Events on December 25 46
Events on this day include: A temple for Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian. (274); Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar. (333); First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome. (336).
See the full December 25 overview.
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
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.
Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.
Emperor Leo V is assassinated in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople and is succeeded by Michael II.
The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch.
Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
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.
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.
Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.
The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of the island's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom.
Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans.
A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
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.
The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor.
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.
The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
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.
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.
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.
Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
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.
UTAGE Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou Airport in Benin, killing 151 people.
The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing.
The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.