Events on December 26 36
Year 887
Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.[1]
Year 1489
The forces of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, take control of Almería from the Nasrid ruler of Granada, Muhammad XIII.
Year 1776
American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian forces .
Year 1790
Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
Year 1799
Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen". (This is not to confused with Washington's funeral on December 18th.
Year 1806
Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
Year 1811
A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
Year 1825
Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I but are suppressed in the Decembrist revolt in Saint Petersburg.
Year 1860
The first ever inter-club English association football match takes place between Hallam and Sheffield football clubs in Sheffield.
Year 1861
American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Year 1862
Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
Year 1862
The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.
Year 1871
Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
Year 1919
Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.
Year 1941
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
Year 1943
World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
Year 1944
World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
Year 1948
Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
Year 1963
The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.
Year 1966
The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
Year 1972
Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
Year 1975
Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, went into service.
Year 1991
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
Year 1994
Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
Year 1998
Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
Year 1999
The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
Year 2003
The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured.
Year 2004
The 9.1-9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting the coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is between 230,000-280,000.
Year 2004
Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
Year 2009
China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.