On this day: December 3

Events on December 3

• 1800 War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden: French General Jean Victor Marie Moreau decisively defeats the Archduke John of Austria near Munich. Coupled with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's earlier victory at Marengo, this will force the Austrians to sign an armistice and end the war. Wikipedia
• 1800 United States presidential election: The Electoral College casts votes for president and vice president that result in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Wikipedia
• 1818 Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1901 In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word report to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits". The speech was not delivered in person. Wikipedia
• 1912 Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.) Wikipedia
• 1925 Final agreement is signed between the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom formalizing the Partition of Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1938 Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization. Wikipedia
• 1944 Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in Athens between the ELAS and government forces supported by the British Army. Wikipedia
• 1959 The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. Wikipedia
• 1959 The current flag and coat of arms of Singapore were adopted, six months after the island became self-governing within the British Empire. Wikipedia
• 1960 The musical Camelot debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It will become associated with the Kennedy administration. Wikipedia
• 1965 Soviet Union, Space probe of the Luna program, called Luna 8, is launched, but crashes on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1967 Cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Wikipedia
• 1967 At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant on a human (53-year-old Louis Washkansky). Wikipedia
• 1968 American singer Elvis Presley's first television special and first live performance in seven years, Singer Presents ... Elvis, was broadcast by NBC. Wikipedia
• 1973 Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter. Wikipedia
• 1989 In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end. Wikipedia
• 1992 The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo. Wikipedia
• 1994 Taiwan holds its first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only directly elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first directly elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung. Wikipedia
• 1997 In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however. Wikipedia
• 1999 NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before it reached the atmosphere of Mars and disappeared. Wikipedia
• 1999 NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere. Wikipedia
• 2009 A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government. Wikipedia
• 2009 A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government. Wikipedia
• 2012 At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 2024 Martial law is declared in South Korea. Wikipedia

Born on December 3

• 1368 Charles VI of France (died 1422) Wikipedia
• 1447 Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (died 1512) Wikipedia
• 1730 Mahadaji Shinde, Maratha ruler of Gwalior (died 1794) Wikipedia
• 1800 France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (died 1849) Wikipedia
• 1857 Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British novelist (died 1924) Wikipedia
• 1883 Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1884 Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1886 Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1887 Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, Japanese general and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1895 Anna Freud, Austrian-English psychologist and psychoanalyst (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1899 Hayato Ikeda, Japanese politician, 58th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1900 Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1924 John Backus, American computer scientist, led the team that developed FORTRAN (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1930 Jean-Luc Godard, French-Swiss director and screenwriter (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1933 Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1948 Ozzy Osbourne, English singer-songwriter (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1960 Julianne Moore, American actress and author Wikipedia
• 1960 Daryl Hannah, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1968 Brendan Fraser, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1981 David Villa, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Michael Essien, Ghanaian footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Amanda Seyfried, American actress Wikipedia

Died on December 3

• 311 Diocletian, Roman emperor (born 244) Wikipedia
• 937 Siegfried, Frankish nobleman Wikipedia
• 978 Abraham, Coptic pope of Alexandria Wikipedia
• 1154 Pope Anastasius IV (born 1073) Wikipedia
• 1533 Vasili III of Russia (born 1479) Wikipedia
• 1552 Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint (born 1506) Wikipedia
• 1888 Carl Zeiss, German physicist and lens maker, created the optical instrument (born 1816) Wikipedia
• 1894 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1910 Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader and author, founded Christian Science (born 1821) Wikipedia
• 1912 Prudente de Morais, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Brazil (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1919 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1979 Dhyan Chand, Indian field hockey player and coach (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1980 Oswald Mosley, English lieutenant, fascist, and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1999 Scatman John, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1942) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abbo of Auxerre Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Abraham of Alexandria (Coptic, 6 Koiak)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Adrian (Ethernan) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Birinus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cassian of Tangier Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emma (of Lesum or of Bremen) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Francis Xavier Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer zu Gleifheim Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Zephaniah Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Doctors' Day (Cuba) Wikipedia
• International Day of Persons with Disabilities Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 3” 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.