| 0 | | Feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Drina, Patronesses of Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia |
| 0 | | Bill of Rights Day |
| 0 | | the Other "International Tea Day" (alt. May 21st) |
| 533 | | Battle of Tricameron: Belisarius defeats the Vandals in Tunisia |
| 687 | | Consecration of Pope Sergius I (687-701) |
| 1124 | | Cardinal Lamberto Scannabecchi is elected Pope as Urban II (1124-1130) |
| 1256 | | Hulagu Khan’s Mongol destroyed the Assassins stronghold at Alamut, in modern Iran |
| 1347 | | Cola di Rienzo flees the collapse of his Roman Republic (May 20-Dec 14, 1347) |
| 1467 | | Battle of Baia: Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary |
| 1791 | | The "Bill of Rights" to the US Constitution goes into effect, as Virginia submits ist ratification |
| 1840 | | Napoleon is entombed in Les Invalides with elaborate ceremonial |
| 1864 | | George Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland crushed John Bell Hood’s rebel Army of Tennessee in the Battle of Nashville |
| 1871 | | International "Alabama" Commission meets on US Civil War claims against Britain |
| 1899 | | the Boers crushed a British attempt to relieve Ladysmith at Colesno, the third battle of "Black Week" -- Learn More |
| 1907 | | Two Italian-Americans lynched in Jackson Parish, La. |
| 1914 | | Battle of Lodz ends, Russians retreat |
| 1919 | | Italian warrior-poet Gabriele d'Annunzio and 2,000 volunteers captured Fiume from an Allied occupation force |
| 1941 | | Congress votes $10.1 billion (c. $1.5 trillion today) to fight the Axis |
| 1941 | | USS 'Swordfish' (SS-193) becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship |
| 1942 | | U.S. aircraft bomb Munda |
| 1943 | | Burma: the Chinese New 38th Div is driven back in the Bhamo area |
| 1943 | | U.S. 112th Cavalry Rgt (dsmtd) lands at Arawe, New Britain |
| 1944 | | US troops land on Mindoro, Philippines, as kamikaze sink two LSTs |
| 1944 | | William D. Leahy is promoted to five star rank as a Fleet Admiral |
| 1944 | | Britain's 82nd (West Africa) Division captured Buthidaung, in the Arakan, Burma -- Learn More |
| 1989 | | the Panamanian National Assembly declared war on the United States, prompting “Operation Just Cause” |
| 1995 | | the Hanish Islands War began between Yemen & Eritrea; a truce three days later led to arbitration, which awarded most of the islands to Yemen |
| 2003 | | Bhutanese Army begins offensive against Indian rebel invaders (win by Jan 3) |
| 37 | | Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later the Roman Emperor Nero (AD 54-68) -- Learn More |
| 130 | | Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor (161-169), Colleague to Marcus Aurelius |
| 1775 | | Phineas Riall, later General Sir Phineas Riall, KCH, d. 1850 -- Learn More |
| 1789 | | Carlos Soublette, hero of the Venezuelan War for Independence, President of Venezuela (1837-1839, 1843-1847, d. 1870 |
| 1832 | | Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, French engineer, who built a famous tower, d. 1923 |
| 1875 | | Emilio Jacinto y Dizon, Filipino poet and revolutionary, d. 1899 |
| 1918 | | Jeff Chandler, in Brooklyn, soldier, actor ("Merrill's Marauders", "Sign of the Pagan"), d. 1961 |
| 1923 | | Gotthard Glas, later known as Uziel "Uzi" Gal, Israeli soldier and weapons designer, d. 2002 |
| 337 | BC | Timoleon, Corinthian general, liberator of Syracuse, b. 411 BC [Alt] |
| 214 | BC | Hieronymus, Tyrant of Syracuse (215-214 BC), at about 16 [Alt] |
| 933 | | Li Siyuan, 66, Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang (926-933) |
| 1025 | | Byzantine Emperor Basil II the "Bulgar-Slayer" (976-1025), 67 |
| 1072 | | Alp Arslan ("Heroic Lion"), 43, Seljuk Sultan of Rum (1063-1072) |
| 1230 | | Ottokar I, King of Bohemia (1197-1230), c. 75 |
| 1574 | | Ottoman Sultan Selim II "the Drunkard" or "the Blond" (1556-1574), at 50 [Alt, Dec 12] |
| 1794 | | Jean Baptiste Carrier, 38, French revolutionary terrorist, guillotined |
| 1796 | | Maj. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Revolutionary War hero, at 51-- Learn More |
| 1817 | | Countess Marie Walewska Leszczinska, 31, lover of Napoleon I |
| 1864 | | Algernon Frederick Greville, British soldier, Waterloo veteran, & private secretary to the Duke of Wellington, at 65 - Learn More |
| 1885 | | Jerry Thomas, 55, America's bartender to the rich and famous, collector of regimental concoctions. |
| 1890 | | Thathángka Íyotake, known as “Sitting Bull,” Hunkpapa Sioux prophet and war leader, killed "resisting arrest" at c. 60-- Learn More |
| 1944 | | Major Glenn Miller, 40, big band leader, lost over the English Channel on a flight that sparks inane conspiracy theories |
| 1962 | | Charles Laughton, BEF veteran, actor (Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty"), at 63 |
| 1979 | | Piero Pieri, 86, sometime decorated Alpino, military historian |
| 2011 | | Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., 93, American classicist, sometime US cryptanalyst, who helped decipher Cretan Linear B |