Historical Events on December 24, Facts & Special Events On This Day - CalendarZ

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.

December 24 Birthdays

December 24 Deaths