This Day in History…

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24 December

1814 - Great Britain and America sign the Treaty of Ghent, officially ending the War of 1812. Unfortunately, due to the slow speed of the news, a costly (to the British) battle was fought just two weeks later.

1914 - The Christmas Truce: Various French, British, and German units unofficially agree to a ceasefire. They visit each other's trenches, sing carols, and even play football (soccer). They also conduct prisoner swaps and bury the dead, many of which have been lying in no-man's-land for days. The brief lull in the fighting only lasted approximately two days. In the following three years, commanders forbid such truces but a few are still held secretly.
 
25 December

1 - Jesus is born in Bethlehem - Merry Christmas!

800 - Charlemagne is crowned first Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

1000 - Stephen of Hungary is crowned first king of Hungary.

1066 - William the Conqueror is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1776 - George Washington's army crosses the Delaware to attack the Hessian troops at Trenton.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR.
 
26 December

1776 - George Washington and part of the Continental army take the Hessian garrison at Trenton by surprise. Hessian casualties are 918; American casualties are 7, two from hypothermia while marching barefoot in the snow.

1944 - Battle of the Bulge: sudden good weather allows General George Patton's Third Army to break through the German line around Bastogne, relieving the siege. Patton attributed the miraculous change of weather to the prayer written by Chaplain James O'Neill, which he had had distributed to every soldier in his army.
https://www.fpparchive.org/media/do...O'Neill_January 12, 2004_The New American.pdf

1991 - The USSR is dissolved.
 
27 December

1845 - Dr. Crawford Long makes use of ether anesthetic during childbirth for the first time. The patient is his wife. This is the second time that ether was used during a medical procedure, the first time being when Dr. Long removed a cyst from a friend's neck.
 
29 December

1170 - St Thomas Becket is murdered at the foot of the altar in his cathedral by four henchmen of King Henry II of England.

1812 - USS Constitution captures HMS Java after a three hour battle.

USS Constitution (Captain William Bainbridge): 9 killed, 25 wounded
HMS Java (Captain Henry Lambert): 83 wounded, 57 killed including Capt. Lambert

1940 - London burns again as incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe kill 160 civilians and start more than 1,000 fires. 14 firefighters are also killed.

2024 - Jimmy Carter, the 39th president dies; he was the longest living president in American history.
 

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