December 13

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 1294 &ndash; Pope Celestine V resigns from the papacy after only five months. He was the last pope to resign voluntarily until Pope Benedict XVI did so in 2013.
* 1545 &ndash; The Council of Trent begins.
* 1577 &ndash; Francis Drake sets sail on his global voyage from Plymouth, Southwest England, on the ship *The Golden Hind*.
* 1642 &ndash; Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
* 1643 &ndash; English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
* 1675 &ndash; The Swedish–controlled North German city of Wismar is attacked by Danish troops during the Scanian War.
* 1758 &ndash; English transport ship *Duke William* sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing over 360 people.
* 1769 &ndash; Dartmouth College is founded in New Hampshire.
* 1862 &ndash; American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union General Ambrose Burnside.
* 1864 &ndash; Paraguay declares war on Brazil.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1937 &ndash; Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking – Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre committed by Japanese forces against local civilians.
* 1939 &ndash; Holocaust: Neuengamme Concentration Camp opens.
* 1939 &ndash; World War II: The Battle of River Plate takes place between the German Navy and the British Royal Navy.
* 1941 &ndash; World War II: The Kingdoms of Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
* 1941 &ndash; A glacier breaks apart at Palcacocha Lake in the Peruvian Andes, resulting in a mud avalanche that kills around 6,000 people in the city of Huaraz.
* 1943 &ndash; World War II: Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
* 1949 &ndash; Israel's parliament, the Knesset, votes to make Jerusalem the capital city of Israel.
* 1959 &ndash; Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
* 1960 &ndash; Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie is removed from power while on a visit abroad, in Brazil.
* 1962 &ndash; NASA launches *Relay 1*, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
* 1967 &ndash; The deposed King Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful coup against the Regime of the Colonels.
* 1967 &ndash; The Pioneer 8 space probe is launched.
* 1972 &ndash; Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan become the last people to–date to have set foot on the Moon.
* 1974 &ndash; Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
* 1977 &ndash; A DC–3 aircraft chartered from Indianapolis–based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport in Indiana, killing 29 people, including the entire University of Evansville basketball team.
* 1979 &ndash; Joe Clark's Canadian government is defeated in a vote of confidence. A new election in early 1980 brings Pierre Trudeau back as Prime Minister of Canada, less than a year after being voted out of the post.
* 1981 &ndash; General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares Martial Law in Poland.
* 1982 &ndash; The Arabian peninsula is struck by magnitude 6 earthquake, killing around 2,800 people.
* 1985 &ndash; Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, killing all 256 people on board.
* 1989 &ndash; The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out an attack at the Derryard Checkpoint in Northern Ireland, killing 2 British soldiers.
* 1996 &ndash; Kofi Annan is chosen as UN Secretary–General. He succeeds Boutros Boutros-Ghali on January 1, 1997.
* 2000 &ndash; The "Texas Seven" escape from the John B. Connally Unit near Kennedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree.

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; The Indian parliament building in New Delhi is attacked by terrorists.
* 2002 &ndash; The EU announces that ten new member states are to join on May 1, 2004.
* 2003 &ndash; Saddam Hussein is captured by United States–led forces near his home town of Tikrit.
* 2006 &ndash; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is adopted.
* 2007 &ndash; Treaty of Lisbon is adopted.
* 2011 &ndash; Gunman Nordine Amrani shoots six people dead at a Christmas market in Liege, Belgium, before killing himself.
* 2014 &ndash; A landslide in Java, Indonesia, kills at least 18 people and leaves 90 missing.
* 2016 &ndash; Syrian civil war: Government forces take control of the city of Aleppo.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 1272 &ndash; Frederick III of Sicily (d. 1337)
* 1521 &ndash; Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
* 1533 &ndash; King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)
* 1553 &ndash; King Henry IV of France (d. 1610) 
* 1560 &ndash; Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, French statesman (d. 1641)
* 1640 &ndash; Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (d. 1696)
* 1662 &ndash; Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
* 1678 &ndash; Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
* 1684 &ndash; Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian, philosopher and author (d. 1754)
* 1720 &ndash; Carlo Gozzi, Italian dramatist (d. 1804)
* 1780 &ndash; Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist (d. 1849)
* 1784 &ndash; Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
* 1790 &ndash; Giuseppe Marco Fieschi, conspirator against Louis Philippe I of France (d. 1836)
* 1797 &ndash; Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
* 1804 &ndash; Joseph Howe, 5th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1873)
* 1816 &ndash; Ernst Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor and industrialist (d. 1892)
* 1818 &ndash; Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
* 1836 &ndash; Franz von Lenbach, German painter (d. 1904)
* 1846 &ndash; Henri-Paul Motte, French painter (d. 1922)
* 1854 &ndash; Herman Bavinck, Dutch theologian and churchman (d. 1921)
* 1860 &ndash; Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
* 1864 &ndash; Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
* 1867 &ndash; Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (d. 1917)
* 1870 &ndash; Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1914)
* 1871 &ndash; Emily Carr, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
* 1874 &ndash; Josef Lhevinne, Russian pianist and professor (d. 1944)
* 1883 &ndash; Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist (d. 1950)
* 1887 &ndash; Alvin York, American soldier (d. 1964)
* 1894 &ndash; Fernando de Fuentes, Mexican movie director (d. 1958)
* 1897 &ndash; Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect (d. 1961)
* 1900 &ndash; Jonel Perlea, Romanian conductor (d. 1970)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1902 &ndash; Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1986)
* 1902 &ndash; Talcott Parsons, American sociologist (d. 1979)
* 1903 &ndash; Ella Baker, American Civil Rights activist (d. 1986)
* 1903 &ndash; Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
* 1906 &ndash; Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
* 1906 &ndash; Laurens van der Post, South African writer (d. 1996)
* 1911 &ndash; Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist (d. 1999)
* 1913 &ndash; Arnold Brown, 11th General of the Salvation Army (d. 2002)
* 1913 &ndash; Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
* 1915 &ndash; B. J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1983)
* 1915 &ndash; Curd Jürgens, German–Austrian actor (d. 1982)
* 1916 &ndash; Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
* 1918 &ndash; Kim Won-kwon, Korean athlete
* 1918 &ndash; Rosalia Lombardo, Italian pneumonia victim (d. 1920)
* 1920 &ndash; George Shultz, 60th United States Secretary of State
* 1923 &ndash; Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist
* 1923 &ndash; Antoni Tapies, Catalan artist (d. 2012)
* 1923 &ndash; Edward Clancy, Australian cardinal (d. 2014)
* 1923 &ndash; Frankie Fraser, English gangster (d. 2014)
* 1924 &ndash; Maria Riva, American actress
* 1925 &ndash; Dick Van Dyke, American actor
* 1926 &ndash; George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
* 1927 &ndash; Geneviève Page, French actress
* 1928 &ndash; Nati Mistral, Spanish actress (d. 2017)
* 1928 &ndash; Jack Tramiel, Polish–born American businessman (d. 2012)
* 1929 &ndash; Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
* 1933 &ndash; Doug Mohns, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
* 1934 &ndash; Richard D. Zanuck, American movie producer (d. 2012)
* 1936 &ndash; Shah Karim al-Husseini, Agha Khan IV
* 1937 &ndash; Robert Gernhardt, German poet (d. 2006)
* 1938 &ndash; Heino, German folk singer
* 1941 &ndash; John Davidson, American actor and game show host
* 1942 &ndash; Howard Brenton, English playwright and screenwriter
* 1942 &ndash; Arne Treholt, Norwegian politician
* 1942 &ndash; Anna Eshoo, American politician
* 1942 &ndash; Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
* 1943 &ndash; Nikhil Baran Sengupta, Indian art director, producer and designer (d. 2014)
* 1945 &ndash; Herman Cain, American businessman and politician
* 1946 &ndash; Pierino Prati, Italian footballer
* 1947 &ndash; Luis Angelo Gonzalez Macchi, former President of Paraguay
* 1948 &ndash; Ted Nugent, American musician
* 1948 &ndash; Lillian Board, British athlete (d. 1970)
* 1949 &ndash; Robert Lindsay, British actor
* 1949 &ndash; Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (d. 2014)
* 1950 &ndash; Tom Vilsack, 40th Governor of Iowa

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1952 &ndash; Sylvester Ritter, American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
* 1953 &ndash; Ben Bernanke, American economist
* 1953 &ndash; Thomas Kurzhals, German keyboardist and songwriter (d. 2014)
* 1953 &ndash; Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1956 &ndash; Majida El Roumi, Lebanese soprano
* 1956 &ndash; Phil Hubbard, American basketball player
* 1957 &ndash; Steve Buscemi, American actor
* 1958 &ndash; Lynn-Holly Johnson, American figure skater
* 1959 &ndash; Johnny Whitaker, American actor and singer
* 1960 &ndash; José Eduardo Agualusa, Angolan writer
* 1961 &ndash; Harry Gregson-Williams, British movie score composer, music producer and conductor
* 1961 &ndash; Toru Yoshikawa, Japanese footballer
* 1962 &ndash; Roger Ilegems, Belgian cyclist
* 1964 &ndash; Hide, Japanese musician (d. 1998)
* 1964 &ndash; Dieter Eilts, German footballer
* 1966 &ndash; Craig Brewster, Scottish footballer
* 1967 &ndash; Jamie Foxx, American actor and singer
* 1967 &ndash; Noel Fitzpatrick, Irish veterinarian
* 1969 &ndash; Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player
* 1970 &ndash; Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Austrian mountaineer
* 1971 &ndash; Leanne Wood, Welsh politician, leader of Plaid Cymru
* 1971 &ndash; Gloria Casarez, American activist (d. 2014)
* 1973 &ndash; Christie Clark, American actress
* 1974 &ndash; Sara Cox, English television and radio presenter
* 1974 &ndash; Nicholas McCarthy, British musician for Franz Ferdinand
* 1975 &ndash; Tom DeLonge, American musician

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Radoslaw Sobolewski, Polish footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Sascha Kindred, German–born British Paralympic swimmer
* 1977 &ndash; Lauri Porra, Finnish musician
* 1977 &ndash; Peter Stringer, Irish rugby player
* 1978 &ndash; Kaspars Kambala, Latvian basketball player
* 1978 &ndash; Olav Bjortomt, British quiz player, crossword compiler
* 1980 &ndash; Satoshi Tsumabuki, Japanese actor
* 1980 &ndash; Agnieszka Wlodarczyk, Polish actress
* 1981 &ndash; Amy Lee, American singer-songwriter
* 1981 &ndash; Liam Lawrence, Irish footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Michal Kadlec, Czech footballer
* 1985 &ndash; Michael Bumpus, American football player
* 1987 &ndash; James Holmes, American mass shooter
* 1988 &ndash; Rickie Fowler, American golfer
* 1989 &ndash; Taylor Swift, American country singer
* 1989 &ndash; Dasha Kapustina, Russian model
* 1989 &ndash; Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author
* 1991 &ndash; Sénah Mongo, Togolese footballer
* 1995 &ndash; Marvin Friedrich, German footballer
* 1995 &ndash; Lin Yu-ting, Taiwanese boxer

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 558 &ndash; Childebert I, King of Paris (b. 496)
* 838 &ndash; Pepin I of Aquitaine (b. 797)
* 1048 &ndash; Abu Rahman al-Biruni, Persian scholar and polymath (b. 973)
* 1124 &ndash; Pope Callixtus II (b. 1065)
* 1126 &ndash; Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1075)
* 1204 &ndash; Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
* 1250 &ndash; Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
* 1404 &ndash; Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1336)
* 1466 &ndash; Donatello, Florentine painter and sculptor (b. 1386)
* 1516 &ndash; Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer and historian (b. 1462)
* 1521 &ndash; King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
* 1557 &ndash; Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician and engineer (b. 1500)
* 1565 &ndash; Conrad Gessner, Swiss botanist and physician (b. 1516)
* 1621 &ndash; Catherine Stenbock, Queen Consort of Sweden (b. 1535)
* 1721 &ndash; Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway, inspiration for Robinson Crusoe (b. 1676)
* 1729 &ndash; Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)
* 1754 &ndash; Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
* 1769 &ndash; Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
* 1783 &ndash; Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)
* 1784 &ndash; Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)
* 1837 &ndash; Herman of Alaska, Russian missionary and saint (b. 756)
* 1863 &ndash; Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (b. 1813)
* 1868 &ndash; Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (b. 1794)
* 1883 &ndash; Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1917 &ndash; Ebe W. Tunnell, Governor of Delaware (b. 1844)
* 1922 &ndash; Hannes Hafstein, 1st Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1861)
* 1924 &ndash; Samuel Gompers, English–American labor leader (b. 1850)
* 1930 &ndash; Fritz Pregl, Slovenian–Austrian chemist (b. 1869)
* 1931 &ndash; Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1841)
* 1932 &ndash; Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
* 1934 &ndash; Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1854)
* 1935 &ndash; Victor Grignard, French chemist (b. 1871)
* 1942 &ndash; Wlodimir Ledochowski, Austrian–Polish religious leader (b. 1866)
* 1944 &ndash; Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter (b. 1866)
* 1944 &ndash; Lupe Velez, Mexican actress (b. 1908)
* 1954 &ndash; John Raymond Hubbell, American director and composer (b. 1879)
* 1955 &ndash; Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon (b. 1874)
* 1961 &ndash; Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
* 1962 &ndash; Harry Barris, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
* 1969 &ndash; Spencer Williams, American actor and director (b. 1893)
* 1972 &ndash; Gustav Schwarzenegger, Austrian police chief and inspector (b. 1907)
* 1973 &ndash; Giuseppe Beltrami, Italian cardinal and Vatican City diplomat (b. 1889)
* 1974 &ndash; Betty Van Patter, member of the Black Panther Party, murdered.
* 1981 &ndash; Pigmeat Markham, American actor, singer and dancer (b. 1904)
* 1986 &ndash; Heather Angel, English actress (b. 1969)
* 1986 &ndash; Ella Baker, American Civil Rights activist (b. 1903)
* 1992 &ndash; Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (b. 1899)
* 1994 &ndash; Antoine Pinay, Prime Minister of France (b. 1891)

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; Chuck Schuldiner, singer/guitarist of Death
* 2002 &ndash; Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
* 2003 &ndash; William V. Roth, Jr., American politician (b. 1921)
* 2006 &ndash; Lamar Hunt, American businessman (b. 1932)
* 2008 &ndash; Kathy Staff, English actress (b. 1928)
* 2008 &ndash; Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923)
* 2009 &ndash; Paul Samuelson, American economist (b. 1918)
* 2010 &ndash; Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)
* 2011 &ndash; Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, German footballer (b. 1942)
* 2012 &ndash; Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer (b. 1919)
* 2014 &ndash; Ernst Albrecht, German politician, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (b. 1930)
* 2014 &ndash; Andreas Schockenhoff, German politician (b. 1957)
* 2014 &ndash; Bill Bonds, American news presenter (b. 1932)
* 2014 &ndash; Joan Barril, Spanish writer and journalist (b. 1952)
* 2015 &ndash; Benedict Anderson, American academic and writer (b. 1936)
* 2015 &ndash; John Bannon, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1943)
* 2016 &ndash; Thomas Schelling, American economist (b. 1921)
* 2016 &ndash; Alan Thicke, Canadian actor (b. 1947)
* 2017 &ndash; Warrel Dane, American heavy metal singer–songwriter (b. 1961)
* 2017 &ndash; Simon Dickie, New Zealand rower (b. 1951)
* 2017 &ndash; Bruce Gray, Puerto Rican–Canadian actor (b. 1936)
* 2017 &ndash; Bill Hudson, American football player (b. 1935)
* 2017 &ndash; Dan Johnson, American politician (b. 1960)
* 2017 &ndash; Frank Lary, American baseball player (b. 1930)
* 2017 &ndash; Gerald O'Brien, New Zealand politician (b. 1924)
* 2021 &ndash; Tank, dog of Tristan Corso

## Holidays
*Saint Lucy's Day, celebrated in some European countries, mainly in Sweden
*National Day of Saint Lucia
*Republic Day (Malta)
*Acadian Remembrance Day