April
24
Independence
Day
Ireland, Republic of : April 24 1916
Events
April
24
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).
1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial
forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic
League.
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
News-Letter, is published in Boston, Massachusetts.
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: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman
Empire.
1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley was hired by Nate
Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
1898 – The Spanish-American War: The United States declares
war on Spain.
1904 – The Lithuanian press ban is lifted after almost 40 years.
1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive
use of his employees, is opened.
1907 – Al Ahly was founded.
1913 – The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York City is
opened.
1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community
leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1916 – Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by
nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett
starts 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 the ice-trapped
ship Endurance.
1918 – First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France,
when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing
wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England,
and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet
Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the
other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout,
leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: 29 non-aligned nations of
Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism,
racism, and the Cold War.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the
introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963 – Marriage of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent to the Hon
Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel
Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been
in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute
fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
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."
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.
1971 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
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 from the
Space Shuttle Discovery.
Shuttle mission STS-31 lifts off, carrying Hubble into orbit.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free
of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on
Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in
eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th
Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict
XVI.
2005 – Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, is born in South
Korea.
2006 – King Gyanendra of Nepal gives into the demands of protesters
and restores the parliament that he dissolved in 2002.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Ecgberht of Ripon
Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Mellitus
Wilfrid (Anglican Church)
April 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Concord Day (Niger)
Democracy Day (Nepal)
Earliest day on which National Arbor Day can fall, while April
30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Friday in April. (United
States)
Earliest day on which Turkmen Racing Horse Festival can fall,
while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday
in April. (Turkmenistan)
Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia)
Kapyong Day (Australia)
Republic Day (The Gambia)
World Day for Laboratory Animals (UN recognized)
For details, contact Datacentre
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