Events on December 23 33
Year 484
Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals. During his reign Christians are protected from persecution.
Year 562
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse.
Year 962
Arab-Byzantine wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo.
Year 1572
Theologian Johann Sylvan is executed in Heidelberg for his heretical Antitrinitarian beliefs.
Year 1688
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.
Year 1783
George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.
Year 1793
The Battle of Savenay: a decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.
Year 1876
First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
Year 1913
The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.
Year 1916
World War I: Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
Year 1941
World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.
Year 1948
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.
Year 1954
First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.
Year 1968
The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.
Year 1970
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.
Year 1972
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.
Year 1972
The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having reportedly survived by cannibalism.
Year 1979
Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Year 1986
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.
Year 1990
History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.
Year 2002
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.
Year 2003
PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
Year 2007
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.