TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: DEC 15
533 Byzantine General Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron
1488 Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming 1st known European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope
1593 State of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft
1612 German Astronomer Simon Marius is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1791 US Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval, becomes amendments 1-10 of the US constitution
1862 Nathan Bedford Forrest crosses the Tennessee River at Clifton with 2,500 men to raid the communications around Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1890 American Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, SD, during an incident with Indian police working for the U.S. government.
1916 The French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun.
1933 Twenty-first Amendment to U.S. Constitution comes into effect. Ratified on December 5 of the same year, the amendment repealed the prohibition on alcohol in the United States which had come into force on January 17, 1920
1938 Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC
1938 Washington sends its fourth note to Berlin demanding amnesty for Jews.
1939 Premier of the Gone with the Wind
1961 Adolf Eichmann, the former German Gestapo official accused of a major role in the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews, is sentenced by a Jerusalem court to be hanged.
1964 Canada adopted its national flag, a red maple leaf on a white background.
1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the meat bill in the presence of Upton Sinclair, the author of the controversial book The Jungle.
1967 Silver Bay bridge (Ohio-West Virginia) collapses during afternoon rush hour, 34 die
1970 The Soviet probe Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land softly on the surface of Venus. The probe only survived the extreme heat and pressure for about 23 minutes and transmitted the first data received on Earth from the surface of another planet
1972 The Commonwealth of Australia orders equal pay for women.
1973 The American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.
1978 US President Jimmy Carter announces the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and will sever all relations with Taiwan.
1979 In a preliminary ruling, the International Court of Justice ordered Iran to release all hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.
1981 In what is often called the first modern suicide bombing, a suicide car bomb kills 61 people at the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon is among the casualties.
1982 Roy Williams, Teamsters president, & 4 others convicted of bribery
1993 The prime ministers of Britain and the Republic of Ireland (John Major and Albert Reynolds respectively) made the “Downing Street Declaration,” stating the basis for trying to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.
2001 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after an 11-year, $27 million project to fortify it without eliminating its famed lean.
2001 It was announced that Siena Heights University would begin offering a class called “Animated Philosophy and Religion.” The two-credit class would cover how religion and philosophy are part of popular culture and is based on the television series “The Simpsons.”
2005 F-22 Raptor Stealth fighter enters active service with the US Air Force.
REFERENCES: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeoplehistory.com, timeandate.com, factmonster.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
