Historical Events
- Dec 16 Seven Years' War: After four-month siege, Russian army under Pyotr Rumyantsev takes Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg (German: Kolberg).
Famous Birthdays
Madame Tussaud (1761-1850)
Dec 1 French founder of Madame Tussaud's wax museum, born in Strasbourg
- Dec 11 Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian philosopher and physicist, born in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy (d. 1835)
- Dec 24 Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (greatest visual comet discoverer of all time), born in Peyre, Hautes-Alpes (d. 1831)
- Dec 24 Selim III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1789-1808), born in Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (d. 1808)
- Dec 27 Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian fieldmarshal (Minister of War during Napoleonic invasion), born in Pomautsch, Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1818)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 23 Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, Scottish Jacobite spy "Pickle, dies at 36"
