Historical Events on 24 Dec

Historical Events on 24 Dec

1294 - Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had abdicated.
1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
1814 - The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812.
1851 - Library of Congress burns.
1865 - Several U.S. Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.
1906 - Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting 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 on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
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: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.
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 is founded.
1951 - Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
1953 - Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.
1958 - Cuba On December 24 and Blessed by the pope ["El Cristo de La Habana"] ][1]"(Havana's Christ) was erected for the first time. The marble sculpture is the work of Jilma Madera and its the biggest free standing sculpture made by a woman in the world.
1966 - A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
1968 - Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters 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 h
1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
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 Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's Marxist government.
1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
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 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.
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.
563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.