Calendar date · December

What happened on December 15

On December 15, 533: Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

Events

53

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Sagittarius

Featured moment · 533

Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

The Vandalic War (533–534) was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Germanic Vandal Kingdom. It was the first war of Emperor Justinian I's Renovatio imperii Romanorum, wherein the Byzantines attempted to reassert Roman sovereignty over territory formerly controlled by the Western Roman Empire.

People

Born on December 15

Kayvon Thibodeaux 2000– American football player (born 2000)
Chandler Canterbury 1998– American actor
Maude Apatow 1997– American actress (born 1997)
Zach Banks 1997– American racing driver
Magdalena Fręch 1997– Polish tennis player (born 1997)
Stefania LaVie Owen 1997– American-New Zealand actress (born 1997)
Jenifer Brening 1996– German singer and songwriter
Oleksandr Zinchenko 1996– Ukrainian footballer (born 1996)
Jahlil Okafor 1995– Nigerian-American basketball player (born 1995)
Show 9 more — notable births on December 15
Daniel Ochefu 1993– American-born Nigerian basketball player
Daiamami Genki 1992– Japanese sumo wrestler
Jesse Lingard 1992– English footballer (born 1992)
Maximiliano Meza 1992– Argentine footballer
Alex Telles 1992– Brazilian footballer (born 1992)
Conor Daly 1991– American racing driver (born 1991)
Yanni Gourde 1991– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1991)
Alana Haim 1991– American musician and actress (born 1991)
Nichole Bloom 1989– American actress

People

Died on December 15

William J. Bauer American judge (1926–2025)
Zakir Hussain Indian tabla player and composer (1951–2024)
Saufatu Sopoanga Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2002 to 2004
Eryue He Chinese writer
Girma Wolde-Giorgis President of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013
Heinz Wolff German-British scientist and television presenter (1928–2017)
Calestous Juma Kenyan academic
Craig Sager American sports reporter (1951–2016)
Harry Zvi Tabor Israeli physicist (1917–2015)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 15
Donald Metcalf Australian medical researcher (1929–2014)
Fausto Zapata Mexican politician
Harold Camping American Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist (1921–2013)
Joan Fontaine British actress (1917–2013)
Dyron Nix American basketball player (1967–2013)
Owoye Andrew Azazi 11th Chief of Defence Staff of Nigeria (1952–2012)
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Nigerian politician (1948–2012)
Olga Zubarry Argentine actress (1929–2012)
Bob Brookmeyer American jazz musician, arranger, and composer (1929–2011)

Timeline

Every December 15 on record

  1. 533 Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

    Byzantine–Vandal war in North Africa (533–534)

    The Vandalic War (533–534) was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Germanic Vandal Kingdom. It was the first war of Emperor Justinian I's Renovatio imperii Romanorum, wherein the Byzantines attempted to reassert Roman sovereignty over territory formerly controlled by the Western Roman Empire.

  2. 687 Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theodore.

    Head of the Catholic Church from 687 to 701

    Pope Sergius I was the bishop of Rome from 15 December 687 to his death on 8 September 701, and is revered as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected at a time when two rivals, Paschal and Theodore, were locked in a dispute about which of them should become pope. His papacy was dominated by his response to the Quinisext Council, the canons of which he steadfastly refused to accept.

  3. 1025 Constantine VIII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.

    Byzantine emperor from 962 to 1028

    Constantine VIII was de jure Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the younger son of Emperor Romanos II and Empress Theophano. He was nominal co-emperor from 962, successively with his father; stepfather, Nikephoros II Phokas; uncle, John I Tzimiskes; and brother, Basil II.

  4. 1161 Jin–Song wars: Military officers conspire against the emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his camp.

    1125–1234 Jurchen campaigns in China

    The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han-led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125), and declared the formation of the Jin. Allying with the Song against their common enemy the Liao dynasty, the Jin promised to cede to the Song the Sixteen Prefectures that had fallen under Liao control since 938.

  5. 1167 Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.

    State in southern Italy (1130–1816)

    The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of the southern peninsula. The island was divided into three regions: Val di Mazara, Val Demone and Val di Noto.

  6. 1256 Mongol forces under Hulagu enter and dismantle the Nizari Ismaili (Assassin) stronghold at Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran) as part of their offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
  7. 1270 The Nizari Ismaili garrison of Gerdkuh, Persia surrender after 17 years to the Mongols.
  8. 1467 Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.
  9. 1546 The town of Ekenäs (Finnish: Tammisaari) is founded by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden.
  10. 1651 Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.
  11. 1778 American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.
  12. 1791 The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.
  13. 1836 The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models.
  14. 1862 American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg ends in a Union defeat as General Ambrose Burnside withdraws the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River.
  15. 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 15
  1. 1869 The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.
  2. 1871 Sixteen-year-old telegraphist Ella Stewart keys and sends the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory at the Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring.
  3. 1890 Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
  4. 1893 Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World" a.k.a. the "New World Symphony") by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16.
  5. 1899 British Army forces are defeated at the Battle of Colenso in Natal, South Africa, the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War.
  6. 1903 Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that makes ice cream cones.
  7. 1905 The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.
  8. 1906 The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.
  9. 1914 World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.
  10. 1914 A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.
  11. 1917 World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers is signed.
  12. 1933 Anarchist insurrection suppressed in Zaragoza, Spain.
  13. 1939 Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
  14. 1941 The Holocaust in Ukraine: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv.
  15. 1942 World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

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