December 2

### Up to 1950

- 1409 – The University of Leipzig opens.
- 1697 – The new St. Paul's Cathedral in London, designed by Christopher Wren, opens.
- 1755 – The second Eddystone Lighthouse on the English coast is destroyed by fire.
- 1763 – Dedication of the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island.
- 1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
- 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: French troops  under Napoleon defeat a joint Russo–Austrian force.
- 1823 – US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
- 1845 – US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
- 1848 – Franz Joseph I of Austria becomes Emperor.
- 1851 – French President Louis–Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
- 1854 – Napoleon III crowns himself Emperor of France.
- 1859 – Militant abolitionist John Brown is hanged for the October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
- 1867 – In a New York City theater, British writer Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
- 1879 – British passenger ship _Borussia_ sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing 169 people.
- 1899 – Philippine-American War: Battle of Tirad Pass.
- 1908 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two.
- 1917 – World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest–Litovsk.
- 1927 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its automobile.
- 1930 – Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
- 1939 – LaGuardia Airport, belonging to New York City, opens.
- 1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self–sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
- 1943 – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile.
- 1949 – Convention against human trafficking and prostitution is adopted by United Nations.

### 1951 – 2000

- 1954 – The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
- 1956 – Fidel Castro and 80 other members of the 26th July Movement start on their journey to start the Cuban Revolution, landing in Oriente province.
- 1959 – The Malpasset Dam breaks in Southern France, killing 421 people.
- 1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
- 1970 – The US Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- 1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joins in February 1972.
- 1972 – Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
- 1975 – The Communist political party Pathet Lao takes power in Laos, creating the Lao People's Democratic Republic, with Souphanouvong as its first leader.
- 1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
- 1980 – El Salvador Civil War: Four American nuns and a churchwoman are murdered by military death squad.
- 1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
- 1988 – Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan, making her the first woman to lead a mainly–Muslim country.
- 1990 – A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all–German elections since 1932.
- 1993 – Drug dealer Pablo Escobar is shot dead by Colombian police.
- 1999 – The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

### From 2001

- 2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- 2004 – Typhoon Nanmadol kills about 1,000 people in the Philippines.
- 2008 – Somchai Wongsawat resigns as Prime Minister of Thailand.
- 2010 – Russia and Qatar are announced as hosts of the FIFA World Cup, for 2018 and 2022 respectively.
- 2019 – Climate change talks begin in Madrid.

### Up to 1900

- 885 – Li Cunxu, Chinese Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty (d. 926)
- 1578 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1640)
- 1694 – William Shirley, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
- 1710 – Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d. 1783)
- 1754 – William Cooper, American judge and politician (d. 1809)
- 1760 – John Breckinridge, American politician (d. 1806)
- 1760 – Joseph Graetz, German composer, organist and educator (d. 1826)
- 1810 – Henry Yesler, 7th Mayor of Seattle (d. 1892)
- 1825 – Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
- 1827 – William Burges, English architect and designer (d. 1881)
- 1837 – Joseph Bell, Scottish surgeon, physician and forensics pioneer (d. 1911)
- 1846 – Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d. 1904)
- 1859 – Georges Seurat, French painter (d. 1891)
- 1866 – Harry Burleigh, American composer (d. 1949)
- 1873 – Eduardo Schaerer, President of Paraguay (d. 1941)
- 1874 – Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (d. 1901)
- 1885 – George Richards Minot, American physician (d. 1950)
- 1891 – Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Charles H. Wesley, American historian and writer (d. 1987)
- 1893 – Leo Ornstein, Russian–American pianist and composer (d. 2002)
- 1895 – Harriet Cohen, English pianist (d. 1967)
- 1897 – Hovhannes Bagramyan, Soviet politician (d. 1982)
- 1898 – Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d. 1918)
- 1899 – John Barbirolli, English conductor (d. 1970)
- 1899 – John Cobb, British racing driver (d. 1952)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1901 – Raimundo Orsi, Argentine–Italian footballer (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Pietro Arcari, Italian footballer (d. 1988)
- 1909 – Marion Dönhoff, German journalist and Resistance activist (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Marc Platt, American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer and actor (d. 2014)
- 1914 – Ray Walston, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Prince Mikasa, Japanese royal (d. 2016)
- 1921 – Carlo Furno, Italian cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Maria Callas, Greek–American soprano (d. 1977)
- 1924 – Alexander Haig, American politician, United States Secretary of State (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Julie Harris, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Leon Litwack, American historian and writer
- 1930 – Gary Becker, American economist (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Nigel Calder, English science writer (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Masaaki Hatsumi, Japanese martial artist
- 1931 – Edwin Meese, 75th United States Attorney General
- 1933 – Mike Larrabee, American sprinter
- 1934 – Tarcisio Bertone, Italian cardinal and diplomat
- 1934 – Sissela Bok, Swedish philosopher and ethicist
- 1937 – Manohar Joshi, 15th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India
- 1939 – Harry Reid, American politician (d. 2021)
- 1943 – Wayne Allard, American politician
- 1944 – Cathy Lee Crosby, American actress
- 1944 – Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (d. 2006)
- 1946 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)
- 1947 – Andy Rouse, English racing driver
- 1947 – Rudolf Scharping, German politician
- 1948 – Antonin Manenka, Czechoslovakian footballer
- 1948 – Patricia Hewitt, British politician
- 1948 – Toninho Horta, Brazilian guitarist
- 1950 – Paul Watson, Canadian–American conservationist

### 1951 – 1975

- 1954 – Dan Butler, American actor
- 1956 – Steven Bauer, American actor
- 1957 – Dagfinn Hoybraten, Norwegian politician
- 1958 – Vladimir Parfenovich, Belarus canoe racer
- 1960 – Justus von Dohnanyi, German actor
- 1960 – Deb Haaland, American politician
- 1960 – Rick Savage, British musician (Def Leppard)
- 1962 – Kardam, Prince of Turnovo, Spanish–Bulgarian nobleman
- 1963 – Don Gaulthier, American actor
- 1963 – Brendan Coyle, British actor
- 1967 – Mary Creagh, British politician
- 1967 – Laurie Morgan, 1st Chief Minister of Guernsey
- 1968 – David Batty, English footballer
- 1968 – Nate Mendel, American musician (Foo Fighters)
- 1968 – Lucy Liu, American actress
- 1968 – Rena Sofer, American actress
- 1970 – Yang Hyuk-suk, South Korean singer-songwriter and producer
- 1971 – Francesco Toldo, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Mine Yoshizaki, Japanese illustrator
- 1972 – Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1973 – Monica Seles, Yugoslavian–born tennis player
- 1973 – Jan Ullrich, German cyclist

### From 1976

- 1976 – Masafumi Gotch, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Maelle Ricker, Canadian snowboarder
- 1978 – Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1978 – Chris Wolstenholme, English bassist (Muse)
- 1978 – Jarron Collins, American basketball player
- 1978 – Jason Collins, American basketball player
- 1979 – Sabina Babayeva, Azerbaijani singer
- 1979 – Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
- 1981 – Britney Spears, American singer
- 1983 – Chris Burke, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – Aaron Rodgers, American football player
- 1983 – Daniela Ruah, Portuguese–American actress
- 1985 – Amaury Leveaux, French swimmer
- 1985 – Dorrell Wright, American basketball player
- 1986 – Adam le Fondre, English footballer
- 1987 – Teairra Mari, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1988 – Soniya Mehra, Indian actress
- 1988 – Stephen McGinn, Scottish footballer
- 1989 – Cassie Steele, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1989 – Richard Tait, Scottish footballer
- 1990 – Gastón Ramírez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1990 – Hikaru Yaotome, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1990 – Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1991 – Brandon Knight, American basketball player
- 1991 – Charlie Puth, American singer and songwriter
- 1993 – Dylan McLaughlin, American actor
- 1994 – Cauley Woodrow, English footballer
- 1998 – Amber Montana, American actress
- 1998 – Juice Wrld, American rapper (d. 2019)

### Up to 1900

- 1348 – Emperor Hanazano of Japan (b. 1297)
- 1463 – Albert IV, Archduke of Austria (b. 1418)
- 1469 – Piero di Cosimo de' Medici of Florence (b. 1416)
- 1547 – Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer (b. 1485)
- 1594 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mapmaker (b. 1512)
- 1694 – Pierre Paul Puget, French painter, sculptor and architect (b. 1622)
- 1723 – Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, French nobleman (b. 1674)
- 1774 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)
- 1794 – Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost, German physician and theologian (b. 1715)
- 1810 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (b. 1777)
- 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher (b. 1740)
- 1815 – Jan Potocki, Polish writer and historian (b. 1761)
- 1844 – Eustachy Erazm-Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b. 1768)
- 1849 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen Consort of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
- 1859 – John Brown, American abolitionist (b. 1800)
- 1863 – Jane Pierce, American First Lady, wife of Franklin Pierce (b. 1806)
- 1881 – Jenny von Westphalen, German writer, wife of Karl Marx (b. 1814)
- 1888 – Namik Kemal, Turkish poet (b. 1840)
- 1889 – Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (b. 1825)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1918 – Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
- 1943 – Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian writer and journalist (b. 1902)
- 1944 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b. 1876)
- 1944 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player (b. 1917)
- 1950 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist and composer (b. 1917)
- 1953 – Tran Kong Kim, Vietnamese scholar and politician (b. 1883)
- 1966 – Luitzen Egbertus Jon Brouwer, Dutch mathematician and philosopher (b. 1881)
- 1969 – Jose Maria Arguedas, Peruvian writer, poet and anthropologist (b. 1911)
- 1969 – Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet politician (b. 1881)
- 1972 – Yip Man, Chinese martial artist (b. 1893)
- 1974 – Max Weber, Swiss politician (b. 1897)
- 1980 – Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1905)
- 1980 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian–born French writer (b. 1914)
- 1982 – Marty Feldman, British–American actor and director (b. 1934)
- 1982 – Giovanni Ferrari, Italian footballer (b. 1907)
- 1985 – Philip Larkin, English poet (b. 1922)
- 1986 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban–born actor and bandleader (b. 1917)
- 1986 – Lee Dorsey, American singer (b. 1924)
- 1987 – Luis Federico Leloir, French–Argentine chemist (b. 1906)
- 1987 – Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Belarussian physicist, astronomer and cosmologist (b. 1914)
- 1988 – Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
- 1990 – Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
- 1993 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian druglord (b. 1949)
- 1995 – Robertson Davies, Canadian writer (b. 1913)
- 1999 – Charlie Byrd, American jazz musician (b. 1925)

### From 2001

- 2004 – Alicia Markova, British ballet dancer (b. 1910)
- 2005 – Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Eric Woolfson, British musician and producer (b. 1945)
- 2010 – Ron Santo, American baseball player (b. 1940)
- 2011 – Chiyono Hasegawa, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1896)
- 2011 – Bill Tapia, American musician (b. 1908)
- 2012 – Ehsan Naraghi, Iranian sociologist and writer (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Pedro Rocha, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1942)
- 2013 – William Allain, 58th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Christopher Evan Welch, American actor (b. 1965)
- 2013 – Vernon Shaw, President of Dominica (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Salim Kallas, Syrian actor and politician (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Brian Hitchen, English newspaper editor (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Bobby Keys, American saxophonist (b. 1943)
- 2014 – A. R. Antulay, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Jean Beliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Don Laws, American figure skater and coach (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Sandy Berger, American political consultant (b. 1945)
- 2015 – Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (b. 1925)
- 2015 – George Sakato, American soldier (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Sammy Lee, American diver (b. 1920)
- 2016 – Gisela May, German actress (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Ulli Lommel, German actor and director (b. 1944)
- 2017 – Mundell Lowe, American jazz guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
- 2017 – Edwin Mosquera, Colombian weightlifter (b. 1985)
- 2017 – Ewald Schurer, German politician (b. 1954)
- 2017 – Nava Semel, Israeli writer and playwright (b. 1954)
- 2018 – Séry Bailly, Ivorian writer and politician (b. 1948)
- 2018 – Ugo De Censi, Italian–Peruvian priest (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Paul Sherwen, English racing cyclist (b. 1956)
- 2019 – George Atkinson III, American football player (b. 1992)
- 2019 – Jimmy Cavallo, American rock music saxophonist (b. 1927)
- 2019 – D. C. Fontana, American television scriptwriter and story editor (b. 1939)
- 2019 – Francesco Janich, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
- 2019 – Robert K. Massie, American historian (b. 1929)

## Holidays and observances

- Laos – National Day
- United Arab Emirates – National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)
- International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – United Nations