On this day: 7 December
Events, births and deaths on 7 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Events · 2025 Beninese coup attempt
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Greg Lake
- Events · PIA Flight 661
- Deaths · Junaid Jamshed
100 years ago1926
- Births · William John McNaughton
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 983 · Deaths · Otto II
- 967 · Births · Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr
- 1111 · Deaths · Ōe no Masafusa
Events · 22
- 1787Delaware — state of the United States of America
- 1837Battle of Montgomery's Tavern — 1837 part of the Upper Canada Rebellion
- 1862Battle of Prairie Grove — 1862 battle of the American Civil War
- 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor — 1941 Japanese surprise attack on the U.S
- 1941Pacific War — theater of World War II fought in the Pacific and Asia
- 19441944 Tōnankai earthquake — December 1944 earthquake in Japan
- 1946Winecoff Hotel fire — 1946 fire in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States; deadliest fire in US history
- 1949retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan — Republic of China's retreat from Mainland China to the Island of Taiwan
- 1971Battle of Sylhet — 1971 battle of the Bangladesh Liberation War
- 1972The Blue Marble — photograph of the Earth, cropped and rotated from one taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft
- 1975Indonesian invasion of East Timor — 1975 military invasion
- 1975Indonesian occupation of East Timor — 1975 military occupation
- 1983Madrid Runway Disaster — Runway collision in 1983
- 1987Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 — aviation accident caused by hijacking
- 19881988 Spitak earthquake — December 1988 earthquake in Armenian SSR, USSR
- 19931993 Long Island Rail Road shooting — 1993 event
- 19951995 Air St. Martin Beech 1900 crash — 1995 aviation accident
- 2003Conservative Party of Canada — political party in Canada
- 2016PIA Flight 661 — fatal air accident in Havelian, Pakistan
- 2017Aztec High School shooting — school shooting in Aztec, New Mexico, US
- 2024Fall of Damascus — 2024 conquest during the Syrian civil war
- 20252025 Beninese coup attempt — thwarted coup in 7 Dec. 2025 when several soldiers of the Benin Armed Forces led by Pascal Tigri announced on national television the overthrow of the government
Births · 60
- 521(Julian date)Columba — 6th‑century Gaelic Irish missionary monk, Christian saint, pioneer of Celtic Christianity in Scotland and “Apostle of the Picts”
- 903(Julian date)Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi — Persian astronomer (903-986)
- 967(Julian date)Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr — Persian poet and Sufi mystic (967–1049)
- 1545Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley — Duke of Albany and King consort of Scotland (1545-1567)
- 1595Injo of Joseon — 16th King of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history (1595-1649)
- 1598Gian Lorenzo Bernini — Italian sculptor and architect (1598–1680)
- 1637Bernardo Pasquini — Italian Baroque composer
- 1647Giovanni Ceva — Italian mathematician (1647-1734)
- 1764Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno — French soldier and military commander (1764-1841)
- 1801Johann Nestroy — Austrian playwright, actor and singer (1801–1862)
- 1810Theodor Schwann — German physiologist (1810–1882)
- 1823Leopold Kronecker — German mathematician who worked on number theory and algebra (1823–1891)
- 1860Joseph Cook — 6th prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914
- 1862Paul Adam — French novelist (1862–1920)
- 1863Pietro Mascagni — Italian composer known for operas (1863–1945)
- 1873Willa Cather — American writer (1873–1947)
- 1878Akiko Yosano — Japanese tanka poet (1878–1942)
- 1893Fay Bainter — American actress (1893–1968)
- 1893Hermann Balck — German general (1893-1982)
- 1904Clarence Nash — American voice actor (1904–1985)
- 1905Gerard Kuiper — Netherlands-born American astronomer (1905–1973)
- 1910Louis Prima — American musician (1910–1978)
- 1915Eli Wallach — American actor (1915–2014)
- 1915Leigh Brackett — American novelist and screenwriter (1915–1978)
- 1920Walter Nowotny — Austrian born German officer and fighter pilot during World War II (1920–1944)
Deaths · 60
- 43 BCE(Julian date)Cicero — Roman statesman, lawyer, orator, and philosopher (106–43 BC)
- 283(Julian date)Eutychian — Pope and Bishop of Rome from 275 to 283
- 983Otto II — Holy Roman Emperor from 973 to 983 and King of Italy from 980 to 983
- 1254(Julian date)Innocent IV — pope of the Catholic Church from 1243 to 1254
- 1279(Julian date)Bolesław V the Chaste — High Duke of Poland
- 1295(Julian date)Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester — English nobleman
- 1562(Julian date)Adrian Willaert — Franco-Flemish composer and founder of the Venetian School (1480–1562)
- 1683Algernon Sidney — British politician and political theorist (1623-1683)
- 1723Jan Santini Aichel — Czech architect and nobleman (1677-1723)
- 1772Martin Sarmiento — Spanish writer
- 1815Michel Ney — French general (1769–1815)
- 1817William Bligh — officer of the British Royal Navy and colonial administrator (1754-1817)
- 1869Ōmura Masujirō — Japanese politician (1824-1869)
- 1874Constantin von Tischendorf — German theologian and biblical scholar (1815-1874)
- 1879Jón Sigurðsson — leader of the 19th-century Icelandic independence movement (1811-1879)
- 1894Ferdinand de Lesseps — French diplomat and entrepreneur, developer of the Suez Canal (1805–1894)
- 1899Juan Luna — Filipino painter, sculptor and political activist (1857-1899)
- 1902Thomas Nast — American cartoonist (1840–1902)
- 1906Élie Ducommun — Swiss activist (1833-1906)
- 1912George Howard Darwin — English astronomer, mathematician (1845–1912)
- 1917Ludwig Minkus — Austrian composer and violinist (1826–1917)
- 1938Katharine Augusta Carl — American painter and author (1865-1938)
- 1947Nicholas Murray Butler — American philosopher, diplomat, and educator (1862-1947)
- 1947Tristan Bernard — French playwright (1866–1947)
- 1949Rex Beach — author and water polo player (1877-1949)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.