Historical Events on 24 Apr

Historical Events on 24 Apr

1184 BC - Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional).
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).
1558 - Mary Queen of Scots marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1704 - The first regular newspaper in the United States, the Boston, Massachusetts New-Letter, is published.
1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
1862 - American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.
1877 - Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1898 - The Spanish-American War: The United States declare war on Spain.
1907 - Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
1913 - The skyscraper Woolworth Building in New York City is opened.
1915 - The Armenian Genocide begins with a massacre of hundreds of prominent Armenians in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
1916 - Easter Rising begins: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett start a rebellion in Ireland.
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 ice-trapped ship Endurance.
1918 - First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
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.
1961 - The 17th century Swedish ship Vasa is salvaged.
1963 - Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1964 - Mexico becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1965 - Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that was in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
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."
1967 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, when the parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1968 - Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.
1970 - The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
1975 - The Baader-Meinhof Gang takes 13 hostages at theWest German embassy in Stockholm.
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 by the Space Shuttle Discovery.