December 13

2024 Calendar

December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 18 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

1294 - 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 - The Council of Trent begins.
1577 - Francis Drake sets sail on his global voyage from Plymouth, Southwest England, on the ship The Golden Hind.
1642 - Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
1643 - English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1675 - The Swedish-controlled North German city of Wismar is attacked by Danish troops during the Scanian War.
1758 - English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing over 360 people.
1769 - Dartmouth College is founded in New Hampshire.
1862 - American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union General Ambrose Burnside.
1864 - Paraguay declares war on Brazil.

1901 – 2000

1937 - 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 - Holocaust: Neuengamme Concentration Camp opens.
1939 - World War II: The Battle of River Plate takes place between the German Navy and the British Royal Navy.
1941 - World War II: The Kingdoms of Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
1941 - 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 - World War II: Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
1949 - Israel's parliament, the Knesset, votes to make Jerusalem the capital city of Israel.
1959 - Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
1960 - Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie is removed from power while on a visit abroad, in Brazil.
1962 - NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
1967 - The deposed King Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful coup against the Regime of the Colonels.
1967 - The Pioneer 8 space probe is launched.
1972 - Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan become the last people to-date to have set foot on the Moon.
1974 - Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1977 - 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 - 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 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares Martial Law in Poland.
1982 - The Arabian peninsula is struck by magnitude 6 earthquake, killing around 2,800 people.
1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, killing all 256 people on board.
1989 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out an attack at the Derryard Checkpoint in Northern Ireland, killing 2 British soldiers.
1996 - Kofi Annan is chosen as UN Secretary-General. He succeeds Boutros Boutros-Ghali on January 1, 1997.
2000 - The "Texas Seven" escape from the John B. Connally Unit near Kennedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree.

From 2001

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

Births

Deaths

Up to 1900

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

1901 – 2000

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

From 2001

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

Events

Up to 1900

1901 – 2000

From 2001

Births

Up to 1900

1901 – 1950

1951 – 1975

From 1976

Deaths

Up to 1900

1901 – 2000

From 2001

Holidays