On This Day — 24 February

2022

Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russo-Ukrainian war

2020

Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace the Pakatan Harapan government, which triggered the 2020-2022 Malaysian political crisis.

Mahathir Mohamad

2016

Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashes, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.

Tara Air Flight 193

2015

A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.

Metrolink (California)

2011

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its final mission, STS-133.

Space Shuttle Discovery

2008

Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years.

Fidel Castro

2007

Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

Reconnaissance satellite

2006

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.

President of the Philippines

2004

The 6.3 Mw Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed, 926 are injured, and up to 15,000 are displaced.

Seismic magnitude scales

1999

China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.

China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509

1996

Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.

Miami

1991

Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.

Gulf War

1989

United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.

United Airlines Flight 811

1984

Tyrone Mitchell perpetrates the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring 12 more.

Tyrone Mitchell

1983

A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.

United States Congress

1981

The 6.7 Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affects Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people are killed, 400 are injured, and damage totals $812 million.

Seismic magnitude scales

1978

The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later.

Yuba County Five

1976

The 1976 constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed.

Constitution of Cuba

1971

The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.

All India Forward Bloc

1968

Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngo Quang Truong recapture the citadel of Hué.

Vietnam War

1967

Cultural Revolution: Zhang Chunqiao announces the dissolution of the Shanghai People's Commune, replacing its local government with a revolutionary committee.

Cultural Revolution

1966

Ghanaian coup d'état by National Liberation Council overthrows Kwame Nkrumah's Government

1966 Ghanaian coup d'état

1949

The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

1949 Armistice Agreements

1946

Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.

Juan Perón

1945

Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

Egypt

1943

World War II: First large-scale protest march resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany.

World War II

1942

Seven hundred ninety-one Romanian Jewish refugees and crew members are killed after the MV Struma is torpedoed by the Soviet Navy.

History of the Jews in Romania

1942

The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm leads to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasts into the early hours of February 25.

Battle of Los Angeles

1920

Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.

Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor

1920

The Nazi Party (NSDAP) is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany.

Nazi Party

1918

Estonian Declaration of Independence.

Estonian Declaration of Independence

1917

World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page 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.

World War I

1916

The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients.

Governor-General of Chōsen

1895

Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence; the war ends along with the Spanish–American War in 1898.

Revolution

1881

China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.

Qing dynasty

1876

The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway.

Peer Gynt

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.

SS Gothenburg

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.

Andrew Johnson

1863

Arizona is organized as a United States territory.

Arizona

1854

A Penny Red with perforations becomes the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.

Penny Red

1848

King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.

List of French monarchs

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.

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek

1826

The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Treaty of Yandabo

1822

The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.

List of Swaminarayan temples

1821

Final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with Plan of Iguala.

Mexican War of Independence

1813

Sinking of HMS Peacock by USS Hornet on the Demerara River, Guyana.

Sinking of HMS Peacock

1812

Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Frederick William III of Prussia against Russia is signed.

Treaty of Paris (24 February 1812)

1809

London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving its owner, Irish writer and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, destitute.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

1809

Britain invades and captures the French colony of Martinique.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

1803

In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.

Marbury v. Madison

1739

Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.

Battle of Karnal

1711

Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, is premièred.

Rinaldo (opera)

1607

L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.

L'Orfeo

1597

The last battle of the Cudgel War takes place on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia.

Cudgel War

1582

With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.

Papal bull

1538

Treaty of Nagyvárad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zápolya of Hungary and Croatia.

Treaty of Nagyvárad

1527

Coronation of Ferdinand I as the king of Bohemia in Prague.

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

1525

A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia.

House of Habsburg

1386

King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.

Charles III of Naples

1303

The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.

Battle of Roslin

484

King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.

Huneric