52ºc, New York
History Events on December 25
The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of the island's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom.
#Baptist_War
Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
#Second_Seminole_War
An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.
#Antonov_An-72
Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.
#Samuel_Marsden
First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.
#Christmas
Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily.
#Roger_II_of_Sicily
Coronation of Boles?aw II the Generous as king of Poland.
#Boles?aw_II_the_Generous
Eleven-year-old John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
#John_IV_Laskaris
Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
#Bayrak
The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
#Handel_and_Haydn_Society
George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.
#George_Washington
Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
#Battle_of_Tucapel
The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing.
#Beagle_2
Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
#Clovis_I
A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.
#Christmas_truce
Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
#Kilvenmani_massacre
Pope Pius IV is elected.
#Pope_Pius_IV
The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
#Stone_of_Scone
Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland.
#Mieszko_II_Lambert
The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
#Kingdom_of_Hungary
A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. S. Moore, early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, killing Harry instantly and fatally wounding Harriette.
#Murder_of_Harry_and_Harriette_Moore
World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
#World_War_II
UTAGE Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou Airport in Benin, killing 151 people.
#UTAGE_Flight_141
Sweyn Forkbeard takes control of the Danelaw and is proclaimed king of England.
#Sweyn_Forkbeard
Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.
#Augustine_of_Canterbury
Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
#Baldwin_I_of_Jerusalem
The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor.
#Nuclear_chain_reaction
Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
#Vetranio
Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor.
#Ephraim_McDowell
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
#Chester_W._Nimitz
The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch.
#Carrack
The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
#Soviet_Union
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
#1932_Changma_earthquake
Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time.
#Halley's_Comet
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
#Mikhail_Gorbachev
Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
#Apollo_program
The Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
#The_Coronation_of_Charlemagne
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
#Constantine_the_Great
Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
#Émile_Muselier
Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceau?escu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
#Romanian_Revolution
The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
#Huygens_(spacecraft)
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.
#Menachem_Begin
A Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 carrying members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 92 people on board.
#Tupolev_Tu-154
