Events Pre-1600 395 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. 757 – The poet Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion. 877 – Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiègne. 1504 – Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah writes his Oran fatwa, arguing for the relaxation of Islamic law requirements for the forcibly converted Muslims in Spain.
1601–1900 1660 – A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello. 1851 – Conservative Santiago-based government troops defeat rebels at the Battle of Loncomilla, signaling the end of the 1851 Chilean Revolution. 1854 – In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin. 1863 – Between two and three thousand churchgoers die in the Church of the Company Fire, possibly the largest single building fire by number of victims in modern history. 1864 – Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.
1901–present 1907 – King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne. 1912 – Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. 1914 – World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. 1922 – Two days after coming into existence, the Irish Free State executes four leaders of the Irish Republican Army: Dick Barrett, Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O'Connor. 1933 – Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain. 1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan. 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.) 1943 – World War II: The German 117th Jäger Division destroys the monastery of Mega Spilaio in Greece and executes 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta. 1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world. 1955 – The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe. 1962 – Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days. 1963 – Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. 1966 – The Greek ship sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200. 1969 – Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history. 1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi. 1972 – United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. This is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737. 1974 – A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece. 1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. 1985 – The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia, is established. 1987 – Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House. 1987 – An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Intifada. 1988 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing five people and injuring 50 others. 1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. 1998 – Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria. 2001 – A raid conducted by the Internal Security Department (ISD) of Singapore foils a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot to bomb foreign embassies in Singapore. 2004 – The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations. 2004 – Columbus nightclub shooting: Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer. 2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 people and injure 448 others. 2010 – With the second launch of the Falcon 9, and the first launch of the Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. 2010 – The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about . 2013 – Riots break out in Singapore, after a fatal accident in Little India. 2013 – Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first musical act to perform on all seven continents. 2019 – First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China. 2024 – Damascus falls to rebels after Syrian troops withdraw and president Bashar al-Assad leaves the country as his government collapses. Israel as a result invaded into the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. 2025 – Singapore, under the government's approval, published its now-declassified Albatross file, comprising information relating to the Proclamation of Singapore dating back six decades ago.
Births Pre-1600 65 BC – Horace, Roman poet (died 8 BC) 1021 – Wang Anshi, Chinese economist and chancellor (died 1086) 1412 – Astorre II Manfredi, Italian lord (died 1468) 1418 – Queen Jeonghui, Queen consort of Korea (died 1483) 1424 – Anselm Adornes, Belgian merchant, politician and diplomat (died 1483) 1538 – Miklós Istvánffy, Hungarian politician (died 1615) 1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots, daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise (died 1587) 1558 – François de La Rochefoucauld, Catholic cardinal (died 1645)
1601–1900 1678 – Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (died 1762) 1678 – Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (died 1757) 1699 – Maria Josepha of Austria, Queen Consort of Poland (died 1757) 1708 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1765) 1724 – Claude Balbastre, French organist and composer (died 1799) 1730 – Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physician, physiologist, and botanist (died 1799) 1731 – František Xaver Dušek, Czech pianist and composer (died 1799) 1756 – Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (died 1801) 1765 – Eli Whitney, American engineer, invented the cotton gin (died 1825) 1795 – Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish astronomer and mathematician (died 1874) 1807 – Friedrich Traugott Kützing, German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist (died 1893) 1813 – August Belmont, Prussian-American financier and diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (died 1890) 1815 – Adolph Menzel, German painter and illustrator (died 1905) 1817 – Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Denmark (died 1896) 1818 – Charles III, Prince of Monaco (died 1889) 1822 – Jakov Ignjatović, Hungarian-Serbian author (died 1889) 1832 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1910) 1860 – Amanda McKittrick Ros, Irish author and poet (died 1939) 1861 – William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (died 1947) 1861 – Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter (died 1944) 1861 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1938) 1862 – Georges Feydeau, French playwright (died 1921) 1863 – Charles Lincoln Edwards, American zoologist (died 1937) 1864 – Camille Claudel, French illustrator and sculptor (died 1943) 1864 – Aleksander Meysztowicz, Polish politician and landowner (died 1943)Jacek M. Majchrowski (editor): Kto był kim w II Rzeczypospolitej. 1994, Warsaw. (in Polish) 1865 – Rüdiger von der Goltz, German general (died 1946) 1865 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician and academic (died 1963) 1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (died 1957) 1874 – Ernst Moro, Austrian physician and pediatrician (died 1951) 1875 – Frederik Buch, Danish actor and screenwriter (died 1925) 1877 – Paul Ladmirault, French pianist, violinist, and composer (died 1944) 1880 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian linguist and philologist (died 1973) 1881 – Tuomas Bryggari, Finnish politician (died 1964) 1881 – Albert Gleizes, French painter (died 1953) 1884 – Francis Balfour, English colonel and politician (died 1965) 1886 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (died 1957) 1887 – Elizabeth Daryush, English poet (died 1977) 1890 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American pianist and composer (died 1959) 1892 – Marcus Lee Hansen, American historian, author, and academic (died 1938) 1894 – E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (died 1938) 1894 – James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (died 1961) 1899 – Arthur Leslie, English-Welsh actor and playwright (died 1970) 1899 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (died 1987) 1900 – Sun Li-jen, Chinese general and politician (died 1990) 1900 – Ants Oras, Estonian-American author and academic (died 1982)
1901–present 1902 – Wifredo Lam, Cuban-French painter (died 1982) 1903 – Zelma Watson George, Black American opera singer (died 1994) 1908 – Concha Piquer, Spanish singer and actress (died 1990) 1908 – John A. Volpe, American soldier and politician, 61st Governor of Massachusetts (died 1994) 1911 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (died 1976) 1911 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and songwriter (died 1992) 1913 – Delmore Schwartz, American poet and short story writer (died 1966) 1914 – Floyd Tillman, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003) 1914 – Ernie Toshack, Australian cricketer (died 2003) 1915 – Ernest Lehman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2005) 1916 – Richard Fleischer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006) 1917 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer and administrator (died 1998) 1919 – Peter Tali Coleman, Samoan-American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of American Samoa (died 1997) 1919 – Julia Bowman Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (died 1985) 1919 – Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (died 2001) 1920 – McDonald Bailey, Trinidadian-English sprinter and rugby player (died 2013) 1922 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (died 2011) 1922 – Jean Ritchie, American singer-songwriter (died 2015) 1923 – Dewey Martin, American actor (died 2018) 1923 – Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-American soldier and chemist (died 2021) 1924 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (died 2015) 1925 – Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1990) 1925 – Nasir Kazmi, Pakistani Urdu poet (died 1972) 1925 – Carmen Martín Gaite, Spanish author and poet (died 2000) 1925 – Jimmy Smith, American organist (died 2005)