December 24
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Events
- 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.
- 1851 - Library of Congress burns.
- 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.
- 1941 - World War II: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.
- 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.
- 1954 - Laos becomes independent.
- 1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
- 1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's Marxist government.
- 1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
Births
- 1166 - King John of England (d. 1216)
- 1389 - John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
- 1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (d. 1556)
- 1809 - Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
- 1905 - Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
Deaths
- 1524 - Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (b. 1469)
- 1863 - William Makepeace Thackeray, English novelist (b. 1811)
- 1865 - Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, English painter and writer (b. 1793)
- 1873 - Johns Hopkins, Baltimore philanthropist and businessman (b. 1795)
- 1980 - Karl Donitz, President of Germany (b. 1891)
