What happened on December 25 ?

274 - Roman Emperor Aurelian has a temple dedicated to Sol Invictus on the supposed day of the solstice and day of rebirth of the Sun.

800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1223 - St. Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.

1261 - John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.

1599 - The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.

1776 - George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of Great Britain's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.

1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

1837 - Battle of Okeechobee: United States forces defeat Seminole Indians.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

1868 - Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaido.

1914 - World War I: Known as the Christmas truce, German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily cease fire.

1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.

1926 - Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.

1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people.

1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is read on the radio for the first time (CBS radio).

1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores.

1941 - World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong.

1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.

1971 - In the longest game in NFL history (82m40s), the Miami Dolphins defeat the Kansas City Chiefs.

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, Northern Territory Australia.

1974 - Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.

1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat.

1987 - In one of the highest-rated episodes in Coronation Street history, Hilda Ogden leaves her home of 23 years to be a char to her doctor in the country.

1989 - Nicolae Ceau?escu, former communist dictator of Romania, and his wife Elena are condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

2003 - The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe which was released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.

2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14, 2005.