25 December on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Forces of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, under the command of Wu Han, conquer the separatist Chengjia empire, reuniting China.

A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian.

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.

First documented sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.

Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his imperial title. Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.

Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.

Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.

The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

Eastern Emperor Leo V is murdered in a church of the Great Palace of Constantinople by followers of Michael II.

The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.

Sweyn Forkbeard takes control of the Danelaw and is proclaimed king of England.

Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland.

Henry III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II.

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

Coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.

Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily.

Eleven-year-old John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, promulgates the Golden Bull, a constitution for his empire.

The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch.

Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.

Pope Pius IV is elected, four months after his predecessor's death.

J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91, in Leipzig, based on Luther's 1524 Christmas hymn.

J. S. Bach leads the first performance of the Christmas cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110, making laughter audible in singing.

Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time.

Mapuches in Chile launch a series of surprise attacks against the Spanish starting the Mapuche uprising of 1766.

American Revolutionary War: General George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.

Northwest Indian War: General "Mad Anthony" Wayne and a 300 man detachment identify the site of St. Clair's 1791 defeat by the large number of unburied human remains at modern Fort Recovery, Ohio.

Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor.

Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.

The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.

The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of Jamaica's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom.

Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1,100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.

Pardons for ex-Confederates: United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans.

Wagner's Siegfried Idyll is first performed.

Disfellowshipped Adventist lay preacher Felix Manalo begins the new religious movement known as the Iglesia ni Cristo with the baptism of its first members.

The Royal Navy armed trawler Night Hawk sank after striking a mine, with the loss of six of her crew.

World War I: A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.

The National Protection War breaks out against the Empire of China, as military leaders Cai E and Tang Jiyao proclaim the independence of Yunnan and begin a campaign to restore the Republic.

B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burn copies of the Manusmriti in Mahad, Maharashtra, to protest its treatment of Dalit people.

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule, was formed in Hanoi.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, appointed commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 17, arrives at Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.

World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor.

The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. S. Moore, early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, killing Harry instantly and fatally wounding Harriette.

The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.

A fire at the Daeyeonggak Hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills 164 people.

EgyptAir Flight 864, a Boeing 707-366C, crashes on approach to Don Mueang International Airport, killing 71 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.

Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C, is hijacked and crashes in Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing 63 people.

Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.

British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb, the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.

The body of American child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found in her family's Boulder, Colorado, home. Her murder remains unsolved.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 310, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near Bejuma, Carabobo State, Venezuela, killing 22 people.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill officially adopting a new national anthem, with music by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov originally composed for the anthem of the Soviet Union.

The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing.

UTA Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou Airport in Benin, killing 141 people.

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

A Siberian tiger named Tatania escapes her exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo and attacks three people, killing one and injuring two more.

A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands.

Aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

Air Bagan Flight 011, a Fokker 100, crashes on approach to Heho Airport in Heho, Myanmar, killing two people.

An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.

A Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 carrying members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 92 people on board.

Twenty people are killed and thousands are left homeless by Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines.

An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital.

The James Webb Space Telescope is launched.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of its occupants.

Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (died 1727)

Justin Trudeau, Canadian educator and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada

Humphrey Bogart, American actor (died 1957)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (died 1948)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian poet and politician, 10th Prime Minister of India (died 2018)

Pope Pius VI (died 1799)

Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (died 2012)

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani politician, 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan

Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player (died 2024)

Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988)

Annie Lennox, Scottish singer-songwriter and pianist

Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959)

Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (died 1998)

Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (died 2010)

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukrainian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Ukraine

Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ and record producer

Gerhard Herzberg, German-Canadian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)

Íngrid Betancourt, Colombian political scientist and politician

Hanna Schygulla, German actress

Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer

Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founder of the American Red Cross (died 1912)

John IV Laskaris, Byzantine emperor (died 1305)

Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (died 1611)

Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboard player, songwriter, and producer

Cab Calloway, American singer-songwriter and bandleader (died 1994)

René Girard, French-American historian, philosopher, and critic (died 2015)

Ghislaine Maxwell, British socialite, former owner of the TerraMar Project, and sex offender.

Jimmy Buffett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (died 2023)

Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman and philanthropist (died 1965)

Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer, created The Twilight Zone (died 1975)

Karl Rove, American political strategist and activist

Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 2003)

Jeremy Strong, American actor

Princess Alexandra of Kent, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy

Emmanuel Amunike, Nigerian footballer and manager

Quentin Crisp, English author and illustrator (died 1999)

Emiliano Buendía, Argentine footballer

Louis Chevrolet, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Chevrolet (died 1941)

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (died 2004)

Orlando Gibbons, English organist and composer (died 1625)

Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer and manager

Conrad Hilton, American entrepreneur (died 1979)

Rusev, Bulgarian-American professional wrestler

Eric Gordon, American basketball player

Christina of Saxony, Queen consort of Denmark (died 1521)

Wilfried Singo, Ivorian footballer

Desireless, French singer and songwriter

Johann Adam Hiller, German composer and conductor (died 1804)

Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian educator, lawyer, and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (died 1946)

Joel Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager

Alannah Myles, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress

Ismail Merchant, Indian-English director and producer (died 2005)

Noel Redding, English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2003)

Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France (died 1445)

Tony Martin, American singer (died 2012)

Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (died 1675)

Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Caribbean-French violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1799)

Dick Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2019)

Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian race car driver and businessman (died 2024)

Malak Hifni Nasif, Egyptian poet and activist (died 1918)