August 24th is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining.
Events:
- 79: The Vesuvius? erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
- 410: The Visigoths take Rome. End of the Western Roman Empire.
- 1215: Pope [Innocent III]? declares the [Magna Carta]? invalid.
- 1349: 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz because they are blamed for the plague?.
- 1391: Jews massacred in [Palma de Mallorca]?.
- 1456: The printing of the [Gutenberg Bible]? is completed.
- 1511: The Portugueses conquer Malacca?.
- 1572: [Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre]?: Ordered by king [Charles IX]?, a massacre of Huguenot?s (French Protestants) is started. In the end, 70,000 people will be killed.
- 1608: The first official British representative to India lands in Surat?.
- 1682: William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
- 1814: British troops invade Washington DC and burn down the White House and several other buildings.
- 1831: Charles Darwin is asked to travel on the HMS Beagle.
- 1847: Charlotte Brontë finishes Jane Eyre.
- 1853: Potato chips first prepared.
- 1857: Beginning of the Panic of 1857, one of the most severe economic crises in US history.
- 1858: In Richmond?, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.
- 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
- 1909: Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
- 1914: German troops capture Namur?.
- 1929: Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.
- 1931: France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
- 1932: [Amelia Earhart]? is the first first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark?).
- 1936: The [Australian Antarctic Territory]? is created.
- 1944: French and allied troops start the attack on Paris.
- 1949: The NATO goes into effect.
- 1950: [Edith Sampson]? is the first black US delegate to the UN.
- 1954: The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.
- 1960: A temperature of -88°C (-127°F) is measured in Vostok?, Antarctica - a world record low.
- 1963: The 200m freestyle is swum under 2 minutes for the first time ([Don Schollander]? in 1:58).
- 1968: France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth thermonuclear power.
- 1979: In [Central Park]?, New York a concert is given by cars.
- 1981: [Mark David Chapman]? is sentenced to 20 years to life for murdering John Lennon.
- 1989: Colombian drugs barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
- 1989: [Voyager 2]? passes Neptune.
- 1990: A judge rules [Judas Priest]? irresponsible for the death of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
- 1990: [Sinead O'Connor]? refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Plaza in Homdel NJ if The Star Spangled Banner is played before her show as is custom.
- 1991: [Mikhail Gorbachev]? resigns as head of the Communist Party.
- 1991: The Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
- 1992: Diplomatic relations are established between China and South Korea.
- 1994: Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
- 1995: [Windows 95]? becomes available.
- 1998: The Netherlands are selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm? bombing.
Births:
- 1113: [Geoffrey Plantaget]?, conqueror of Normandy for France
- 1750: M. Laetitita Bonaparte-Ramolino, Napoleon's mother
- 1759: [Wilbur Wilberforce]?, campaigner against slavery
- 1772: [Willem I]?, first king of the Netherlands (1814-1840)
- 1787: [James Weddell]?, Antarctic explorer
- 1817: [Aleksei Tolstoi]?, writer/poet
- 1865: [Ferdinand I]?, king of Romania
- 1880: [Joshua Lionel Cowen]?, inventor of the toy electric train
- 1901: [Preston Foster]?, actor
- 1929: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
- 1938: [David Freiburg]?, bass guitar player ([Jefferson Starship]?)
- 1944: [Jim Capaldi]?, singer
- 1945: [Ken Hensley]?, rock musician ([Uriah Heep]?)
- 1958: [Steve Guttenberg]?, actor
- 1960: [Cal Ripken, Jr.]?, shortstop
- 1963: [John Bush]?, heavy metal singer (Anthrax)
- 1971: [Claudia Schiffer]?, model
Deaths:
- 1103: [Magnus III Berbein]?, king of Norway (1093-1103)
- 1313: Henry VII, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1312-1313)
- 1680: [Thomas Blood]?, thief of the British Crown Jewels
- 1991: [Bernard Castro]?, inventor of the convertible couch, age 87
Holidays etcetera:
August 23 · August 25 · July 24 · September 24· more historical anniversaries
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
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