On this day: December 8

Events on December 8

• 1851 Conservative Santiago-based government troops defeat rebels at the Battle of Loncomilla, signaling the end of the 1851 Chilean Revolution. Wikipedia
• 1854 Pope Pius IX promulgated the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin. Wikipedia
• 1854 In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin. Wikipedia
• 1864 Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Wikipedia
• 1933 Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.) Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: The Chełmno extermination camp in occupied Poland, the first such Nazi camp to kill Jews, began operations. Wikipedia
• 1953 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world. Wikipedia
• 1963 Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1966 The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200. Wikipedia
• 1971 Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi. Wikipedia
• 1980 John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1980 English musician John Lennon was murdered at the entrance of the Dakota, where he resided in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1987 Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House. Wikipedia
• 1991 The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. Wikipedia
• 1998 Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria. Wikipedia
• 2004 Columbus nightclub shooting: Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer. Wikipedia
• 2009 Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 people and injure 448 others. Wikipedia
• 2010 The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km (50,200 mi). Wikipedia
• 2013 Riots break out in Singapore, after a fatal accident in Little India. Wikipedia
• 2013 Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first musical act to perform on all seven continents. Wikipedia
• 2019 First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China. Wikipedia
• 2024 The Syrian civil war ended when Bashar al-Assad's party, the Syrian Ba'ath Party, surrendered to the Syrian opposition. Wikipedia
• 2025 Singapore, under the government's approval, published its now-declassified Albatross file, comprising information relating to the Proclamation of Singapore dating back six decades ago. Wikipedia

Born on December 8

• 65 BC Horace, Roman poet (died 8 BC) Wikipedia
• 1542 Mary, Queen of Scots, daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise (died 1587) Wikipedia
• 1699 Maria Josepha of Austria, Queen Consort of Poland (died 1757) Wikipedia
• 1708 Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1765) Wikipedia
• 1807 Friedrich Traugott Kützing, German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist (died 1893) Wikipedia
• 1832 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1861 William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1861 Georges Méliès, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1865 Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1886 Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1894 E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1930 Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1935 Dharmendra, Indian actor, producer, and politician (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1943 Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1947 Thomas Cech, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1953 Kim Basinger, American actress Wikipedia
• 1964 Teri Hatcher, American actress Wikipedia
• 1966 Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1976 Dominic Monaghan, German-British actor Wikipedia
• 1978 Ian Somerhalder, American actor Wikipedia
• 1982 Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian-American rapper and actress Wikipedia
• 1994 Raheem Sterling, English footballer Wikipedia

Died on December 8

• 855 Drogo of Metz, illegitimate son of Charlemagne (born 801) Wikipedia
• 1186 Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen (bornc 1125) Wikipedia
• 1744 Marie Anne de Mailly, French mistress of Louis XV (born 1717) Wikipedia
• 1815 Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, Methodist preacher and philanthropist (born 1739) Wikipedia
• 1830 Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French philosopher and author (born 1767) Wikipedia
• 1859 Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (born 1785) Wikipedia
• 1864 George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (born 1815) Wikipedia
• 1903 Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1907 King Oscar II of Sweden (born 1829) Wikipedia
• 1978 Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1980 John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 1994 Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2013 John Cornforth, Australian-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2016 John Glenn, American astronaut and senator, first American to go into orbit (born 1921) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Battle Day (Falkland Islands) Wikipedia
• Bodhi Day (Japan) Wikipedia
• CARICOM–Cuba Day (Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Budoc (Beuzec) of Dol Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Clement of Ohrid (Julian Calendar), and its related observances: Student's Day (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eucharius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Communion), lesser commemoration Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festa da Conceição da Praia, celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean in Umbanda (Salvador, Bahia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festival of Lights (Lyon) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Mother's Day (Panama) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Lady of Camarin Day (Guam) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Patapios of Thebes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Eutychian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Richard Baxter (US Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romaric Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theobald of Marly Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Romania) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Uzbekistan) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Syria) Wikipedia
• Day of Finnish Music (Finland) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while December 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in December. (Malawi) Wikipedia
• Hari-Kuyō (Kansai region, Japan) Wikipedia
• National Youth Day (Albania) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 8” 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.