Historical Events on December 31, Special Events on This Day

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Important Events From This day in History December 31st. Find Out What happened 31st December This Day in History on your birthday. Also you can find some answers for the following questions;
Which major historical events happened on December 31?
What happened on December 31st in history?
What special day is December 31?
What happened in history on December 31st?

What Happened on December 31st This Day in History

Year	Name
2020	The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.[17]
2019	The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan.[15] This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2018	Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia.
2015	A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.
2014	A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.
2011	NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
2010	Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.
2009	Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
2004	The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
2000	The last day of the 20th Century and 2nd Millennium.
1999	The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
1999	The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
1999	Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.
1998	The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
1994	This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
1994	The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
1992	Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
1991	All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1983	The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
1983	Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.
1983	In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.
1981	A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
1968	The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.
1968	MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.
1965	Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
1963	The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1961	RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
1956	The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.
1955	General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
1951	Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.
1946	President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1944	World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major Wehrmacht offensive on the Western Front, begins.
1942	USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.
1942	World War II: The Royal Navy defeats the Kriegsmarine at the Battle of the Barents Sea. This leads to the resignation of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder a month later
1906	Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
1879	Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
1878	Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.
1862	American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1857	Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.
1853	A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.
1831	Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1796	The incorporation of Baltimore as a city.
1790	Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.
1775	American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
1759	Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
1757	Empress Elizabeth I of Russia issues her ukase incorporating Königsberg into Russia.
1687	The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1670	The expedition of John Narborough leaves Corral Bay, having surveyed the coast and lost four hostages to the Spanish.
1660	James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1600	The British East India Company is chartered.
1501	The First Battle of Cannanore commences, seeing the first use of the naval line of battle.
1229	James I the Conqueror, King of Aragon, enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain), thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.
1225	The Lý dynasty of Vietnam ends after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Trần Thái Tông, husband of the last Lý monarch, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, starting the Trần dynasty.
1105	Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Henry V, in Ingelheim.
870	Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed.
535	Byzantine general Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Gothic garrison of Palermo (Panormos), and ending his consulship for the year.
406	Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.

Famous People Born on December 31

Here is a random list who born on December 31. For full list please click on the link above.

Year	Name
1941	Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
1668	Herman Boerhaave, Dutch botanist and physician (d. 1738)
1923	Giannis Dalianidis, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1948	Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1937	Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor, director, and composer
1938	Rosalind Cash, American singer and actress (d. 1995)
1950	Cheryl Womack, American businesswoman
1991	ND Stevenson, American cartoonist
1984	Calvin Zola, Congolese footballer
1956	Helma Knorscheidt, German shot putter

Famous People Deaths On December 31

Here is a list of some famous peope who died on December 31. For full list please click on the link above.

Date	Name
1568	Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese daimyō (b. 1493)
1384	John Wycliffe, English philosopher, theologian, and translator (b. 1331)
1987	Jerry Turner, American journalist (b. 1929)
2015	Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1950)
2009	Cahal Daly, Irish cardinal and philosopher (b. 1917)
1719	John Flamsteed, English astronomer and academic (b. 1646)
1996	Wesley Addy, American actor (b. 1913)
1032	Ahmad Maymandi, Persian statesman, vizier of the Ghaznavid Empire
1460	Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1400)
1655	Janusz Radziwiłł, Polish–Lithuanian politician (b. 1612)