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This day in history

This day in history: 8 December

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day275 · 121

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Key facts

440 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 8 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: Singapore, under the government's approval, published its now-declassified Albatross file, comprising information relating to the Proclamation of Singapore dating back six decades ago.

Holidays and observances

Battle Day (Falkland Islands)

Bodhi Day (Japan)

CARICOM–Cuba Day (Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba)

Christian feast day: Budoc (Beuzec) of Dol

Christian feast day: Clement of Ohrid (Julian Calendar), and its related observances: Student's Day (Bulgaria)

Christian feast day: December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Eucharius

Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Communion), lesser commemoration

Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festa da Conceição da Praia, celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean in Umbanda

Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festival of Lights (Lyon)

Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Lady of Camarin Day (Guam)

Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Mother's Day (Panama)

Events

2025Singapore, under the government's approval, published its now-declassified Albatross file, comprising information relating to the Proclamation of Singapore dating back six decades ago.

2024Damascus falls to rebels after Syrian troops withdraw and president Bashar al-Assad leaves the country as his government collapses. Israel as a result invaded into the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

2019First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China.

2013Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first musical act to perform on all seven continents.

2013Riots break out in Singapore, after a fatal accident in Little India.

2010The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km (50,200 mi).

2010With the second launch of the Falcon 9, and the first launch of the Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

2009Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 people and injure 448 others.

2004Columbus nightclub shooting: Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer.

2004The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

2001A raid conducted by the Internal Security Department (ISD) of Singapore foils a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot to bomb foreign embassies in Singapore.

1998Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

1991The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1988A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing five people and injuring 50 others.

1987An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Inti

1987Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House.

1985The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia, is established.

1980John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

1974A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.

1972United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. This is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737.

1971Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

1969Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history.

1966The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.

1963Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.

1962Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.

1955The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.

1953U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

1943World War II: The German 117th Jäger Division destroys the monastery of Mega Spilaio in Greece and executes 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta.

1941World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisph

1941World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

1933Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain.

1922Two days after coming into existence, the Irish Free State executes four leaders of the Irish Republican Army: Dick Barrett, Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O'Connor.

1914World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

1912Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.

1907King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.

1864Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.

1863Between two and three thousand churchgoers die in the Church of the Company Fire, possibly the largest single building fire by number of victims in modern history.

1854In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin.

1851Conservative Santiago-based government troops defeat rebels at the Battle of Loncomilla, signaling the end of the 1851 Chilean Revolution.

1660A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.

Born on this day

2004Billie Starkz, American professional wrestler

2004Momoe Mori, Japanese entertainer

2002Sunghoon, South Korean singer

2001Josh Christopher, American basketball player

2000Andy Pages, Cuban baseball player

2000Bayron Matos, Dominican American football player

2000DeMario Douglas, American football player

1999Reece James, English footballer

1999Tyrus Wheat, American football player

1998Josh Dunne, American ice hockey player

1998Owen Teague, American actor

1997Hakeem Adeniji, American football player

1997Sam Hauser, American basketball player

1996Scott McTominay, Scottish footballer

1995Thatcher Demko, American ice hockey player

1994Conseslus Kipruto, Kenyan runner

1994Cyriel Dessers, Belgian-Nigerian footballer

1994Raheem Sterling, English footballer

1993AnnaSophia Robb, American actress

1993Cara Mund, American model, Miss America 2018

1993Janari Jõesaar, Estonian basketball player

1993Jordan Obita, English footballer

1992Mattias Janmark, Swedish ice hockey player

1992Yui Yokoyama, Japanese idol, model, and actress

1991Philip Holm, Swedish ice hockey player

1989Andrew Nicholson, Canadian basketball player

1989Drew Doughty, Canadian ice hockey player

1989Jen Ledger, English musician and singer

1989Jesse Sene-Lefao, New Zealand rugby league player

1986Amir Khan, English boxer

1986Enzo Amore, American wrestler and rapper

1986Kate Voegele, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress

1986Sam Tagataese, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player

1985Dwight Howard, American basketball player

1985Josh Donaldson, American baseball player

1985Meagan Duhamel, Canadian figure skater

1985Oleksiy Pecherov, Ukrainian basketball player

1984Emma Green Tregaro, Swedish high jumper

1984Greg Halford, English footballer

1984Sam Hunt, American singer-songwriter

Died on this day

2024Clarke Reed, American businessman and politician (born 1928)

2024Jill Jacobson, American actress (born 1954)

2023Ryan O'Neal, American actor (born 1941)

2021Robbie Shakespeare, Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer (born 1953)

2019Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and actor (born 1933)

2019Juice Wrld, American rapper, singer and songwriter (born 1998)

2019René Auberjonois, American actor (born 1940)

2018David Weatherall, English physician, geneticist, and academic (born 1933)

2016John Glenn, American astronaut and senator, first American to go into orbit (born 1921)

2015Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer and coach (born 1936)

2015Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (born 1943)

2015Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (born 1913)

2015John Trudell, American author, poet, and actor (born 1946)

2015Mattiwilda Dobbs, American soprano and actress (born 1925)

2014Knut Nystedt, Norwegian organist and composer (born 1915)

2014Russ Kemmerer, American baseball player and coach (born 1930)

2014Tom Gosnell, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1951)

2013John Cornforth, Australian-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

2013Richard S. Williamson, American lawyer and diplomat (born 1949)

2013Sándor Szokolay, Hungarian composer and academic (born 1931)

2012Jerry Brown, American football player (born 1987)

2012John Gowans, Scottish-English 16th General of The Salvation Army (born 1934)

2012Johnny Lira, American boxer (born 1951)

2009Luis Días, Dominican singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1952)

2008Oliver Postgate, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

2008Robert Prosky, American actor (born 1930)

2007Gerardo García Pimentel, Mexican journalist (born 1983)

2006José Uribe, Dominican baseball player (born 1959)

2006Martha Tilton, American singer (born 1915)

2005Rose Heilbron, British barrister and judge (born 1914)

Quote of the day

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao Tzu

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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