Author: History and Headlines contributors

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 26th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 26, 1776, George Washington led his Continental Army across the Delaware River to surprise and attack the German Hessians employed by the British, killing about 22 of the German mercenaries and capturing another 800 to 900 for the loss of only two Americans killed. On December 26, 1871, the famous opera writing duo of Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated on Thespis, the first…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 25th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 25, AD 1, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, in what is now Israel, or so the story goes. On December 25, 336, the first documented celebration of December 25th as “Christmas” celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in Rome. On December 25, 1826, cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point cracked the annals of history…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 24th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 24, 1294, Pope Boniface VIII (born Benedetto Caetani) was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church to replace the previous Pope, St. Celestine V, who had resigned to return to his humble, monastic pre-papal life. On December 24, 1800, The “Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise,” also known as the “Machine Infernale Plot,” failed to kill Napoleon Bonaparte, then the First…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 23rd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 23, 962, Christian forces under Byzantine commander Nikephoros II Phokas stormed into the city of Aleppo in the Levant, earning the future Byzantine Emperor the title “Pale Death of the Saracens.” On December 23, 1938, a commercial fisherman pulled in a “living fossil” in his net off the coast of Africa, a creature believed to be extinct since the time…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 22nd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 22, 69 AD, the reigning Emperor of Rome, Vitellius, was captured and murdered on the Gemonian Stairs in Rome, proving once again how dangerous it was to be a Roman Emperor. On December 22, 1880, English writer George Eliot, author of such novels as Adam Bede and Silas Marner, died at the age of 61 of a throat infection and…