December 15: Architect Gustave Eiffel, creator of the famous Paris tower and Ungheni bridge, both named after him, is born
On December 15, 1832, the French architect Gustave Eiffel was born, the one who made the tower in Paris that bears his name. Also on December 15, in 1467, Stephen the Great defeated Matia Corvinus in the Battle of Baia.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel/PHOTO: Wikipedia
1467: Stephen the Great defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary in the Battle of Baia
The Battle of Baia took place on December 14/15, 1467. It was a confrontation between the lord of Moldavia, Ştefan the Great (1457 – 1504), and the king of Hungary, Mathias I Corvin (1458 – 1490), determined by the proximity of Ştefan to Poland and the fact that Hungary sheltered his rival, the former lord Petru Aron (1451 – 1452, 1454 – 1457), writes the Encyclopedia of Romania.
The Battle of Baia, illustrated/PHOTO: Wikipedia
Ştefan had attacked the Szekler lands (1461), Chilia (1462) and had supported the rebellion of the nobles from Transylvania (1467).
In these conditions, Mathias Corvin decides to punish Ştefan and replace him with Petru Aron, whom he had sheltered since 1459 and who had promised him obedience.
In November 1467, the Hungarian king Mathias Corvin crossed the Oituz Pass with an army of 25–40,000 men, marching towards Suceava and setting fire to the city of Roman on 7 December. Stephen the Great, with an army of about 12–20,000 men, decided to face him at Baia.
The Moldavian attack took place at night, and Stephen's victory was complete, although a possibly traitorous part of the boyars did not attack as planned, resulting in the execution of some boyars after the battle.
The victory at Baia strengthened Stefan's domestic and international prestige and put Moldovan-Hungarian relations on a new footing.
1832: Gustave Eiffel, the architect who created the famous tower in Paris, is born
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, born on December 15, 1832, in the commune of Dijon in France, was a French engineer, known especially for the creation of the Eiffel Tower.
The name Eiffel was taken from one of the German ancestors at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1855, Eiffel graduated from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, the same year that Paris hosted the first international exhibition.
After graduation, his uncle offered him a job in Dijon, France. However, a family dispute canceled that chance and Eiffel soon accepted a position with a company designing train bridges in Bordeaux.
Eiffel Tower/PHOTO: Shutterstock
In 1876, Gustave Eiffel built the Eiffel Bridge in Ungheni. In 1882, Gustave Eiffel retouched in Iasi, on Romanian soil, in one of the centers that polarized the consciences and energies of the entire country, the Grand Hotel Traian, in Piața Unirii. He can still be admired today.
The Eiffel Bridge in Ungheni/PHOTO: Wikipedia photo collage
Also in Iași, Gustave Eiffel had built, in 1873, the Great Hall (became the Central Hall), a structure that would be demolished in the 1960s.
He died on December 27, 1923, in Paris.
1966: American producer Walt Disney dies
Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur.
Walt Disney/PHOTO: Profimedia
A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced many innovations in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards won (22) and nominated (59) by a single person.
He received two special Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress and have also been named among the greatest films of all time by the American Film Institute.
Disney was accused of anti-Semitism after giving Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl a tour of its studio a month after Kristallnacht.
The visit was initiated by the painter and dancer Hurbert “Jay” Stowitts, a friend of Riefenstahl's, and a Disney spokesman said that if they had known who was in the group, it would not have been accepted.
Some theories suggest financial motives, but biographer Neal Gabler shows that Disney was apolitical and did not sympathize with Nazism; during World War II, he made propaganda films against the Nazis and training films for the US government.
Although some cartoons from the 1930s included ethnic stereotypes, Disney regularly supported Jewish organizations and employed many Jewish collaborators. No employee, including his critics, accused him of anti-Semitism, and biographer Gabler concludes that his reputation was attached to his association with anti-communist organizations with alleged anti-Semitic overtones.
Disney has also been accused of racism, particularly for his films of the 1930s–1950s, including Song of the South, but he had close relationships with and concrete support for black actors and collaborators, such as James Baskett and animator Floyd Norman.
Disney had been a heavy smoker since the First World War. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and treated with cobalt therapy.
Believing that the treatment was successful, he returned to work, but on November 30 he felt ill and was transported by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph, where on December 15, at the age of 65, he died of circulatory collapse caused by cancer.
1993: The artist Alina Eremia is born
Alina Eremia was born on December 15, 1993, in Buftea, Ilfov county. She is a Romanian television actress and singer, participant in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2005.
A member of the Lala Band, she is also known for the evolution of the musical series “Pariu cu vienta”, broadcast on the Pro TV television station, and for the Romanian telenovela “A new life”, broadcast on the Acasă TV station.
Alina Eremia started her solo career with the song “With or Without You”, a collaboration with Mister Z, which was not successful.
In April 2013, however, he became famous with “Tu esti vara mea”, composed by Adrian Sînă, which was widely broadcast on the radio and which collected a lot of views on YouTube. The hits “În drete ta” (with Vescan) and “Cum se make” followed. In 2014 he released “When the lights go out” and in 2015 “Played You”. The collaboration with Novaspace resulted in the single “Out of My Mind” and the first album, 360.
Since 2019, Eremia collaborates with Global Records.
2000: The Russian Chernobyl nuclear power plant was permanently closed
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine.
On April 26, 1986, during a safety test, reactor 4 exploded, exposing the core and releasing radiation, which marked the beginning of the famous Chernobyl catastrophe.
Chernobyl/PHOTO: Pexels
The Chernobyl accident caused dozens of direct victims and is one of the only two nuclear accidents classified with maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, along with Fukushima (2011).
The response involved more than 500,000 people and cost an estimated $84.5 billion (2025), and the total cost of the disaster is estimated at $700 billion, making it the most expensive disaster in history.
The accident occurred during a safety test when an attempt to shut down the reactor resulted in a sudden power surge, followed by steam explosions, reactor meltdown and fire, spreading radiation across the Soviet Union and Europe. Initially, an exclusion zone of 10 km was created, with 49,000 people evacuated, later expanded to 30 km, with another 68,000 evacuations.
Two people died immediately, and 28 workers with acute radiation syndrome died within three months; other radiation-related deaths are very rare in civilian nuclear history. About 6,000 children developed thyroid cancer, with 15 deaths reported. Estimates of total casualties vary, with the WHO suggesting 9,000 cancer deaths in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
On December 15, 2000, reactor 3 was shut down, after operating briefly since March 1999, following nearly three months of repairs, and the plant ceased producing electricity.
Upon its closure, the plant was reclassified as “Special State Enterprise”and the name “VI Lenin” was removed after the independence of Ukraine.
2002: Romania was nominated for the first time at the MTV Europe Awards gala
The 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards were held at the Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona.
Artistic moments included Christina Aguilera's “Dirrty” with Redman performing in a boxing ring, with Aguilera wearing leather chaps. Whitney Houston, Pink, Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, as well as Coldplay and Eminem, both bands making their EMA debuts, also took to the stage.
The night's winners included Jennifer Lopez, who was awarded Best Female for the second year in a row.
In the edition, Romania was nominated for the first time by introducing the section “The best Romanian artist“, the winner being the band “Animal X”.
Alexandru Ivanuș, Lazăr Cercel, Laurențiu Penca, Șerban Copotț, Valentin Belu/PHOTO: Archive
Animal X was a Romanian pop/dance band.
Founded in 1999, it is the first band from the country to be awarded at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The band released 8 studio albums and several hits including: “I didn't believe it”, “Iubirea mea”, “Pentru ea”, “Without you”, “So I can forgive”, “More than ever”, “Baieți derberdei”, “Ballad”, “Sand carried by the wind”.
The band consisted of:
- Şerban Miron Copoț (Hyena) – born July 2, 1981 – lead voice, dance
- Alexandru Sebastian Salaman (Şopârla) – born February 8, 1982 – backing vocals, keyboards, dance (left the band in 2010).
- Laurentiu Mihai Penca (Worm) – born September 5, 1983 – backing vocals, synthesizer, dance
- George Valentin Belu (Martzianu) – born July 28, 1983 – guitar
- Lazar Cercel (Tzapu) – born November 28, 1981 – bass guitar
- Cătălin Florea (Tețe) – born September 25, 1983 – drummer (left the band, current drummer – Delia)
- Alexandru Ivanuș (Greiere) – born September 29, 1986 – battery
Mihai Penca, Şerban Copoț and Alexandru Salaman/PHOTO: Animal X
