April 24Birthdays & History

On this day: April 24 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1479 BCThutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).Middle East
2. 1183 BCTraditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Eratosthenes, among others.Middle East
3. 858Consecration of Pope Nicholas I following the death of Pope Benedict III earlier that month.Europe
4. 934Abbasid Caliph Al-Qahir is deposed and blinded. His nephew al-Radi succeeds him as caliph.Middle East
5. 1547Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.Europe
6. 1558Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre-Dame de Paris.Europe
7. 1704The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.EuropeNorth America
8. 1793French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is acquitted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of charges brought by the Girondin in Paris.Europe
9. 1800The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".North America
10. 1837The great fire in Surat, India causes more than 500 deaths and destruction of more than 9,000 houses.Asia
11. 1877Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire.Middle EastEurope
12. 1885American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.North America
13. 1895Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop Spray.North America
14. 1913The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.North America
15. 1914The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.Europe
16. 1915The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian genocide.EuropeMiddle East
17. 1916Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.World
18. 1916Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.Europe
19. 1918World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.Europe
20. 1922The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.EuropeMiddle East
21. 1924Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark (first term).Europe
22. 1926The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.Europe
23. 1932Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.Europe
24. 1933Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.Europe
25. 1944World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.Europe
26. 1953Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.Europe
27. 1955The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.AsiaAfrica
28. 1957Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.Middle East
29. 1963Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.Europe
30. 1965Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.Latin America
31. 1967Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.Europe
32. 1967Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily".AsiaNorth America
33. 1970The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.Africa
34. 1970China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.Asia
35. 1980Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.North AmericaMiddle East
36. 1990Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.Europe
37. 1990STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.North America
38. 1993An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.Europe
39. 1994A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive.Oceania
40. 1996In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.North America
41. 2004The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.North AmericaAfrica
42. 2005Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.Europe
43. 2006Bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Dahab kill 23 people and injure about 80.Middle East
44. 2011WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.North America
45. 2013A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people and injuring about 2,500 others.Asia
46. 2013Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.Asia
47. 2025A mass stabbing at a school in Nantes, France, leaves one person dead and three others wounded.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "April 24" / CC BY-SA 4.0