What Happened on December 13

Significant Events

  • 1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigationof the world
  • 1774 First incident of American Revolution - 400 attack Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire
  • 1920 League of nations establishes International Court of Justice in The Hague
  • 2002 Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
  • 2003 Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn by US forces
More Historical Events

Did You Know?

Francis G. Pease's interferometer at Mount Wilson Observatory is the first to measure the diameter of a star - the Betelgeuse

On December 13, 1920

Famous Birthdays

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Would You Believe?

Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

On December 13, 1294

Famous Weddings

  • 862 Boudouin Iron Arm & Count of Flanders, elopes with Princess Judith, daughter King Charles of West Francia
  • 1951 British PM Margaret Thatcher (26) weds businessman Denis Thatcher (36) at Wesley's Chapel in City Road, London
  • 2003 Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (68) weds Nicoletta Mantovani at Modena Italy's Teatro Comunale

Famous Divorces

  • 2001 Oscar winning-actress Kate Winslet (26) divorces assistant film director Jim Threapleton (28) due to unreasonable behavior after 3 years of marriage
  • 2010 "Dexter" actress Jennifer Carpenter (31) divorces actor Michael C. Hall (40) due to irreconcilable differences after 2 years of marriage
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Famous Deaths

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December in History