December 31

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 192 &ndash; Narcissus murders Roman Emperor Commodus.
* 406 &ndash; Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning the invasion of Gaul.
* 1225 &ndash; The Ly Dynasty in Vietnam ends after 216 years, as Tran Thai Tong, still a boy, becomes Emperor. This is the beginning of the Tran Dynasty.
* 1472 &ndash; The throwing of snowballs is banned in Amsterdam.
* 1494 &ndash; First Italian War: Troops of King Charles VIII of France enter Rome.
* 1600 &ndash; The British East India Company is created.
* 1660 &ndash; James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
* 1687 &ndash; The first Huguenots set sail from France for the Cape of Good Hope.
* 1695 &ndash; Window tax is introduced in England. As a result, many people brick up their windows in order not to have to pay the tax.
* 1703 &ndash; An earthquake and tsunami damage Tokyo, Odawara and several nearby towns, killing around 10,000 people.
* 1720 &ndash; A storm flood ravages the North German coast, separating a dune on Heligoland from the main island.
* 1775 &ndash; American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
* 1790 &ndash; Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper still in print, is published for the first time.
* 1796 &ndash; Baltimore, Maryland, is incorporated as a city.
* 1857 &ndash; Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as the capital of Canada.
* 1862 &ndash; Abraham Lincoln signs the Act creating the state of West Virginia and thus splitting Virginia in two.
* 1862 &ndash; American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River in Tennessee begins.
* 1862 &ndash; The battleship USS *Monitor* sinks in a storm in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
* 1878 &ndash; In Mannheim, Germany, Karl Benz files a patent on his reliable two-stroke gas engine.
* 1879 &ndash; Thomas Edison publicly demonstrates incandescent light in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
* 1891 &ndash; A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1904 &ndash; What is now Times Square, New York, holds its first New Year celebration.
* 1909 &ndash; The Manhattan Bridge is opened.
* 1917 &ndash; British troop transporter *Osmanieh* hits a mine laid by German U-boat *UC 34* off Alexandria, Egypt, sinking with 99 deaths.
* 1923 &ndash; The BBC broadcasts the chimes of Big Ben in London for the first time.
* 1929 &ndash; The Glen Cinema Disaster in Paisley, Scotland, kills 70 children.
* 1944 &ndash; World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
* 1946 &ndash; President of the United States Harry S. Truman officially declares an end to hostilities in World War II.
* 1948 &ndash; The 100,000th landing of the Berlin Airlift occurs.
* 1951 &ndash; The Marshall Plan expires after giving over $ 13.3 billion to help war-torn parts of Europe.
* 1955 &ndash; General Motors becomes the first US Corporation to make over a billion US Dollars in a year.
* 1960 &ndash; The farthing coin stops being the legal tender in the United Kingdom.
* 1963 &ndash; The Central African Federation officially breaks apart, and eventually becomes Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
* 1964 &ndash; A three-day census in East Germany ends, determining the population to be 17,003,632.
* 1965 &ndash; Jean-Bedel Bokassa leads a coup against David Dacko in the Central African Republic.
* 1968 &ndash; Marien Ngouabi becomes President of the Republic of the Congo.
* 1973 &ndash; AC/DC is formed.
* 1981 &ndash; In a military coup in Ghana, Jerry Rawlings takes control.
* 1983 &ndash; A military coup in Nigeria is led by Muhammadu Buhari.
* 1986 &ndash; In San Juan, Puerto Rico a fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel kills 97 people.
* 1987 &ndash; Robert Mugabe becomes President of Zimbabwe.
* 1988 &ndash; Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux becomes the only NHL player, to this date, to score goals in five different ways – even strength, shorthand, power play, penalty shot and empty net, in an 8–6 win over the New Jersey Devils.
* 1989 &ndash; Arved Fuchs and Reinhold Messner reach the South Pole on their cross–Antarctica journey.
* 1990 &ndash; Garry Kasparov successfully defends his world chess title against Anatoly Karpov.
* 1991 &ndash; The Soviet Union officially comes to an end.
* 1992 &ndash; Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolves, splitting into the Czech Republic and Slovakia the next day.
* 1994 &ndash; This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati, as the International Date Line is shifted to the east of the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands.
* 1999 &ndash; Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia.
* 1999 &ndash; The Panama Canal is transferred from US control to Panama's control.

### From 2001 
* 2004 &ndash; The Taipei 101 tower is opened in Taipei, Taiwan.
* 2006 &ndash; The total of US troops killed in the Iraq War reaches 3,000.
* 2009 &ndash; In Espoo, Finland, Ibrahim Shkupolli shoots his former girlfriend dead, then shoots four people to death at a shopping mall before committing suicide.
* 2009 &ndash; The Ignalina power station in Lithuania is shut down.
* 2014 &ndash; The first same-sex marriages in Scotland take place.
* 2014 &ndash; US and UK forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
* 2014 &ndash; Beji Caid Essebsi becomes President of Tunisia.
* 2014 &ndash; A crush at a New Year celebration in Shanghai kills 36 people.
* 2015 &ndash; Fire breaks out at a hotel near the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
* 2016 &ndash; Bomb attacks in Baghdad kill at least 28 people.
* 2017 &ndash; A bus crash near Migaa, Kenya, kills at least 36 people.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 695 &ndash; Muhammad bin Qasim al-Thaqafi, founded Islam in South Asia (d. 715)
* 1378 &ndash; Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
* 1491 &ndash; Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
* 1499 &ndash; Diane de Poitiers (d. 1566)
* 1514 &ndash; Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (d. 1564)
* 1572 &ndash; Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan (d. 1617)
* 1585 &ndash; Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, Spanish military leader and politician (d. 1645)
* 1668 &ndash; Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)
* 1720 &ndash; Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)
* 1738 &ndash; Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)
* 1741 &ndash; Isabella Maria of Parma (d. 1763)
* 1798 &ndash; Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian physician, philologist and academic (d. 1850)
* 1815 &ndash; George G. Meade, American general and engineer (d. 1872)
* 1830 &ndash; Isma'il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (d. 1895)
* 1830 &ndash; Alexander Smith, Scottish poet (d. 1861)
* 1838 &ndash; Emile Loubet, President of France (d. 1929)
* 1842 &ndash; Giovanni Boldini, Italian painter (d. 1931)
* 1844 &ndash; Ebe W. Tunnell, Governor of Delaware (d. 1917)
* 1846 &ndash; Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, Dutch politician (d. 1919)
* 1855 &ndash; Giovanni Pascoli, Italian poet (d. 1912)
* 1857 &ndash; King Kelly, American baseball player (d. 1894)
* 1860 &ndash; Berthold Lasker, German chess player (d. 1928)
* 1863 &ndash; Alfredo Panzini, Italian writer (d. 1939)
* 1864 &ndash; Hans am Ende, German painter (d. 1918)
* 1864 &ndash; Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer (d. 1951)
* 1869 &ndash; Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)
* 1874 &ndash; Julius Meier, German-American politician, 20th Governor of Oregon (d. 1937)
* 1877 &ndash; Viktor Dyk, Czech poet, dramatist and politician (d. 1931)
* 1878 &ndash; Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)
* 1878 &ndash; Horacio Quiroga, Argentine-Uruguayan writer (d. 1937)
* 1880 &ndash; George Marshall, 50th United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
* 1880 &ndash; Fred Beebe, American baseball player (d. 1957)
* 1881 &ndash; Max Pechstein, German painter (d. 1955)
* 1884 &ndash; Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (d. 1964)
* 1885 &ndash; Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)
* 1899 &ndash; Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican composer (d. 1940)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)
* 1903 &ndash; Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian–born violinist (d. 1992)
* 1904 &ndash; Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (d. 1975)
* 1905 &ndash; Jules Styne, American songwriter (d. 1994)
* 1905 &ndash; Guido Mollet, Prime Minister of France (d. 1975)
* 1908 &ndash; Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005)
* 1909 &ndash; Jonah Jones, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2000)
* 1910 &ndash; Archie M. Gubbrud, Governor of South Dakota (d. 1987)
* 1914 &ndash; Yrjö Nikkanen, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1985)
* 1918 &ndash; Ray Graves, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
* 1919 &ndash; Recy Taylor, American rape victim and civil rights activist (d. 2017)
* 1924 &ndash; Kjell Arnljot Wig, Norwegian media personality (d. 2015)
* 1924 &ndash; Taylor Mead, American actor (d. 2013)
* 1928 &ndash; Hugh McElhenny, American football player
* 1928 &ndash; Amarillo Slim, American professional poker player (d. 2012)
* 1928 &ndash; Veijo Meri, Finnish writer (d. 2015)
* 1928 &ndash; Siné, French cartoonist (d. 2016)
* 1929 &ndash; Mies Bouwman, Dutch entertainer (d. 2018)
* 1930 &ndash; Odetta, American singer (d. 2008)
* 1931 &ndash; George Ardisson, Italian actor (d. 2014)
* 1931 &ndash; Tom Rolf, Swedish-American film editor (d. 2014)
* 1931 &ndash; Mildred Scheel, German physician, cancer campaigner and First Lady (d. 1985)
* 1934 &ndash; Michael Bonallack, English golfer
* 1935 &ndash; Peter Herbolzheimer, German musician (d. 2010)
* 1935 &ndash; King Salman of Saudi Arabia
* 1936 &ndash; Siw Malmkvist, Swedish singer
* 1936 &ndash; Umaru Dikko, Nigerian politician (d. 2014)
* 1937 &ndash; Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist
* 1937 &ndash; Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
* 1937 &ndash; Carl Emil Christiansen, Danish footballer (d. 2018)
* 1938 &ndash; Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)
* 1938 &ndash; Marien Ngouabi, Congolese politician (d. 1977)
* 1939 &ndash; Peter Camejo, American politician (d. 2008)
* 1940 &ndash; Tim Considine, American actor
* 1941 &ndash; Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager
* 1941 &ndash; Sean S. Cunningham, American movie director and writer
* 1941 &ndash; Sarah Miles, English actress
* 1942 &ndash; Taufiq Kiemas, First Gentleman of Indonesia (d. 2013)
* 1942 &ndash; Andy Summers, British guitarist
* 1943 &ndash; Ben Kingsley, British actor
* 1943 &ndash; John Denver, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
* 1943 &ndash; Pete Quaife, British musician (d. 2010)
* 1944 &ndash; Neil Ross, American voice actor
* 1944 &ndash; Taylor Hackford, American director and producer
* 1945 &ndash; Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-American fashion designer
* 1946 &ndash; Lyudmila Pakhamova, Soviet ice dancer (d. 1986)
* 1946 &ndash; Boris Dubin, Russian sociologist and translator (d. 2014)
* 1947 &ndash; Burton Cummings, Canadian keyboardist
* 1947 &ndash; Tim Matheson, American actor
* 1948 &ndash; Donna Summer, American disco singer (d. 2012)
* 1948 &ndash; Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer (d. 2014)
* 1948 &ndash; Joe Dallesandro, American actor
* 1948 &ndash; Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Tom Hamilton, American bassist (Aerosmith)
* 1954 &ndash; Alex Salmond, Scottish politician, 4th First Minister of Scotland
* 1954 &ndash; Hermann Tilke, German racing circuit designer
* 1954 &ndash; Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Icelandic politician
* 1956 &ndash; Robert Goodwill, English politician
* 1958 &ndash; Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
* 1959 &ndash; Baron Waqa, Nauruan musician and politician, President of Nauru
* 1959 &ndash; Val Kilmer, American actor (d. 2025)
* 1959 &ndash; Paul Westerberg, American musician
* 1960 &ndash; Steve Bruce, English footballer
* 1960 &ndash; John Allen Muhammad, American spree killer (d. 2009)
* 1961 &ndash; Rick Aguilera, American baseball player
* 1961 &ndash; Jeremy Heywood, English economist and civil servant
* 1963 &ndash; Scott Ian, American guitarist
* 1964 &ndash; Michael McDonald, American actor and comedian
* 1965 &ndash; Gong Li, Chinese actress
* 1965 &ndash; Nicholas Sparks, American writer
* 1966 &ndash; Lisa Joyner, American journalist and actress
* 1970 &ndash; Bryon Russell, American basketball player
* 1972 &ndash; Grégory Coupet, French footballer
* 1974 &ndash; Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Matthew Hoggard, English cricketer
* 1977 &ndash; Psy, South Korean rapper
* 1977 &ndash; Donald Trump Jr., son of Donald Trump
* 1979 &ndash; Bob Bryar, drummer in My Chemical Romance
* 1980 &ndash; Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
* 1980 &ndash; Fumie Suguri, Japanese figure skater
* 1981 &ndash; Margaret Simpson, Ghanaian athlete
* 1981 &ndash; Nathan Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1982 &ndash; Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Corey Crawford, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
* 1984 &ndash; Calvin Zola, Congolese footballer
* 1986 &ndash; Bronson Pelletier, Canadian actor
* 1987 &ndash; Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player
* 1987 &ndash; Emilie Le Pennec, French gymnast
* 1990 &ndash; Patrick Chan, Canadian figure skater
* 1991 &ndash; Camila Giorgi, Italian tennis player
* 1995 &ndash; Gabrielle Douglas, American gymnast

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 192 &ndash; Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)
* 335 &ndash; Saint Silvester, Pope and Saint whose day is marked on December 31
* 669 &ndash; Li Shiji, Chinese chancellor (b. 594)
* 1164 &ndash; Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
* 1194 &ndash; Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
* 1302 &ndash; Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
* 1384 &ndash; John Wyclif, English theologian (b. 1328)
* 1460 &ndash; Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (b. 1400)
* 1510 &ndash; Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)
* 1568 &ndash; Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese daimyo (b. 1493)
* 1650 &ndash; Dorgon, Emperor of China (b. 1612)
* 1679 &ndash; Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
* 1705 &ndash; Catherine of Braganza (b. 1638)
* 1719 &ndash; John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)
* 1742 &ndash; Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
* 1830 &ndash; Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de Genlis, French writer (b. 1746)
* 1857 &ndash; Edward Williams Clay, American artist (b. 1799)
* 1865 &ndash; Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer (b. 1801)
* 1872 &ndash; Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer (b. 1834)
* 1876 &ndash; Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (b. 1806)
* 1877 &ndash; Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
* 1882 &ndash; Léon Gambetta, French politician (b. 1838)
* 1888 &ndash; Samson Raphael Hirsch, rabbi (b. 1808)
* 1894 &ndash; Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (b. 1856)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1905 &ndash; Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)
* 1936 &ndash; Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer, philosopher (b. 1864)
* 1948 &ndash; Malcolm Campbell, English Grand Prix race car driver (b. 1885)
* 1950 &ndash; Karl Renner, President of Austria (b. 1870)
* 1964 &ndash; Olafur Thors, five-time Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
* 1964 &ndash; Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (b. 1884)
* 1969 &ndash; George Lewis, jazz musician (b. 1900)
* 1972 &ndash; Roberto Clemente, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1934)
* 1972 &ndash; Henry Gerber, German-American activist (b. 1892)
* 1977 &ndash; Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1924)
* 1980 &ndash; Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)
* 1980 &ndash; Raoul Walsh, movie director (b. 1887)
* 1985 &ndash; Ricky Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)
* 1989 &ndash; Gerhard Schröder, German politician (b. 1910)
* 1990 &ndash; Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)
* 1993 &ndash; Zviad Gamsakhurdia, scientist and writer, first President of the Republic of Georgia (b. 1939)
* 1993 &ndash; Brandon Teena, American murder victim (b. 1972)
* 1994 &ndash; Bruno Pezzey, Austrian footballer (b. 1955)
* 1997 &ndash; Floyd Cramer, musician (b. 1933)
* 1997 &ndash; Michael Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado (b. 1958).
* 1999 &ndash; Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)
* 2000 &ndash; Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)
* 2000 &ndash; José Greco, Spanish Flamenco dancer (b. 1918)

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born American scientist and professor at MIT (b. 1898)
* 2004 &ndash; Gérard Debreu, French economist (b. 1921)
* 2006 &ndash; Liese Prokop, Austrian politician (b. 1941)
* 2007 &ndash; Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect (b. 1917)
* 2008 &ndash; Donald E. Westlake, American writer (b. 1933)
* 2009 &ndash; Rashidi Kawawa, former Prime Minister of Tanzania (b. 1926)
* 2009 &ndash; Cahal Daly, Irish cardinal and archbishop (b. 1917)
* 2010 &ndash; Syd Ward, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1907)
* 2013 &ndash; John Fortune, English comedian (b. 1939)
* 2013 &ndash; Johnny Orr, American basketball player and coach (b. 1927)
* 2013 &ndash; James Avery, American actor (b. 1945)
* 2014 &ndash; Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, English aristocrat and army officer (b. 1915)
* 2014 &ndash; Edward Herrmann, American actor (b. 1943)
* 2015 &ndash; Marvin Panch, American racing driver (b. 1926)
* 2015 &ndash; Dal Richards, Canadian big band leader (b. 1918)
* 2015 &ndash; Wayne Rogers, American actor (b. 1933)
* 2015 &ndash; Natalie Cole, American singer (b. 1950)
* 2015 &ndash; Beth Howland, American actress (b. 1941)
* 2016 &ndash; William Christopher, American actor (b. 1932)
* 2016 &ndash; Prince Dimitri Romanov, Russian prince (b. 1926)
* 2016 &ndash; Henning Christophersen, Danish politician (b. 1939)
* 2017 &ndash; Prince François, Count of Clermont, French nobleman, self-styled Dauphin of France (b. 1961)
* 2021 &ndash; Betty White, American actress and comedian (b. 1922)

## Holidays 
* New Year's Eve, including Hogmanay (Scotland) and Calennig (Wales)
* St. Sylvester's Day
* Ōmisoka (Japan)