Events on February 24 50
Year 303
Galerius publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Roman Empire.
Year 484
King Huneric removes the Christian bishops from their offices and banished some to Corsica. A few are martyred, including former proconsul Victorian along with Frumentius and other merchants. They are killed at Hadrumetum after refusing to become Arians.
Year 1582
With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
Year 1607
L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
Year 1711
The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
Year 1739
Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
Year 1803
In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.
Year 1809
London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
Year 1822
The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.
Year 1826
The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.
Year 1831
The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
Year 1854
A Penny Red with perforations was the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.
Year 1868
Andrew 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.
Year 1875
The 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.
Year 1895
Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence, that ends with the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Year 1916
The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients.
Year 1917
World 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.
Year 1920
Nancy Astor became 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.
Year 1942
The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.
Year 1942
An order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gives the Canadian federal government the power to intern all "persons of Japanese racial origin".
Year 1944
Merrill's Marauders: The Marauders begin their 1,000-mile journey through Japanese occupied Burma.
Year 1945
Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
Year 1946
Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.
Year 1971
The 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.
Year 1980
The United States Olympic hockey team completes its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal.
Year 1981
The 6.7 Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affects Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The shock killed 22 people and destroyed buildings in several towns west of Athens.
Year 1983
A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.
Year 1984
Tyrone Mitchell perpetrates the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring 12 more.
Year 1989
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa and offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
Year 1989
United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.
Year 1991
Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
Year 1996
Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.
Year 2004
The 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.
Year 2006
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
Year 2007
Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
Year 2008
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He remains as head of the Communist Party for another three years.
Year 2015
A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.
Year 2016
Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashed, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.