887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.Reuter, Timothy (trans.) The Annals of Fulda. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992. p. 121
1481 – Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, attacks an armed mob of people from nearby Utrecht who were trying to avenge the massacre of the inhabitants of Westbroek.
1704 – Second Battle of Anandpur: In the Second Battle of Anandpur, Aurangzeb's two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan executed two children of Guru Gobind Singh, Zorawar Singh aged eight and Fateh Singh aged five, by burying them alive into a wall.
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh (2025). 9780857735492, I.B.Tauris. . ISBN 9780857735492
1709 – The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice.Dean, Winton; and J. Merrill Knapp (1995), Handel's Operas, 1704–1726 (Revised edition). p. 128. Clarendon Press, Oxford. .
1723 – Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army under General George Washington executes a successful surprise attack and defeats a garrison of Hessian forces serving Great Britain.
David Hackett Fischer (2025). 9780195181593, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780195181593
1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
Evelyne Lever (2025). 9780312283339, St. Martin's Griffin. . ISBN 9780312283339
1793 – Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeats Austria.
William H. Van Husen (2025). 9781598849806, ABC-CLIO. . ISBN 9781598849806
1799 – Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills 72 people, including the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
Meredith Henne Baker (2025). 9780807143742, Louisiana State University Press. . ISBN 9780807143742
1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed.
1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.
(2009). 9783764398934, Springer Science & Business Media. . ISBN 9783764398934
1860 – First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world.
1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus easing tensions between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
William L. Barney (2025). 9780199782017, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780199782017
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins as Union General William T. Sherman starts landing his troops in an attempt to advance on Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Terry L. Jones (2025). 9780810878112, Scarecrow Press. . ISBN 9780810878112
1862 – Dakota War of 1862: The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history takes place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native American prisoners are hanged.
1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts.
Gayden Wren (2025). 9780195301724, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780195301724
1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.
1926 – World premiere of Jean Sibelius's tone poem Tapiola.
1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
1941 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.
1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.
1968 – The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.
1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach number, goes into service.
1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".
1989 – United Express Flight 2415 crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all six people on board.
1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.
1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
1999 – The storm Cyclone Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
2003 – The 6.6 Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX ( Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured.
2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX ( Violent). One of the largest observed , it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.
2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
2006 – Two earthquakes in Hengchun, Taiwan measuring 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale kill two and disrupt telecommunications across Asia.
2012 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.
2015 – A violent EF-4 tornado hits Garland, Texas, killing nine and injuring almost 500 others.
2021 – Three people are killed when a 13-year-old opens fire on civilians at a Texaco convenience store in Garland, Texas.
1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (born 1851)
1933 – Mary Ann Bevan, English nurse who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world" (born 1874)
1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (born 1875)
1933 – Henry Watson Fowler, English lexicographer and educator (born 1858)
1959 – Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager (born 1890)
1960 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese historian and philosopher (born 1889)
1981 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (born 1887)
1981 – Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Turkish politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1903)
1981 – Savitri, Indian actress, playback singer, dancer, director and producer (born 1936)
1983 – Hans Liska, Austrian-German artist (born 1907)Manfred H. Grieb: Liska, Hans. In: Nürnberger Künstlerlexikon: Bildende Künstler, Kunsthandwerker, Gelehrte, Sammler, Kulturschaffende und Mäzene vom 12. bis zur Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Walter de Gruyter, 2011, , p. 930 ( books.google.de – preview).
1986 – Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress (born 1902)
1987 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist, curator at the American Museum of Natural History (born 1916)
Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances:
Day of Good Will (South Africa and Namibia)
Family Day (Vanuatu)
Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)
Christian feast day:
Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)
Earliest day on which Holy Family can fall, celebrated on Sunday after Christmas or 30 if Christmas falls on a Sunday.
Saint Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland), and its related observances:
Father's Day (Bulgaria)
The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1 (United States)
The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day (The Bahamas)
The second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
Second day of Christmas (Public holiday in the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia)