Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
On this day in 533, Byzantine General Belisarius defeaed the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron. In 1582 on this day, the Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopted the Gregorian calendar. The American Bill of Rights was officially ratified on this day in 1791 after Virginia gave its approval. On this day in 1794, the Revolutionary Tribunal was abolished in France. In 1917 on this day during World War I, an armistice was reached between the new Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central Powers, effectively taking the Russians out of the war. On this day in 1961, the "Architect of the Holocaust" Adolf Eichmann,, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler's "final solution of the Jewish question," was condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal in Tel Aviv. In 1993 on this day, the movie "Schindler’s List" opened, which would ultimately give Steven Spielberg his first Oscar.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
• 533 - Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.
687 - St Sergius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Conon
1124 - Chancellor Haimeric selects pope (Lamberto becomes Honorius II)
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 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.
1488 - Bartholomeus Diaz returns to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope
1569 - Westmoreland flees to Scotland
1582 - Leidse university names Rembert Dodoens prof of botany/medicine
1582 - Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopt Gregorian calendar
1586 - Laevinus Torrentius, becomes bishop of Antwerp
1593 - State of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft
1612 - Simon Marius, is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1640 - Duke of Braganca crowned King Johan IV of Portugal
1660 - Philippines: Andres Malongs rebels plunders Bagnotan
1664 - English colonizing Connecticut
• 1667 - Brandenburg declares himself neutral in Devolutie War
1680 - Tax revolt on Terschelling due to tax on cereal
1688 - Lord Delamere sides with King James II [NS 12/25]
1745 - Battle at Kesseldorf: Prussia beats Saksen & Austria
1791 - 1st US law school established at University of Pennsylvania
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The American Bill of Rights (picture that I took of a copy of the Bill of Rights, not the original)
• 1791 - Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval
Dec 15, 1791: The Bill of Rights becomes law
On this day in 1791, Virginia becomes the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making the first ten amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence. Before the Massachusetts ratifying convention would accept the Constitution, which they finally did in February 1788, the document's Federalist supporters had to promise to create a Bill of Rights to be amended to the Constitution immediately upon the creation of a new government under the document.
The Anti-Federalist critics of the document, who were afraid that a too-strong federal government would become just another sort of the monarchical regime from which they had recently been freed, believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government by outlining its rights but failing to delineate the rights of the individuals living under it. The promise of a Bill of Rights to do just that helped to assuage the Anti-Federalists' concerns.
The newly elected Congress drafted the Bill of Rights on December 25, 1789. Virginia's ratification on this day in 1791 created the three-fourths majority necessary for the ten amendments to become law. Drafted by James Madison and loosely based on Virginia's Declaration of Rights, the first ten amendments give the following rights to all United States citizens:
1.Freedom of religion, speech and assembly
2.Right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of a well-regulated militia
3.No forcible quartering of soldiers during peacetime
4.Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure
5.Right to a grand jury for capital crimes and due process. Protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination and public confiscation of private property without just compensation.
6.Right to speedy and public trial by jury and a competent defense
7.Right to trial by jury for monetary cases above $20
8.Protection against excessive bail or fines and cruel and unusual punishments
9.Rights not enumerated are retained by the people
10.Rights not given to the federal government or prohibited the state governments by the Constitution, are reserved to the States... or to the people
1791 Bill of Rights is finally ratified HISTORY.com Editors Published: February 09, 2010 Last Updated: March 05, 2025
Bill of Rights is finally ratified | December 15, 1791 | HISTORY - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-15/bill-of-rights-is-finally-ratified
1792 - 1st life insurance policy issued in US (Phila)
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Le Drapeau Tricolore (Tricour Flag) which was a product of the French Revolution, and which remains the national flag of France to this day.
• On this day in 1794, the Revolutionary Tribunal was abolished in France.
1810 - 1st Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published
1815 - Rossini gets assignment for Il barbiere di Siviglia
1820 - 1st General pharmacopoeia in US published, Boston
1836 - Patent Office burns in Wash, DC
1854 - 1st street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia
1859 - GR Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun
1863 - Skirmish at Bean's Station, Tennessee (Knoxville Campaign)
1863 - Romania is using for the first time a mountain railway (from Anina to Oravita).
1864 - Battle of Nashville, TN
1864 - Raid on Stoneman: Abingdon & Glade Springs, VA
1868 - Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.
1874 - 1st reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant
Monuments to Thomas Edison at Menlo Park in Edison, NJ
• Inventor Thomas Edison 1877 - Thomas Edison patents phonograph
1891 - James Naismith invents basketball (Canada)
1893 - Dvoráks "From the New World" premieres at Carnegie Hall NYC
1894 - Cricket day 2 1st T Aus v Eng Aus 586 (Gregory 201) England 3-130
The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.
• 1899 - Battle at Colenso, South Africa (Boers-British army)
1905 - The Pushkin House is established in St. Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin
1909 - Thomas J Lynch becomes president of baseball's National League
• 1913 - Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1914 - Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
1914 - British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea
1914 - Serbian troops retake Belgrade in Austria-Hungary
A war monument in Champlitte, France
• 1916 - French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun
1917 - Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia
1917 - World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
Russia reaches armistice with the Central Powers
A day after Bolsheviks seize control of Russian military headquarters at Mogilev, a formal ceasefire is proclaimed throughout the battle zone between Russia and the Central Powers.
Immediately after their accession to power in Russia in November 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, had approached the Central Powers to arrange an armistice and withdraw from a war they saw as the major obstacle to their plan of providing food and land to the long-impoverished Russian peasant population. Leon Trotsky, in charge of foreign affairs, pressed Britain and France to open peace negotiations, threatening to make a separate armistice if his demands went unmet. After no response from the Allies, the Bolsheviks went ahead with their plan and made an appeal for peace that was welcomed by both Germany and Austria.
As a result of the ensuing negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, concluded in March 1918 after three months of debate and even renewed fighting in some areas, Russia would lose a million square miles of its territory, a third of its population, a majority of its coal, oil, and iron stores, and much of its industry. Lenin insisted that his Congress of Soviets accept the “shameful peace,” as he called it, “in order to save the world revolution” and “its only foothold — the Soviet Republic.”
1917 Russia reaches armistice with the Central Powers HISTORY.com Editors Published: November 05, 2009 Last Updated: May 27, 2025:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-15/russia-reaches-armistice-with-the-central-powers
1918 - American Jewish Congress holds it's 1st meeting
Inventor James Naismith 1919 - Edna St Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," premieres in NYC
1919 - Fiume (Rijeka) declares it's Independence
1922 - IVVV (association) peace congress on war forms in Hague
• 1925 - 1st hockey game at Madison Sq Garden, Mont Candiens 3, NY Americans 1
1925 - 1st road with a depressed trough (Texas) opens to traffic
• 1926 - Facist national symbol elevated in Italy
1927 - Ed Hickman kidnaps child he later beheads
1929 - Walter Mittelholzer flies as 1st about the Kilimanjaro
1930 - Don Bradman takes his 1st Test Cricket wicket (Ivan Barrow, WI, lbw)
1933 - Baseball owners agree to ban Sunday doubleheaders until after June 15
1934 - Fokker F18 Snip flies to Neth West Indies
1935 - Detroit Lions win NFL championship
1935 - Max Euwe becomes world champ chess beating Alexander Alekhine
1936 - KVL-AM in Seattle Wash changes call letters to KEEN (now KING)
1938 - Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC
1939 - "Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta
1939 - 1st commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware
1939 - Snip departs for 1st flight to Paramaribo/Curacao
1941 - Gas/electrical use restricted in Holland
1941 - German submarine U-127 sinks
• 1941 - Nazi's transfers 100 Czech citizens/Heinrich Himmler falls faint
1941 - North Africa: allied assault up Italians Gazala-posing
1941 - USS Swordfish becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship
1941 - The American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries.
1942 - Massachusetts issues 1st US vehicular license plate tabs
1944 - Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel
1944 - Hizbu'allah (Arm forces for Allah) forms
General Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
• 1944 - US Congress gives General Eisenhower his 5th star
1944 - US troops lands on Mindoro
1945 - John J "Cardinal" O'Connor, ordained as a priest
1946 - Chic Bears beat NY Giants 24-14 in NFL championship game
1946 - Giants Filchock & Hapes suspended by NFL, didn't report bribe attempt
1948 - Former state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury
• Author Albert Camus 1949 - Albert Camus' "Les Justes" premieres in Paris
1950 - Ezzard Charles KOs Nick Barone to retain heavyweight boxing title
1950 - NYC's Port Authority opens
1952 - "Two's Company" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 90 performances
1952 - Christine Jorgenson is 1st person to undergo a sex-change operation
1952 - KHON TV channel 2 in Honolulu, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1952 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientales Ecclesias
1953 - WJHG TV channel 7 in Panama City, FL (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1954 - Fordham University scraps football team for financial reasons
• 1954 - Netherlands Antilles becomes co-equal part of Kingdom of Netherlands
1956 - Emergency crisis in North Ireland proclaimed after IRA strikes
1956 - KGW TV channel 8 in Portland, OR (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - WRAL TV channel 5 in Raleigh-Durham, NC (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 - Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me"
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Auschwitz
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• 1961 - Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel
Dec 15, 1961: Architect of the Holocaust sentenced to die
In Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler's "final solution of the Jewish question," is condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal.
Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1906. In November 1932, he joined the Nazi's elite SS (Schutzstaffel) organization, whose members came to have broad responsibilities in Nazi Germany, including policing, intelligence, and the enforcement of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic policies. Eichmann steadily rose in the SS hierarchy, and with the German annexation of Austria in 1938 he was sent to Vienna with the mission of ridding the city of Jews. He set up an efficient Jewish deportment center and in 1939 was sent to Prague on a similar mission. That year, Eichmann was appointed to the Jewish section of the SS central security office in Berlin.
In January 1942, Eichmann met with top Nazi officials at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin for the purpose of planning a "final solution of the Jewish question," as Nazi leader Hermann Goering put it. The Nazis decided to exterminate Europe's Jewish population. Eichmann was appointed to coordinate the identification, assembly, and transportation of millions of Jews from occupied Europe to the Nazi death camps, where Jews were gassed or worked to death. He carried this duty out with horrifying efficiency, and between three to four million Jews perished in the extermination camps before the end of World War II. Close to two million were executed elsewhere.
Following the war, Eichmann was captured by U.S. troops, but he escaped a prison camp in 1946 before having to face the Nuremberg International War Crimes Tribunal. Eichmann traveled under an assumed identity between Europe and the Middle East, and in 1950 he arrived in Argentina, which maintained lax immigration policies and was a safe haven for many Nazi war criminals. In 1957, a German prosecutor secretly informed Israel that Eichmann was living in Argentina. Agents from Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, were deployed to Argentina, and in early 1960 they located Eichmann living in the San Fernando section of Buenos Aires under the name of Ricardo Klement.
In May 1960, Argentina was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its revolution against Spain, and many tourists were traveling to Argentina from abroad to attend the festivities. The Mossad used the opportunity to smuggle more agents into the country. Israel, knowing that Argentina might never extradite Eichmann for trial, had decided to abduct him and take him to Israel illegally. On May 11, Mossad operatives descended on Garibaldi Street in San Fernando and snatched Eichmann away as he was walking from the bus to his home. His family called local hospitals but not the police, and Argentina knew nothing of the operation. On May 20, a drugged Eichmann was flown out of Argentina disguised as an Israeli airline worker who had suffered head trauma in an accident. Three days later, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced that Eichmann was in Israeli custody.
Argentina demanded Eichmann's return, but Israel argued that his status as an international war criminal gave them the right to proceed with a trial. On April 11, 1961, Eichmann's trial began in Jerusalem. It was the first televised trial in history. Eichmann faced 15 charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and war crimes. He claimed he was just following orders, but the judges disagreed, finding him guilty on all counts on December 15 and sentencing him to die. On May 31, 1962, he was hanged near Tel Aviv. His body was cremated and his ashes thrown into the sea.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler's "final solution of the Jewish question," is condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal.
Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1906. In November 1932, he joined the Nazi's elite SS (Schutzstaffel) organization, whose members came to have broad responsibilities in Nazi Germany, including policing, intelligence, and the enforcement of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic policies. Eichmann steadily rose in the SS hierarchy, and with the German annexation of Austria in 1938 he was sent to Vienna with the mission of ridding the city of Jews. He set up an efficient Jewish deportment center and in 1939 was sent to Prague on a similar mission. That year, Eichmann was appointed to the Jewish section of the SS central security office in Berlin.
In January 1942, Eichmann met with top Nazi officials at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin for the purpose of planning a "final solution of the Jewish question," as Nazi leader Hermann Goering put it. The Nazis decided to exterminate Europe's Jewish population. Eichmann was appointed to coordinate the identification, assembly, and transportation of millions of Jews from occupied Europe to the Nazi death camps, where Jews were gassed or worked to death. He carried this duty out with horrifying efficiency, and between three to four million Jews perished in the extermination camps before the end of World War II. Close to two million were executed elsewhere.
Following the war, Eichmann was captured by U.S. troops, but he escaped a prison camp in 1946 before having to face the Nuremberg International War Crimes Tribunal. Eichmann traveled under an assumed identity between Europe and the Middle East, and in 1950 he arrived in Argentina, which maintained lax immigration policies and was a safe haven for many Nazi war criminals. In 1957, a German prosecutor secretly informed Israel that Eichmann was living in Argentina. Agents from Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, were deployed to Argentina, and in early 1960 they located Eichmann living in the San Fernando section of Buenos Aires under the name of Ricardo Klement.
In May 1960, Argentina was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its revolution against Spain, and many tourists were traveling to Argentina from abroad to attend the festivities. The Mossad used the opportunity to smuggle more agents into the country. Israel, knowing that Argentina might never extradite Eichmann for trial, had decided to abduct him and take him to Israel illegally. On May 11, Mossad operatives descended on Garibaldi Street in San Fernando and snatched Eichmann away as he was walking from the bus to his home. His family called local hospitals but not the police, and Argentina knew nothing of the operation. On May 20, a drugged Eichmann was flown out of Argentina disguised as an Israeli airline worker who had suffered head trauma in an accident. Three days later, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced that Eichmann was in Israeli custody.
Argentina demanded Eichmann's return, but Israel argued that his status as an international war criminal gave them the right to proceed with a trial. On April 11, 1961, Eichmann's trial began in Jerusalem. It was the first televised trial in history. Eichmann faced 15 charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and war crimes. He claimed he was just following orders, but the judges disagreed, finding him guilty on all counts on December 15 and sentencing him to die. On May 31, 1962, he was hanged near Tel Aviv. His body was cremated and his ashes thrown into the sea.
1961 - Equal access rule, political parties get TV broadcasting time
• 1961 - JFK visits Puerto Rico
1961 - L J Suenens appointed archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
1962 - Vaughn Meader's "1st Family," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 12 wks
1964 - 1st time 4 people in space
1964 - American Radio Relay League (organization for hams) founded
• 1964 - Canada adopts maple leaf flag
1965 - 3rd cyclone of year kills 15,000 at the mouths of the Ganges River in Bangladesh
1965 - D Heneker & J Taylor's musical "Charlie Girl," premieres in London
1965 - Gemini 6 launched; makes 1st rendezvous in space (with Gemini 7)
1965 - Queen Juliana opens Zeeland Bridge to Oosterschelde
1965 - William Eckert replaces Ford Frick as 4th commissioner of baseball
1966 - "Joyful Noise" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 12 performances
1966 - Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn, Janus
1966 - John W Mecom Jr becomes 1st owner of New Orlean Saints
1967 - Beatles release "Christmas Time is Here Again"
1967 - Joe Garagiola joins Today Show panel
• 1967 - Silver Bay bridge (Oh-WV) collapes during afternoon rush hr, 34 die
1967 - The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.
Ran into this image of John Lennon, and just thought it was cool, as well as appropriate for the day, given that Paul McCartney was in town (Syracuse, New York, June 2022).
1969 - Plastic Ono Band, play their only concert at London's Lyceum Ballroom
1969 - SF Fire Dept replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
1970 - Ferryboat capsized in Korean Strait drowning 261
1970 - S Korean ferry Namyong-Ho sinks in Strait of Korea, 308 killed
• 1970 - Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
1970 - Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 - American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not mental illness
1973 - Pirates of Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland
1973 - Sandy Hawley becomes 1st jockey to win 500 races in 1 year
1973 - Tennessee beats Temple 11-6 in low scoring NCAA basketball game
1973 - US Psychiatrist say homosexuals are not mentally ill
1974 - A's Catfish Hunter is ruled a free agent (later signs with Yankees)
1976 - Argo Merchant tanker off Massachusetts' SE coast, spills 7.6 m gallons of crude when ship ran aground
Flag of Jamaica
• 1976 - Jamaica premier Manley wins elections
1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
1978 - Saint Maarten Patriotic Movement (SPM) forms under W James
1978 - Test Cricket debut of Malcolm Marshall, v India at Bangalore
1979 - Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
1979 - World Court in Hague rules Iran should relase all US hostages
1980 - NY Yankee Dave Winfield becomes highest-paid player, 10 years $15M
1980 - Premier Queddei troops conquers Chad capital N'djamena
1980 - ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
1981 - 4th Emmy Sports Award presentation
1981 - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 503
1982 - Bill Parcells becomes 12th head coach of NY Giants
1982 - Roy Williams, Teamsters pres, & 4 others convicted of bribery
• 1982 - Sao Tome & Principe constitution approved
1982 - Spain reopens border with Gibraltar
1983 - 3 KC Royals suspended due to cocaine usage
• 1983 - Columbia flies to Kennedy Space Center via El Paso, Kelly AFB
1983 - Last 80 US combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew
1983 - Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic," premieres in NYC
1984 - USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet
Actor/Director Sylvester Stallone 1985 - Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielson wed
1986 - 150 killed during race riot in Karachi
1986 - CIA director William Casey suffers a cerebral seizure
1986 - Carnegie Hall reopens after a $50 million facelift
1987 - "Les Miserables" opens at Shubert Theatre, Boston
1988 - Lori Davis of Long Island sues Mike Tyson for grabbing her buttocks
1991 - "Nick & Nora" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 9 performances
1991 - Deb Richard wins JBP Cup LPGA Match Play Golf Championship
1992 - Arthur Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportman of Year
1992 - WNew AM (1130) NYC resigns air, replaced by WBBR
1993 - C-130 flies into a Philippines hill & explodes, 16 killed
• 1993 - Haitian premier Robert Malval resigns
1993 - John Williams final appearance as conductor of Boston Pops
1993 - Lee Aspen resigns as secretary of defense
1993 - Y-12 crashes at Phonesavanh, Laos: 18 killed
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1993 - British premier Major/Irish premier Reynolds signs Downing Street Declaration concerning Northern Ireland self determination
1994 - "Tuna Christmas" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 20 performances
1994 - John Bruton becomes Ireland's premier
1994 - Liberia militia kills 48 inhabitants of Monrovia
1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
1995 - Playboy goes back on sale after 36 year ban in Ireland
• 1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice hands down the "Bosman ruling", giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
2001 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
• 2005 - Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of same-sex couples being entitled to marry.
Flag of Argentina
• 2005 - Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.
2005 - Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
2005 - The 2005 Atlantic Power Outage began.
2006 - First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.
2009 - Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.
2012 - 18 Asylum seekers drown in the Aegean Sea on the way to Greece from Turkey
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec15.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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