December 15

530 – Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian appoints a commission to compile a code of Roman jurisprudence.

1256 – The Nizari Ismaili (Assassin) stronghold at Alamut Castle near Masoudabad Persia surrenders to the Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan

1270 – The Assassin stronghold at Gerdkuh, Persia surrenders to the Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan

1275 – The Mongol stronghold at Alamut Castle is retaken by Nizari Ismaili forces under Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad.

1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

1836 – A fire that  nearly burns the U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C. to the ground, destroys all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date.

1864 – The Battle of Nashville during the war between the states begins and ends the following day with the defeat in detail of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, by the Union Army of the Cumberland.

1890 – After leaving Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Chief Sitting Bull returns to the Standing Rock Reservation and is killed during a gunfight between agency police and the Chief’s followers resisting his arrest because of fears he might support the Ghost Dance movement.

1903 – Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that makes ice cream cones.

1933 – The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the 18th Amendment

1939 – Gone with the Wind premieres at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia

1941 – German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine.

1942 –During World War II, on Guadalcanal, the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse between U.S. forces under the command of Alexander Patch and Japanese forces under the command of Harukichi Hyakutake begins in the named hills near the Mantanikau river.

1944 – During World War II, a single engine UC-64A Norseman aircraft carrying U.S. Army Air Forces Major Glenn Miller is lost in a flight over the English Channel and never recovered.

1961 – Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization. He is hanged on June 1 the following year.

1965 – The Gemini 6A mission, with crew members Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, launches to rendezvous with Gemini 7.

1978 – President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan.

2005 – The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor enters service in the U.S. Air Force.

2006 – The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II makes its first flight.

2009 – Oral Roberts dies of complications from pneumonia at the age of 91 at Newport Beach, California

2013 – China successfully lands a rover explorer on the moon

2015 -The Mayor of Flint, Michigan declares a state of emergency over contaminated water supplies.