Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
On this day in 563, the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) was dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes. In 1476 on this day, 400 Burgundian soldiers froze to death during the siege of Nancy. Thomas Wolsey was appointed English Lord Chancellor on this day in 1515. The Compromise of the Nobles closed against the Inquisition on this day in 1565. On this day in 1651, Jan van Riebeeck departed for the Cape of Good Hope. Russia & England signed the Second anti-French Coalition on this day in 1798. On this day in 1799, the Jacobins plot against Napoleon was uncovered. On this day in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, and officially put an end to the US-Britain's War of 1812, although one of the most famous battles would take place in new Orleans, before the two fighting sides were aware of the peace deal. In 1851 on this day a fire destroyed much of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. This included about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including most of Thomas Jefferson's personal library, sold to the institution in 1815. Several Confederate veterans formed the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee, on this day in 1865. Austria-Hungary admitted King Leopold II's Congo Free State on this day in 1884. In 1904 on this day, German South West Africa abolished slavery of young children. Laos gained its independence on this day in 1954. In 1979 on this day, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. In 1992 on this day, President George H.W. Bush (Senior) pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. On this day in 1994, Islamic terrorists hijacked a French plane (Air France Flight 8969) in Algiers, Algeria, with the intention of detonating the plane over either the Eiffel Tower or the Tour Montparnasse in Paris.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
• On this day in 563, the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) was dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
• 640 - John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
• 1046 - Pope Clement II, [Suitger] elected
• 1294 - Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani chosen as Pope Boniface VIII
• In 1476 on this day, 400 Burgundian soldiers froze to death during the siege of Nancy. Thomas Wolsey was appointed English Lord Chancellor on this day in 1515. The Compromise of the Nobles closed against ithe Inquisition on this day in 1565.
• 1568 - Uprising of Morisco's in Granada
• 1593 - Storm hits Texel: 40 ships hit, 500 killed
The statue of Johan Van Riebeeck on Heerengracht Street in Cape Town, South Africa. It was donated by Cecil John Rhodes at the location where Van Riebeek came to shore at the Cape. His back is to the Atlantic Ocean, and he is facing Table Mountain, and the land which would soon become his colony.
• On this day in 1651, Jan van Riebeeck departed for the Cape of Good Hope.
• 1715 - Swedish troops occupy Norway
• 1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook
• Russia & England signed the Second anti-French Coalition on this day in 1798.
• On this day in 1799, the Jacobins plot against Napoleon was uncovered.
• On this day in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, and officially put an end to the US-Britain's War of 1812, although one of the most famous battles would take place in New Orleans, before the two fighting sides were aware of the peace deal.
Dec 24, 1814: War of 1812 ends The Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America is signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory was to be returned, and commissions were planned to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.
• Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for "Silent Night" to words written by Josef Mohr on this day in 1818.
• 1828 - William Burke who, with his partner William Hare, dug up the dead and murdered to sell the corpses for dissection, went on trial in Edinburgh.
• 1832 - 1st US Negro hospital founded by whites chartered, Savannah, Georg
British Botanist Charles Darwin
• 1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Wigwam Bay at Cape Receiver
• In 1851 on this day a fire destroyed much of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. This included about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including most of Thomas Jefferson's personal library, sold to the institution in 1815.
Captain/Explorer James CookCaptain/Explorer James Cook 1860 - Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle," premieres in NYC
A statue in Flemington, New Jersey, honoring veterans of the American Civil War.
• On this day in 1864 during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gordonsville, Virginia, was fought.
• 1865 - Several Confederate veterans form Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tn
1871 - Giusseppi Verdi's "Aida" premieres in Cairo, at Suez canal opening
1874 - Pope Pius IX proclaims a jubilee for 1875
1884 - Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1889 - Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake
• 1893 - Henry Ford completes his 1st useful gas motor
• 1894 - Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm
1894 - Soccer team Achilles '94 forms in Axes
1898 - Herman Heijermans' "Ghetto," premieres in Amsterdam
1900 - Herman Heijermans' "Hope of Blessing" premieres in Amsterdam
• 1904 - German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children
1906 - Reginald A Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio (Mass)
1910 - Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain
Ford Motor Company Founder Henry FordFord Motor Company Founder Henry Ford 1912 - Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards
• In 1914 on this day during World War I, the first air raid on Britain was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on the grounds of a rectory in Dover.
1920 - Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (NYC)
1922 - BBC sends 1st British radio play "Truth about Father Christmas"
1922 - London Coloseum opens
1924 - 1st radio transmission of NCRV in Netherlands
• 1924 - Albania becomes a republic (ex-premier Ahmed Zogoe's coup)
1924 - Richard Rodgers Theater (46th St Chanin's) opens at 226 W 46th NYC
1924 - School in Babb's Switch, Oklahoma catches fire, 36 die
1927 - Test Cricket debut of Walter Hammond, who scored 51 & took 5-36 v S Af
1928 - George Abbott Theater (Adelphi, 54 St) opens at 152 W 54th St NYC
1930 - Bandung, Java: ir Sukarno 4 years jail sentenced
1930 - F Garcia Lorca's "La Zapatera Prodigiosa," premieres in Madrid
• 1932 - Arturo Alessandri wins presidental election in Chile
• 1933 - Paris express train derails & kills 160, injures 300 (France)
1934 - Grimmett takes 9-180 for SA as Queensland make 430
1935 - Bradman scores 233 in 191 mins, SA v Queensland, 28 fours 1 six
• 1935 - National Council of Negro Women forms
1936 - 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered, Berkeley, Ca
1937 - Dutch government recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia
1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
• 1941 - 1st ships of admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor-fleet return to Japan
• 1942 - 1st powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemunde, Germany
• 1942 - Red army occupies German airports at Tasjinskaja & Morozowsk
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.
General Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
• On this day in 1943 during World War II, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower to be Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe as part of Operation Overlord.
1943 - Terence Rattigan's "While the Sun Shines," premieres in London
Le Drapeau Tricolore (Tricour Flag) which was a product of the French Revolution, and which remains the national flag of France to this day.
• The Fourth French Republic was officially established on this day in 1946.
• 1946 - US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor Nazis" amnesty
1946 - France's Fourth Republic is founded.
1948 - 1st US house completely sunheated is occupied (Dover Mass)
• 1948 - Greek government disbands due to state of war, press censorship
• 1951 - United Kingdom of Libya gains independence from Italy via UN
• 1953 - 2 fast express trains crash head-on killing 103 (Czechoslovakia)
• 1953 - René Coty elected pres of France
1953 - Wellington-Auckland (NZ) express train swept away in flood kills 166
1954 - Council for the Children Protection forms in Neth
• 1954 - Laos gains its independence
1956 - "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
• 1956 - Ferdinand de Lesseps statue blown up in Port Said Egypt
1960 - Dutch bishops question papacy values
1961 - Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1963 - Greek & Turks riot in Cyprus
1964 - Shooting begins on "The Cage" the pilot for Star Trek
1966 - "Joyful Noise" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 12 perfs
1966 - Luna 13 lands on Moon
1966 - USAF C144 military charter crashes near Binh Thai Vietnam kills 129
1967 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1967 - Pirate Radio Pegasus starts broadcasting off New Zealand
1968 - Apollo 8 astronauts read passages from Book of Genesis
• 1968 - Three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon.
1968 - WATU (now WAGT) TV channel 26 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1970 - 9 Jews are convicted in Leningrad of hijacking a plane
1970 - Walt Disney's "Aristocats" is released
1971 - Peruvian Airlines Electra crashes at headwaters of Amazon, killing all except Juliane Margaret Koepcke found 10 days later
1973 - Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
• 1973 - District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974 - Cardinals' Lou Brock is named Sportsman of the Year
1979 - 1st Ariane-rocket launched
• On this day in 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country's Marxist government.
1980 - Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - Chaminade, with a student body of only 850 students, beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic
• 1984 - Palace coup in Mauritania
1986 - French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released
• 1986 - Iran offensive against Iraqi islands of Shatt al-Arab
• 1989 - Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe
• 1989 - Panama's dictator, Manual Noriega seeks asylum at Vatican embassy
1990 - Expos trade Tim Raines to White Sox for Ivan Calderon & Barry Jones
1990 - Saddam says Israel will be Iraq's 1st target
The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)
• In 1991 in this day, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the last official leader of that nation and former superpower, which was on the brink of dissolution.
• 1992 - Pres Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of Iran-contra affair
• On this day in 1994, four Islamic extremists hijack Air France Flight 8969 in Algiers. The terrorists then flew the plane to Marseilles with the permission of the French and Algerian governments, given in part because French special forces would be ready to perform a rescue mission. More than two days after the terrorists took control of the plane, during which time they killed three hostages, French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur decided to use French commandos to put an end to the hijacking. In the ensuing mission, the terrorists were killed and the remaining hostages were released unharmed, despite the discovery of a cache of dynamite aboard the plane. Hostages claimed that the terrorists had discussed plans to fly the plane to Paris and blow it up, with one of the specific plans being to crash and explode it by the Eiffel Tower, in hopes of destroying the iconic monument.
The hijacking came during a period of political upheaval in Algeria that pitted Islamic rebels against the country's military dictatorship. France, along with other Western countries, supported the dictatorship to prevent the takeover of the country by Islamic fundamentalist. The hijacking was designed as a protest against this support. The brutal Algerian civil war, which began in 1992, when the Algerian army cancelled an election that the Islamic party was winning, continues to this day. Although the violence died down to a certain extent in 1999 when Abdelaziz Bouteflika--who promised reform and end to the war--was elected president, fighting still breaks out periodically. Despite the resistance of Islamic fundamentalist groups, the army has maintained power. Over 100,000 people have died in the fighting, most of them citizens who were brutally murdered by the regime.
• 1997 - 1st time a Channukah candle is officially lit in Vatican City
• 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.
• 1999 - Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bédié was overthrown in a coup.
• 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.
• 2012 - 11 kindergarten children are killed after a minivan plunges into a roadside pond
1851 - A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes. 1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan. 1906 - Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, MA. 1928 - The first broadcast of "The Voice of Firestone" was heard. 1944 - The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of "The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-To-The-Bar-Ranch" on ABC Radio. 1944 - A German submarine torpedoed the Belgian transport ship S.S. Leopoldville with 2,235 soldiers aboard. About 800 American soldiers died. The soldiers were crossing the English Channel to be reinforcements at the battle that become known as the Battle of the Bulge. 1948 - For the first time ever, a midnight Mass was broadcast on television. It was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. 1948 - The first completely solar-heated house became occupied in Dover, MA. 1951 - NBC-TV presented, "Amal and the Night Visitors," the first opera written for television. 1951 - Libya achieved independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, under King Idris. 1965 - A meteorite landed on Leicestershire. It weighed about 100lbs. 1966 - Luna 13 landed on the moon. 1967 - Joe Namath (New York Jets) became the first NFL quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards. 1968 - The crew of the U.S. Navy ship, Pueblo, was released by North Korea. The Captain of the Pueblo, Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, and 82 of his crew were held for 11 months after the ship was seized by North Korea because of suspected spying by the Americans. 1968 - Three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon. 1981 - Reggie Jackson announced that he would join Gene Autry’s California Angels for the 1982 season. 1981 - In Eastern Kazakh/Semipalatinsk, the Soviet Union performed a nuclear test. 1985 - Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, announced that he was a non-smoker. 1989 - Ousted Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega took refuge at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City. 1990 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married. 1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal. 1997 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "Carlos the Jackal," was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national. 1998 - At Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, a tourist was hit by a piece of flying metal while waiting to board a ride. The man's wife and a Disneyland employee were also injured. Luan Phi Dawson died December 26th from his injuries. 1999 - An Indian Airplines plane was seized during a flight from Katmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi. In Afghanistan, the 150 hostages were freed on December 31 after India released three Kashmir militants from prison. 2000 - 36 minutes after the end of a game, both the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins were called back to the playing field. The teams had to play the final 3 seconds of the game which the Dolphins had won 27-24. The end result did not change. 2000 - The "Texas 7," seven convicts that had escaped a Texas prison, robbed a sports store in Irving, TX. The suspects killed Officer Aubrey Hawkins, stole $70,000, 25 weapons and clothing. The men had escaped on December 13.
1524 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama died in Cochin, India. 1814 The War of 1812 between America and Britain ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. 1818 "Silent Night" was composed by Franz Joseph Gruber. 1865 The Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee. 1871 Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida premiered in Cairo, Egypt, at the opening of the Suez Canal. 1992 President Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec24.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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