Historical Events on Christmas

Historical Events That Happened During Christmas

Everyone knows Christmas Day is all about tearing open presents, spending time with loved ones, gorging on lots of good food and celebrating the holiday spirit in general. Even though most of us have got the holiday thing down by now, some folks out there might not be

aware of some of the unusual and history-making events marking Christmas Day and Christmas Eve in

the past.A few of these notable episodes tie into the holidays,

while others have nothing to do with Christmas at all. So set the eggnog and gingerbread cookies aside for a

moment, and take a look back with us at some of the oddest and most important historical events that have

occurred on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Day, 1990, The Internet Gets Its First Test Run

• It’s hard to imagine that the internet hasn’t been around since the beginning of time, but it hasn’t. The internet actually got its first test run in 1990, on Christmas Day. It was a special moment, indeed, when info.cern.ch, the planet’s first web server, was up and running.

Washington Crosses the Delaware River in 1776

• General George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the evening of December 25th, 1776. Washington wanted to catch the Hessian mercenaries by surprise, in the midst of their holiday celebrations. He did. The general crushed the enemy and captured plenty of arms and prisoners at the same time.Washington and his men won an outstanding Christmas victory, which went down in the American history books

http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/

WWI Christmas Truce Soccer Games• One of the most amazing and bizarre things to happen

on Christmas Day came amidst the blood and carnage of the trench warfare so common to the battlefields of WWI. For several days, during the holiday celebrations, temporary ceasefires broke out between the British and German forces serving along the Western Front.


WWI Christmas Truce Soccer Games (cont.)

• Even though these men had been slaughtering each other only days, if not hours prior, some of them ventured across enemy lines and brought Christmas gifts with them. Groups of soldiers even sang carols withtheir enemies and played a few pickup games of soccer.War can often be brutal and strange, yet somehow peppered with acts of kindness.


USSR Invades Afghanistan in 1979

• Before the United States ever put forces on the ground in Afghanistan the Soviet Union fought a war in the country first. On December 24 and 25, 1979, the USSR began its deployment into the region. The Russians

and their allies chose this time of year because the rest of the world was busy celebrating Christmas, which delayed the diplomatic responses of the Western.


Isaac Newton Was Born on Christmas Day

famous “discovery” of gravitational forces, he was also a pioneering mathematician and researcher in the field of optics. The birth of this amazing man could even be considered a Christmas gift to mankind.

Sir Isaac Newton, the brilliant English scientist who first identified what gravity actually was, was born on Christmas Day in 1642 (according to the calendar being used at the time). In addition to his

Apollo 8 Reaches the Moon’s Orbit

• On Christmas Eve, 1968, the American manned space mission, Apollo 8, reached the moon’s orbit. Apollo 8 was the first piloted spacecraft of any kind to break free from the Earth’s orbit and then circle around another celestial body. In honor of the historic event, the astronauts aboard the ship sent out a special live Christmas Eve broadcast, complete with images of the Earth and the moon, along with readings from the book of Genesis.

Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns as Soviet President

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• Long before al-Qaeda was ever on the bad guy radar, the Soviet Union (Russia) was considered America’s most formidable enemy. That all changed back in the late 1980s, with the open policy of Glasnost.

Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns as Soviet President

• Glasnost led to more freedom, and the eventual disintegration of the Soviet Union. With the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the USSR and the chief architect of Glasnost, the trend became irreversible.

• http://lahistoriadeamerica3.blogspot.com/

Mikhail quit his post on December 25th, 1991. His political legacy changed the balance of world power forever.

President Andrew Johnson Pardons All Confederate Soldiers

• The American Civil War was a bloody affair. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians lost their lives in this epic struggle. When peace finally came, there was a lot of debate about wartime reparations, rebuilding the South, and what should be done with the Confederate soldiers.


President Andrew Johnson Pardons All Confederate Soldiers

• After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson decided to pardon most of the Confederate soldiers who applied for amnesty. Toward the end of his term, the president went even further. On Dec. 25, 1868, he pardoned every single Confederate military participant, thus helping heal a deeply wounded nation.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/civil-war-pardons.jpg

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