This Year in History:
2015
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
Around midday on January 7, 2015, gunmen raid the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. The attack, a response to the magazine’s criticism of Islam and…
On March 24, 2015, the co‑pilot of a German airliner deliberately flies the plane into the French Alps, killing himself and the other 149 people onboard. When it crashed, Germanwings…
For the first time in over 50 years, the presidents of the United States and Cuba meet on April 11, 2015. Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, President of Cuba and…
On April 25, 2015 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake tears through Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 and injuring 16,800. It was the worst such earthquake for the Asian country since 1934. The…
On May 23, 2015 thousands of LGBTQ activists celebrated as Ireland became the first country to legalize same‑sex marriage through referendum. The referendum passed with 62% of voters (1.2 million…
On June 2, 2015, Sepp Blatter, president of international soccer’s governing body FIFA, steps down, just a few days after he had been re‑elected to a fifth four‑year term. His…
Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson is awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. The medal comes after a decades‑long effort by Johnson’s family and New York Senator Chuck Schumer to recognize Johnson’s…
On June 14, 2015, sheriff’s deputies in Missouri discover a grisly scene: the bloody body of Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who had been stabbed to death a few days before.…
On the evening of June 17, 2015, a mass shooter took the lives of nine African American people at a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston,…
June 26, 2015 marks a major milestone for civil rights in the United States, as the Supreme Court announces its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. By one vote, the court…
On the morning of June 27, 2015, activists posing as joggers signal to one of their comrades that the police have momentarily turned their attention away from the flagpole outside…
Misty Copeland becomes the first African American woman promoted to principal dancer in the 75‑year history of the American Ballet Theatre, one of the leading classical ballet companies in the…
On July 10, 2015, Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia pulls over a 28‑year‑old Black woman, Sandra Bland, for failing to signal a lane change. After a heated encounter, he arrests…
Igniting a heated debate within her nation and across the globe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declares “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”) on August 31, 2015, as she commits…
A 14‑year‑old Muslim boy is arrested at his high school in Irving, Texas after a digital clock he had reassembled at home using a pencil case was mistaken by his…
On October 26, 2015, the International Olympic Committee announces the creation of the first Olympic refugee team, drawing attention to the plight of forcibly displaced people around the world. The…
On October 29, 2015, the Chinese government officially announces the end of its one‑child policy, ending the most extreme state birth control project in history after 35 years. Adapted from…
On November 13, 2015, a cell of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant commits a string of terrorist attacks across Paris, killing 131 and injuring over 400. It…
