On this day: February 24

Events on February 24

• 303 The Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most severe episode of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, began with the publication of a first edict by Roman emperor Diocletian. Wikipedia
• 484 King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica. Wikipedia
• 1527 Coronation of Ferdinand I as the king of Bohemia in Prague. Wikipedia
• 1582 With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar. Wikipedia
• 1607 Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the first fully developed opera, premiered in Mantua. Wikipedia
• 1809 Britain invades and captures the French colony of Martinique. Wikipedia
• 1812 Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Frederick William III of Prussia against Russia is signed. Wikipedia
• 1813 Sinking of HMS Peacock by USS Hornet on the Demerara River, Guyana. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1863 Arizona is organized as a United States territory. Wikipedia
• 1876 The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Nazi Party (NSDAP) is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Battle of Kasserine Pass, the first major engagement between American and Axis forces in Africa, ended with the Allied forces suffering heavy losses. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: First large-scale protest march resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany. Wikipedia
• 1945 Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree. Wikipedia
• 1968 Vietnam War: Led by Ngô Quang Trưởng, South Vietnamese forces recaptured the citadel of Huế. Wikipedia
• 1968 Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngô Quang Trưởng recapture the citadel of Hué. Wikipedia
• 1989 United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section. Wikipedia
• 1991 Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2000 Pope John Paul II arrives in Egypt for a three-day stay as part of the Great Jubilee, marking the first papal visit in modern Egyptian history Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2007 Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea. Wikipedia
• 2008 Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years. Wikipedia
• 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wikipedia

Born on February 24

• 1304 Ibn Battuta, Moroccan explorer Wikipedia
• 1463 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (died 1494) Wikipedia
• 1500 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1558) Wikipedia
• 1536 Pope Clement VIII (died 1605) Wikipedia
• 1557 Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1619) Wikipedia
• 1786 Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, author, and academic (died 1859) Wikipedia
• 1837 Rosalía de Castro, Spanish poet (died 1885) Wikipedia
• 1885 Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1932 Michel Legrand, French pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1934 Bettino Craxi, Italian lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1938 Phil Knight, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Nike, Inc. Wikipedia
• 1940 Denis Law, Scottish footballer and sportscaster (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1944 David Wineland, American physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Wikipedia
• 1945 Barry Bostwick, American actor and singer Wikipedia
• 1955 Steve Jobs, American businessman, co-founded Apple Computer and Pixar (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1955 Alain Prost, French race car driver Wikipedia
• 1956 Judith Butler, American philosopher, theorist, and author Wikipedia
• 1961 Erna Solberg, Norwegian politician, 35th Prime Minister of Norway Wikipedia
• 1963 Mateu Alemany, Spanish lawyer, football director of FC Barcelona Wikipedia
• 1966 Billy Zane, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1967 Brian Schmidt, Australian astrophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1977 Floyd Mayweather Jr., American boxer Wikipedia

Died on February 24

• 1674 Prataprao Gujar, 3rd Commander-in-chief of Maratha Confederacy Wikipedia
• 1799 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (born 1742) Wikipedia
• 1810 Henry Cavendish, French-English physicist and chemist (born 1731) Wikipedia
• 1815 Robert Fulton, American engineer (born 1765) Wikipedia
• 1856 Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and academic (born 1792) Wikipedia
• 1925 Hjalmar Branting, Swedish journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1953 Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1975 Nikolai Bulganin, Russian marshal and politician, 6th Premier of the Soviet Union (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1990 Sandro Pertini, Italian journalist and politician, 7th President of Italy (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1993 Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2001 Claude Shannon, American mathematician, cryptographer, and engineer (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2006 Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2018 Sridevi, Indian actress (born 1963) Wikipedia
• 2020 Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (born 1918) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blessed Ascensión Nicol y Goñi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Josefa Naval Girbés Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lindel Tsen and Paul Sasaki (Anglican Church of Canada) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Modest (bishop of Trier) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sergius of Cappadocia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Dragobete (Romania) Wikipedia
• Engineer's Day (Iran) Wikipedia
• Flag Day in Mexico Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Estonia from the Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered to have been an illegal annexation. Wikipedia
• National Artist Day (Thailand) Wikipedia
• Sweden Finns' Day (Sweden) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 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.