TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 24
1812 Joel Barlow, aged 58, American poet and lawyer, dies from exposure near Vilna, Poland, during Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Barlow was on a diplomatic mission to the emperor for President Madison.
1814 A treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, ending the War of 1812, is signed at Ghent, Belgium. The news does not reach the United States until two weeks later (after the decisive American victory at New Orleans).
1818 “Silent Night” was composed by Franz Joseph Gruber.
1851 A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes.
1865 The Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee.
1914 Christmas Truce begins
A much-studied event in war and peace studies, the Christmas Truce was a brief unofficial ceasefire between British and German troops along the Western Front of World War I.
1917 The Kaiser warns Russia that he will use “iron fist” and “shining sword” if peace is spurned.
1936 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California
1947 An estimated 20,000 communists, led by guerrilla General Markos Vafthiades proclaim the Free Greek Government in northern Greece. They issue a call to arms to establish the regime throughout the nation.
1955 NORAD’s Santa tracking service begins
1956 African Americans defy a city law in Tallahassee, Florida, and occupy front bus seats.
1966 A Soviet research vehicle soft-lands on the moon.
1968 The first pictures of an Earth-rise over the moon are seen as the crew of Apollo 8 orbits the moon.
1970 Nine GIs are killed and nine are wounded by friendly fire in Vietnam.
1979 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country’s Marxist government.
1992 President Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
2000 The “Texas 7,” seven convicts that had escaped a Texas prison, robbed a sports store in Irving, TX. The suspects killed Officer Aubrey Hawkins, stole $70,000, 25 weapons and clothing. The men had escaped on December 13.
2005 Chad declares a state of war against Sudan in the wake of the Dec. 18 attack on the town of Adre, in which approximately 100 people were killed.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
