August 24

79 At 1.00 pm on August 24, 79 Mount Vesuvius erupted, ejecting a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 21 miles (33 km), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 7.8×105 cubic yards (6×105 cu metres) per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. The Roman towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in rock and ash. Over 2,000 people were killed.

The Last Day of Pompeii. Painting by Karl Brullov, 1830–1833

410 The Visigoths, a Germanic tribe, led by their king, Alaric, entered Rome on August 24, 410 plundering the city for three days. It was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy. The sack of Rome was a major event in the history of the Roman Empire. It showed that the empire was no longer invincible, and it contributed to the eventual collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century.

1200 On August 24, 1200 King John of England married Isabella of Angoulême, who was twenty years his junior, in Bordeaux Cathedral. Blonde and blue-eyed 12-year-old Isabella was already renowned by some for her beauty. John had kidnapped her from her fiancé, Hugh IX of Lusignan. Isabelle eventually produced five children, including two sons (Henry and Richard), Joan, Isabella and Eleanor. Isabella died in 1246, having outlived her royal husband by 30 years.

Isabella of Angoulême, tomb in the church of Fontevraud Abbey (France)

1215 King John appealed to Pope Innocent III  a month after sealing the Magna Carta, arguing that the charter compromised the Pope's rights as John's feudal lord. The Pope agreed, denouncing it on August 24, 1215 as "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust."

1572 From the 16th to the 18th century the name Huguenot was used to describe a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. Six days after Henry IV of France's marriage to the Protestant Marguerite de Valois the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (see below) kicked off in Paris on August 24, 1572. Over three thousand Huguenots who had come to the French capital for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed.

1572 The French master surgeon Ambroise Paré was sympathetic to the Huguenot cause, though he seems to have kept appearances of being Catholic to avoid danger. On August 24, 1572, the day of the St.Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Paré's life was saved when King Charles IX locked him in a clothes closet.

Depiction of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre by François Dubois

1759 William Wilberforce was born in Hull, Yorkshire on August 24, 1759 to wealthy merchant Robert Wilberforce and Elizabeth. The young Wilberforce had developed an interest in politics and at the age of 21, whilst still a student, he was elected MPt for Kingston Upon Hull. Wilberforce became interested in humanitarian affairs and saw that God was calling him to be a figurehead of the anti-slavery movement. He made his first major speech on abolition in the House of Commons in 1789. 

1814 On August 24, 1814 during the War of 1812, the British forces set fire to various government buildings in Washington D.C. including the White House. President James Madison was forced to flee the burning President's House. Only the exterior walls remained, and they had to be torn down and mostly reconstructed because of weakening from the fire and subsequent exposure to the elements, except for portions of the south wall.

The White House as it looked following the fire of August 24, 1814

1853 George Crum, the chef at Moon Lake House Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York invented potato crisps (potato chips) on August 24, 1853 after industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt ordered “thinner than normal French fried potatoes.” He kept sending them back protesting that they were too thick. Finally, the chef sliced the potatoes paper-thin fried them to a crisp in oil, and splashed salt on them. Vanderbilt loved them. These "potato crunches” as Crum called them became a regular feature of the hotel’s menu.

1869 The stove-top waffle iron was invented by Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York. It was patented on August 24, 1869 and consisted of a novel handle for opening, closing and turning the waffle iron. Cornelius Swarthout, the inventor of the Waffle Iron, did not like waffles. In memory of Swartwout's patent, National Waffle Day in the United States is celebrated on August 24 each year.

1889 The predominantly Māori New Zealand Native rugby union football team played the last match of their 107-game tour on August 24, 1889. The Natives toured Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand - it was the longest tour in rugby union history. The Natives were the first New Zealand team to perform a haka, and also the first to wear all black.

The 1905 All Blacks during the "haka"

1911 Manoel de Arriaga was elected the first constitutional president of the Republic of Portugal, on August 24, 1911. The First Portuguese Republic was established after a revolution that led to the overthrow of the monarchy. He served as the President from 1911 to 1915.

1938 During the Second Sino-Japanese War a DC-2 (the Kweilin), jointly operated by China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) and Pan American, carrying 18 passengers and crew, was forced down by Japanese aircraft just north of Hong Kong on August 24, 1938. It was the first commercial passenger aircraft to be shot down by hostile forces. The Kweilin was refurbished, returned to service, and two years later became the third commercial passenger airliner to be shot down by hostile forces.

A DC-2 passenger airliner

1939 Adolf Hitler signed an order on September 1, 1939 to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people. He ordered the cessation of Nazi Germany's T4 euthanasia program due to protests on August 24, 1941, although killings continued for the remainder of the war.

1942 The last major cavalry charge in military history took place on August 24, 1942. 600 Italian cavalrymen charged a position of 2,000 Soviet soldiers at Izbushensky near the Don River, slashing with sabers and throwing hand grenades. Despite heavy losses, the Italians managed to dislodge the Soviets. 

1954 The Communist Control Act came into effect in the US on August 24, 1954, outlawing the American Communist Party. The Act has since been ruled unconstitutional in federal court but has not been ruled on in the Supreme Court and has never been enforced.

U.S. anti-Communist propaganda of the 1950s

1967 On August 24, 1967, two penguins from Chessington Zoo named Rocky and Clementine were taken by their keepers to join skaters at London’s Streatham ice-rink to cool off as the city sweltered in 27c (80,5f).

1990 The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolor, was adopted on August 24, 1990. The orange on the Armenian flag is the color of apricots, which are a national symbol. In a referendum held in September 1991, shortly after the failed anti-Gorbachev coup in Moscow, 94% of Armenians voted for secession from the USSR. 

Armenia flag

1991 Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991. Over 92% of Ukrainian voters approved their country's independence as declared by the Ukrainian parliament. Since 1992, the 24th of August is celebrated in Ukraine as Independence Day.

1991 As leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced radical liberal reforms giving more freedom to his people, allowing them to express their opinions more freely. His attempts at reform and partnership with Ronald Reagan led to the end of the Cold War but also helped cause the end of the power of the Communist Party in his nation, and the break-up of the Soviet Union into smaller countries. Gorbachev resigned as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991.

2006 The issue of a clear definition for planet came to a head in 2005 with the discovery of the trans-Neptunian object Eris, a body with  27 percent more mass than Pluto, On August 24, 2006 The International Astronomical Union redefined the term "planet" as a body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has "cleared its neighborhood" of smaller objects around its orbit. Under this new definition Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet.

2011 On August 24, 2011, Steve Jobs retired as CEO of Apple. He suggested Tim Cook as his successor. Following Jobs' request, Jobs continued as the chairman of the Apple Inc.'s Board of Directors until his passing on October 5, 2011. Under Tim Cook's leadership, Apple continued to develop and release innovative products and maintain its position as one of the world's leading technology companies..

2014 A copy of Action Comics #1 was sold on eBay for $3,207,852.00 on August 24, 2014, the-then highest price paid for a single issue of a comic book. Action Comics #1 published in April 1938 features the first appearance of several comic book heroes. For this reason it is widely considered both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book of all time.

2015 One in seven people on Earth logged into Facebook on August 24, 2015. It was the first time that the social network attracted over a billion users in one day. Facebook's growth has been driven by a number of factors, including its easy-to-use interface, its ability to connect people with friends and family, and its ability to provide users with a variety of content, such as news, photos, and videos.

2021 Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died at a London hospital on August 24, 2021, at the age of 80. His last performance with the Stones took place in Florida on August 30, 2019 as part of their No Filter tour. The band announced his death on their website, saying: "Charlie was a beloved husband, father and grandfather and a wonderful friend to all of us. We will miss him deeply."