February 24 - Events

Events

• 303 – Diocletian, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.
• 484 – King Huneric removes the Catholic bishops from their offices and banished some to Corsica. A few are martyred, including former proconsul Victorian along with Frumentius and other merchants. They are killed at Hadrumetum after refusing to become Arians.
• 1303 – Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.
• 1387 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
• 1525 – Spanish-Imperial army defeat French army at Battle of Pavia.
• 1538 – Treaty of Nagyvarad between Ferdinand I and John Zápolya.
• 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
• 1607 – L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
• 1711 – The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
• 1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.
• 1809 – London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
• 1822 – The 1st Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.
• 1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
• 1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
• 1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
• 1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
• 1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
• 1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
• 1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
• 1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the second war for Cuban independence, that ends with the Spanish-American War in 1898.
• 1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
• 1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.
• 1920 – The Nazi Party is founded.
• 1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles, one of the largest documented UFO sightings in history; the event lasted into the early hours of February 25, 1942.
• 1944 – Merrill's Marauders: The Marauders begin their 1,000 mile journey through Japanese occupied Burma.
• 1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
• 1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed 3 days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.
• 1976 – Cuba: national Constitution is proclaimed.
• 1980 – The United States Olympic Hockey team completes their Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal.
• 1981 – An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city.
• 1983 – A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
• 1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
• 1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
• 1996 – The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1999 – The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national convicted of murder during a botched bank robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him.
• 1999 – A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People's Republic of China, killing 61.
• 2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
• 2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
• 2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
• 2010 – Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first Cricket player to score a Double hundred in One Day International format.
• 2011 – Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).