1776 – Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ.
0001 – 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
0274 – Roman Emperor Aurelian dedicates a temple to Sol Invictus on the supposed day of the winter solstice and day of rebirth of the Sun.
0390 – Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica
0496 – King Clovis I is baptized a Roman Catholic in Reims cathedral – first Germanic king to do so, according to Henry of Tours (year disputed)
0800 – Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III.
1066 – William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.
1223 – St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.
1261 – John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.
1482 – English King Edward IV holds a lavish Christmas feast for 2,000 people at Eltham Palace
1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and exetutes the governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia.
1621 – Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony (now in Massachusetts) forbids game playing on Christmas
1651 – Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine for “observing any such day as Christmas”
1776 – Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ.
1809 – First abdominal surgery performed. American physician Ephraim McDowell became the first person in recorded history to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. He is known as the father of ovariotomy and abdominal surgery. The procedure took about 30 minutes and was performed without any anesthesia.
1837 – Battle of Okeechobee – US forces defeat Seminole Indians
1848 – William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; later move to Boston where they become abolitionists
1868 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.
1896 – John Philip Sousa finally titled the melody “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
1914 – During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce and even playing football together on the Western Front.
1917 – The play “Why Marry?” opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. “Why Marry?” was the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize.
1926 – Hirohito became the emperor of Japan after the death of his father Emperor Taisho.
1932 – During King George V’s Christmas dinner speech his chair collapses
1937 – Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of “Symphony of the Air” over NBC radio.
1939 – Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th red-nosed reindeer https://www.npr.org/2015/12/25/461005670/the-history-of-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer
1941 – Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese.
1947 – Taiwan passes Human Rights laws (Day of Earth Law)
1950 – Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, stolen from Westminster Abbey & smuggled back to Scotland
1957 – Ed Gein found not guilty by reason of insanity for a series of murders
1962 – The Department of Commerce Census Clock in Washington, DC, recorded the U.S. population on this day as 188,000,000.
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to bombing operations in North Vietnam, hoping to spur peace talks
1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers
1971 – The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime. The Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The total game time was 82 minutes and 40 seconds.
1973 – Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise
1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
1979 – The USSR invaded Afghanistan in a bid to halt civil war and protect USSR interests. The airlift of Soviet troops into Afghanistan started a 9 year long war. The anti-Soviet insurgents, the mujahideen, received support from the United States and other western allies.
1987 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
1989 – Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and wife Elena were executed. The communist leader and his wife were deposed after a revolution. Their trial lasted for about an hour and then they were summarily executed by a firing squad.
1989 – Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.
1991 – Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
1996 – 1,500 year anniversary of Catholicism in France commemorating the baptism of Clovis I in Rheims
2000 – Over 300 people were killed and dozens were injured by fire at a Christmas party in the Chinese city of Luoyang. The incident occurred at the Dongdu Disco.
2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
2009 – Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing, China for “inciting subversion of state power”
2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253
2020 – An RV detonates in downtown Nashville, Tennessee causing damage to people and property; prior to detonating, a recorded message playing from speakers warned anyone in earshot to evacuate prior to an explosion
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
