On This Day...22.12

AD69 - Assassination of Roman Emperor Vitellius.

1864 - American Civil War: Union commander WT Sherman occupies Savannah, Georgia, after Confederate forces surrender.

1938 - A fish, identified as a coelcanth - thought to have been extinct for 65 million years - is caught by a fisherman off the coast of South Africa.

1961 - James Davis is the first US soldier to be killed in Vietnam.

1974 - In Britain, a bomb is thrown at the home of former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

1989 - The Romanian army defects to the cause of anti-communist demonstrators, and the government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown. The end of 42 years of communist rule came three days after Ceausescu's security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Timisoara. After the army's defection, Ceausescu and his wife fled from Bucharest in a helicopter, but were captured and convicted of mass murder in a hasty military trial. On Christmas Day, they were executed by firing squad.

Comments

[Gary Monro]

Regarding the 1989 Romanian army defection: were they warriors in the cause of human freedom - or traitors who betrayed the security of the country they were sworn to defend?

[Andrew McCann]

They experienced a moral enlightenment and acted in the interests of the State, not a dictator who had brought nothing but misery to its people.

[?]

Regarding Sherman - is it appropriate to celebrate a Catholic war monger?

[mahons]

I can't believe you mentioned Sherman's victory. Now Charles in Texas will have a Blue Christmas.