Events

Up to 1975 
395 - China: Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal of Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope.
757 - China: Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.
1432 - First battle of the Lithuanian Civil War.
1626 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned King of Hungary.
1660 – A woman appears on an English public stage for the first time, as Desdemona, in a production of William Shakespeare's Othello.
1792 – Frankfort becomes the capital city of Kentucky.
1813 - Ludwig van Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is performed for the first time.
1864 – The Clifton Suspension Bridge in England, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is opened.
1907 – Gustav V becomes King of Sweden.
1912 - Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility of war breaking out.
1914 - World War I: A squadron of the UK's Royal Navy defeats a weaker squadron of the German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1922 - Northern Ireland stops being part of the Irish Free State.
1941 – World War II: Japan invades Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines, just after the Pearl Harbor attack. On the same day, the United States and the Republic of China declare war on Japan.
1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the start of the American 'Atoms for Peace' program.
1956 - The 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, end.
1962 - Workers at four US newspapers (later nine) go on strike for 114 days.
1963 – PanAm Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning in Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.
1966 – The ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200 people.
1969 - An Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 hits a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90.
1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on the Pakistani city of Karachi.
1972 - United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after abandoning its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45 people.
1974 – Greek voters reject a proposal to restore the Greek monarchy.

From 1976 
1980 – John Lennon is shot dead by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota Apartment building in New York City.
1982 – December murders: In Suriname, 13 civilians and 2 military officers, opposed to the military regime of Desi Bouterse, are killed.
1987 - Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills 8 people at the Australia Post building in Melbourne, Australia, before committing suicide.
1987 - The entire Alianza Lima football team is killed in a plane crash.
1988 - A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50.
1991 – Romania's Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
1991 – Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and forming the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1993 – The North American Free Trade Agreement is signed into law by Bill Clinton.
1994 – Ethiopia adopts a new Constitution.
1994 - SWAPO wins the most seats in the election to the Namibian parliament (53 out of 72).
1998 - 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
2003 – Zimbabwe leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.
2004 – Dimebag Darrell is shot dead in Columbus, Ohio by paranoid schizophrenic Nathan Gale.
2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, creating the South American Community of Nations.
2007 – The office of Benazir Bhutto is stormed by gunmen. Three people are killed.
2009 – A bombing in Baghdad kills 127 people.
2012 - At the UN Climate Change Conference in Qatar, it is agreed that the Kyoto Protocol is to be extended until 2020.
2019 - A clothing factory fire in Delhi, India, kills at least 43 people.
2019 - Sanna Marin is elected as the new Prime Minister of Finland.

Births

Up to 1900 
 65 BC – Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
 1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
 1574 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1616)
 1626 – Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689) (N.S. December 18 on Gregorian calendar)
 1642 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (d. 1703)
 1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, English diplomat (d. 1757)
 1685 – Johann Maria Farina, Italian perfume designer (d. 1766)
 1699 – Maria Josepha of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1757)
 1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
 1724 - Claude Balbastre, French composer (d. 1799)
 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physiologist, biologist and chemist (d. 1799)
 1756 – Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria (d. 1801)
 1765 – Eli Whitney, American inventor (d. 1825)
 1790 - Augustus Meineke, German philologist (d. 1870)
 1795 - Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish-German astronomer (d. 1874)
 1817 - Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, 10th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1896)
 1818 – Charles III, Prince of Monaco (d. 1889)
 1831 - William Pitt Kellogg, Governor of Louisiana (d. 1918)
 1832 – Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Norwegian writer (d. 1910)
 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and writer (d. 1908)
 1857 - Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg, German politician (d. 1920)
 1861 – Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter (d. 1944)
 1861 - William C. Durant, American businessman (d. 1947)
 1864 – Camille Claudel, French graphic artist and sculptor (d. 1943)
 1865 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician (d. 1963)
 1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
 1873 - William Watson, Baron Thankerton, Scottish judge and politician (d. 1948)
 1875 - Wilfred Hudson Osgood, American zoologist (d. 1947)
 1880 - Johannes Aavik, Estonian philologist (d. 1973)
 1886 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
 1890 – Bohuslav Martinu, Czech composer (d. 1959)
 1892 – E.C. Segar, American cartoonist (d. 1938)
 1894 - Marthe Vinot, French actress (d. 1974)
 1894 - Florbela Espanca, Portuguese poet (d. 1930)
 1899 - John Qualen, Canadian actor (d. 1987)
 1899 - Anselmo Alliegro y Mila, Cuban politician (d. 1961)
 1900 - Ants Oras, Estonian writer (d. 1982)
 1900 - Sun Li-jen, Chinese general (d. 1990)

1901  1950 
 1902 - Wifredo Lam, Cuban painter (d. 1982)
 1908 - John A. Volpe, American politician (d. 1994)
 1909 - Gratien Gelinas, Canadian author, actor and director (d. 1999)
 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
 1913 – Delmore Schwartz, American poet (d. 1966)
 1915 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
 1916 - Richard Fleischer, American movie director (d. 2006)
 1919 – Peter Tali Coleman, American politician, former Governor of American Samoa (d. 1997)
 1922 – Lucian Freud, German-born British painter (d. 2011)
 1922 - Jean Porter, American actress (d. 2018)
 1922 - Jean Ritchie, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
 1923 - Pio Taufinu'u, Samoan cardinal (d. 2006)
 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, American chemist
 1925 – Sammy Davis, Jr., American actor and singer (d. 1990)
 1925 – Arnaldo Forlani, Italian politician, former Prime Minister of Italy
 1926 – Joachim Fest, German historian (d. 2006)
 1926 - Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian movie director (d. 2015)
 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, Soviet-Kazakhstani cosmonaut and general
 1928 - Jimmy Smith, American musician (d. 2005)
 1928 - Ulric Neisser, German-American psychologist (d. 2012)
 1929 - Johnny Anderson, Scottish footballer (d. 2001)
 1929 - Gérard de Villiers, French writer (d. 2013)
 1930 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor and director (d. 2014)
 1931 - Bob Arum, American boxing promoter
 1932 - Charly Gaul, Luxembourg cyclist (d. 2005)
 1933 - Flip Wilson, American comedian and actor (d. 1998)
 1935 - Dharmendra, Indian actor 
 1935 - Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Israeli chess player
 1936 – David Carradine, American actor (d. 2009)
 1936 - Ralph Brand, Scottish footballer
 1937 - James MacArthur, American actor (d. 2010)
 1938 – John Kufuor, former President of Ghana
 1939 – James Galway, Northern Irish flautist
 1939 - Jerry Butler, American singer-songwriter
 1939 - Dariush Mehrjui, Iranian director, screenwriter and producer
 1939 - Red Berenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 1941 – Geoff Hurst, English footballer
 1941 - Bobby Elliott, English drummer
 1942 - Mario Savio, American activist (d. 1996)
 1943 – Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
 1943 - James Tate, American writer (d. 2015)
 1944 - Ted Irvine, Canadian ice hockey player
 1945 - John Banville, Irish author
 1946 - John Rubinstein, American actor, composer and director
 1947 – Thomas R. Cech, American chemist
 1947 – Gregg Allman, American musician (d. 2017)
 1948 - Luis Caffarelli, Argentine-American mathematician and academic
 1950 - Dan Hartman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1994)

1951  1975 
 1951 – Bill Bryson, American writer
 1952 - Bobby McKean, Scottish footballer (d. 1978)
 1953 – Kim Basinger, American actress
 1953 - Norman Finkelstein, American academic, author and activist
 1954 - Louis de Bernières, English writer
 1955 - Martin Semmelrogge, German actor
 1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, American guitarist
 1956 - Andrius Kubilius, 9th Prime Minister of Lithuania
 1956 - Pierre Pincemaille, French organist
 1957 - James Cama, American martial arts teacher (d. 2014)
 1957 – Phil Collen, English guitarist (Def Leppard)
 1959 - Paul Rutherford, English singer
 1959 - Jim Yong Kim, Korean-American former President of the World Bank
 1960 - Lim Guam Eng, Malaysian politician
 1960 - Aaron Allston, American author (d. 2014)
 1961 – Ann Coulter, American political commentator
 1962 – Marty Friedman, American guitarist
 1963 - Greg Howe, American guitarist, composer and producer
 1963 - Brian McClair, Scottish footballer
 1964 – Teri Hatcher, American actress
 1964 - Mike Ruiz, Canadian-American model, photographer and director
 1964 - Richard David Precht, German philosopher
 1965 - David Harewood, English actor
 1966 – Les Ferdinand, English footballer
 1966 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer
 1966 – Hope Powell, English footballer and coach
 1972 – Marco Abreu, Angolan footballer
 1973 – Corey Taylor, American singer

From 1976 
 1976 – Dominic Monaghan, English actor
 1977 – Sébastien Chabal, French rugby player
 1978 – Frédéric Piquionne, French footballer
 1978 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
 1979 – Christian Wilhelmsson, Swedish footballer
 1980 - Lisa Kelly, American trucker (Ice Road Truckers)
 1982 – Halil Altintop, Turkish footballer
 1982 – Hamit Altintop, Turkish footballer
 1982 – Nicki Minaj, Trinidad and Tobago-born American singer
 1982 - DeeDee Trotter, American athlete
 1983 - Valéry Mézague, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2014)
 1984 - Dustin Brown, Jamaican-German tennis player
 1984 - Emma Green Tegaro, Swedish high jumper
 1985 - Meagan Duhamel, Canadian ice skater
 1985 - Dwight Howard, American basketball player
 1986 – Amir Khan, English boxer
 1986 – Kate Voegele, American musician
 1987 - Susanne Riesch, German skier
 1989 - Drew Doughty, Canadian ice hockey player
 1992 - Katie Stevens, American singer and actress
 1993 – AnnaSophia Robb, American actress
 1994 - Raheem Sterling, English footballer
 1995 - Jordon Ibe, English footballer
 1996 - Teala Dunn, American actress
 1996 - Scott McTominay, English-Scottish footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 592 - Emperor Sushun of Japan
 899 - Arnulf of Carinthia, King of East Francia (b. 850)
 1495 - Alfonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
 1691 – Richard Baxter, English clergyman (b. 1615)
 1709 – Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (b. 1625)
 1722 – Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (b. 1652)
 1744 - Marie Anne de Mailly, mistress to Louis XV of France (b. 1711)
 1793 – Madame du Barry, French mistress (b. 1743)
 1830 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French writer (b. 1767)
 1859 - Thomas De Quincey, English author (b. 1785)
 1864 - George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
 1869 - Narcisa de Jesus, Ecuadorean Catholic laywoman and saint (b. 1832)
 1885 - William Henry Vanderbilt, American railroad executive and philanthropist (b. 1821)
 1894 - Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (b. 1821)

1901  2000 
 1903 – Herbert Spencer, English philosopher and sociologist (b. 1820)
 1907 – King Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
 1914 – Maximilian von Spee, German naval officer (b. 1861)
 1930 - Florbela Espanca, Portuguese poet (b. 1894)
 1933 – Yamamoto Gonnohyoe, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1852)
 1952 - Charles Lightoller, English officer on the RMS Titanic (b. 1874)
 1955 - Hermann Weyl, German mathematician, physicist and philosopher (b. 1885)
 1956 - Jimmie Angel, American pilot (b. 1899)
 1963 - Sarit Thanarat, 11th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908)
 1967 – John Mills, Sr., American singer (b. 1889)
 1971 - Ernst Krenkel, Soviet Arctic explorer and radio operator (b. 1903)
 1975 - Gary Thain, New Zealand musician (Uriah Heep) (b. 1948)
 1978 – Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
 1980 – John Lennon, English singer, songwriter and musician (The Beatles) (b. 1940)
 1981 – Ferruccio Parri, Italian politician (b. 1890)
 1982 - Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter and racing driver (b. 1925)
 1982 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (b. 1951)
 1982 - Andre Kramperveen, Surinamese footballer and politician (b. 1924)
 1983 – Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
 1983 - Keith Holyoake, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1904)
 1984 - Luther Adler, American actor (b. 1903)
 1990 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish theatre director (b. 1915)
 1991 - Buck Clayton, American trumpeter (b. 1911)
 1992 – William Shawn, American magazine editor (b. 1917)
 1996 – Howard Rollins, American actor (b. 1950)
 1996 - Kashiwado Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1938)
 1997 - Laurean Rugambwa, Tanzanian cardinal (b. 1912)
 1998 - Aaron Hopa, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1971)

From 2001 
 2003 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919)
 2004 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (b. 1966)
 2008 – Oliver Postgate, British animator, puppetteer and writer (b. 1925)
 2011 – Zelman Cowen, 19th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1919)
 2013 - John Cornforth, Australian chemist (b. 1917)
 2014 - Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Indian singer (b. 1927)
 2014 - Knut Nystedt, Norwegian composer (b. 1915)
 2014 - Russ Kemmerer, American baseball player (b. 1930)
 2015 - Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer (b. 1936)
 2015 - Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong social activist (b. 1913)
 2015 - Mattiwilda Dobbs, American coloratura soprano (b. 1925)
 2015 - John Trudell, American activist and poet (b. 1946)
 2015 - Bonnie Lou, American singer (b. 1924)
 2015 - Douglas Tompkins, American businessman (b. 1943)
 2016 - John Glenn, American astronaut and politician (b. 1921)
 2016 - Joseph Mascolo, American actor (b. 1929)
 2017 - Vladimir Curbet, Moldovan choreographer (b. 1930)
 2017 - Sunny Murray, American jazz drummer (b. 1936)
 2017 - Atsutoshi Nishida, Japanese businessman (b. 1943)
 2018 - Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Russian activist (b. 1927)
 2018 - Enrico Crispolti, Italian art critic and historian (b. 1933)
 2018 - Pentti Tiusanen, Finnish politician (b. 1949)
 2018 - David Weatherall, British physician and molecular geneticist (b. 1933)
 2019 - René Auberjonois, American actor (b. 1940)
 2019 - Hirokazu Kanazawa, Japanese karate practitioner and teacher (b. 1931)
 2019 - Caroll Spinney, American actor and puppeteer (b. 1933)
 2019 - Paul Volcker, American economist (b. 1927)
 2019 - Zvonimir Vujin, Serbian boxer (b. 1943)
 2019 - Juice Wrld, American rapper (b. 1998)

Observances 
 CARICOM-Cuba Day
 Constitution Day (Romania and Uzbekistan)
 Roman Catholic Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception
 Students' Day (Bulgaria)
 National Youth Day (Albania)
 Bodhi Day (Japan)

December 08