SomeFacts | December 25

On this day - December 25

36 — Forces of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, under the command ...

274 — A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor ...

333 — Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son ...

336 — First documented sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.

350 — Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced ...

508 — Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic ...

597 — Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in ...

800 — The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

820 — Eastern Emperor Leo V is murdered in a church of the Great ...

1000 — The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is ...

1013 — Sweyn Forkbeard takes control of the Danelaw and is proclaimed ...

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 ...

1076 — Coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.

1100 — Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in ...

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 ...

1356 — Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, promulgates the Golden Bull, a ...

1492 — The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, ...

1553 — Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the ...

1559 — Pope Pius IV is elected, four months after his ...

1724 — J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Gelobet seist du, ...

1725 — J. S. Bach leads the first performance of the Christmas ...

1758 — Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, ...

1766 — Mapuches in Chile launch a series of surprise attacks against ...

1776 — American Revolutionary War: General George Washington and the ...

1793 — Northwest Indian War: General "Mad Anthony" Wayne ...

1809 — Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a ...

1814 — Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land ...

1815 — The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing ...

1826 — The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy ...

1831 — The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of ...

1837 — Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads ...

1868 — Pardons for ex-Confederates: United States President Andrew ...

1870 — Wagner's Siegfried Idyll is first performed.

1914 — World War I: A series of unofficial truces occur across the ...

1915 — The National Protection War breaks out against the Empire of ...

1927 — B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burn copies of the Manusmriti ...

1932 — A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.

1941 — Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre ...

1941 — World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese ...

1941 — Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, appointed commander of the U.S. ...

1946 — The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is ...

1950 — The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British ...

1951 — A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. ...

1962 — The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear ...

1963 — Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus ...

1968 — Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are ...

1968 — Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful ...

1971 — A fire at the Daeyeonggak Hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills ...

1976 — EgyptAir Flight 864, a Boeing 707-366C, crashes on approach to ...

1977 — Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its ...

1986 — Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C, is hijacked and ...

1989 — Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae ...

1991 — Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union ...

1996 — The body of American child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was ...

1999 — Cubana de Aviación Flight 310, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near ...

2003 — The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express ...

2003 — UTA Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou ...

2004 — The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully ...

2007 — A Siberian tiger named Tatania escapes her exhibit at the San ...

2012 — Air Bagan Flight 011, a Fokker 100, crashes on approach to ...

2012 — An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, ...

2016 — A Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 carrying members of ...

2019 — Twenty people are killed and thousands are left homeless by ...

2020 — An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, occurs, leaving three ...

2021 — The James Webb Space Telescope is launched.

2024 — Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, ...