April 24 in History

Historical Events on April 24

1479 BC

Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
1184 BC

Traditional date of the fall of Troy.
1547

Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
1558

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1704

The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
1800

The 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".
1877

Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1885

American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
1895

Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop "Spray".
1913

The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
1914

The Franck-Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
1915

The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1916

Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
1916

Ernest 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.
1918

First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922

The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1923

In Vienna, the paper Das Ich und das Es (The Ego and the Id) by Sigmund Freud is published, which outlines Freud's theories of the id, ego, and super-ego.
1926

The 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.
1932

Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1933

Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1944

World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
1953

Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955

The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957

Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963

Marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965

Civil 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.
1967

Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1967

Vietnam 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."
1970

The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
1980

Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990

STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1990

Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993

An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996

In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
2004

The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2013

A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
2013

Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.

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