December 22 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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December

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Ceaușescu Flees Bucharest

Also on December 22

A Living Coelacanth Is Caught off South Africa

Alfred Dreyfus Is Convicted

Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies Premiere

This Week in History

Falcon 9 Lands After an Orbital Launch

The Delhi Bus Assault Sparks Protests

Mohamed Bouazizi's Protest Helps Spark Tunisia's Uprising

Macao Returns to Chinese Administration

AI History Recreations

Politics

Ceaușescu Flees Bucharest

War & Conflict

The Christmas Truce Begins in Parts of the Western Front

Space

Falcon 9 Lands After an Orbital Launch

Technology

Bell Laboratories Demonstrates the Transistor

History

The Ku Klux Klan's Founding Is Traditionally Dated to Christmas Eve

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Reopens

Three Keepers Disappear From the Flannan Isles Lighthouse

Crime & Justice

JonBenét Ramsey Is Found Dead

The Delhi Bus Assault Sparks Protests

Adolf Eichmann Is Sentenced to Death

Science

The Piltdown Fossil Claim Is Announced

The Curies Announce Evidence for Radium

Darwin Sails on HMS Beagle

Medicine & Health

Hong Kong Begins a Mass Poultry Cull Against Bird Flu

An International Commission Certifies Smallpox Eradication

The First Human-to-Human Heart Transplant

Nature & Disasters

A Living Coelacanth Is Caught off South Africa

The Andes Flight Survivors' Rescue Is Completed

The Wilberg Mine Fire

Exploration

Amundsen's Team Reaches the South Pole

Tasman's Expedition Sights New Zealand

Francis Drake Begins His Circumnavigation Voyage

Sport

The Montreal Canadiens Are Founded

FC Barcelona Is Founded

Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV and Retires From the Lakers

Art & Literature

A Christmas Carol Is Published

The Palais Garnier opens in Paris

The first part of Don Quixote reaches readers

Music

Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies Premiere

Bach introduces his New Year cantata BWV 16

Bach presents his Epiphany cantata BWV 123

Film & TV

Charlie Chaplin Dies in Switzerland

The Simpsons Begins as a Half-Hour Series

The Lumière Cinématographe Is Shown to a Paying Paris Audience

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

Collections

The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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My Birthday in History

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