| 15 December 37 | Roman Empire [births and deaths] | Nero, Roman emperor 54–68, born in Antium (modern Anzio), in Latium, Italy (–68). |
| 15 December 1025 | Byzantine Empire [political events] | When the Byzantine emperor Basil II the Bulgarslayer dies without an heir, his brother, Constantine VIII, already co-emperor, becomes sole emperor. |
| 15 December 1124 | Italy [administration] | Cardinal Teobaldo is elected Pope Celestine II, but before he can be ordained armed members of the Frangipani family storm the assembly and proclaim Cardinal Lamberto of Ostia as Pope Honorius II. Celestine is injured in the affray and resigns. |
| 15 December 1263 | Norway, Scotland [political events] | King Haakon IV of Norway dies in the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, where he has enforced an act of union with Norway by its people and those of the Orkney Islands. He is succeeded by his son, Magnus VI the Law-Mender. |
| 15 December 1791 | USA [legislation] | The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are ratified. They are known hereafter as the ‘Bill of Rights’. |
| 15 December 1805 | France, Prussia, Italy [treaties] | By the Treaty of Schönbrunn with France, Prussia cedes Cleves, Neuchâtel, and Ansbach, and accepts French territorial gains in Germany and Italy. In return Prussia is allowed to occupy Hanover in order to prevent it joining the coalition against the French emperor Napoleon I. |
| 15 December 1945 | Japan [suffrage] | The Japanese parliament, under pressure from Allied occupation forces, grants women voting rights. |
| 15 December 1958 | USA, Switzerland, Austria [births and deaths] | Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born US physicist, who discovered the principle that no two electrons in the same atom can have the same energy, dies in Zürich, Switzerland (57). |
| 15 December 1972 | Australia [women's rights] | Australian law orders equal pay for women. |
| 15 December 1978 | USA, China [diplomacy] | The USA and China normalize diplomatic relations with effect from 1 January 1979. |
| 15 December 1979 | UK [popular music] | The British progressive rock group Pink Floyd releases the concept album The Wall. A film is later made by the British director Alan Parker, starring Bob Geldof. |
| 15 December 1979 | Canada [toys and games] | The Canadian journalists Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invent the board game Trivial Pursuit; after initial commercial reluctance, a breakthrough comes when they sign a deal in 1982 with Selchow & Richter, the developers of Scrabble. This earns them an estimated $200 million. |
| 15 December 1984 | USSR, UK [diplomacy] | The Soviet Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachev visits London, England, and states that the USSR is willing to negotiate large reductions in nuclear weapons. The British prime minister Margaret Thatcher declares ‘I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together.’ |
| 15 December 1993 | Switzerland [political events] | The ‘Uruguay Round’ of negotiations for a revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, started in September 1986) end in Geneva, Switzerland; 117 nations agree the GATT Final Act. |
| 15 December 2001 | Italy [buildings] | The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy reopens to tourists after nearly 12 years of restoration work to reduce the monument's famous lean and make it structurally safe. |
