On April 24:
1479 BC – Thutmose III ascended to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifted to Hatshepsut.
1184 BC – The Greeks entered Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional date).
1533 William I of Orange (d. 1584), was born.
1558 Mary, Queen of Scots, married the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1581 Vincent de Paul, French saint (d. 1660), was born.
1704 The first regular newspaper in the United States, the News-Letter, was published.
1800 The United States Library of Congress was established when President John Adams signed legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”.
1815 Anthony Trollope, English novelist (d. 1882), was born.
1862 American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passed two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans.
1877 Russo-Turkish War: Russia declared war on Ottoman Empire.
1898 The Spanish-American War: The United States declared war on Spain.
1904 The Lithuanian press ban was lifted after almost 40 years.
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1907 Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, was opened.
1913 The Woolworth Building skyscraper in New York was opened.
1915 The Armenian Genocide began when Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople.:
1916 Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett started a rebellion.
1916 Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launched a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island to organise a rescue for the ice-trapped ship Endurance.
1918 First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
1922 New Zealand’s first Poppy Day.
1926 The Treaty of Berlin was signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 Benny Rothman led 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 ended Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finished a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957 Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal was reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1960 A severe earthquake shook Lar in Fars province, Iran, killing more than 200 people.
1961 The 17th century Swedish ship Vasa was salvaged.
1963 Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey.
1965 Civil war broke out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrew the triumvirate that had been in power.
1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in Soyuz 1 when its parachute failed to open. He was the first human to die during a space mission.
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland said in a news conference that the enemy had “gained support in the United States that gave him hope that he could win politically that which he cannot win militarily.”
1970 The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, was launched.
1970 – The Gambia became a republic with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
1971 Soyuz 10 docked with Salyut 1.
1980 Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990 STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, was officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastated the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was introduced.
2004 The United States lifted economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
200 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was inaugurated as the 265th Pope taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
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2005 Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog was born in South Korea.
2006 King Gyanendra of Nepal gave into the demands of protesters and restored the parliament that he dissolved in 2002.
2007 Iceland announced that Norway would shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime.
2007 – Gliese 581 d discovered by a Chilean observatory and believed to be a planet capable of holding extraterresial life.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia