On This Day — 24 December

2000s

2021

Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.

Tatmadaw

2018

A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.

2018 Puebla helicopter crash

2008

The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

Lord's Resistance Army

2005

Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

Chad–Sudan relations

2003

The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

ETA (separatist group)

1900s

1999

Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).

Indian Airlines Flight 814

📅

1997

The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.

Sid El-Antri massacre

1996

A Learjet 35 crashes into Smarts Mountain near Dorchester, New Hampshire, killing both pilots on board.

Learjet 35

1994

Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.

Air France Flight 8969

1983

Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, Russia, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.

Aeroflot Flight 601

1979

The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre.

Ariane 1

1974

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.

Cyclone Tracy

1973

District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

District of Columbia Home Rule Act

1971

LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91.

LANSA Flight 508

1969

Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.

Umuahia

1968

Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.

Apollo program

1968

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736

1966

A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 111.

Canadair CL-44

1964

Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.

Vietnam War

1964

Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three.

Flying Tiger Line Flight 282

1955

A flood devastates California, killing 74 people across portions of the state.

1955 Yuba–Sutter floods

1953

Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.

Tangiwai disaster

1952

First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.

Handley Page Victor

1951

Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

Libya

1945

Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.

Sodder children disappearance

1944

World War II: The Belgian Troopship Leopoldville was torpedoed and sank with the loss of 763 soldiers and 56 crew.

SS Léopoldville (1928)

1943

World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1942

World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.

Monarchism in France

1941

World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.

Kuching

1941

World War II: Benghazi is conquered by the British Eighth Army.

Benghazi

1939

World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

World War II

1929

Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

Argentina

1929

A four alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C.

West Wing

1924

Albania becomes a republic.

Albania

1920

Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian Armed Forces.

Gabriele D'Annunzio

1918

Region of Međimurje is captured by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Hungary.

1918 occupation of Međimurje

1914

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

World War I

1913

The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 striking workers families at a Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".

Italian Hall disaster

1906

Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

Reginald Fessenden

1800s

1871

The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt.

Aida

1868

The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.

Presidential Guard (Greece)

1865

Former Confederate officers Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones, and James Crowe form the Ku Klux Klan.

Ku Klux Klan

1846

British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain.

Crown Colony of Labuan

📅

1826

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

Eggnog riot

1818

The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria.

Silent Night

1814

Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

United Kingdom

1800

The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.

Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise

Before 1800

1777

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

Kiritimati

1737

The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.

Maratha Empire