Events

Pre-1600

• 1076 The city of Salerno surrenders to Robert Guiscard. Duke Gisulf continues his resistance in the citadel until May of the following year.

• 1294 Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

• 1545 The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.

• 1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

1601–1900

• 1623 The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.

• 1636 The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.

• 1642 Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

• 1643 English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.

• 1758 The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people.

• 1769 Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.

• 1818 Cyril VI of Constantinople resigns from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch under pressure from the Ottoman Empire.

• 1862 American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee repulses attacks by Union Major General Ambrose Burnside on Marye's Heights, inflicting heavy casualties.

• 1864 American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: The Second Battle of Fort McAllister ends with the fort being seized by Union forces under General William B. Hazen, threatening the city of Savannah with investment.

1901–present

• 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians.

• 1938 The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

• 1939 The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers: , and .

• 1943 World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.

• 1949 The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

• 1957 The 6.5 Farsinaj earthquake strikes Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing at least 1,119 deaths and damaging over 5,000 homes.

• 1959 Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.

• 1960 While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.

• 1962 NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

• 1967 Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels.

• 1968 Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.

• 1972 Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

• 1974 Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

• 1974 In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese forces launch their 1975 Spring Offensive (to 30 April 1975), which results in the final capitulation of South Vietnam.

• 1977 Air Indiana Flight 216 crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff, and boosters of the team.

• 1981 General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.

• 1982 The 6.0 North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800, and injuring 1,500.

• 1988 PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, after United States authorities refused to grant him a visa to visit UN headquarters in New York.

• 1989 The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and two others are wounded.

• 1994 Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 crashes in Morrisville, North Carolina, near Raleigh–Durham International Airport, killing 15.

• 1995 Banat Air Flight 166 crashes in Sommacampagna near Verona Villafranca Airport in Verona, Italy, killing 49.

• 2001 Indian Parliament attack: Sansad Bhavan, the building housing the Indian Parliament, is attacked by five Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Twelve people are killed, including the terrorists.

• 2002 European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004.

• 2003 Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.

• 2007 The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by the EU member states to amend both the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty which together form the constitutional basis of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon is effective from 1 December 2009.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1272 King Frederick III of Sicily (died 1337)

• 1363 Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris (died 1429)

• 1476 Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (died 1544)

• 1484 Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (died 1551)

• 1491 Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (died 1586)

• 1499 Justus Menius, German Lutheran pastor (died 1558)

• 1521 Pope Sixtus V (died 1590)

• 1533 Eric XIV of Sweden (died 1577)

• 1553 Henry IV of France (died 1610)

• 1560 Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (died 1641)

• 1585 William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (died 1649)

1601–1900

• 1640 Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (died 1696)

• 1662 Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (died 1729)

• 1678 Yongzheng Emperor of China (died 1735)

• 1720 Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright (died 1804)

• 1724 Franz Aepinus, German astronomer and philosopher (died 1802)

• 1769 James Scarlett Abinger, English judge (died 1844)

• 1780 Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist, invented the Döbereiner's lamp (died 1849)

• 1784 Archduke Louis of Austria (died 1864)

• 1797 Heinrich Heine, German journalist, poet, and critic (died 1856)

• 1804 Joseph Howe, Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Premier of Nova Scotia (died 1873)

• 1814 Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (died 1880)

• 1816 Werner von Siemens, German engineer and businessman, founded Siemens (died 1892)

• 1818 Mary Todd Lincoln, 16th First Lady of the United States (died 1882)

• 1830 Mathilde Fibiger, Danish feminist, novelist and telegraphist (died 1892)

• 1836 Franz von Lenbach, German painter and academic (died 1904)

• 1854 Herman Bavinck, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and academic (died 1921)

• 1856 Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (died 1920)

• 1860 Lucien Guitry, French actor (died 1925)

• 1864 Emil Seidel, American woodcarver and politician, 36th Mayor of Milwaukee (died 1947)

• 1867 Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and author (died 1917)

• 1870 Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (died 1940)

• 1871 Emily Carr, Canadian painter and author (died 1945)

• 1874 Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (died 1944)

• 1882 Jane Edna Hunter, African-American social worker (died 1971)

• 1883 Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian and bibliographer (died 1950)

• 1884 Aimilios Veakis, Greek actor, director, and playwright (died 1951)

• 1885 Annie Dale Biddle Andrews, American mathematician (died 1940)

• 1887 George Pólya, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (died 1985)

• 1887 Alvin C. York, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1964)

• 1895 Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Spanish anarchist feminist (died 1970)

• 1897 Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect, designed the Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel (died 1961)

• 1897 Drew Pearson, American journalist and author (died 1969)

• 1900 Jonel Perlea, Romanian-American conductor and educator (died 1970)

1901–present

• 1901 Olev Roomet, Estonian singer, violinist, and bagpipe player (died 1987)

• 1902 Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Greek philosopher and politician, 138th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1986)

• 1902 Talcott Parsons, American sociologist and academic (died 1979)

• 1903 Ella Baker, American activist (died 1986)

• 1903 Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist and composer (died 1993)

• 1905 Ann Barzel, American writer and dance critic (died 2007)

• 1906 Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (died 1968)

• 1906 Laurens van der Post, South African-English soldier and author (died 1996)

• 1908 Elizabeth Alexander, English geologist, academic, and physicist (died 1958)

• 1908 Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Brazilian historian and activist (died 1995)

• 1908 Van Heflin, American film actor (died 1971)

• 1911 Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)

• 1911 Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (died 1972)

• 1912 Luiz Gonzaga, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (died 1989)

• 1913 Archie Moore, American boxer and actor (died 1998)

• 1914 Alan Bullock, English historian and author (died 2004)

• 1914 Larry Noble, English comedian and actor (died 1993)

• 1915 B. J. Vorster, South African lawyer and politician, 4th State President of South Africa (died 1983)

• 1916 Leonard Weisgard, American author and illustrator (died 2000)

• 1919 Hans-Joachim Marseille, German captain and pilot (died 1942)

• 1920 George P. Shultz, American economist and politician, 60th United States Secretary of State (died 2021)

• 1921 Turgut Demirağ, Turkish film producer, director and screenwriter (died 1987)

• 1923 Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020)

• 1923 Larry Doby, American baseball player (died 2003)

• 1925 Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, and dancer

• 1927 James Wright, American poet and academic (died 1980)

• 1928 Solomon Feferman, American philosopher and mathematician (died 2016)

• 1929 Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor and producer (died 2021)

• 1931 Ida Vos, Dutch Jewish author of books for children and adults (died 2006)

• 1933 Paul Bracq, French automotive designer

• 1934 Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (died 2012)

• 1935 Türkan Saylan, Turkish physician and academic (died 2009)

• 1936 Prince Karim al-Husayn Shāh, Aga Khan IV, Swiss humanitarian and religious leader (died 2025)

• 1936 J. C. Martin, American baseball player

• 1937 Ron Taylor, Canadian physician and baseball player (died 2025)

• 1938 Gus Johnson, American basketball player (died 1987)

• 1940 Sanjaya Lall, Indian economist and academic (died 2005)

• 1942 Howard Brenton, English playwright and screenwriter

• 1942 Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player

• 1945 Herman Cain, American businessman, politician, and activist (died 2020)

• 1948 Jeff Baxter, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

• 1948 Lillian Board, British athlete (died 1970)

• 1948 Ted Nugent, American musician

• 1950 Wendie Malick, American actress

• 1952 Junkyard Dog, American professional wrestler (died 1998)

• 1952 Muhsin Kenon, American basketball player

• 1953 Ben Bernanke, American economist

• 1953 Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1956 Phil Hubbard, American basketball player and coach

• 1957 Steve Buscemi, American actor and director

• 1957 Morris Day, American musician and actor

• 1959 Johnny Whitaker, American actor

• 1960 Richard Dent, American football player

• 1961 Gary Zimmerman, American football player

• 1962 Rex Ryan, American football coach and analyst

• 1964 Krišjānis Kariņš, American-Latvian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Latvia

• 1965 Petra Wimmer, Austrian politician

• 1967 Jamie Foxx, American actor, singer, songwriter, producer, and comedian

• 1969 Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player and coach

• 1971 Scott Sattler, Australian rugby league player

• 1972 Matti Kärki, Swedish heavy metal singer

• 1975 Tom DeLonge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, author, and filmmaker

• 1975 James Kyson, American actor

• 1975 Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player and manager

• 1978 Cameron Douglas, American actor

• 1981 Amy Lee, American singer, songwriter and pianist

• 1982 Dan Hamhuis, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1982 Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player

• 1983 Laura Hodges, Australian basketball player

• 1984 Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer

• 1984 Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish freestyle swimmer

• 1987 James Holmes, American mass murderer

• 1988 Rickie Fowler, American golfer

• 1989 Hellen Obiri, Kenyan runner

• 1989 Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author

• 1989 Taylor Swift, American singer-songwriter

• 1990 Fletcher Cox, American football player

• 1990 Joseph Garrett, English YouTuber, actor, and author

• 1990 Arantxa Rus, Dutch tennis player

• 1991 Dave Leduc, Canadian martial artist

• 1991 Vladimir Tarasenko, Russian ice hockey player

• 1993 Danielle Collins, American tennis player

• 1993 Jamal Fogarty, Australian rugby league player

• 1995 Emma Corrin, English actor

• 1996 Gleyber Torres, Venezuelan baseball player

• 1998 Ian Seymour, American baseball pitcher

• 1999 Marina Bassols Ribera, Spanish tennis player

• 2000 Simona Waltert, Swiss tennis player

• 2001 Jayden Goodwin, Australian cricketer

• 2002 Brock Bowers, American football player

• 2009 Maddox Batson, American singer and songwriter

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 558 Childebert I, Frankish king (born 496)

• 769 Du Hongjian, Chinese politician (born 709)

• 838 Pepin I of Aquitaine (born 797)

• 859 Angilbert II, archbishop of Milan

• 1124 Pope Callixtus II (born 1065)

• 1126 Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria (born 1075)

• 1204 Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (born 1135)

• 1250 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1194)

• 1272 Bertold of Regensburg, German preacher

• 1404 Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (born 1336)

• 1466 Donatello, Italian painter and sculptor (born 1386)

• 1516 Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer and historian (born 1462)

• 1521 Manuel I of Portugal (born 1469)

• 1557 Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician and engineer (born 1499)

• 1565 Conrad Gessner, Swiss botanist and physician (born 1516)

1601–1900

• 1621 Katarina Stenbock, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (born 1535)

• 1671 Antonio Grassi, Italian Roman Catholic priest(born 1592)

• 1716 Charles de La Fosse, French painter (born 1640)

• 1721 Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor (born 1676)

• 1729 Anthony Collins, English philosopher and author (born 1676)

• 1754 Mahmud I, Ottoman sultan (born 1696)

• 1758 Noël Doiron, Canadian Acadia leader (born 1684)

• 1769 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and hymn-writer (born 1715)

• 1783 Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer and demographer (born 1717)

• 1784 Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (born 1709)

• 1814 Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Belgian-Austrian field marshal (born 1735)

• 1849 Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg, German botanist and entomologist (born 1766)

• 1862 Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, American general, lawyer, and politician (born 1823)

• 1863 Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (born 1813)

• 1868 Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (born 1794)

• 1881 August Šenoa, Croatian author and poet (born 1838)

• 1883 Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (born 1812)

• 1893 Georg August Rudolph, German lawyer and politician, 3rd Mayor of Marburg (born 1816)

• 1895 Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist and engineer (born 1800)

1901–present

• 1908 Augustus Le Plongeon, French photographer and historian (born 1825)

• 1911 Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (born 1878)

• 1919 Woldemar Voigt, German physicist and academic (born 1850)

• 1922 Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (born 1857)

• 1922 Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic poet and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1861)

• 1924 Samuel Gompers, English-born American labor leader, founded the American Federation of Labor (born 1850)

• 1927 Mehmet Nadir, Turkish mathematician and academic (born 1856)

• 1929 Rosina Heikel, Finnish physician (born 1842)

• 1930 Fritz Pregl, Slovenian-Austrian chemist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869)

• 1931 Gustave Le Bon, French psychologist, sociologist, and anthropologist (born 1840)

• 1932 Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter and sculptor (born 1853)

• 1935 Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1871)

• 1942 Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Austrian-Polish religious leader, 26th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (born 1866)

• 1942 Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (born 1868)

• 1944 Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist (born 1866)

• 1945 Irma Grese, German concentration camp guard (born 1923)

• 1945 Josef Kramer, German concentration camp commandant (born 1906)

• 1945 Elisabeth Volkenrath, Polish-German concentration camp supervisor (born 1919)

• 1947 Henry James, American lawyer and author (born 1879)

• 1947 Nicholas Roerich, Russian archaeologist, painter, and philosopher (born 1874)

• 1950 Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician and academic (born 1902)

• 1954 John Raymond Hubbell, American director and composer (born 1879)

• 1955 Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)

• 1960 Dora Marsden, English author and activist (born 1882)

• 1961 Grandma Moses, American painter (born 1860)

• 1962 Harry Barris, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1905)

• 1969 Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (born 1886)

• 1973 Henry Green, English author (born 1905)

• 1974 Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (born 1889)

• 1975 Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (born 1889)

• 1975 Addie Viola Smith, American lawyer and trade commissioner (born 1893)

• 1977 Oguz Atay, Turkish engineer and author (born 1934)

• 1979 Jon Hall, American actor and director (born 1915)

• 1979 Behçet Necatigil, Turkish author, poet and translator (born 1916)

• 1983 Alexander Schmemann, Estonian-American priest and theologian (born 1921)

• 1983 Nichita Stănescu, Romanian poet and critic (born 1933)

• 1986 Heather Angel, British-American actress (born 1909)

• 1986 Ella Baker, American activist (born 1903)

• 1986 Smita Patil, Indian actress and journalist (born 1955)

• 1992 K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman (born 1899)

• 1992 Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1899)

• 1993 Vanessa Duriès, French author (born 1972)

• 1995 Ann Nolan Clark, American author and educator (born 1896)

• 1996 Edward Blishen, English author and educator (born 1920)

• 1997 Don E. Fehrenbacher, American historian, author, and academic (born 1920)

• 1998 Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born British impresario and media proprietor (born 1906)

• 1998 Richard Thomas, Royal Naval Officer (born 1922)

• 1998 Wade Watts, civil rights activist (born 1919)

• 2002 Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who founded The Lovin' Spoonful (born 1944)

• 2004 David Wheeler, English computer scientist and academic (born 1927)

• 2005 Alan Shields, American painter and ferryboat captain (born 1944)

• 2006 Lamar Hunt, American businessman, co-founded the American Football League and World Championship Tennis (born 1932)

• 2016 Alan Thicke, Canadian actor, songwriter, game and talk-show host (born 1947)

• 2018 Noah Klieger, Holocaust survivor who became an award-winning Israeli journalist (born 1926)

• 2022 Stephen "tWitch" Boss, American dancer and media personality (born 1982)

• 2024 Lorraine O'Grady, American artist (born 1934)

• 2025 Juan José Zerboni, Mexican actor (born 1953)

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:

• St Antiochus of Sulcis

• Blessed Francesco Marinoni

• St Judoc aka St Joyce

• St Lucy

• St Odile of Alsace

• Acadian Remembrance Day (Acadians)

• National Day (Saint Lucia)

• Martial Law Victims Remembrance Day (Poland)

• Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day (China)

• Nusantara Day (Indonesia)

• Republic Day (Malta)

• Sailor's Day (Brazil)

• Saint Lucia Day (mainly in Scandinavia)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on December 13