23 years ago today
Operation Red Dawn: Saddam Hussein Captured
On December 13, 2003, American forces discovered former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein hiding in a cramped underground "spider hole" on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit, Iraq. Disheveled, with a long beard, and armed with a pistol and $750,000 in cash, the once-feared ruler was pulled from the hole without resistance and declared by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer: "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him." Saddam had evaded capture for eight months after the fall of Baghdad. His apprehension did not end the Iraqi insurgency, but it represented a defining symbolic moment of the Iraq War. He was subsequently tried by an Iraqi tribunal for crimes against humanity and executed on December 30, 2006.
This day, across time
- 1294EventPope Celestine V Resigns
- 1466DiedDonatello
- 1545EventCouncil of Trent Opens
- 1577EventFrancis Drake Begins His Circumnavigation
- 1636EventMassachusetts Bay Militia Founded
- 1642EventAbel Tasman Sights New Zealand
- 1784DiedSamuel Johnson
- 1797BornHeinrich Heine
- 1816BornWerner von Siemens
- 1862EventBattle of Fredericksburg: Union Assault on Marye's Heights
- 1925BornDick Van Dyke
- 1929BornChristopher Plummer
- 1937EventNanking Massacre Begins
- 1939EventBattle of the River Plate
- 1944DiedWassily Kandinsky
- 1981EventMartial Law Declared in Poland
- 1989BornTaylor Swift
- 2003FeaturedOperation Red Dawn: Saddam Hussein Captured
Alive in 2003
OverlapSame years; not influence
Kofi Annanturned 65 this year
Margaret Thatcherturned 78 this year
Nelson Mandelaturned 85 this year
Ronald Reaganturned 92 this year
Steve Jobsturned 48 this year
Wangari Maathaiturned 63 this year
On This Day in History
9 EventsPope Celestine V Resigns
Pope Celestine V resigns from the papacy after only five months, the first pope to abdicate voluntarily. A hermit monk thrust unwillingly into the office, he could not endure the politics of the Roman Curia. Dante later placed him in Hell for his "great refusal."
Council of Trent Opens
The Council of Trent convenes in the city of Trent (modern Italy) as the cornerstone of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, launching an 18-year series of sessions that would redefine Catholic doctrine in response to the Protestant challenge.
Francis Drake Begins His Circumnavigation
Sir Francis Drake departs Plymouth, England, on his voyage that would make him the second person — and first Englishman — to circumnavigate the globe, returning nearly three years later laden with Spanish treasure.
Massachusetts Bay Militia Founded
The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes several militia regiments for defense against Pequot attacks, an event recognized as the founding of the United States National Guard, making it one of America's oldest military institutions.
Abel Tasman Sights New Zealand
Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first documented European to sight the coastline of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. His expedition was the first to sight both New Zealand and Fiji.
Battle of Fredericksburg: Union Assault on Marye's Heights
Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee repel wave after wave of Union infantry assaulting the stone wall at the base of Marye's Heights. Over 6,000 Union soldiers fall in a single afternoon, making Fredericksburg one of the most lopsided Confederate victories of the Civil War.
Nanking Massacre Begins
Japanese forces capture the Chinese capital of Nanjing (Nanking) and begin a six-week campaign of mass murder, rape, and looting. Estimates of those killed range from 100,000 to over 300,000 — one of the worst atrocities of the Second World War.
Battle of the River Plate
The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee engages three British cruisers off Uruguay in the Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval action of World War II. The Graf Spee was scuttled by its captain four days later.
Martial Law Declared in Poland
General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law across Poland, suspending the Solidarity trade union movement and arresting its leader Lech Wałęsa along with thousands of activists. The crackdown failed to extinguish Solidarity, which eventually helped bring down Communist rule.
Born on This Day
Taylor Swift
American Singer-Songwriter
One of the best-selling music artists of all time, Swift began her career as a country prodigy before reinventing herself repeatedly across pop, indie folk, and alternative genres. She is the only artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year four times, and her Eras Tour became the highest-grossing concert tour in history.
Dick Van Dyke
American Actor, Singer & Comedian
Van Dyke is one of the few entertainers to have achieved major success in television, film, and live performance across more than seven decades. His physical comedy and charm defined The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), while his role in Mary Poppins (1964) made him a beloved figure for generations of children.
Heinrich Heine
German Poet & Literary Critic
One of the most important German poets of the nineteenth century, Heine's lyric verses were set to music by Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. His political wit and satirical prose made him one of the most widely read German writers of his era; his books were among the first burned by the Nazis.
Werner von Siemens
German Engineer & Industrialist
Siemens made fundamental advances in telegraphy, developed the first electric elevator, and built one of the world's first electric railways. The company he founded, Siemens AG, grew into one of the largest industrial corporations in history. The SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens, is named in his honor.
Christopher Plummer
Canadian Actor
One of the most distinguished stage and screen actors of his generation, Plummer's career spanned seven decades and included his iconic role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965). He became the oldest Academy Award winner in history when he won Best Supporting Actor for Beginners at the age of 82.
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Samuel Johnson
English Lexicographer & Poet
Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of English for over a century. His wit, moral seriousness, and command of prose made him the dominant figure of English literary culture in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Wassily Kandinsky
Russian-French Painter
Kandinsky is widely credited as the pioneer of abstract art, producing the first purely abstract paintings around 1910–1911. He theorized that color and form could express spiritual and emotional states directly, without reference to the visible world, a radical idea that reshaped Western art.
Donatello
Italian Renaissance Sculptor
Donatello was the greatest sculptor of the early Italian Renaissance, whose innovations — including the first free-standing nude since antiquity, the first equestrian statue since Rome, and the invention of the shallow relief technique (stiacciato) — set the terms for Western sculpture for centuries.
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