On this day in History - Dec. 25

• 0004 -BC- Jesus of Nazareth religious leader/philosopher (estimated date) birth of Jesus, considered to be the Son of God (by Christians); also considered an ascetic prophet of Islam. The date of Jesus' birth is celebrated on several different days worldwide.
• 336 - A primeira celebração de Natal no dia 25 de dezembro ocorre em Roma.
• 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
• 1000 - Étienne, duc des Magyars est sacré roi de Hongrie.
• 1066 - William the Conqueror was crowned King of England.
• 1223- St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.
• 1582 - Zealand / Brabant adopts Gregorian calendar, yesterday was Dec 14th
• 1599- The city of Natal, capital of Grande Rio do Norte s founded.
• 1642 - Sir Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician ans astronomer (d. 1727)
• 1683 - L'Espagne déclare la guerre à la France
• 1761 - Elisabeth Petrovna, tsarina of Russia (1741-62), dies at about 51.
• 1776 -George Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised the Hessians.
• 1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" (Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria).
• 1818 - Handel's Messiah, US premieres in Boston
• 1830- Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic," premieres
• 1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Indians.
• 1821 - Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
• 1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.
• 1868 - Ezo Republic founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.
• 1899 - Humphrey Bogart, was born, actor (d. 1957)
• 1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The Christmas truce lasts for several days, depending on the location.
• 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City
• 1918 - Anwar Sadat, was born Egyptian president (d. 1981)
• 1926- Hirohito became emperor of Japan.
• 1931 - New York’s Metropolitan Opera broadcast an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck.
• 1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people
• 1941- during World War II, Japan announced the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong.
• 1943- Hanna Schygulla was born , actress
• 1946 - comedian W.C. Fields died in Pasadena, Calif., at age 66.
• 1946 - Constitution accepted in Taiwan
• 1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect
• 1949 - Sissy Spacek was born Actress.
• 1949 - Simone, was born , singer.
• 1950 -Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexican Poet (Nostalgia de la muerte), dies at 47.
• 1953 - Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand).
• 1954 - Annie Lennox, singer of Eurythmics was born this day.
• 1967 -Paul McCartney & Jane Asher get engaged .
• 1971 -Singer Dido was born.
• 1971 -Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
• 1971-Rock musician Noel Hogan (The Cranberries) was born.
• 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
• 1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia
• 1976 - Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
• 1976 -Takeo Fukuda becomes Japanese Premier
• 1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat
• 1977- British film actor, director, and producer Charlie Chaplin died in Switzerland at age 88.
• 1979 -Major restoration project for the sphinx starts in Egypt.
• 1980 - Reika Hashimoto, mannequin et actrice japonaise.
• 1983 - Joan Miró, Spanish surrealist painter, dies , (b. 1893)
• 1989 - Former baseball manager Billy Martin died in a traffic accident in Fenton, N.Y.
• 1989 - Former Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were executed.
• 1991 - President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
• 1994 - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a Jerusalem bus stop, injuring a dozen other people.
• 1994 -Pope John Paul II, in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message, bemoaned "selfishness and violence" around the world.
• 1995 - Dean Martin, singer, actor (b. 1917)
• 1999-Space shuttle Discovery’s astronauts finished their repair job on the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 1999-A Cuban airplane crashed in northern Venezuela, killing all 22 aboard.
• 2002 - New Delhi Metro was introduced.
• 2003 -Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf survived a second assassination bid in 11 days, but 17 other people were killed.
• 2003 - A plane crashed after taking off from Benin, killing at least 130 of the 161 people aboard.
• 2003- Sixteen people were killed by mudslides that swept over campgrounds in California’s San Bernardino Valley.
• 2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which will land on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14 , 2005.