TODAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 24

 

January 24

 

41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.

914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.

1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.

1458 – Matthias Corvinus is elected King of Hungary.

1536 – King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behaviour and possible impotence.

1651 – Arauco War: Spanish and Mapuche authorities meet in the Parliament of Boroa renewing the fragile peace established at the parliaments of Quillín in 1641 and 1647.

1679 – King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.

1742 – Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1758 – During the Seven Years' War the leading burghers of Königsberg submit to Elizabeth of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763).

1817 – Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the action of Picheuta.

1835 – Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later.

1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.

1857 – The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.

1859 – The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (later named Romania) is formed as a personal union under the rule of Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza.

1900 – Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.

1908 – The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1915 – World War I: British Grand Fleet battle cruisers under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty engage Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper's battle cruisers in the Battle of Dogger Bank.

1916 – In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.

1918 – The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars effective February 14 (New Style).

1933 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.

1935 – Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company starts selling the first canned beer.

1939 – The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.

1942 – World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.

1960 – Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the "barricades week", during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.

1961 – Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.

1966 – Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc.

1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.

1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.

1977 – The Atocha massacre occurs in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy.

1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.

1984 – Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.

1986 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its closest approach to Uranus.

1987 – About 20,000 protestors march in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.

1989 – Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.

1990 – Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.

2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

2009 – Cyclone Klaus makes landfall near Bordeaux, France, causing 26 deaths as well as extensive disruptions to public transport and power supplies.

2011 – At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

2018 – Former doctor Larry Nassar is sentenced up to 175 years in prison after being found guilty of using his position to sexually abuse female gymnasts.