History Events on December 24

Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures.

#Apollo_program

British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain.

#Crown_Colony_of_Labuan

Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

#Radio

Chad-Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

#Chad-Sudan_relations

A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor

#Martha_Érika_Alonso

World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Normandy.

#Dwight_D._Eisenhower

Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.

#Air_France_Flight_8969

Jonathan Shank and Barry Ownby form The Ku Klux Klan.

#Ku_Klux_Klan

Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

#Argentina

Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

#Libya

The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".

#Italian_Hall_disaster

The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.

#Plot_of_the_rue_Saint-Nicaise

World War II: Benghazi is conquered by British forces.

#Benghazi

Chinese emperor Xiao Yan names Xiao Tong his heir designate.

#Emperor_Wu_of_Liang

A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.

#Canadair_CL-44

The capital of the crusader County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo.

#Crusades

Emperor Leo V is assassinated in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople and is succeeded by Michael II.

#Leo_V_the_Armenian

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.

#ETA_(separatist_group)

District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

#District_of_Columbia_Home_Rule_Act

First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.

#Handley_Page_Victor

Pope Boniface VIII is elected, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.

#Pope_Boniface_VIII

Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

#Lord's_Resistance_Army

The Opera Aida opens in Cairo, Egypt.

#Aida

Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di.

#Tang_dynasty

Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

#Rendlesham_Forest_incident

Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

#Lackawanna_Cut-Off

The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.

#Library_of_Congress

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

#World_War_I

The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.

#Presidential_Guard_(Greece)

The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

#Silent_Night

Albania becomes a republic.

#Albania

Representatives of Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

#Treaty_of_Ghent

Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.

#Umuahia

Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.

#Vietnam_War

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

#Kiritimati

Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian armed forces.

#Gabriele_D'Annunzio

World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.

#Fernand_Bonnier_de_La_Chapelle

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.

#Cyclone_Tracy

The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.

#Maratha_Empire

World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

#World_War_II

World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.

#Kuching

Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).

The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.

Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.

Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

A joint Venetian-Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia.

Pope John IV is elected.