March 24Birthdays & History

On this day: March 24 in history

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

1. 1199King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.Europe
2. 1387English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.Europe
3. 1401Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.AsiaMiddle East
4. 1603Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.Asia
5. 1603James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.Europe
6. 1663The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.Europe
7. 1720Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February.Europe
8. 1721Johann Sebastian Bach dedicates six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.Europe
9. 1765Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.Europe
10. 1794In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.Europe
11. 1829The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.Europe
12. 1832In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.North America
13. 1854President José Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.Latin America
14. 1860Sakuradamon Incident: Japanese chief minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke is assassinated by rōnin samurai outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle.Asia
15. 1869The last of Tītokowaru's forces surrender to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.Oceania
16. 1870A Chilean prospecting party led by José Díaz Gana discovers the silver ores of Caracoles in the Bolivian portion of Atacama Desert, leading to the last of the Chilean silver rushes and a diplomatic dispute over its taxation between Chile and Bolivia.Latin America
17. 1878The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.Europe
18. 1882Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.Europe
19. 1900Carnegie Steel Company is formed in New Jersey; its capitalization of $160 million is the largest to date.North America
20. 1900Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.North America
21. 1921The 1921 Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, becoming the first international women's sports event.Europe
22. 1922The McMahon killings take place in Belfast. Six Catholic civilians are shot dead, two others wounded and a female family member assaulted. Police were suspected as being responsible, but no one was prosecuted.Europe
23. 1927Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defence of the foreign citizens within the city.Asia
24. 1934The Tydings–McDuffie Act is passed by the United States Congress, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.North AmericaAsia
25. 1939The 1939 Liechtenstein putsch takes place; approximately 40 members of the VBDL starting from Nendeln march towards Vaduz with the intention of overthrowing the government and provoking Liechtenstein's annexation into Germany.Europe
26. 1944German troops massacre 335 Italian civilians in Rome.Europe
27. 1944World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.Europe
28. 1946A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.EuropeAsia
29. 1949Hanns Albin Rauter, a chief SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands, is convicted and executed for crimes against humanity.Europe
30. 1972Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath.Europe
31. 1976In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a seven-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.Latin America
32. 1977Morarji Desai becomes the prime minister of India, the first prime minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.AsiaNorth America
33. 1980El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.Latin America
34. 1982Bangladeshi President Abdus Sattar is deposed in a bloodless coup led by Army Chief Lieutenant general Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who suspends the Constitution and imposes martial law.Asia
35. 1986The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.Europe
36. 1989In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.North America
37. 1990Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the last ship of Indian Peace Keeping Force leaving Sri Lanka.Asia
38. 1992Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-45.North America
39. 1998A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.Asia
40. 1998Dr. Rüdiger Marmulla performs the first computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation at the University of Regensburg, Germany.Europe
41. 1998Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, open fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.North America
42. 1999A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel, creating an inferno that kills 39 people.Europe
43. 1999Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.Europe
44. 2008Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.Asia
45. 2015Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.Europe
46. 2018Syrian civil war: The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Syrian National Army (SNA) take full control of Afrin District, marking the end of the Afrin offensive.Middle East
47. 2018Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.North America
48. 2023An EF4 tornado strikes the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City, Mississippi, causing mass destruction.North America
49. 2024The 2024 Senegalese presidential election is held following anti-government protests.Africa
50. 2026OpenAI announces that their flagship Sora app and API are shutting down.North America

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