On this day: December 15

Events on December 15

• 533 Byzantines led by Belisarius defeated the Vandal King Gelimer at the Battle of Tricamarum, completing the "Reconquest of North Africa" under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Wikipedia
• 687 Sergius was elected pope, ending the last disputed period of sede vacante during the Byzantine Papacy. Wikipedia
• 1025 Constantine VIII became the sole Byzantine emperor, 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
• 1778 American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of St. Lucia, the Royal Navy prevented French Navy ships from reaching their garrison on Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Wikipedia
• 1791 The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified. Wikipedia
• 1796 War of the First Coalition: The French navy launched an expedition to Ireland to assist the Society of United Irishmen in a rebellion against the British. 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
• 1871 Sixteen-year-old Ella Stewart sent the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory. 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
• 1893 Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World" a.k.a. the "New World Symphony") by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16. Wikipedia
• 1906 The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, a 14.17-kilometre (8.80 mi) long deep-level underground tube railway connecting Hammersmith and Finsbury Park, London, opened. 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
• 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
• 1945 The US-led occupying forces ordered the government of Japan to cease state support for Shinto. Wikipedia
• 1946 U.S.-backed Iranian troops brought an end to the Iran crisis when they marched on the breakaway Republic of Mahabad and recaptured the territory. Wikipedia
• 1961 Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death after being found guilty on fifteen criminal charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. 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 The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet. Wikipedia
• 1981 The Iraqi Shia Islamist group al-Dawa carried out one of the first modern suicide bombings, targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in 61 deaths and at least 100 injuries. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean. Wikipedia
• 2005 Introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor into USAF active service. Wikipedia
• 2013 The South Sudanese Civil War began when three opposition leaders voted to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council in Juba. 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
• 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
• 1923 Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist and mathematician (died 2020) 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
• 1949 Don Johnson, American actor Wikipedia
• 1952 Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1972 Lee Jung-jae, South Korean actor Wikipedia
• 1979 Adam Brody, 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
• 1996 Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ukrainian 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
• 1890 Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (born 1831) Wikipedia
• 1944 Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (born 1904) 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
• 1991 Vasily Zaytsev, Russian captain (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 2010 Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2011 Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2013 Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “December 15” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/December 15” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for December 15 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.