On this day: September 15

Events on September 15

• 1530 Appearance of the miraculous portrait of Saint Dominic in Soriano in Soriano Calabro, Calabria, Italy; commemorated as a feast day by the Roman Catholic Church 1644–1912. Wikipedia
• 1556 Departing from Vlissingen, ex-Holy Roman Emperor Charles V returns to Spain. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: British forces successfully land at Kip's Bay, forcing the Continental Army, which was already withdrawing from New York City, to cede control of the lower half of Manhattan Island. Wikipedia
• 1812 The Grande Armée under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow during the failed French invasion of Russia. Wikipedia
• 1820 Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal. Wikipedia
• 1835 HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands. The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago. Wikipedia
• 1873 Franco-Prussian War: The last Imperial German Army troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity. Wikipedia
• 1915 New Culture Movement: Chen Duxiu establishes the New Youth magazine in Shanghai. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe launches its largest and most concentrated attack of the entire campaign. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: American and Australian forces landed on the Japanese-occupied island of Morotai. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Greek People's Liberation Army won the Battle of Meligalas and began the execution of many prisoners of war and civilians. Wikipedia
• 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy. Wikipedia
• 1945 A hurricane strikes southern Florida and the Bahamas, destroying 366 airplanes and 25 blimps at Naval Air Station Richmond. Wikipedia
• 1952 The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia. Wikipedia
• 1954 The scene in The Seven Year Itch of Marilyn Monroe standing in a white dress over a subway grate was filmed by Billy Wilder. Wikipedia
• 1954 Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt scene is shot during filming for The Seven Year Itch. Wikipedia
• 1959 Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. Wikipedia
• 1962 The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wikipedia
• 1968 The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Wikipedia
• 1972 A Scandinavian Airlines System domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm is hijacked and flown to Malmö Bulltofta Airport. Wikipedia
• 1983 Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns. Wikipedia
• 1995 Malaysia Airlines Flight 2133 crashes at Tawau Airport in Malaysia, killing 34. Wikipedia
• 2017 The Parsons Green bombing takes place in London. Wikipedia
• 2020 Signing of the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement occurs in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Wikipedia
• 2020 The Abraham Accords were signed in Washington, D.C. (signatories pictured), normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Wikipedia

Born on September 15

• 767 Saichō, Japanese monk (died 822) Wikipedia
• 1254 Marco Polo, Italian merchant and explorer (died 1324) Wikipedia
• 1613 François de La Rochefoucauld, French soldier and author (died 1680) Wikipedia
• 1789 James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist, short story writer, and historian (died 1851) Wikipedia
• 1830 Porfirio Díaz, Mexican general and politician, 29th President of Mexico (died 1915) Wikipedia
• 1857 William Howard Taft, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 27th President of the United States (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1879 Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1939) Wikipedia
• 1890 Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1894 Jean Renoir, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1904 Umberto II of Italy (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1929 Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1937 Robert Lucas Jr., American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1941 Viktor Zubkov, Russian businessman and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Russia Wikipedia
• 1946 Oliver Stone, American director, screenwriter, and producer Wikipedia
• 1946 Tommy Lee Jones, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1951 Fred Seibert, American television producer, co-founder of MTV Wikipedia
• 1964 Robert Fico, Slovak academic and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Slovakia Wikipedia
• 1972 Queen Letizia of Spain, Queen Consort of King Felipe VI of Spain Wikipedia
• 1977 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author Wikipedia
• 1977 Tom Hardy, English actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1984 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Wikipedia
• 2000 Felix, Australian singer based in South Korea, member of Stray Kids Wikipedia

Died on September 15

• 1700 André Le Nôtre, French gardener (born 1613) Wikipedia
• 1859 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English architect and engineer, designed the Great Western Railway (born 1806) Wikipedia
• 1926 Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1846) Wikipedia
• 1938 Thomas Wolfe, American novelist (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1945 Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1945 André Tardieu, French journalist and politician, 97th Prime Minister of France (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1973 Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1978 Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and academic, designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1980 Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 1995 Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer and manager (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2006 Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2008 Richard Wright, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (born 1943) Wikipedia
• 2017 Harry Dean Stanton, American actor (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2023 Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor (born 1932) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Battle of Britain Day (United Kingdom) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph Abibos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alpinus (Albinus) of Lyon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aprus (Èvre) of Toul Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Camillus Costanzo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Catherine of Genoa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: James Chisholm (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saint Dominic in Soriano (formerly) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mamilian of Palermo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mirin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicetas the Goth Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicomedes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Sorrows Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Cry of Dolores, celebrated on the eve of Independence Day (Mexico). Wikipedia
• International Day of Democracy Wikipedia
• The beginning of German American Heritage Month, celebrated until October 15 Wikipedia
• The beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated until October 15 (United States) Wikipedia
• World Lymphoma Awareness Day (International) Wikipedia

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