December 24

Events640 - John IV becomes Pope.1294 - Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had abdicated.1515 - Thomas Wolsey is named the English Lord Chancellor.1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook.1800 - Assassination attempt on Napoleon Bonaparte's life.1814 - The Treaty of Ghent was signed which ended the War of 1812.1818 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and Josef Mohr.1851 - Library of Congress burns.1865 - Several US Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.1888 - Vincent Van Gogh cuts off his ear during some sort of seizure.1906 - Radio: Reginald Fessenden  transmitted the first radio broadcast. The first program, consisted of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.1914 - World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.1924 - Albania becomes a republic.1929 - Assassination attempt of Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. 1941 - World War II: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army. 1941 - World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces. 1942 - World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates  Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers 1943 - World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.1946 - France's Fourth Republic founded.1951 - Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.1953 - Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapse at Tangiwai, New Zealand sends a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, killing 153 people.1953 - NBC's Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored television program.1954 - Laos becomes independent.1966 - A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.1968 - Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enter into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia. 1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's Marxist government.1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.1987 - Japanese legendary rock band BOØWY declares their breakup at the Shibuya Kokaido.1997 - The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.1997 - The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.2000 - The Texas 7 holds up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.2002 - The New Delhi Metro opens. 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.
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