Today's 22 December Major Events in History

Photo for the article Today's 22 December Major Events

401 St. Innocent I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1135 Norman nobles recognize Stephen of Blois as King of England
1216 Pope Honorius III delegates decree "Religiosam vitam eligentibus"

1465 Peace of St Truiden: Louis of Bourbon is restored as Prince-Bishop of Liège after a period of exile
1536 English scholar Reginald Pole appointed cardinal
1590 Army of Moroccan Pasha Ahmad al-Mansur begins its epic 135 day crossing of the Saharan desert on his way to defeat the Songhai Empire
1596 Ferryboat Meuniers crashes in Paris, 150 die
1642 Pope Urbanus VIII publishes decree In eminente

French Academy of Sciences

1666 The French Academy of Sciences, founded by Louis XIV with Jean-Baptiste Colbert first meets in the Kings Library

Danby Occupies York

1688 Earl of Danby occupies York for King William III, Prince of Orange

1689 Heavy earthquake strikes Innsbruck, Austria
1715 English pretender to the throne James III lands at Peterhead
1731 Dutch people revolt against a government tax on meat
1744 Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa expands her expulsion of Jews from Prague to include Bohemia and Moravia
1772 Moravian missionary constructs 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny
1775 Continental Navy is organized with 7 ships; Esek Hopkins is appointed the first commander
1790 Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92)

Embargo Act

1807 US Congress passes the Embargo Act, and President Thomas Jefferson signs it into law, prohibiting American ships from trading in foreign ports as a result of involvement in hostilities between France and Britain

Beethoven Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6

1808 Beethoven's Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6, Choral Fantasy and Piano Concerto No. 4 (featuring the composer as soloist) premiere at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria

1810 British frigate HMS Minotaur sinks killing 480
1814 Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society arrives in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand to establish the country's first mission station; Sheep, cattle, horses and poultry are introduced

Dostoyevsky Survives Firing Squad

1849 The execution of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky by firing squad is called off at the last moment

1851 The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
1862 -Jan 2nd) Raid on Morgan's: Bardstown to Elizabethtown, KY
1870 Jules Janssen flies in a balloon in order to study a solar eclipse
1877 "American Bicycling Journal" begins publishing (Boston, Mass)

First Christmas Lights

1882 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison

1883 August Strindberg's "Lycko-Pers Reja" premieres

Annunciation of an Extraordinary Holy Year

1885 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Quod auctoritate "The Annunciation of an Extraordinary Holy Year" - celebrating 50 years since Pope's ordination

Itō Hirobumi First PM

1885 Samurai Itō Hirobumi becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan

1886 1st national accountants' society in US formed (NYC)

1890 Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kingsport and Kentville, Nova Scotia.
1894 -23] Dutch coast hit by hurricane
1894 Amateur Golf Association of the United States is formed in New York City, renamed soon afterwards to the United States Golf Association

Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune

1894 Claude Debussy's first orchestral masterpiece "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) premieres in Paris

Dreyfus Court-martialed

1894 French officer Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed for treason, triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus later vindicated)

1905 Arrest of St Petersburg Soviet members leads to an uprising of Moscow workers and fighting in the street
1907 Saint-Saëns'/Fokine's ballet "Le Cygne" premieres in St Petersburg
1910 US postal savings stamps 1st issued
1915 Organized baseball and Federal League sign a peace treaty at Cincinnati; Federal Baseball League dissolves
1917 Flanders declares its independence, under Pieter Tack
1917 In the NHL's first official week of play, 3 players score hat tricks in the same game, for the same team; Corb Denneny, Reg Noble, & Harry Meeking each score 3 for the Toronto Arenas in an 11-4 win over the Ottawa Senators
1922 Belgian parliament rejects Dutch university in Ghent

Highest Australian Partnership

1923 Bill Ponsford and Edgar Mayne make record 456 opening stand for Victoria against Queensland - highest first wicket partnership by an Australian pair

1924 Babe Dye of NHL's Toronto St Patricks scores 5 goals beat Bruins 10-2
1924 Philip Barry's play "The Youngest" premieres in NYC
1930 Convention of Economic Rapprochement/Oslo Agreesments signed between some European countries in response to the Great Depression

Diego Rivera Retrospective

1931 Retrospective show of Mexican artist Diego Rivera opens at The Museum of Modern Art in New York

The Mummy

1932 "The Mummy," directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff, is released in the US as the first Mummy horror film

1934 1st flight from Netherland to Curacao (Christmas flight 1934)
1934 Miss Theo Trowbridge sets female bowling record 702 pins in games
1935 Yaeko Iwasaki, student of D S Harada Roshi, 1st awakening in Kamakura
1936 1st common carrier license issued by ICC, Scranton, Pa
1937 Lincoln Tunnel, under the Hudson River, opens to traffic, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan, New York City
1939 Finnish counter offensive at Petsamo
1939 Freight train and passenger train head-on collision kills 101 at Markdorf, Germany
1939 Genthin, Germany rail disaster - 186 die in train wreck as an express has a rear-end collision with a train stopped at the station
1940 World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
1941 1942 NFL Draft: Bill Dudley from University of Virginia first pick by Pittsburgh Steelers
1941 Japan's invasion leader lands on Luzon, Philippines

First Proletarian Brigade

1941 Tito establishes first Proletarian Brigade, an elite fighting partisan unit, in Yugoslavia

V-2 Rocket Ordered

1942 World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon

1943 Manufacturers get permission to use synthetic rubber for baseball core
1944 Germans demand surrender of American troops at Bastogne, Belgium
1944 Sub Swordfish departs Pearl Harbor for Japan
1945 Utrecht: Catholic People's party (KVP) established
1947 Italian constituent assembly adopts new constitution
1948 KPIX TV channel 5 in San Francisco, California (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 2 self-propelled trains of Long Island RR collide, killing 77
1951 Australia cricket all out 82 v West Indies at Adelaide
1952 French government of Pinay, resigns
1952 WSBA (now WPMT) TV channel 43 in York, PA (IND) begins broadcasting
1953 Jack Dunn III, owner of Baltimore Orioles in Intl League, turns name over to newly relocated St Louis Browns
1956 Colo is born, the first gorilla bred in captivity at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Columbus, Ohio
1956 Last British & French troops leave Egypt
1957 KWRB (now KFNE) TV channel 10 in Lander-Riverton, WY (ABC) begins
1958 2nd Dutch Beel government forms
1958 Christmas novelty single "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" by fictional characters David Seville and the Chipmunks reaches #1, the only holiday chart-topper until Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in 2019
1959 Baseball's new Continental League awards its 7thfranchise to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
1959 NY Ranger goalie Marcel Paille wears a customized mask
1961 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1962 1,000,000th NBA point is scored
1962 Harris County voters approve all-weather stadium for Houston Colt .45s
1962 Kinderman Place in the Bronx named
1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives
1963 Oakland Raider Tom Flores passes for 6 touchdowns vs Houston (52-49)

Mourning for J.F.K. Ends

1963 Official 30-day mourning period for President John F. Kennedy ends

1964 American comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity

1964 Ballon d'Or: Manchester United striker Denis Law wins award for best European football player; beats Inter midfielder Luis Suárez and Real Madrid winger Amancio Amaro; first Scotsman to win the award

1964 First flight of the US aircraft Lockheed SR-71, reaches 3,530 kph (record for a jet)

1965 Belgian government shuts 6 coal mines
1965 Great Britain sets national maximum road speed at 70 miles per hour
1965 Radio Mil (Domincan Republic) transmitter blown up
1966 WCVW TV channel 57 in Richmond, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting

1969 Pete Marovich sets NCAA record of hitting 30 of 31 foul shots
1970 Treblinka SS commander Franz Stangl sentenced to life imprisonment
1971 KUAC TV channel 9 in Fairbanks/College, AK (PBS) begins broadcasting

Waldheim's Appointment Ratified

1971 UN General Assembly ratifies former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General

1971 USSR performs underground nuclear test
1972 6.25 earthquake strikes Managua Nicaragua, 12,000+ killed
1973 OPEC Gulf Six decides to raise the posted price of marker crude from $5.12 to $11.65 per barrel effective January 1, 1974
1974 2nd cease-fire between IRA & British; lasts until approx April 1975
1974 Iraq announces plans to increase its oil production capacity

IRA Bombs Former PM

1974 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb home of former UK Prime Minister, Edward Heath, just before announcing Christmas ceasefire (no-one injured)

1974 Referenda in Comoros-3 islands for independence, 1 stays French

Energy Policy and Conservation Act

1975 US President Gerald Ford signs the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) - establishes National Petroleum Reserve

1976 35 Unification church couples wed in NYC
1976 East Germany grants rock singer Nina Hagen her request to leave the country, after refusing her stepfather re-entry
1977 36 die as grain elevator at Continental Grain Company plant explodes

New Drummer for The Who

1978 Kenney Jones becomes The Who's new drummer, replacing the deceased Keith Moon

1978 Thailand adopts constitution

Cardinals Release Bonds

1980 MLB St. Louis Cardinals release outfielder Bobby Bonds

Reagan Appoints UN Ambassador

1980 US President-elect Ronald Reagan appoints Jeanne Kirkpatrick (UN Ambassador) & James Watt (Secretary of the Interior)

Leopoldo Galtieri Sworn in

1981 Argentine general Leopoldo Galtieri sworn in as military dictator and President of Argentina

1981 Belgium's 5th government of Martens forms
1982 William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities" premieres in NYC

1983 Indiana Pacers win, 133-132 in Denver to end a 28 NBA game losing streak on the road
1983 NHL NY Islanders score 3 shorthanded goals against Washington Capitols
1984 Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 black muggers on NYC subway train

Like a Virgin

1984 Madonna's "Like a Virgin" single goes #1 for 6 weeks

1984 Test Cricket debut of Craig McDermott, v WI at the MCG
1985 STS 51-L vehicle moves to Launch Pad 39B
1986 India score 7-676 v Sri Lanka at Kanpur in Cricket

Nikki Sixx Overdoes

1987 Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx overdoses from heroin

1988 2 robbers wearing police uniforms rob armored truck of $3 M in NJ
1988 South Africa signs accord granting independence to South West Africa
1988 Tug hits oil barge, spreads 231,000 gal on 300 mi of WA & BC coast

1989 Cold wave: -6°F in Tulsa, Oklahoma; -12°F in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; -18°F in Denver, Colorado; -23°F in Kansas City, Missouri; -42°F in Scottsbluff, Nebraska; -47°F in Hardin, Montana; and -60°F in Black Hills, South Dakota
1989 Republic of Chad (Africa) adopts its Constitution
1990 Iraq announces it will never give up Kuwait
1990 Israeli ferry capsizes killing 21 US servicemen

Lech Wałęsa Sworn In

1990 Labor activist Lech Wałęsa is sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president

Coffey 2nd to Score 1000

1990 Paul Coffey becomes the second NHL defenceman to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games

Operation Condor

1992 Archives of Terror detailing police repression under Dictator Alfredo Stroessner and proving existence of Operation Condor, found by activist Dr. Martín Almada in Asunción, Paraguay [1]

1992 Ballon d'Or: Milan's Dutch striker Marco van Basten wins his 3rd title as best football player in Europe ahead of Barcelona forward Hristo Stoichkov and Ajax forward Dennis Bergkamp

1992 Libyan MIG-23UB attacks Boeing 727 at Souk al-Sabt, 158 die

1995 MLB baseball pitcher David Cone signs $19.5 million 3 year contract with New York Yankees

Brett Hull Equals Father's Record

1996 St Louis Blues’ right wing Brett Hull scores his 26th NHL career hat trick to reach 500 career goals in a 7-4 win over the LA Kings; with father Bobby Hull, first father/son combo to each record 500 goals

1996 Steelers' Kordell Stewart runs quarterback record 80 yds for TD
1996 Zimbabwe & England draw Bulawayo Test Cricket with England needing 1 run to win
1997 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 Hunter Tylo awarded $4 million in Melrose Place breach of contract
1997 Merck baldness pill for men approved by FDA

MTV Removes Prodigy Video

1997 MTV removes music video of The Prodigy's song "Smack My Bitch Up" from broadcast rotation

1st Coach to 200 Wins

1997 Scotty Bowman's Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 giving him 200 wins with Detroit, and making him the first NHL coach to record 200 wins with 3 different teams; also Montreal and Buffalo

1998 Ballon d'Or: Juventus' French midfielder Zinedine Zidane is named best football player in Europe ahead of Real Madrid striker Davor Šuker and Inter forward Ronaldo

1999 The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21, 1999).
2000 On This Day launches as HistoryOrb.com

Northern Alliance Hands Over Power

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.
2003 A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits near San Simeon, California.

2003 Ballon d'Or: Juventus' Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd is named best football player in Europe ahead of Arsenal forward Thierry Henry and Milan defender Paolo Maldini

NY Knicks Hire Isiah Thomas

2003 The New York Knicks hire Isiah Thomas as President of Basketball Operations

2006 Australian archaeologist Sue O'Connor finds first evidence of modern humans in Jerimalai cave, near Lene Hara cave in East Timor

"Don't Ask Don't Tell" Repealed

2010 Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, a 17-year policy banning gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from serving openly in the US military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama after receiving bipartisan support in Congress

2012 6 people are killed by a car bomb in Damascus
2012 8 people are killed by a suicide bomber in Peshawar, Pakistan
2012 Tomasz Adamek outpoints Steve Cunningham in a split decision in the IBF heavyweight title eliminator at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
2016 Ebola vaccine VSV-EBOV is found to be 70-100% effective in a study published in The Lancet, becoming the world's first proven vaccine against Ebola
2017 UN Security Council votes 15 to 0 for additional sanctions on North Korea, including measures to slash the country's petrol imports by up to 90%
2018 Partial shutdown of US federal government begins

2018 Tsunami hits Indonesia's Sunda Strait killing over 400 after part of the Anak Krakatoa volcano slips into the sea

2019 New Orleans wide receiver Michael Thomas sets NFL record for most catches in a season with his 144th as Saints beat Tennessee 38-28; breaks 17-year old record held by Marvin Harrison (143)

Messi Overtakes Pele Record

2020 Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi scores his 644th goal for FC Barcelona during 3-0 win over Real Valladolid to break Pele's record for most goals for one club; Pele, 643 goals for Santos 1956-74

2020 Caitlin Clark registers her first triple-double at Iowa with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists against Western Illinois
2022 "American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades" - 76.4 years, according to new report by CDC, biggest factors in the fall among many, COVID-19 and drug overdoses [1]
2022 Major winter storm across the US causes widespread disruption, prompting states of emergency to be issued in Wisconsin and New York [1]
2022 US Drug Enforcement Administration says it seized enough fentanyl in 2022 to kill every American, more than 379 million doses [1]
2023 UN Security Council resolution votes to speed up delivery of desperately needed aid for Gaza 13-0 with Russia and the US abstaining [1]