History Events on December 23

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.

#1972_Nicaragua_earthquake

Soviet-Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

#Soviet-Afghan_War

Arauco War: Governor of Chile Martín García Óñez de Loyola is killed in the Battle of Curalaba by Mapuches led by Pelantaru.

#Arauco_War

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.

#Rutan_Voyager

George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

#George_Washington

Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals. During his reign Christians are protected from persecution.

#Huneric

The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.

#Federal_Reserve_Act

The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

#Hansel_and_Gretel_(opera)

First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

#Kidney_transplantation

Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

#Colombia

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

#Transistor

The Battle of Savenay: A decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

#Battle_of_Savenay

As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris, France after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

#Glorious_Revolution

Chlothar I is crowned King of the Franks.

#Chlothar_I

PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.

#PetroChina

A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.

#General_Atomics_MQ-1_Predator

World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.

#Battle_of_Wake_Island

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom.

#Sex_Disqualification_(Removal)_Act_1919

After experiencing an engine fire, Aeroflot Flight 3519 attempts to make an emergency landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport but crashes, killing 110 of the 111 people on board.

#Aeroflot_Flight_3519

A bomb explodes at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, killing one airport cleaner. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks claim responsibility for the attack four days later.

#2015_Sabiha_Gökçen_Airport_bombing

The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.

#Emma_(novel)

World War I: Battle of Magdhaba: Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

#Battle_of_Magdhaba

First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

#Constantinople_Conference

The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

#List_of_tenants_in_One_World_Trade_Center

Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

#Japan

An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

#Kingdom_of_Nepal

World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

#World_War_I

The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.

#Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

Arab-Byzantine wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo.

#Arab-Byzantine_wars

King Dagobert II is murdered while hunting.

#Dagobert_II

Theologian Johann Sylvan is executed in Heidelberg for his heretical Antitrinitarian beliefs.

#Johann_Sylvan

The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

#USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)

History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having reportedly survived by cannibalism.

Maya queen Yohl Ik'nal is crowned ruler of Palenque.