On this day: 31 December
Events, births and deaths on 31 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · William Christopher
100 years ago1926
- Births · Billy Snedden
1000 years ago1026
Nothing recorded for that year.
Events · 24
- 406(Julian date)Crossing of the Rhine — military operation
- 870(Julian date)Battle of Englefield — battle on 31 December 870 at Englefield, near Reading
- 1501First Battle of Cannanore — part of the Portuguese battles in the Indian Ocean
- 1600East India Company — British trading company (1600–1874)
- 17031703 Genroku earthquake — earthquake in Japan
- 1775Battle of Quebec — 1775 battle between Americans and British near Quebec City, Canada
- 1862Battle of Stones River — 1862 battle of the American Civil War
- 1939
- 1942Battle of the Barents Sea — 1942 battle between warships of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine and British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR
- 1944Operation Nordwind — 1944 German offensive in WW2
- 1950First and Second Battles of Wonju — 1950 battles of the Korean War
- 1956Televiziunea Română — broadcaster
- 1965Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état — coup d'état
- 1981Provisional National Defence Council — Government of Ghana from 1981 to 1993, led by Jerry Rawlings
- 19831983 Nigerian coup d'état — 1985 Nigerian military coup against Pres. Shehu Shagari; Muhammadu Buhari installed
- 1986Dupont Plaza Hotel arson — 1986 New Year's Eve fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico, US
- 1992dissolution of Czechoslovakia — process that led to the creation of two independent nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- 1994Battle of Grozny — 1994 siege
- 2005Taipei 101 — skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2006Battle of Jilib — 2006 battle
- 20062006 Bangkok bombings — Terrorist incident in Thailand
- 2009December 2009 lunar eclipse — lunar eclipse
- 20142014 Shanghai stampede — stampede on The Bund waterfront, Shanghai on December 31, 2014
- 20182018 Magnitogorsk building collapse — deadly apartment building collapse attributed to a gas explosion
Births · 60
- 225(Julian date)Lawrence of Rome — Christian saint, martyr and a deacon of Rome (225-258)
- 695(Julian date)Muhammad bin Qasim — Umayyad Hijazi general and governor (695–715)
- 1491(Julian date)Jacques Cartier — Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
- 1514(Julian date)Andreas Vesalius — Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)
- 1550(Julian date)Henry I of Lorraine, duke of Guise — Duke of Guise (1550-1588)
- 1571(Julian date)Go-Yōzei — emperor of Japan from 1586 to 1611
- 1668Herman Boerhaave — Dutch botanist, chemist, humanist, and physician (1668–1738)
- 1720Charles Edward Stuart — Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, Ireland, and France; (1720-1788)
- 1738Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis — British general, colonial official, diplomat (1738–1805)
- 1741Princess Isabella of Parma — Archduchess of Austria
- 1763Pierre-Charles Villeneuve — French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars
- 1805Marie d'Agoult — Franco-German romantic author and historian (1805-1876)
- 1815George Meade — United States Army general and civil engineer (1815–1872)
- 1830Isma'il Pasha — Khedive of Egypt from 1863 to 1879
- 1838Émile Loubet — 8th president of France (1838–1929)
- 1842Giovanni Boldini — Italian painter (1842-1931)
- 1855Giovanni Pascoli — Italian poet and classical scholar (1855-1912)
- 1864Robert Grant Aitken — American astronomer (1864–1951)
- 1869Henri Matisse — French artist (1869–1954)
- 1878Horacio Quiroga — Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer (1878–1937)
- 1878Elizabeth Arden — Canadian American businesswoman
- 1880George Marshall — American army officer and statesman (1880–1959)
- 1881Max Pechstein — German artist (1881–1955)
- 1885Princess Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein — German princess (1885–1970)
- 1898Umm Kulthum — Egyptian singer and actress (1904–1975)
Deaths · 60
- 192(Julian date)Commodus — 17th Roman Emperor (180–192)
- 335(Julian date)Sylvester I — 33rd pope and saint (reigned 314-335)
- 1164Ottokar III of Styria — Marggrave of Styria
- 1194(Julian date)Leopold V, Duke of Austria — Austrian duke
- 1299(Julian date)Margaret, Countess of Anjou — French noble
- 1384(Julian date)John Wycliffe — English theologian and dissident in the Roman Catholic Church
- 1510(Julian date)Bianca Maria Sforza — Holy Roman Empress, Presumptive crown princess of Hungary (1472-1510)
- 1583
- 1610Ludolph van Ceulen — German-Dutch mathematician (*1540 – †1610)
- 1650Dorgon — Prince Rui of the First Rank and regent of the Qing Dynasty (1612-1650)
- 1655Janusz Radziwiłł — diplomat (1612-1655)
- 1679Giovanni Alfonso Borelli — Italian physicist (*1608 – †1679)
- 1691Robert Boyle — Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor (1627-1691)
- 1705Catherine of Braganza — Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (1638–1705)
- 1719(Julian date)John Flamsteed — English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal
- 1742Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine — Elector Palatine, Duke of Jülich and Berg and Count Palatine of Neuburg (1661-1742)
- 1775Richard Montgomery — Irish-born soldier in the British Army, later in the American Continental Army (1738–1775)
- 1799Jean-François Marmontel — French historian and writer, a member of the Encyclopediste movement (1723-1799)
- 1864George M. Dallas — vice president of the United States from 1845 to 1849 (1792–1864)
- 1872Aleksis Kivi — national author of Finland (1834-1872)
- 1876Catherine Labouré — French Daughter of Charity and saint (1806–1876)
- 1877Gustave Courbet — French painter (1819–1877)
- 1888Samson Raphael Hirsch — Jewish theologian, Germany 19th century (1808–1888)
- 1889Ion Creangă — Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher (1837–1889)
- 1891Ajayi Crowther — Yoruba linguist and the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria (1809-1891)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.