December 22 Events |
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| December 22nd, 2003 (December 22 2003) | Event | A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits near San Simeon, California. | |
| December 22nd, 2001 (December 22 2001) | Event | Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai. | Hamid Karzai Quotes |
| December 22nd, 2001 (December 22 2001) | Event | Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63. | |
| December 22nd, 1999 (December 22 1999) | Event | 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). | |
| December 22nd, 1997 (December 22 1997) | Event | 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. | |
| December 22nd, 1990 (December 22 1990) | Event | Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship. | |
| December 22nd, 1989 (December 22 1989) | Event | After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceausescu s Communist dictatorship. | |
| December 22nd, 1989 (December 22 1989) | Event | Berlin s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany. | |
| December 22nd, 1989 (December 22 1989) | Event | Kempsey bus crash: Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific Highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales | |
| December 22nd, 1988 (December 22 1988) | Event | Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated. | |
| December 22nd, 1984 (December 22 1984) | Event | Subway vigilante Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four African-American men on an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City. | |
| December 22nd, 1978 (December 22 1978) | Event | 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. | Deng Xiaoping Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1974 (December 22 1974) | Event | Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration. | |
| December 22nd, 1974 (December 22 1974) | Event | Ted Heath s house is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA. | |
| December 22nd, 1965 (December 22 1965) | Event | In the United Kingdom, a 70mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit. | |
| December 22nd, 1964 (December 22 1964) | Event | Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity. | Lenny Bruce Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1964 (December 22 1964) | Event | First flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird). | |
| December 22nd, 1963 (December 22 1963) | Event | Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives. | |
| December 22nd, 1956 (December 22 1956) | Event | Colo is born, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity. | |
| December 22nd, 1947 (December 22 1947) | Event | The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves its constitution. | |
| December 22nd, 1944 (December 22 1944) | Event | 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!" | Anthony McAuliffe Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1944 (December 22 1944) | Event | World War II: Vietnam People s Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam. | |
| December 22nd, 1942 (December 22 1942) | Event | World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon. | Adolf Hitler Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1940 (December 22 1940) | Event | World War II: Himare is captured by the Greek army. | |
| December 22nd, 1937 (December 22 1937) | Event | The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. | |
| December 22nd, 1920 (December 22 1920) | Event | The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR. | |
| December 22nd, 1894 (December 22 1894) | Event | The Dreyfus affair begins, in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, on antisemitic grounds. | |
| December 22nd, 1890 (December 22 1890) | Event | Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kingsport and Kentville, Nova Scotia. | |
| December 22nd, 1885 (December 22 1885) | Event | Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan. | |
| December 22nd, 1864 (December 22 1864) | Event | Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his "March to the Sea". | William Tecumseh Sherman Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1851 (December 22 1851) | Event | The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India. | |
| December 22nd, 1849 (December 22 1849) | Event | The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second. | Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1809 (December 22 1809) | Event | The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, passes the U.S. Congress. | |
| December 22nd, 1807 (December 22 1807) | Event | The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson. | Thomas Jefferson Quotes |
| December 22nd, 1790 (December 22 1790) | Event | The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies. | |
