Events Pre-1600 502 – Chinese emperor Xiao Yan names Xiao Tong his heir designate. 640 – Pope John IV is elected, several months after his predecessor's death. 759 – Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di. 971 – Battle of Ayn Shams: The Fatimids under Jawhar defeat the Qarmatians at the gates of Cairo, putting an end to the First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt. 1144 – The capital of the crusader County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. 1294 – Pope Boniface VIII is elected, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned. 1500 – A joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia.
1601–1900 1737 – 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. 1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook. 1800 – The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte. 1814 – Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. 1818 – The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria. 1846 – British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain. 1865 – Former Confederate officers Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones, and James Crowe form the Ku Klux Klan. 1868 – The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.
1901–present 1906 – Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech. 1913 – The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 striking workers families at a Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire". 1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins. 1918 – Region of Međimurje is captured by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Hungary. 1920 – Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian Armed Forces., The World at War. 1924 – Albania becomes a republic. 1929 – Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen. 1929 – A four alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. 1939 – World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. 1941 – World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces. 1941 – World War II: Benghazi is conquered by the British Eighth Army. 1942 – World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria. 1943 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord. 1944 – World War II: The Belgian Troopship Leopoldville was torpedoed and sank with the loss of 763 soldiers and 56 crew. 1945 – Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down. 1951 – Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya. 1952 – First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber. 1953 – 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. 1955 – A flood devastates California, killing 74 people across portions of the state. 1964 – 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. 1964 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three. 1966 – A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 111. 1968 – 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, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis. 1968 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20. 1969 – Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital. 1971 – LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91. 1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government. 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia. 1979 – The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre. 1983 – Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, Russia, killing 44 of the 49 people on board. 1994 – 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. 1996 – A Learjet 35 crashes into Smarts Mountain near Dorchester, New Hampshire, killing both pilots on board. 1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people. 1999 – 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). 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. 2005 – Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead. 2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400. 2018 – A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor. 2021 – Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.
Births Pre-1600 3 BC – Galba, Roman emperor (died 69) 1166 – John, King of England (died 1216) 1389 – John V, Duke of Brittany (died 1442) 1474 – Bartolomeo degli Organi, Italian musician (died 1539) 1475 – Thomas Murner, German poet and translator (died 1537) 1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian scholar (died 1567) 1520 – Martha Leijonhufvud, Swedish noble (died 1584) 1537 – Willem IV van den Bergh, Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen (died 1586) 1549 – Kaspar Ulenberg, German theologian (died 1617) 1588 – Constance of Austria (died 1631) 1596 – Leonaert Bramer, Dutch painter (died 1674) 1597 – Honoré II, Prince of Monaco (died 1662)
1601–1900 1625 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and theorist (died 1673) 1634 – Mariana of Austria (died 1696) 1679 – Domenico Sarro, Italian composer and educator (died 1744) 1698 – William Warburton, English bishop (died 1779) 1726 – Johann Hartmann, Danish composer (died 1793) 1731 – Julie Bondeli, Swiss salonist and lady of letters (died 1778) 1754 – George Crabbe, English priest, surgeon, and poet (died 1832) 1761 – Selim III, Ottoman sultan (died 1808) 1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (died 1831) 1797 – Carl Georg von Wächter, German jurist (died 1880) 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright (died 1855) 1809 – Kit Carson, American general (died 1868) 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator (died 1873) 1812 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German lawyer and jurist (died 1894) 1818 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist and brewer (died 1889) 1822 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (died 1888) 1822 – Charles Hermite, French mathematician (died 1901) 1827 – Alexander von Oettingen, German theologian and statistician (died 1905) 1837 – Empress Elisabeth of Austria (died 1898) 1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (died 1886) 1845 – George I of Greece (died 1913) 1865 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian, educator, and diplomat, founded the Askenazy school (died 1935) 1867 – Tevfik Fikret, Turkish poet and educator (died 1915) 1868 – Charles Harvey Bollman, American naturalist (died 1889) 1868 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher (died 1941) 1869 – Henriette Roland Holst, Dutch poet, playwright, and politician (died 1952) 1872 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (died 1927) 1875 – Émile Wegelin, French rower (died 1962) 1877 – Sigrid Schauman, Finnish painter and critic (died 1979) 1879 – Émile Nelligan, Canadian poet (died 1941) 1879 – Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (died 1952) 1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (died 1939) 1881 – Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer and critic (died 1946) 1882 – Hans Rebane, Estonian journalist and politician, 8th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1961) 1882 – Georges Legagneux, French aviator (died 1914)"Mort de Legagneux" La Revue Aérienne (July 25, 1914, p.400) via BnF; retrieved April 7, 2021 1883 – Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and producer (died 1945) 1885 – Paul Manship, American sculptor (died 1966) 1886 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-American actor, director, and producer (died 1962) 1887 – Louis Jouvet, French actor and producer (died 1951) 1887 – Axel Revold, Norwegian painter (died 1962) 1891 – Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky, Russian illustrator and painter (died 1970) 1892 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (died 1961) 1893 – Harry Warren, American pianist and composer (died 1981) 1894 – Georges Guynemer, French captain and pilot (died 1917) 1894 – Jack Thayer, American businessman and Titanic survivor (died 1945) 1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier and philanthropist (died 1978) 1895 – Noel Streatfeild, English author (died 1986) 1895 – Marguerite Williams, American geologist (died 1991) 1897 – Ville Pörhölä, Finnish shot putter and discus thrower (died 1964) 1897 – Väinö Sipilä, Finnish runner (died 1987) 1898 – Baby Dodds, American drummer (died 1959) 1900 – Joey Smallwood, Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Premier of Newfoundland (died 1991) 1900 – Hawayo Takata, Japanese-American teacher and master practitioner of Reiki (died 1980)
1901–present 1901 – Nina Negri, Argentine-French painter and engraver (died 1981) 1903 – Joseph Cornell, American sculptor and director (died 1972) 1903 – Ernst Krenkel, Polish-Russian geographer and explorer (died 1971) 1903 – Ava Helen Pauling, American humanitarian and activist (died 1981) 1904 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (died 2008) 1905 – Howard Hughes, American businessman, engineer, and pilot (died 1976) 1906 – Franz Waxman, German-American composer and conductor (died 1967) 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist and author (died 1989) 1910 – Ellen Braumüller, German javelin thrower and triathlete (died 1991) 1910 – Fritz Leiber, American author and poet (died 1992) 1910 – Max Miedinger, Swiss typeface designer, created Helvetica (died 1980) 1913 – Ad Reinhardt, American painter and academic (died 1967) 1914 – Ralph Marterie, Italian-American trumpet player and bandleader (died 1978) 1914 – Herbert Reinecker, German author and screenwriter (died 2007) 1918 – Dave Bartholomew, American bandleader, composer and arranger (died 2019) 1919 – Qateel Shifai, Pakistani poet and songwriter (died 2001) 1919 – Pierre Soulages, French artist (died 2022) 1920 – Franco Lucentini, Italian author and screenwriter (died 2002) 1920 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian-Russian lieutenant and navigator (died 1944) 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (died 1990) 1923 – George Patton IV, American general (died 2004) 1923 – William C. Schneider, American aerospace engineer (died 1999) 1924 – Lee Dorsey, American singer-songwriter (died 1986)