On this day: December 25

Events on December 25

• 36 After the death of Emperor Gongsun Shu of Chengjia, the empire was conquered by the Eastern Han dynasty. Wikipedia
• 336 First documented sign of Christmas celebration in Rome. Wikipedia
• 800 The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. Wikipedia
• 1046 Henry III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II. Wikipedia
• 1066 Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, but continued to face rebellions over the following years and was not secure on the throne until after 1072. Wikipedia
• 1100 Baldwin I was crowned the first king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Wikipedia
• 1724 Johann Sebastian Bach led the first performance of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, based on the Christmas hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524. Wikipedia
• 1725 J. S. Bach led the first performance of the Christmas cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110, making laughter audible in singing. Wikipedia
• 1758 Based on predictions by Edmond Halley in 1705, Johann Georg Palitzsch observed a comet that was later named Halley's Comet . Wikipedia
• 1809 American physician Ephraim McDowell performed the world's first removal of an ovarian tumor. Wikipedia
• 1831 A Baptist preacher named Samuel Sharpe began an unsuccessful eleven-day slave revolt in Jamaica. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Royal Navy armed trawler Night Hawk sank after striking a mine, with the loss of six of her crew. Wikipedia
• 1927 The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule, was formed in Hanoi. Wikipedia
• 1941 Second World War: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting. Wikipedia
• 1968 In Tamil Nadu, India, families of striking Dalit workers were massacred by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords. Wikipedia
• 1977 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. Wikipedia
• 1989 Romanian Revolution: Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were condemned to death on a wide range of charges and executed. Wikipedia
• 1990 British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb, the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor. Wikipedia
• 1991 In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 2000 Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill officially adopting a new national anthem, with music by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov originally composed for the anthem of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 2007 A tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its enclosure and attacked three patrons before it was shot and killed. Wikipedia
• 2009 Aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear. Wikipedia
• 2009 A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands. Wikipedia
• 2016 A Tupolev Tu-154 of the Russian Defence Ministry crashed into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, killing all 92 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2021 The James Webb Space Telescope is launched. Wikipedia
• 2024 After the loss of aircraft systems, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashed near Aktau International Airport while attempting to perform an emergency landing after being hit by a Russian defense missile. Wikipedia

Born on December 25

• 1250 John IV Laskaris, Byzantine emperor (died 1305) Wikipedia
• 1642 Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (died 1727) Wikipedia
• 1717 Pope Pius VI (died 1799) Wikipedia
• 1821 Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founder of the American Red Cross (died 1912) Wikipedia
• 1876 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1876 Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959) Wikipedia
• 1899 Humphrey Bogart, American actor (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1904 Gerhard Herzberg, German-Canadian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1906 Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1911 Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1916 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1924 Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian poet and politician, 10th Prime Minister of India (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1925 Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1927 Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1943 Hanna Schygulla, German actress Wikipedia
• 1944 Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1949 Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani politician, 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan Wikipedia
• 1954 Annie Lennox, Scottish singer-songwriter and pianist Wikipedia
• 1961 Íngrid Betancourt, Colombian political scientist and politician Wikipedia
• 1971 Justin Trudeau, Canadian educator and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada Wikipedia
• 1976 Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ and record producer Wikipedia
• 1985 Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukrainian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Ukraine Wikipedia

Died on December 25

• 795 Pope Adrian I Wikipedia
• 1635 Samuel de Champlain, French soldier, geographer, and explorer (born 1567) Wikipedia
• 1926 Emperor Taishō of Japan (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1938 Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1963 Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet, playwright, painter, and critic (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1973 İsmet İnönü, Turkish general and politician, 2nd President of Turkey (born 1884) Wikipedia
• 1977 Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1983 Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1989 Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian general and politician, 1st President of Romania (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 1995 Dean Martin, American singer and actor (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2006 James Brown, American singer-songwriter (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2008 Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2016 George Michael, British singer and songwriter (born 1963) Wikipedia
• 2016 Vera Rubin, American astronomer (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christmas Day, Christian festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. (Internationally observed) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anastasia of Sirmium (Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Stephen (Armenian Apostolic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo) Wikipedia
• Tulsi Pujan Diwas (India) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Taiwan) Wikipedia
• Good Governance Day (India) Wikipedia
• Quaid-e-Azam's Day (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• Takanakuy (Chumbivilcas Province, Peru) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “December 25” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/December 25” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 25” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for December 25 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.