On this day: September 15

Events on September 15

• 1462 The Ottoman conquest of Lesbos ended upon the surrender of commander Niccolò Gattilusio; the conquering Mehmed II executed 300 Italian soldiers by chopping them in half, claiming he was fulfilling a promise to "spare their heads". Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: British forces made an unopposed amphibious landing at Kips Bay on Manhattan, the American defenders having fled due to artillery fire. Wikipedia
• 1789 The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, is renamed the Department of State and given a variety of domestic duties. Wikipedia
• 1791 French playwright Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, hoping to expose the failures of the French Revolution in the recognition of gender equality. Wikipedia
• 1795 French Revolutionary Wars: Great Britain seized the Dutch Cape Colony to use its facilities against the French Navy. 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
• 1821 The Province of Guatemala proclaimed the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire. Wikipedia
• 1830 The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M), the first locomotive-hauled railway to connect two major cities, opened with the Duke of Wellington in attendance.\ Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Confederate forces captured the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, taking more than 12,000 prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1935 Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of their citizenship. 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 World War II: The Battle of Peleliu begins as the United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division and the United States Army's 81st Infantry Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery. Wikipedia
• 1950 Korean War: The U.S. X Corps lands at Inchon. 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
• 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
• 1963 The 16th Street Baptist Church, an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, killing four girls and injuring at least 14 other people. Wikipedia
• 1972 Three armed members of the Croatian National Resistance hijacked Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 in an attempt to force the release of those arrested for the assassination of the Yugoslav ambassador the previous year. Wikipedia
• 1975 The French department of "Corse" (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica). Wikipedia
• 2008 Financial crisis of 2007–2008: The global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while holding over $600 billion in assets, the largest such filing in U.S. history. Wikipedia
• 2013 The Belarusian serial killer Ivan Kulesh murdered two saleswomen in Lida. Wikipedia
• 2017 A homemade bomb partially exploded on an eastbound District line train at Parsons Green tube station in West London, injuring 30 passengers. Wikipedia
• 2020 The Abraham Accords were signed in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Wikipedia

Born on September 15

• 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
• 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
• 1919 Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist and soldier (died 1960) 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
• 1941 Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer and manager (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1946 Oliver Stone, American director, screenwriter, and producer Wikipedia
• 1946 Tommy Lee Jones, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1951 Johan Neeskens, Dutch footballer and manager (died 2024) 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
• 1978 Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex 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
• 1883 Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist and academic (born 1801) 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
• 1973 Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1980 Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 1989 Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (born 1905) 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

Sources

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