On this day: December 3

Events on December 3

• 1283 During the First Mongol invasion of Burma, the fort at Ngasaunggyan was overrun after a two-month siege. Wikipedia
• 1800 War of the Second Coalition: French forces defeated Austrian and Bavarian troops at the Battle of Hohenlinden, eventually resulting in the Austrians signing the Treaty of Lunéville. 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
• 1904 Himalia, Jupiter's largest irregular moon, was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory in California. Wikipedia
• 1910 Freda Du Faur became the first woman to climb Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. 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
• 1927 Putting Pants on Philip, the first official film featuring the British-American comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, was released. Wikipedia
• 1937 Rupert Bruce-Mitford, the spiritus rector of research on the Sutton Hoo ship burial, joined the British Museum. 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 and coat of arms of Singapore were adopted, six months after the island became self-governing within the British Empire. 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
• 1968 American singer Elvis Presley's first television special and first live performance in seven years, Singer Presents ... Elvis, was broadcast by NBC. Wikipedia
• 1971 With the Pakistani Air Force launching the unsuccessful pre-emptive airstrikes on several forward Indian Air Force airbases and radar installations, the 1971 India-Pakistan War begins and India also joins the Bangladesh Liberation War, siding with Bangladesh. Wikipedia
• 1973 Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter. Wikipedia
• 1976 Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt by seven gunmen in Kingston. Wikipedia
• 1979 Following the result of a two-day referendum, the current Constitution of Iran was adopted. Wikipedia
• 1979 Eleven people were crushed in a human stampede at a concert by British rock band the Who in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. Wikipedia
• 1979 Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran. Wikipedia
• 1984 Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom later died from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history. Wikipedia
• 1990 Mary Robinson took office as the first female president of Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1994 Sony released the PlayStation, the first computer entertainment platform to ship 100 million units. 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
• 2009 A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government. Wikipedia
• 2024 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law. Wikipedia

Born on December 3

• 1368 Charles VI of France (died 1422) Wikipedia
• 1447 Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (died 1512) Wikipedia
• 1684 Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian and writer (died 1754) Wikipedia
• 1722 Hryhorii Skovoroda, Ukrainian poet, composer, and philosopher (died 1794) Wikipedia
• 1800 France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (died 1849) Wikipedia
• 1857 Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British novelist (died 1924) Wikipedia
• 1880 Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (died 1945) 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
• 1895 Anna Freud, Austrian-English psychologist and psychoanalyst (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1900 Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967) 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
• 1956 Ewa Kopacz, Polish physician and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland 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
• 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
• 1892 Afanasy Fet, Russian author and poet (born 1820) 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
• 1919 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1956 Alexander Rodchenko, Russian sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer (born 1891) 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
• 2011 Dev Anand, Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1923) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “December 3” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/December 3” — 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 3” 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 3 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.