator-first1=Andrew|translator-last1=Dowling|translator-first2=Graham|translator-last2=Pollok|editor-first=Paul|editor-last=Preston|editor-link=Paul Preston|pages=75–76|isbn=0-415-32095-X}}</ref>
*[[1939]] &ndash; ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at [[Loew's Grand Theatre]] in [[Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia]], United States.
*[[1941]] &ndash; [[The Holocaust in Ukraine]]: [[Nazi Germany|German]] troops murder over 15,000 Jews at [[Drobytsky Yar]], a ravine southeast of the city of [[Kharkiv]].
*[[1942]] &ndash; [[World War II]]: The [[Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse]] begins during the [[Guadalcanal Campaign]].
*[[1943]] &ndash; World War II: The [[Battle of Arawe]] begins during the [[New Britain campaign]].
*[[1944]] &ndash; 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.
*[[1945]] &ndash; [[Occupation of Japan]]/[[Shinto Directive]]: General [[Douglas MacArthur]] orders that [[Shinto]] be abolished as the state religion of Japan.
*[[1960]] &ndash; [[Richard Paul Pavlick|Richard Pavlick]] is arrested for plotting to assassinate [[President-elect of the United States|U.S. President-Elect]] [[John F. Kennedy]].
*  1960   &ndash; King [[Mahendra of Nepal]] suspends the country's constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.
*[[1961]] &ndash; [[Eichmann trial]]: [[Adolf Eichmann]] is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an [[Judicial system of Israel|Israeli court]] of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization.
*[[1965]] &ndash; [[Project Gemini]]: [[Gemini 6A]], crewed by [[Wally Schirra]] and [[Thomas P. Stafford|Thomas Stafford]], is launched from [[Cape Canaveral|Cape Kennedy]], [[Florida]]. Four orbits later, it achieves the first [[space rendezvous]], with [[Gemini 7]].
*[[1970]] &ndash; Soviet spacecraft [[Venera 7]] successfully lands on [[Venus]]. It is the first successful soft [[List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies|landing on another planet]].
*[[1973]] &ndash; [[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.
*  1973   &ndash; The [[American Psychiatric Association]] votes 13–0 to remove [[homosexuality]] from its official list of [[Mental disorder|psychiatric disorder]]s, the [[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]].
*[[1978]] &ndash; U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] announces that the United States will [[China–United States relations|recognize the People's Republic of China]] and [[Taiwan–United States relations|sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan)]].
*[[1981]] &ndash; A [[1981 Iraqi embassy bombing|suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy]] in [[Beirut|Beirut, Lebanon]], levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern [[Suicide attack|suicide bombing]].
*[[1989]] &ndash; [[Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] relating the [[abolition of capital punishment]] is adopted.
*[[1993]] &ndash; [[The Troubles]]: The [[Downing Street Declaration]] is issued by British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[John Major]] and Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Albert Reynolds]].
*[[1997]] &ndash; [[Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183]] crashes in the desert near [[Emirate of Sharjah|Sharjah]], [[United Arab Emirates]], killing 85.
*[[2000]] &ndash; The third reactor at the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] is shut down.
*[[2001]] &ndash; The [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]] reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.
*[[2005]] &ndash; Introduction of the [[Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor]] into [[United States Air Force|USAF]] active service.
*[[2010]] &ndash; A boat carrying 90 [[Refugee#Asylum seekers|asylum seeker]]s [[2010 Christmas Island boat disaster|crashes into rocks]] off the coast of [[Christmas Island]], Australia, killing 48 people.
*[[2013]] &ndash; 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.
*[[2014]] &ndash; Gunman [[Man Haron Monis]] takes [[2014 Sydney hostage crisis|18 hostages]] inside a café in [[Martin Place, Sydney|Martin Place]] for 16 hours in Sydney. Monis and two hostages are killed when police raid the café the following morning.
*[[2017]] &ndash; A 6.5{{M|w}}[[2017 Java earthquake|earthquake]] strikes the Indonesian island of [[Java]] in the city of [[Tasikmalaya]], resulting in four deaths.