A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, December 25th!
| 336 | The first recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 took place in Rome.  |
| 1066 | William the Conqueror was crowned king of England. |
| 1621 | The governor of New Plymouth prevents newcomers from playing cards. |
| 1651 | The General Court of Boston levies a five shilling fine on anyone caught “observing any such day as Christmas.” |
| 1776 | Patriot General George Washington crosses the Delaware River with 5,400 troops during the American Revolution. Washington hoped to surprise a Hessian force celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. |
| 1818 | “Silent Night” was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.  |
| 1821 | Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was born in Oxford, Mass. |
| 1862 | John Hunt Morgan and his raiders clash with Union forces near Bear Wallow, Kentucky. |
| 1868 | President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to everyone involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War. |
| 1912 | Italy lands troops in Albania to protect its interests during a revolt there. |
| 1914 | German and British troops on the Western Front declare an unofficial truce to celebrate Christmas during World War I. |
| 1918 | A revolt erupts in Berlin. |
| 1925 | U.S. troops in Nicaragua disarm insurgents in support of the Diaz regime. |
| 1926 | Hirohito became emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito. |
| 1927 | The Mexican congress opens land to foreign investors, reversing the 1917 ban enacted to preserve the domestic economy. |
| 1939 | Finnish troops enter Soviet territory. |
| 1941 | Free French troops occupy the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the Canadian coast. |
| 1944 | Prime Minister Winston Churchill goes to Athens to seek an end to the Greek civil war. |
| 1946 | Chiang Kai-shek offers a new Chinese constitution in Nanking pledging universal suffrage. |
| 1950 | Scottish nationalists steal the Stone of Scone from the British coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485 pound stone was recovered in April 1951.  |
| 1962 | The Bay of Pigs captives, upon their return to the United States, vow to return to Cuba and topple Fidel Castro. |
| 1965 | Entertainer Chris Noel gives her first performance for the USO at two hospitals in California, she will eventually entertain in Vietnam. |
| 1973 | U.S. astronauts onboard the Skylab space station take a seven-hour walk in space and photograph the comet Kohoutek. |
| 1976 | Over 100 Muslims, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, die when their boat sinks. |
| 1977 | Comedian Charlie Chaplin died at age 88. |
| 1979 | Egypt begins major restoration of the Sphinx. |
| 1989 | Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed.  |
| 1991 | Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s first and last executive president, resigns. The Soviet Union no longer exsists. |
| 2006 | James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul”, dies at age 73. |
| 2009 | Passengers aboard a Northwest Airlines flight foiled an attempt to blow up the plane as it was landing in Detroit by seizing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian accused of trying to set off explosives in his underwear. |
Today in history facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.
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