December 15

Events
Up to 1900
533 - The Battle of Ticameron begins.
687 - St. Sergius I becomes Pope.
1161 - China: Military officers conspire against Emperor Hailingwang of Jin, of the Jin Dynasty, and kill him in a military coup near the Yangtze River front.
1167 - Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent rebellion.
1256 - Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran.
1467 - Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured, at the Battle of Baia.
1640 - John IV of Portugal becomes King.
1778 - American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.
1791 - The United States Bill of Rights is passed.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Nashville - Union forces under George Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John Hood.
1881 - The El Habra dam in Algeria breaks, resulting in a flood that kills around 250 people.
1890 - Native American chief Sitting Bull is shot dead by Reservation police.
1891 - James Naismith introduces basketball.
1901 2000
1905 - The Pushkin House is founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.
1913 - Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.
1914 - A gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyushu, kills 687 people.
1914 - World War I: The Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow.
1914 - World War I: The Serbian army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Hungarian army.
1916 - World War I: France defeats Germany in the Battle of Verdun.
1917 - World War I: An armistice is reached between Russia's new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
1933 - The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution becomes effective, reversing the 18th Amendment, which had banned the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol.
1939 - Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia.
1941 - Holocaust: Nazi troops murder 15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, near Kharkiv.
1943 - World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain campaign.
1945 - General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan.
1946 - US-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.
1954 - The Charter for the Netherlands enters effect.
1957 - The population of Munich reaches one million.
1960 - Mahendra of Nepal imposes direct rule.
1960 - Richard Pavlik is arrested for plotting to kill US President-elect John F. Kennedy.
1961 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust
1965 - Gemini program: Gemini 6A is launched.
1967 - The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapses, killing 46 people.
1970 - Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus.
1970 - South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes in Korea Strait, killing 308 people.
1973 - John Paul Getty III is found alive after being kidnapped in Naples, Italy, a few months earlier.
1973 - The American Psychiatric Association votes 13-0 to remove Homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.
1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
1976 - The oil tanker MV Argo Merchant runs aground off Nantucket, Massachusetts, causing an oil spill.
1978 - US President Jimmy Carter announces that the US is to start diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and would therefore sever relations with the Republic of China, exiled on the island of Taiwan.
1979 - The board game Trivial Pursuit is created by Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott.
1993 - The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
1994 - Netscape Navigator 1.0 is first released.
1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling
1997 - A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
1997 - The Treaty of Bangkok is signed, making Southeast Asia a nuclear weapon-free zone.
1999 - After weeks of heavy rain, several landslides occur in Northern Venezuela, killing hundreds of people.
2000 - The Third Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Pant in present-day Ukraine is shut down.
From 2001
2001 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened to the public almost 12 years after it was closed for restoration.
2002 - BBC 7, digital radio station, is launched in UK.
2004 - David Blunkett, Home Secretary in the British Government, resigns over a VISA scandal.
2009 - First flight of a Boeing 787
2010 - A boat carrying about 90 asylum seekers crashes on rocks off Christmas Island, killing around 30 people.
2011 - American troops withdraw from Iraq.
2013 - The funeral and burial of Nelson Mandela take place in his home village of Qunu, Eastern Cape, South Africa. He had died on December 5 at the age of 95 - See Death and state funeral of Nelson Mandela.
2013 - Michelle Bachelet wins Chile's Presidential election. She had previously served as president from 2006 until 2010.
2014 - 2014 Sydney hostage crisis: Iranian refugee and known criminal Man Haron Monis takes several people hostage in a cafe in Sydney, Australia. The siege is ended early the next day in a gun battle in which the attacker and two hostages are killed.
2017 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in theaters in the U.S.A.
Births
Up to 1900
37 - Nero, Roman Emperor (d. 68)
130 - Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor {d.169}
1447 - Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1508)
1567 - Christoph Demantius, German composer (d. 1643)
1588 - Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1658)
1657 - Michel Richard Delalande, French composer and organist (d. 1726)
1686 - Jean-Joseph Fiocco, Flemish composer (d. 1746)
1719 - Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1790)
1760 - David Heinrich Hoppe, German pharmacist, entomologist and physician (d. 1846)
1789 - Carlos Soublette, 11th President of Venezuela (d. 1870)
1796 - Hiram Runnels, Governor of Mississippi (d. 1857)
1810 - Peter Andreas Munch, Norwegian historian (d. 1863)
1832 - Gustave Eiffel, French architect (d. 1923)
1834 - Charles Augustus Young, American astronomer (d. 1908)
1852 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1908)
1853 - Francisco Silvela, Spanish historian and politician (d. 1905)
1859 - L. L. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
1860 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish doctor, won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1904)
1861 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (d. 1944)
1861 - Charles Duryea, American engineer (d. 1938)
1875 - Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and revolutionary (d. 1899)
1878 - Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
1881 - Eugen Bolz, German politician and Resistance activist (d. 1945)
1885 - Leonid Pitamic, Yugoslavian legal philosopher and diplomat (d. 1974)
1888 - Maxwell Anderson, American journalist and playwright (d. 1959)
1890 - Harry Babcock, American pole vaulter (d. 1965)
1892 - J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
1894 - Josef Imbach, Swiss sprinter (d. 1964)
1896 - Betty Smith, American writer (d. 1972)
1899 - Harold Abrahams, British sprinter (d. 1978)
1901 1950
1902 - Robert F. Bradford, 57th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1983)
1903 - Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1938)
1906 - Edmond Debeaumarche, French resistance activist (d. 1959)
1907 - Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect (d. 2012)
1907 - Gordon Douglas, American film director (d. 1993)
1909 - Sattar Bahlulzade, Azerbaijani painter (d. 1974)
1910 - John H. Hammond, American musician and record producer (d. 1987)
1911 - Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
1916 - Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist (d. 2004)
1916 - Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)
1917 - Hilde Zadek, German operatic soprano (d. 2019)
1918 - Jeff Chandler, American actor, film producer and singer (d. 1961)
1919 - Max Yasgur, American farmer, owner of the site of the Woodstock festival (d. 1973)
1920 - Albert Memmi, Tunisian-French writer and essayist
1923 - Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist
1923 - Uziel Gal, German-Israeli firearms designer (d. 2001)
1923 - Inge Keller, German actress (d. 2017)
1923 - Valentin Varennikov, Soviet general and politician (d. 2009)
1928 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
1928 - Ida Haendel, Polish-English violinist
1930 - Edna O'Brien, Irish author
1931 - Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer (d. 2015)
1932 - John Meurig Thomas, Welsh chemist
1933 - Bapu, Indian movie director (d. 2014)
1933 - Tim Conway, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
1933 - Donald Woods, South African journalist and Anti-Apartheid activist (d. 2001)
1934 - Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, President of Somalia (d. 2012)
1934 - Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somali leader (d. 1996)
1934 - Curtis Fuller, American jazz musician
1936 - Joe D'Amato, Italian movie maker (d. 1999)
1938 - Juan Carlos Wasmosy, former President of Paraguay
1938 - Bob Foster, American boxer (d. 2015)
1939 - Cindy Birdsong, American singer
1942 - Kathleen Blanco, American politician, 54th Governor of Louisiana (d. 2019)
1942 - Dave Clark, English drummer, songwriter and producer
1943 - Lorenzo Piretto, Italian archbishop
1944 - Chico Mendes, Brazilian activist (d. 1988)
1946 - Carmine Appice, American rock musician
1948 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)
1949 - Don Johnson, American actor, singer and producer
1950 - Melanie Chartoff, American actress and comedienne
1951 1975
1951 - Joe Jordan, Scottish footballer and manager
1952 - Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer
1952 - Julie Taymor, American director, producer and screenwriter
1953 - Robert Charles Wilson, American-Canadian science fiction author
1954 - Mark Warner, American politician
1955 - Paul Simonon, English musician (The Clash)
1955 - Renate Kunast, German politician
1957 - Laura Molina, American singer, guitarist, actress and painter
1957 - Tim Reynolds, German-American singer-songwriter and musician
1958 - Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (d. 1998)
1958 - Stephan Weil, German politician, Minister-President of Lower Saxony since 2013
1960 - Irma Boom, Dutch graphic designer
1962 - Gary Mason, British boxer (d. 2011)
1963 - Ellie Cornell, American actress and movie producer
1963 - Helen Slater, American actress
1964 - Michael Le Vell, English actor
1964 - Paul Kaye, English comedian, actor and screenwriter
1966 - Carl Hooper, Guyanese cricketer
1966 - Molly Price, American actress
1969 - Chantal Petitclerc, Canadian wheelchair athlete
1970 - Frankie Dettori, Italian jockey
1970 - Lawrence Funderburke, American basketball player
1970 - Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
1971 - Clint Lowery, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1971 - Arne Quinze, Belgian conceptual artist
1972 - Kaye Wragg, English actress
1973 - Ryoo Seung-wan, South Korean director, screenwriter and actor
From 1976
1976 - Bhaichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
1977 - Dave Mackintosh, Scottish musician
1977 - Mehmet Aurelio, Brazilian-Turkish footballer
1978 - Mark Jansen, Dutch guitarist
1979 - Adam Brody, American actor
1980 - Serge Pizzorno, English musician (Kasabian)
1981 - Michelle Dockery, English actress
1981 - Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer
1981 - Hossam Ghaly, Egyptian footballer
1982 - Charlie Cox, English actor
1983 - Wang Hao, Chinese table tennis player
1983 - Delon Armitage, English rugby player
1983 - Ronnie Radke, American singer
1984 - Kirsty Lee Allan, Australian actress
1984 - Martin Skrtel, Slovakian footballer
1986 - Keylor Navas, Costa Rican footballer
1986 - Kim Junsu, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
1986 - Snejana Onopka, Ukrainian model
1988 - Emily Head, English actress
1988 - Steven Nzonzi, French footballer
1992 - Jesse Lingard, English footballer
1992 - Sean Solia, Samoan cricketer
1993 - Kyle Waddell, Scottish curler
1994 - Emma Lockhart, American actress
1998 - Chandler Canterbury, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1950
1025 - Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
1072 - Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan in Persia (b. 1029)
1161 - Emperor Hailingwang of Jin of China
1230 - Ottokar I of Bohemia (b. 1155)
1263 - King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
1598 - Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
1621 - Charles de Luynes, Constable of France (b. 1578)
1673 - Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
1675 - Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
1683 - Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
1715 - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
1753 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
1792 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
1855 - Joseph Charles Francois Sturm, French mathematician (b. 1803)
1878 - Alfred Bird, English chemist and manufacturer (b. 1811)
1885 - Ferdinand II of Portugal (b. 1816)
1890 - Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader (b. c.1831)
1943 - Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
1944 - Glenn Miller, American musician (b. 1904)
1950 - Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian politician (b. 1875)
From 1951
1953 - Robert Stangland, American jumper (b. 1881)
1958 - Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
1962 - Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director and producer (b. 1899)
1966 - Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
1968 - Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)
1968 - Antonio Barrette, 18th Premier of Quebec (b. 1899)
1974 - Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born writer (b. 1902)
1977 - Wilfred Kitching, 7th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1893)
1984 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
1985 - Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian politician (b. 1900)
1989 - Arnold Moss, American character actor (b. 1910)
1991 - Vasily Zaytsev, Soviet World War II hero (b. 1915)
2001 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
2001 - Russ Haas, Pro Wrestler (b. 1974)
2003 - George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
2006 - Clay Regazzoni, Swiss racing driver (b. 1939)
2007 - Julia Carson, American politician (b. 1938)
2008 - Leon Febres Cordero, 46th President of Ecuador (b. 1931)
2009 - Oral Roberts, American television evangelist (b. 1918)
2010 - Blake Edwards, American movie director (b. 1922)
2010 - Bob Feller, American baseball player (b. 1918)
2010 - Jean Rollin, French movie director and producer (b. 1938)
2011 - Christopher Hitchens, British-American writer, journalist and critic (b. 1949)
2013 - Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (b. 1917)
2013 - Harold Camping, American evangelist and Doomsday predictor (b. 1921)
2014 - Chakri, Indian movie composer and singer (b. 1974)
2014 - Mustapha Maarof, Malaysian actor (b. 1935)
2015 - Licio Gelli, Italian financier (b. 1919)
2015 - Harry Zvi Tabor, British-Israeli physicist (b. 1917)
2016 - Craig Sager, American sportscaster (b. 1951)
2017 - A. B. M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1944)
2017 - Reinhart Fuchs, German chess player (b. 1934)
2017 - Ana Maria Vela Rubio, Spanish supercentenarian (b. 1901)
2017 - Heinz Wolff, German-British scientist and broadcaster (b. 1928)
2018 - Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia (b. 1924)
2018 - Philippe Moureaux, Belgian politician (b. 1939)
2019 - Nicky Henson, English actor (b. 1945)
2019 - Chuck Peddle, American electrical engineer (b. 1937)
Observances
Homecoming Day (Alderney)
Kingdom Day (Netherlands)
Zamenhof Day (Esperanto)
Days of the year