Events
of the day
333
β Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest
son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
350 β Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia)
and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius
allows him to live as a private citizen on a state
pension.
496 β Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into
the Catholic faith at Rheims, by Saint Remigius.
800 β Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor,
in Rome.
1000 β The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary
is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I
of Hungary.
1066 β William the Conqueror is crowned king of England,
at Westminster Abbey, London.
1100 β Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King
of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.
1130 β Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first
King of Sicily.
1261 β John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman
Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler
Michael VIII Palaeologus.
1553 β Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro
defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the
governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
1643 β Christmas Island found and named by Captain
William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the
Royal Mary.
1776 β George Washington and the Continental Army
cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of
Great Britain's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New
Jersey.
1826 β The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military
Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
1837 β Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
1868 β U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional
pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
1914 β World War I: Known as the Christmas truce,
German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily
cease fire.
1926 β Emperor TaishΕ of Japan dies. His son, Prince
Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor ShΕwa.
1927 β The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
1932 β A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China
kills 275 people.
1941 β Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl
Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
1941 β World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning
the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong.
1941 β Admiral Γmile Muselier seizes the archipelago
of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first
part of France to be liberated by the Free French
Forces.
1946 β The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet
nuclear reactor F-1.
1947 β The Constitution of the Republic of China goes
into effect.
1950 β The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation
stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster
Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns
up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
1963 β Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting
in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded
from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
1965 β The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation
is founded in Taiz
1968 β Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very
first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver,
sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back
to Earth from Lunar orbit.
1968 β 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village,
Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for
higher wages by Dalit labourers.
1974 β Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory
Australia.
1974 β Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the
gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour
standoff.
1977 β Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets
in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat.
1989 β Nicolae CeauΕescu, former communist President
of Romania and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister
Elena are condemned to death and executed after a
flawed and summary trial.
1990 β The first successful trial run of the system
which would become the World Wide Web.
1991 β Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the
Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next
day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine
officially leaves the Soviet Union.
2000 β Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill
into law that officially establishes a new National
Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem
of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander
Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
2003 β The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from
the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears
shortly before its scheduled landing.
2004 β Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which
successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January
14, 2005.
2009 β Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts
a terrorist attack against the US while on board a
flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines
Flight 253
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Anastasia of Sirmium (Catholic Church)
December 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Christmas Day, Christian holiday commemorating the
birth of Jesus Christ. (International)
Constitution Day (Republic of China)
Malkh-Festival (Nakh peoples of Chechenya and Ingushetia)
Quaid-e-Azam's Day (Pakistan)
For details, contact Datacentre
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