December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are nine days remaining until the end of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological Winter frequently starts on this date. In the Southern Hemisphere, meteorological Summer frequently starts on this date.
You have only 3 days before Christmas!
Holidays
- Armed Forces Day (Vietnam)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Mother’s Day (Indonesia)
- National Mathematics Day (India)
- Unity Day (Zimbabwe)
- Winter solstice related observance (see December 21):
In 69, Emperor Vitellius is captured and murdered at the Gemonian stairs in Rome.
In 880, Luoyang, eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, is captured by rebel leader Huang Chao during the reign of Emperor Xizong.
In 1135, Stephen of Blois becomes King of England
In 1550, Richard Plantagenet or Richard of Eastwell died. (? 1469 – 22 December 1550) He was a reclusive bricklayer who claimed to be a son of Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England.
In 1622, Bucaramanga is founded. Bucaramanga is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the highest GDP per capita in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 581,130 people. Bucaramanga has over 160 parks scattered throughout the city and has been given the nickname “La Ciudad de Los Parques” (“The City of Parks”) and “La Ciudad Bonita de Colombia” (“Colombia’s Beautiful City”).
Bucaramanga has grown rapidly since the 1960s, mostly into neighbouring locations within the metropolitan area. Floridablanca, Girón and Piedecuesta are inextricably linked geographically and commercially with Bucaramanga, and now all form together the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area with 1,141,671 inhabitants.
In 1769, Sino-Burmese War (1765–1769) ends with an uneasy truce.
In 1790, The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Alexander Suvorov and his Russian armies.
In 1807, The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.
In 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).
In 1851, India’s first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
In 1864, Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his “March to the Sea“.
In 1885, Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
In 1890, Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville and Kingsport, Nova Scotia.
In 1891, Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.
In 1894, The Dreyfus affair begins in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason. The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided the Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. “L’Affaire”, as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world,[1] and it remains one of the most notable examples of a complex miscarriage of justice and antisemitism. The role played by the press and public opinion proved influential in the conflict.
The scandal began in December 1894 when Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason. Dreyfus was a 35-year-old Alsatian French artillery officer of Jewish descent. He was falsely convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, and was imprisoned in Devil’s Island in French Guiana, where he spent nearly five years.
In 1896, evidence came to light—primarily through an investigation instigated by Georges Picquart, head of counter-espionage—which identified the real culprit as a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. When high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after a trial lasting only two days. The Army laid additional charges against Dreyfus, based on forged documents. Subsequently, Émile Zola‘s open letter J’Accuse…! stoked a growing movement of support for Dreyfus, putting pressure on the government to reopen the case.
In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (now called “Dreyfusards”), such as Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, Charles Péguy, Henri Poincaré and Georges Clemenceau, and those who condemned him (the anti-Dreyfusards), such as Édouard Drumont, the director and publisher of the antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole. The new trial resulted in another conviction and a 10-year sentence, but Dreyfus was pardoned and released. In 1906, Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army. He served during the whole of World War I, ending his service with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He died in 1935.
In 1920, The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR.
In 1937, The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York, New York.
In 1939, Indian Muslims observe a “Day of Deliverance” to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom.
In 1940, World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
In 1942, World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
In 1944, World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: “Nuts!”
In 1944, World War II: The Vietnam People’s Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indochina, now Vietnam.
In 1947, The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves the Constitution of Italy.
In 1951, The Selangor Labour Party is founded in Selangor, Malaya.
In 1956, Colo, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity, is born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio.
In 1963, The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles (290 km) north of Madeira, Portugal with the loss of 128 lives.
In 1964, The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) took place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
In 1965, In the United Kingdom, a 70 mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit.
In 1974, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
In 1974, The house of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.
In 1978, The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
In 1979, Darryl F. Zanuck, American actor, director, and producer died. (b. 1902) He was an American film studio executive and producer; he also contributed to the scripts of the films on which he worked. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He earned three Academy Awards during his tenure.
In 1984, Bernhard Goetz shoots four African American would-be muggers on an express train in Manhattan section of New York, New York.
In 1987, In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.
In 1988, Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
In 1989, Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife flee Bucharest with a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers.
In 1989, Berlin‘s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
In 1990, Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship.
In 1990, The Parliament of Croatia adopts the current Constitution of Croatia.
In 1991, Armed opposition groups launch a military coup against President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
In 1992, The Archives of Terror are discovered.
In 1997, Acteal massacre: 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.
In 1997, Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991.
In 1999, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F crashes shortly after take-off from London Stansted Airport due to pilot error. All 4 crew members are killed.
In 2001, Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
In 2001, Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
In 2008, An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry.
In 2010, The repeal of the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.