Memorable Historical December 31sts

Memorable Historical December 31sts

With New Years Eve and New Years Day upon us, you might ask has there been an historically significant December 31st?

For the weather buffs there was the Snowstorm of New Years Eve 1963 that chilled Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and more.

For the old timers, I'm sure you all remember that nutty New Years Eve in 406 when the Rhine froze over and the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire.

The Rhine-crossing transgressed one of the Late Empire's most secure limines or boundaries, a climacteric moment in the decline of the Roman Empire that initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul, and that occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Britannia; hence the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migrations Period.

- Wiki: "Crossing of the Rhine"

For the art lovers, you will be delighted to learn that December 31, 1869 was the birth date of Henri Matisse.




Thanks Hank!

December 31st of 1990 the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) begins broadcasting. Well nobody here would be interested in any of that. Monsters and UFOs and spacemen, oh my!

December 31st, 1991 was the end of the old Soviet Union. Now the "Russian Federation". That was a big one!

And right up there with the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was December 31st, 1993. Yes, Barbra Striesand does her 1st live public concert in 20 years! What was she in stasis? Oy vey! People? People? Who needs people? Or something like that, I'm not in good voice!

December of 1997 and Microsoft buys Hotmail, originally HoTMaiL to emphasize the HTML. Then on December 31st it becomes MSN Hotmail and now Windows Live Hotmail. That Bill Gates buys all the good stuff!

A Man A Plan Panama! The Panama Canal comes under full Panamanian control at noon on December 31st, 1999. Believe you me, don't quibble, pay the toll, the long way round's a **tch!

There was that Y2K thingee, did I miss something? Was it 1999 or 2000? Well I missed it so it must not have been important.

While no globally significant computer failures occurred when the clocks rolled over into 2000, preparation for the Y2K bug had a significant effect on the computer industry. Countries that spent very little on tackling the Y2K bug (including Italy and South Korea) experienced as few problems as those that spent much more (such as the United Kingdom and the United States), causing some to question whether the absence of computer failures was the result of the preparation undertaken or whether the significance of the problem had been overstated.

- Wiki

That's just a few to wet your whistle folks. Not very conspiratorial thread material but I think these are interesting events we've touched on or around here on ATS. That "Barbra Streisand: Songstress or Alien" thread haunts me to this day. There were many more historically significant December 31s. I think likely somewhere near the number of historically significant July 16s. Feel free to add to the list.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, memorable New Years Eve and New Years Day. And only as historically significant as you want them to be! Cheers!

Happy New Year ATS!

PS Thanks to Wikipedia, Brainy History, SyFy and the Barbra Streisand websites for the various dates and links. I didn't know that she spelled Barbara "Barbra", did you? There's a conspiracy there don't you think?

[edit on 31-12-2009 by Hemisphere]