On this day: 21 December
Events, births and deaths on 21 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Peng Peiyun
10 years ago2016
Nothing recorded for that year.
100 years ago1926
- Births · Arnošt Lustig
- Births · Joe Paterno
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1001 · Deaths · Hugh II, Margrave of Tuscany
- 968 · Births · Minamoto no Yorinobu
Events · 16
- 1361Battle of Linuesa — 1361 battle of the Reconquista
- 1826Fredonian Rebellion — secessionist insurrection in Tejas
- 1832Battle of Konya — 1832 battle of the First Turko-Egyptian War
- 1883The Royal Canadian Dragoons — Canadian Army armoured regiment
- 1910Pretoria Pit Disaster — 1910 mining accident in Over Hulton, North West England
- 1911Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception — Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary
- 1923Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 — 1923 treaty between Nepal and the United Kingdom
- 1941
- 19461946 Nankai earthquake — earthquake in Japan
- 1965International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination — United Nations convention and human rights instrument
- 1979Lancaster House Agreement — 1979 ceasefire agreement ending the Rhodesian Bush War, dissolving the unrecognized state Zimbabwe Rhodesia, imposing British direct rule, to be eventually replaced by a Republic of Zimbabwe
- 1988Pan Am Flight 103 — US transatlantic flight, bombed in 1988 over Scotland
- 1992Martinair Flight 495 — aviation accident
- 1999Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 — aviation accident
- 20122012 phenomenon — eschatological beliefs surrounding 21 December 2012
- 20232023 Prague shooting — school shooting in the Czech Republic
Births · 60
- 1401(Julian date)Masaccio — Italian painter (1401-1428)
- 1596(Julian date)Peter Mogila — Metroploitan of Kyiv, Halych and All-Rus
- 1603Roger Williams — English Baptist theologian and author (1603–1683)
- 1773Robert Brown — British botanist (1773-1858), discoverer of the cell nucleus and of Brownian Motion (1773–1858)
- 1795Leopold von Ranke — German historian and founder of modern source-based history (1795-1886)
- 1804Benjamin Disraeli — British statesman (1804–1881)
- 1805Thomas Graham — British chemist (1805–1869)
- 1815Thomas Couture — French painter (1815-1870)
- 1818Amalia of Oldenburg — Queen of Greece (1818–1875)
- 1840Nâmık Kemâl — Ottoman writer (1840-1888)
- 1859Gustave Kahn — French symbolist poet and art critic (1859–1936)
- 1866Maud Gonne — Irish revolutionary and activist (1866-1953)
- 1878Jan Łukasiewicz — Polish logician, mathematician, philosopher, rector of the University of Warsaw (1878–1956)
- 1879Joseph Stalin — politician and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1924 to 1953
- 1889Sewall Wright — American geneticist (1889-1988)
- 1890Hermann Joseph Muller — American biologist (1890–1967)
- 1892Rebecca West — British writer, journalist, literary critic, and feminist (1892-1983)
- 1905Anthony Powell — English novelist (1905-2000)
- 1917Heinrich Böll — German writer (1917–1985)
- 1918Kurt Waldheim — Austrian politician and diplomat (1918–2007)
- 1920Alicia Alonso — Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer (1920-2019)
- 1922Paul Winchell — American actor (1922–2005)
- 1926Arnošt Lustig — Czech Jewish author (1926–2011)
- 1935John G. Avildsen — American film director
- 1937Jane Fonda — American actress and activist
Deaths · 56
- 882(Julian date)Hincmar — archbishop of Reims
- 1001(Julian date)Hugh II, Margrave of Tuscany — Margrave of Tuscany
- 1308(Julian date)Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse — first Landgrave of Hesse
- 1362(Julian date)Constantine III — King of Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
- 1375(Julian date)Giovanni Boccaccio — Italian author and poet (1313–1375)
- 1504(Julian date)Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild — Roman Catholic archbishop
- 1536(Julian date)John Seymour — English courtier (1474-1536)
- 1549(Julian date)Margaret of Valois-Angoulême — queen consort of Navarre (1492–1549)
- 1597Peter Canisius — Dutch, Jesuit priest, Doctor of the Church, Roman Catholic saint
- 1610Catherine Vasa of Sweden — Regent of East Frisia; Swedish princess, writer
- 1807John Newton — Anglican clergyman, slave trader and abolitionist (1725–1807)
- 1819Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier — French soldier and political figure who rose to the rank of Marshal of France (1742-1819)
- 1824James Parkinson — English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist
- 1873Francis Garnier — French Navy officer (1839-1873)
- 1889Friedrich August von Quenstedt — professor of mineralogy and geology at Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen (1809–1889)
- 1929I. L. Patterson — American politician (1859-1929)
- 1933Knud Rasmussen — Danish explorer and anthropologist
- 1935Kurt Tucholsky — Jewish-German journalist, satirist and writer (1890–1935)
- 1937Frank B. Kellogg — American politician (1856-1937)
- 1937Ted Healy — American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor (1896–1937)
- 1940F. Scott Fitzgerald — American writer (1896–1940)
- 1945George S. Patton — United States Army general (1885–1945)
- 1948Władysław Witwicki — Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator historian (of philosophy and art), and artist
- 1952Kenneth Edwards — Amateur golfer (1886-1952)
- 1953Kaarlo Koskelo — Finnish wrestler (1888–1953)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.