December 23 - Events

Events

• 484 – Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals. During his reign the Catholics are free from persecutions.
• 962 – Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo.
• 1572 – Theologian Johann Sylvan executed in Heidelberg for his heretical Antitrinitarian beliefs.
• 1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees England to Paris after being deposed in favour of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.
• 1783 – George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.
• 1793 – The Battle of Savenay, decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in Revolt in the Vendée during the French Revolution.
• 1823 – A Visit from St. Nicholas, also known as The Night Before Christmas, is published anonymously.
• 1893 – The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.
• 1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.
• 1914 – World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1916 – World War I: Battle of Magdhaba – Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
• 1919 – Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the UK.
• 1921 – Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.
• 1936 – Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1936 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
• 1938 – Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.
• 1940 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Υ-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.
• 1941 – World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Japanese Imperial Army occupies Wake Island.
• 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.
• 1948 – Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.
• 1954 – First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison, M.D. and Joseph E. Murray.
• 1958 – Dedication of Tokyo Tower, the world's highest self-supporting iron tower.
• 1968 – The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.
• 1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.
• 1972 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.
• 1972 – The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism.
• 1979 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
• 1982 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.
• 1990 – History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.
• 2002 – A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.
• 2003 – PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
• 2007 – An agreement is made for the monarchy of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.