Important Historical Events Today, What Happened Today in History?
Today's Historical Events. What Happened This Day In History? Here is a chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened 25 December in history.
Historical Events on December 25
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 36 | Forces of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, under the command of Wu Han, conquer the separatist Chengjia empire, reuniting China. |
| 274 | A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian. |
| 333 | Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar. |
| 336 | First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome. |
| 350 | Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his imperial title. Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension. |
| 508 | Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius. |
| 597 | Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons. |
| 800 | The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. |
| 820 | Eastern Emperor Leo V is murdered in a church[8] of the Great Palace of Constantinople by followers of Michael II. |
| 1000 | The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary. |
| 1013 | Sweyn Forkbeard takes control of the Danelaw and is proclaimed king of England. |
| 1025 | Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland. |
| 1046 | Henry III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II. |
| 1066 | William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London. |
| 1076 | Coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland. |
| 1100 | Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. |
| 1130 | Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily. |
| 1261 | Eleven-year-old John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos. |
| 1492 | The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch. |
| 1553 | Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia. |
| 1559 | Pope Pius IV is elected, four months after his predecessor's death. |
| 1758 | Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time. |
| 1766 | Mapuches in Chile launch a series of surprise attacks against the Spanish starting the Mapuche uprising of 1766. |
| 1776 | George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day. |
| 1793 | General "Mad Anthony" Wayne and a 300 man detachment identify the site of St. Clair's 1791 defeat by the large number of unburied human remains at modern Fort Recovery, Ohio. |
| 1809 | Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor. |
| 1814 | Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay. |
| 1815 | The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance. |
| 1826 | The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening. |
| 1831 | The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of Jamaica's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom. |
| 1837 | Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1,100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. |
| 1868 | Pardons for ex-Confederates: United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans. |
| 1914 | A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. |
| 1915 | The National Protection War breaks out against the Empire of China, as military leaders Cai E and Tang Jiyao proclaim the independence of Yunnan and begin a campaign to restore the Republic. |
| 1927 | B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burn copies of the Manusmriti in Mahad, Maharashtra, to protest its treatment of Dalit people. |
| 1932 | A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people. |
| 1941 | Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, appointed commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 17,[32] arrives at Pearl Harbor. |
| 1941 | World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. |
| 1941 | Admiral Émile 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 | The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor. |
| 1950 | 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. |
| 1951 | A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. S. Moore, early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, killing Harry instantly and fatally wounding Harriette. |
| 1962 | The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. |
| 1963 | Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. |
| 1968 | Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. |
| 1968 | Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers. |
| 1976 | EgyptAir Flight 664, a Boeing 707-366C, crashes on approach to Don Mueang International Airport, killing 71 people. |
| 1977 | Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. |
| 1986 | Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C, is hijacked and crashes in Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing 63 people. |
| 1989 | Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. |
| 1991 | 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. |
| 1999 | Cubana de Aviación Flight 310, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near Bejuma, Carabobo State, Venezuela, killing 22 people. |
| 2003 | UTA Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou Airport in Benin, killing 141 people. |
| 2003 | The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing. |
| 2004 | The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. |
| 2012 | An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.[47] |
| 2012 | Air Bagan Flight 011, a Fokker 100, crashes on approach to Heho Airport in Heho, Myanmar, killing two people. |
| 2016 | A Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 carrying members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 92 people on board. |
| 2019 | Twenty people are killed and thousands are left homeless by Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines. |
| 2020 | An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital. |
| 2021 | The James Webb Space Telescope is launched. |
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