July 24

Events1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. 1216 - Cencio Savelli is consecrated as Pope Honorius III.1411 - Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles on Scottish soil.1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer.1534 - French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and took possession of the territory in the name of the King Francis I of France.1567 - Mary Queen of Scots is deposed and replaced by her 1 year old son James VI. 1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.1814 - War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders.1823 - Slavery is abolished in Chile1832 - Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass. 1847 - After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. Celebrations of this event include the Pioneer Day Utah state holiday and the Days of '47 Parade.1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown - Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union army troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley. 1866 - Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.1901 - O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank. 1911 - Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu "the Lost City of the Incas".1915 - Passenger ship Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 845 lives.1923 - The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War. 1924 - The World Chess Federation FIDE is founded in Paris.1927 - The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres. 1929 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers). 1931 - A fire at a home for aged people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.1935 - The world's first children's railway opens in Tbilisi, USSR.1935 - The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.1937 - Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys." 1943 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings. 1956 - At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946. 1956 - Khartoum University College is awarded university status becoming the University of Khartoum.1959 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate." 1964 - One criticality (nuclear) accident at Charlestown in Rhode Island (US), killing one. 1965 - Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are the targets of antiaircraft missiles in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other three sustain damage.1966 - Michael Pelkey made the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping is now been banned from El Cap. 1967 - During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.1967 - Beatles: sign a petition in The Times to legalise marijuana.1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean. 1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.1974 - After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus the Greek military junta collapses and democracy is restored.1977 - End of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.1979 - Carl Yastrzemski hits his 400th career home run off of Oakland A's Mike Morgan at Fenway Park.1983 - George Brett, batting for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".1985 - Gandhi signs peace contract with Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowai1990 - Iraqi forces start massing on the Kuwait/Iraq border.1991 - Government of India announces the New Industrial Policy, marking the start of India's economic reforms.1998 - Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.2001 - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and became the only monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.2001 - The Taiwan Solidarity Union is established.2001 - Larry A. Silverstein signs a $3.2 billion, 99-year lease on the entire World Trade Center complex, 7 weeks before the September 11, 2001 attacks . 2002 - James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.2002 - Alfred Moisiu becomes President of Albania.2005 - Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France.2007 - Libya frees all six of the Medics in the HIV trial in Libya.
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