On this day: December 15

Events on December 15

• 533 Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum. Wikipedia
• 1025 Constantine VIII became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor. Wikipedia
• 1025 Constantine VIII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor. Wikipedia
• 1256 Mongol forces under Hulagu enter and dismantle the Nizari Ismaili (Assassin) stronghold at Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran) as part of their offensive on Islamic southwest Asia. Wikipedia
• 1546 The town of Ekenäs (Finnish: Tammisaari) is founded by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg ends in a Union defeat as General Ambrose Burnside withdraws the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Union troops defeated the Army of Tennessee, one of the largest Confederate forces, at the Battle of Nashville. Wikipedia
• 1869 The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan. Wikipedia
• 1890 Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, was killed on Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by U.S. Indian agency police. Wikipedia
• 1905 The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army. Wikipedia
• 1939 The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1939 Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust in Ukraine: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: Australian and American forces began the Battle of Arawe against Japanese forces on New Britain as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester. Wikipedia
• 1960 Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate U.S. President-Elect John F. Kennedy. Wikipedia
• 1965 Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7. Wikipedia
• 1970 Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet. Wikipedia
• 1973 John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10. Wikipedia
• 1973 The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Wikipedia
• 1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). Wikipedia
• 1981 A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing. Wikipedia
• 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights relating the abolition of capital punishment is adopted. Wikipedia
• 2017 A 6.5Mwearthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Java in the city of Tasikmalaya, resulting in four deaths. Wikipedia
• 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act protests: 10 to 15 local women blockaded a major road in Delhi, India, to protest the exclusion of Muslims from the amended Citizenship Act. Wikipedia

Born on December 15

• 37 Nero, Roman emperor (died 68) Wikipedia
• 130 Lucius Verus, Roman emperor (died 169) Wikipedia
• 1832 Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1852 Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908) Wikipedia
• 1859 L. L. Zamenhof, Polish linguist and ophthalmologist, created Esperanto (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1860 Niels Ryberg Finsen, Faroese-Danish physician and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1861 Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd President of Finland (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1886 Florence Jepperson Madsen, American contralto singer and professor of music (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1892 J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman and art collector, founded Getty Oil (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1907 Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and the Cathedral of Brasília (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1916 Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-English physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1919 Max Yasgur, American dairy farmer and host of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1923 Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist and mathematician (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1923 Uziel Gal, German-Israeli engineer, designed the Uzi gun (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1928 Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian-New Zealand painter and architect (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1933 Tim Conway, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1946 Comunardo Niccolai, Italian footballer (Torres, Cagliari, national team) (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1949 Don Johnson, American actor Wikipedia
• 1981 Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Martin Škrtel, Slovak footballer Wikipedia
• 1986 Keylor Navas, Costa Rican footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Jesse Lingard, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on December 15

• 1025 Basil II, Byzantine emperor (born 958) Wikipedia
• 1072 Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (born 1029) Wikipedia
• 1574 Selim II, Ottoman sultan (born 1524) Wikipedia
• 1675 Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter and educator (born 1632) Wikipedia
• 1817 Federigo Zuccari, astronomer, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples (born 1783) Wikipedia
• 1890 Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (born 1831) Wikipedia
• 1950 Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of India (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1958 Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1962 Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director, and producer (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1966 Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 2011 Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2013 Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2018 Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2025 William J. Bauer, senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, (born 1926) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Bill of Rights Day (United States) 2nd Amendment Day (South Carolina) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Drina Martyrs Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Horden and Robert McDonald (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria Crocifissa di Rosa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mesmin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Valerian of Abbenza Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Virginia Centurione Bracelli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Homecoming Day (Alderney) Wikipedia
• Kingdom Day (Netherlands), moves to December 16 if the 15th is on a Sunday Wikipedia
• Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community) Wikipedia
• World Turkic Language Family Day (UNESCO) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 15” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.