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This day in history

This day in history: 24 February

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events63

Born on this day · Died on this day224 · 96

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Key facts

383 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 24 February.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2022: Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Blessed Ascensión Nicol y Goñi

Christian feast day: Blessed Josefa Naval Girbés

Christian feast day: February 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Lindel Tsen and Paul Sasaki (Anglican Church of Canada)

Christian feast day: Modest (bishop of Trier)

Christian feast day: Sergius of Cappadocia

Dragobete (Romania)

Engineer's Day (Iran)

Flag Day in Mexico

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Estonia from the Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered to have been an illegal annexation.

National Artist Day (Thailand)

Sweden Finns' Day (Sweden)

Events

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

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

2016Tara 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.

2015A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.

2011Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its final mission, STS-133.

2008Fidel 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.

2007Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

2006Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.

2004The 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.

2000Pope John Paul II arrives in Egypt for a three-day stay as part of the Great Jubilee, marking the first papal visit in modern Egyptian history

1999China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.

1996Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.

1991Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.

1989United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.

1984A child and an adult man are killed and 12 others are injured in the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles.

1983A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.

1981The 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.

1978The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later.

1976The 1976 constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed.

1971The 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.

1968Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngô Quang Trưởng recapture the citadel of Hué.

1967Cultural Revolution: Zhang Chunqiao announces the dissolution of the Shanghai People's Commune, replacing its local government with a revolutionary committee.

1966Ghanaian coup d'état by National Liberation Council overthrows Kwame Nkrumah's Government

1949The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

1946Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.

1945Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

1943World 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.

1942Seven hundred ninety-one Romanian Jewish refugees and crew members are killed after the MV Struma is torpedoed by the Soviet Navy.

1942The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm leads to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasts into the early hours of February 25.

1942Voice of America makes its first broadcast.

1920Nancy 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.

1920The Nazi Party (NSDAP) is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany.

1918Estonian Declaration of Independence.

1917World 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

1916The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients.

1895Revolution 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.

1881China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.

1876The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway.

1875The 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.

1868Andrew 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.

Born on this day

2004Rafael Obrador, Spanish footballer

2004Samuele Vignato, Italian football player

2003Honey Osrin, British swimmer

2000Antony Matheus dos Santos, Brazilian footballer

2000Nichika Yamada, Japanese volleyball player

1997Đurđina Jauković, Montenegrin handball player

1996Royce Freeman, American football player

1995Tyler Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player

1994Earl Sweatshirt, American rapper

1994Jessica Pegula, American tennis player

1992Stefan Ashkovski, Macedonian footballer

1991Christian Kabasele, Congolese-born Belgian footballer

1991Madison Hubbell, American ice dancer

1991O'Shea Jackson Jr., American actor and rapper

1991Semih Kaya, Turkish footballer

1991Tim Erixon, American-Swedish ice hockey player

1990Derek Wolfe, American football player

1990Dwayne Allen, American football player

1989Daniel Kaluuya, English actor

1989Kosta Koufos, Greek-American basketball player

1989Trace Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1988Alexander Koch, American actor

1988Connie Ramsay, Scottish judoka

1988Maksym Radziwill, Polish-Canadian mathematician

1988Rodrigue Beaubois, French basketball player

1987Ashley Walker, American-Romanian basketball player

1987Christopher Trimmel, Austrian footballer

1987Kim Kyu-jong, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor

1987Mario Suárez, Spanish footballer

1986Wojtek Wolski, Polish-Canadian ice hockey player

1985Nakash Aziz, Indian playback singer and composer

1984Corey Graves, American wrestler and sportscaster

1984Nani, Indian actor and film producer

1984Wilson Bethel, American actor

1982Emanuel Villa, Argentine footballer

1982Fala Chen, Chinese actress and singer

1982Klára Koukalová, Czech tennis player

1982Nick Blackburn, American baseball player

1981Bob Sanders, American football player

1981Felipe Baloy, Panamanian footballer

Died on this day

2025Roberta Flack, American singer and pianist (born 1937)

2024Kumar Shahani, Indian film director and screenwriter (born 1940)

2023Edith Roger, Norwegian dancer and choreographer (born 1922)

2021Ronald Pickup, English actor (born 1940)

2020Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (born 1918)

2018Haukur Hilmarsson, Icelandic political activist and internationalist volunteer fighter (born 1986)

2018Sridevi, Indian actress (born 1963)

2016George C. Nichopoulos, American soldier and physician (born 1927)

2016Nabil Maleh, Syrian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1936)

2016Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (born 1943)

2015Mefodiy, Ukrainian metropolitan (born 1949)

2015Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh politician and diplomat (born 1962)

2014Alexis Hunter, New Zealand-English painter and photographer (born 1948)

2014Carlos Páez Vilaró, Uruguayan painter and sculptor (born 1923)

2014Franny Beecher, American guitarist (born 1921)

2014Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1944)

2013Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (born 1923)

2013Virgil Johnson, American singer (born 1935)

2012Agnes Allen, American baseball player and therapist (born 1930)

2012Oliver Wrong, English nephrologist and academic (born 1925)

2011Anant Pai, Indian author and illustrator (born 1929)

2010Dawn Brancheau, senior animal trainer at SeaWorld (born 1969)

2008Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1947)

2007Bruce Bennett, American shot putter and actor (born 1906)

2007Damien Nash, American football player (born 1982)

2006Dennis Weaver, American actor, director, and producer (born 1924)

2006Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (born 1924)

2006John Martin, Canadian broadcaster, co-founded MuchMusic (born 1947)

2006Octavia E. Butler, American author and educator (born 1947)

2005Coşkun Kırca, Turkish diplomat, journalist and politician (born 1927)

Quote of the day

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”

Zen saying

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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