On this day: August 24

Events on August 24

• 49 BC Caesar's Civil War: Forces loyal to Julius Caesar led by Gaius Scribonius Curio were defeated by Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. Wikipedia
• 1516 The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Syria at the Battle of Marj Dabiq. Wikipedia
• 1682 William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania. Wikipedia
• 1690 Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city (in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city's foundation date is unknown). Wikipedia
• 1704 War of the Spanish Succession: An Anglo-Dutch fleet engaged a French naval force at the Battle of Málaga in the Mediterranean Sea. Wikipedia
• 1743 The War of the Hats: The Swedish army surrenders to the Russians in Helsinki, ending the war and starting Lesser Wrath. Wikipedia
• 1781 American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit. Wikipedia
• 1814 War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World War I. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: German troops capture Namur. Wikipedia
• 1941 Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in secret for the remainder of World War II. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders the cessation of Nazi Germany's systematic T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and the handicapped due to protests, although killings continue for the remainder of the war. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, bombers from the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō near Santa Isabel Island, contributing to an Allied victory. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk, with the loss of seven officers and 113 crewmen. The US carrier USS Enterprise is heavily damaged. Wikipedia
• 1949 The treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization goes into effect. Wikipedia
• 1950 Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1954 Vice president João Café Filho takes office as president of Brazil, following the suicide of Getúlio Vargas. Wikipedia
• 1954 In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro. Wikipedia
• 1989 Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government. Wikipedia
• 1989 Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe. Wikipedia
• 1991 Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 2001 Air Transat Flight 236 loses all engine power over the Atlantic Ocean, forcing the pilots to conduct an emergency landing in the Azores. Wikipedia
• 2006 The International Astronomical Union passed a resolution redefining the term planet and classifying Pluto as a dwarf planet. Wikipedia
• 2006 The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet. Wikipedia
• 2016 An earthquake strikes Central Italy with a magnitude of 6.2, with aftershocks felt as far as Rome and Florence. Around 300 people are killed. Wikipedia
• 2017 The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space. Wikipedia

Born on August 24

• 1016 Fujiwara no Genshi, Japanese empress consort (died 1039)[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1198 Alexander II of Scotland (died 1249) Wikipedia
• 1759 William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (died 1833) Wikipedia
• 1772 William I of the Netherlands (died 1840) Wikipedia
• 1865 Ferdinand I of Romania (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1899 Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1899 Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1902 Fernand Braudel, French historian and academic (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1927 Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1936 A. S. Byatt, English novelist and poet (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1942 Karen Uhlenbeck, American mathematician Wikipedia
• 1945 Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, and entrepreneur; co-founded WWE Wikipedia
• 1947 Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1948 Sauli Niinistö, Finnish captain and politician, 12th President of Finland Wikipedia
• 1948 Jean Michel Jarre, French pianist, composer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1951 Orson Scott Card, American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist Wikipedia
• 1957 Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1965 Marlee Matlin, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1977 John Green, American author and vlogger Wikipedia
• 1988 Rupert Grint, English actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Maya Yoshida, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Alan Walker, British-Norwegian DJ and record producer Wikipedia

Died on August 24

• 895 Guthred, king of Northumbria Wikipedia
• 1313 Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1275) Wikipedia
• 1617 Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (born 1586) Wikipedia
• 1804 Peggy Shippen, American wife of Benedict Arnold and American Revolutionary War spy (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1832 Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French physicist and engineer (born 1796) Wikipedia
• 1888 Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (born 1822) Wikipedia
• 1943 Simone Weil, French philosopher and activist (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1954 Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1956 Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1990 Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2004 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and academic (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2014 Richard Attenborough, English actor, director, producer, and politician (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2016 Walter Scheel, German politician, 4th President of Germany (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2021 Charlie Watts, English musician (born 1941) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Aurea of Ostia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bartholomew the Apostle (Roman Catholic, Anglican) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edward Klinik Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emily de Vialar Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jeanne-Antide Thouret Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria Micaela Desmaisieres Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Massa Candida (Martyrs of Utica) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Owen (Audoin) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Liberia) Wikipedia
• Independence Day or Den' Nezalezhnosti, celebrates the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wikipedia
• International Strange Music Day Wikipedia
• National Waffle Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Nostalgia Night (Uruguay) Wikipedia
• Willka Raymi (Cusco, Peru) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 24” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.