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1 - 25 of 25 Interesting & Fun 31st of December Facts: |
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| 406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia. |
| 1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope. |
| 1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax. |
| 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold. |
| 1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada. |
| 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two). |
| 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. |
| 1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time. |
| 1891 - A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York. |
| 1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York. |
| 1923 - The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC. |
| 1929 - Guy Lombardo performs Auld Lang Syne at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City for the first time. |
| 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany. |
| 1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II. |
| 1955 - General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year. |
| 1960 - The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom. |
| 1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe. |
| 1983 - The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government. |
| 1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140. |
| 1990 - Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov. |
| 1991 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is officially dissolved. |
| 1995 - The last strip of the popular comic Calvin and Hobbes is published. |
| 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin. |
| 1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed. |
| 2005 - AT&T and SBC Communications merge, SBC name is dropped. A new AT&T is formed. |
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