On this day: December 24

Events on December 24

• 971 Battle of Ayn Shams: The Fatimids under Jawhar defeat the Qarmatians at the gates of Cairo, putting an end to the First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1500 A joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia. Wikipedia
• 1800 The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte. Wikipedia
• 1814 Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. Wikipedia
• 1871 Aida, one of Giuseppe Verdi's most popular operas, made its debut in Cairo, Egypt. Wikipedia
• 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". Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: British and German soldiers interrupted fighting to celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce . Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins. Wikipedia
• 1924 Albania becomes a republic. Wikipedia
• 1929 Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria. Wikipedia
• 1951 Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1964 The Viet Cong bombed the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, killing two U.S. Army officers and raising fears of an escalation of the Vietnam War. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1971 LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91. Wikipedia
• 1973 The U.S. Congress granted home rule to Washington, D.C., allowing the residents to elect their own mayor and a city council. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1997 The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people. Wikipedia
• 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). Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2021 Burmese military forces killed at least 40 civilians during the Mo So massacre in Kayah State, Myanmar. Wikipedia

Born on December 24

• 3 BC Galba, Roman emperor (died 69) Wikipedia
• 1166 John, King of England (died 1216) Wikipedia
• 1761 Selim III, Ottoman sultan (died 1808) Wikipedia
• 1798 Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright (died 1855) Wikipedia
• 1818 James Prescott Joule, English physicist and brewer (died 1889) Wikipedia
• 1822 Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (died 1888) Wikipedia
• 1837 Empress Elisabeth of Austria (died 1898) Wikipedia
• 1845 George I of Greece (died 1913) Wikipedia
• 1868 Emanuel Lasker, German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1894 Jack Thayer, American businessman and Titanic survivor (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1905 Howard Hughes, American businessman, engineer, and pilot (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1922 Ava Gardner, American actress (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1934 Stjepan Mesić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Croatia Wikipedia
• 1940 Anthony Fauci, American physician, Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Wikipedia
• 1943 Tarja Halonen, Finnish lawyer and politician, 11th President of Finland Wikipedia
• 1945 Lemmy, English hard rock singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1957 Hamid Karzai, Afghan politician, 12th President of Afghanistan Wikipedia
• 1961 Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani businessman and politician, 4th President of Azerbaijan Wikipedia
• 1961 Mary Barra, American businesswoman, current CEO and chairwoman of General Motors Wikipedia
• 1971 Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and actor Wikipedia
• 1973 Stephenie Meyer, American author and film producer Wikipedia
• 1981 Dima Bilan, Russian singer-songwriter and actor Wikipedia

Died on December 24

• 36 Gongsun Shu, emperor of Chengjia Wikipedia
• 1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (born 1469) Wikipedia
• 1863 William Makepeace Thackeray, English author and poet (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1867 José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician. President of Mexico (1846, 1859) and regent of the Second Mexican Empire (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1872 William John Macquorn Rankine, Scottish physicist and engineer (born 1820) Wikipedia
• 1914 John Muir, Scottish-American geologist, botanist, and author, founded Sierra Club (born 1838) Wikipedia
• 1947 Charles Gondouin, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1967 Burt Baskin, American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1980 Karl Dönitz, German admiral and politician, President of Germany (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1982 Louis Aragon, French author and poet (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1992 Peyo, Belgian cartoonist, created The Smurfs (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 1997 Toshiro Mifune, Chinese-Japanese actor and producer (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 1999 Bill Bowerman, American runner, coach, and businessman, co-founded Nike, Inc. (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2008 Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1930) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Adela and Irmina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paola Elisabetta Cerioli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Adam and Eve Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Aðfangadagskvöld, the day when the 13th and the last Yule Lad arrives to towns. (Iceland) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian Americans) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Juleaften (Denmark)/Julaften (Norway)/Julafton (Sweden) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Nittel Nacht (certain Orthodox Jewish denominations) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Nochebuena (Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: The Declaration of Christmas Peace (Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Wigilia (Poland) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Quviasukvik, the Inuit new year (Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia) Wikipedia
• Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances: Kūčios (Lithuania) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Libya) Wikipedia
• Day of Military Honour – Siege of Ismail (Russia) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 24” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.