The Cold War officially ends with a summit meeting between U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.1991 CE, December 26 - The dissolution of the Soviet Union is officially declared, ending the existence of the USSR.
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What Happened in December?
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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A terrorist bomb mailed to his home, kills Federal Judge Robert Vance in Alabama. Two days later a second bomb killed civil rights Attorney Robert Robertson in Georgia. Two other bombs were discovered before they exploded. A massive investigation ensued involving the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies. In June 1991, a federal jury convicted Walter LeRoy Moody, Jr. on charges related to the bombings. He was executed in 2018. More
Two other bombs were discovered before they exploded. A massive investigation ensued involving the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies. In June 1991, a federal jury convicted Walter LeRoy Moody, Jr. on charges related to the bombings. He was executed in 2018. More
The United States invades Panama under orders from President George H. W. Bush. The primary purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega who had longstanding ties to United States intelligence agencies but the relations had deteriorated.
Noriega was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking. Noriega was captured, brought to the U.S. tried and convicted. He was eventually returned to Panama where he died in 2017. The United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States both condemned the invasion as a violation of international law. More
Nicolae Ceaușescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and president of Romania was ousted on December 22, 1989, during the Romanian Revolution.
The dictator and his wife, Elena, were captured after attempting to flee Bucharest by helicopter. After a brief, trial, Ceaușescu and his wife were found guilty of genocide and other crimes and were executed by firing squad on Christmas Day, December 25, 1989.
The Brandenburg Gate in Germany, was reopened on December 22, 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, The gate had been closed for 28 years after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
The reopening event was marked with a ceremony that saw West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow walk through the crossing in celebration of the reunification of Germany.
The Chunnel Breakthrough made history on December 1, 1990 when British miner Graham Fagg and his French counterpart Philippe Cozette0 when broke through the last piece of rock separating the French and British side of the Chunnel.
The breakthrough, a mostly ceremonial event at 132 feet (100 meters) below the English Channel, connected the two ends of the underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. The official opening of the Chunnel took place In a May 6, 1994 in a ceremony presided over by England’s Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand. More
Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement and Polish anti-communist leader is elected Poland's first democratically elected President on December 9, 1990. He won a landslide victory in the first free presidential election in Poland marking a key moment in Eastern Europe's shift from communism.
He served until 1995 when he narrowly lost his re-election bid to a former communist. He established the Lech Walesa Institute and remained a global symbol of non-violent struggle for democracy.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is officially established on December 8, 1991, when leaders from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine signed the Belovezha Accords in Belarus, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and forming the CIS in its place.
On a following meeting on December 21, 1991, eight more former Soviet republics signed the protocol to join: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. creating the initial multi-state CIS organization; (excluding the Baltics and Georgia). Georgia joined the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in December 1993, becoming the last of the former Soviet republics to join the organization, largely due to pressures from internal conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Although it joined, Georgia later left the CIS, officially ending its membership in August 2009. The Baltic Republics, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania never joined the CIS. The CIS Headquarters is in Minsk, Belarus,
The Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR approved the Law of the RSFSR "On renaming of the state of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic", which took effect immediately. The new name of the state was the Russian Federation (Russia) Effective dissolving the USSR. The Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and then replaced by the tricolor Russian Federation flag. More
The first text message is sent from a computer by Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old software programmer from the UK working for Vodaphone to his colleague Richard Jarvis. The message was “Merry Christmas.”
One year later in 1993, Nokia introduced an SMS feature with a distinctive ‘beep’ to signal an incoming message. More
U.S. President George H.W. Bush, orders about 25.000 U.S. troops to Somalia as part of an agreement with the UN to protect aid workers. The military operation encounter difficulties from the start due to the absence of a national Somali leadership and the daily fighting in the streets of the capital city of Mogadishu.
Weeks later, the new U.S. president, Bill Clinton, ordered the number of U.S. troops to be reduced as other UN forces come in. In October 1993, soon after an incident at Mogadishu where 18 U.S. soldiers lost their lives and two U.S. two helicopters were shut down, Clinton orders all U.S. combat troops to be out of Somalia by March 31. A year later UN troops were also withdrawn, leaving the country engulfed in clan warfare. More
The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, is demolished by Hindu nationalists, leading to communal violence.
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed in a shootout with authorities.
Russian troops enter Chechnya on December 11,1994 (First Chechen War) to restore Russian rule after Chechnya declared independence following the Soviet collapse. It was a devastating operation, particularly the siege of Grozny with massive civilian casualties. Russian control was regained but the insurgency continued.
The Dayton Agreement is signed, ending the Bosnian War with the goal of achieving peace in the Balkans.
The NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) is deployed to Bosnia to insure compliance to the Dayton Agreement as NATO assumes peacekeeping duties. More
The Mars Pathfinder American robotic spacecraft is launched by NASA on December 4. 1996 aboard a Delta II booster. It landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars on July 4 1997. It was the first rover to operate outside the Earth–Moon system.
It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, 10.6 kg (23 lb) wheeled robotic Mars rover named Sojourner. The mission carried a series of scientific instruments to analyze the Martian atmosphere, climate, and geology and the composition of its rocks and soil. The mission terminated in 1998.
South African President Nelson Mandela signs a new constitution into law on December 10, 1996 that completes a transition from a long period of white minority rule (apartheid) to full-fledged democracy. More
The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to combat climate change, is adopted on December 11, 1997. The international treaty was a major step in global climate policy aiming to achieve reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
President Clinton orders air attack on Iraq and the United States joined by Britain begin operation "Desert Fox" on December 16,1998 as a reaction to Saddam Hussein's refusal to cooperate with UNSCOM's inspectors and to degrade Iraq's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction as well as to diminish the Iraqi threat to its neighbors. More