American History

1. Historical Events That
Happened During Christmas

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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/

5. 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.
http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/

6. 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 with
their enemies and
played a few pickup
games of soccer.
War can often be
brutal and strange,
yet somehow
peppered with acts of
kindness.
http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/

7. 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.
http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns as Soviet President
http://static.chartleaders.com/profile/98e/mikhail_gorbachev/photo.jpg
• 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.
http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/

13. 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

14. Kingsoft Office
published by www.Kingsoftstore.com @Kingsoft_Office
kingsoftstore
Resources
http://thefw.com/historical-events-that-happened-on-christmas/