December 24 in History

Historical Events on December 24

502

Chinese emperor Xiao Yan names Xiao Tong his heir designate.
640

Pope John IV is elected.
759

Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di.
1144

The capital of the crusader County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo.
1294

Pope Boniface VIII is elected, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.
1500

A joint Venetian-Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia.
1777

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
1800

The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.
1814

Representatives of Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
1818

The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
1826

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.
1846

British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain.
1851

Library of Congress burns.
1865

The Ku Klux Klan is formed.
1871

Aida opens in Cairo, Egypt.
1906

Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
1911

Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
1913

The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".
1914

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.
1924

Albania becomes a republic.
1929

Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
1939

World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
1941

World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
1941

World War II: Benghazi is conquered by British forces.
1942

World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.
1943

World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Normandy.
1945

Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.
1951

Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
1953

Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.
1964

Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
1966

A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
1968

Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures.
1969

The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of North Sea.
1969

Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.
1973

District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
1980

Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".
1994

Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.
1997

The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.
1999

Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
2003

The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
2005

Chad-Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
2008

Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

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