On This Day — 24 May

2022

A mass shooting occurs at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, resulting in the deaths of 21 people, including 19 children.

Uvalde school shooting

2019

Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India).

2019 Surat fire

2019

Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.

Brexit

2014

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people.

2014 Aegean Sea earthquake

2014

At least three people are killed in a shooting at Brussels' Jewish Museum of Belgium.

Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting

2002

Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.

Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty

2000

Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

Southern Lebanon

1999

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

1995

While attempting to return to Leeds Bradford Airport in the United Kingdom, Knight Air Flight 816 crashes in Dunkeswick, North Yorkshire, killing all 12 people on board.

Leeds Bradford Airport

1994

Four men are convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; each one is sentenced to 240 years in prison.

1993 World Trade Center bombing

1993

Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.

Eritrea

1993

Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and five other people are assassinated in a shootout at Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport in Mexico.

Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo

1992

The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.

Thailand

1992

The ethnic cleansing in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina begins when Serbian militia and police forces enter the town.

Kozarac

1991

Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

Israel

1988

Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.

Section 28

1982

Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.

Battle of Khorramshahr (1982)

1981

Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.

Jaime Roldós Aguilera

1976

The Judgment of Paris takes place in France, launching California as a worldwide force in the production of quality wine.

Judgment of Paris (wine)

1967

Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel.

Egypt

1967

Belle de Jour, directed by Luis Buñuel, is released.

Belle de Jour (film)

1962

Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.

Project Mercury

1961

American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

Civil rights movement

1960

Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.

1960 Valdivia earthquake

1958

United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

United Press International

1956

The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.

Eurovision Song Contest

1948

Arab–Israeli War: Egypt captures the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, but the five-day effort gives Israeli forces time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian advance a week later.

1948 Arab–Israeli War

1944

Börse Berlin building burns down after being hit in an air raid during World War II.

Börse Berlin

1944

Congress of Përmet occurs which establishes a provisional government in Albania in areas under partisan control, the first independent Albanian government since 1939. In honor of this the national emblem of Albania inscribed this date from 1946 until 1992.

Congress of Përmet

1941

World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.

World War II

1940

Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.

Igor Sikorsky

1940

Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.

Soviet Union

1935

The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.

Night game

1930

Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).

Amy Johnson

1900

Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.

Second Boer War

1883

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

Brooklyn Bridge

1873

Patrick Francis Healy becomes the first black president of a predominantly white university in the United States.

Patrick Francis Healy

1861

American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia, with Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth becoming the first Union officer to be killed during the war.

American Civil War

1856

John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.

John Brown (abolitionist)

1844

Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Samuel Morse

1832

The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.

Kingdom of Greece

1822

Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.

Battle of Pichincha

1813

South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").

Simón Bolívar

1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.

Irish Rebellion of 1798

1738

John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally held on the preceding Sunday.

John Wesley

1689

The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics.

Parliament of England

1683

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum.

Ashmolean Museum

1667

The French Royal Army crosses the border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting the War of Devolution opposing France to the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance.

French Royal Army

1626

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.

Peter Minuit

1621

The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.

Protestant Union

1607

Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, is founded.

Jamestown, Virginia

1595

Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.

Nomenclator (nomenclature)

1567

Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murder five incarcerated Swedish nobles.

Erik XIV

1487

The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII's reign.

Lambert Simnel

1276

Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.

Magnus Ladulås

1218

The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.

Fifth Crusade

919

The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.

Franconia