On this day: March 24

Events on March 24

• 1199 King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6. Wikipedia
• 1401 Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. Wikipedia
• 1603 James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I. Wikipedia
• 1721 Johann Sebastian Bach dedicates six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051. Wikipedia
• 1794 In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces. Wikipedia
• 1882 Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis. Wikipedia
• 1882 German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis. Wikipedia
• 1900 Carnegie Steel Company is formed in New Jersey; its capitalization of $160 million is the largest to date. Wikipedia
• 1922 Irish War of Independence: In Belfast, two men wearing police uniforms broke into a house and murdered a Catholic family in what was believed to be a reprisal for the deaths of two policemen the day before. Wikipedia
• 1922 The McMahon killings take place in Belfast. Six Catholic civilians are shot dead, two others wounded and a female family member assaulted. Police were suspected as being responsible, but no one was prosecuted. Wikipedia
• 1927 Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defence of the foreign citizens within the city. Wikipedia
• 1934 The Tydings–McDuffie Act is passed by the United States Congress, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1939 The 1939 Liechtenstein putsch takes place; approximately 40 members of the VBDL starting from Nendeln march towards Vaduz with the intention of overthrowing the government and provoking Liechtenstein's annexation into Germany. Wikipedia
• 1944 German troops massacre 335 Italian civilians in Rome. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III. Wikipedia
• 1949 Hanns Albin Rauter, a chief SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands, is convicted and executed for crimes against humanity. Wikipedia
• 1972 Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath. Wikipedia
• 1976 In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a seven-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. Wikipedia
• 1980 El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. Wikipedia
• 1980 One day after making a plea to Salvadoran soldiers to stop carrying out the government's repression, Archbishop Óscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. Wikipedia
• 1989 In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground. Wikipedia
• 1990 Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the last ship of Indian Peace Keeping Force leaving Sri Lanka. Wikipedia
• 1998 A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others. Wikipedia
• 1999 Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country. Wikipedia
• 2008 Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election. Wikipedia
• 2018 Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Wikipedia

Born on March 24

• 1494 Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (died 1555) Wikipedia
• 1816 Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Mexican politician and Roman Catholic archbishop, regent during the Second Mexican Empire (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1834 William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1835 Joseph Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet (died 1893) Wikipedia
• 1874 Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1874 Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd president of the Italian Republic (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1884 Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1893 Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1897 Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1901 Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1903 Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1917 John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1921 Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1926 Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1930 Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1944 Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th prime minister of Serbia Wikipedia
• 1949 Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th prime minister of Sri Lanka Wikipedia
• 1954 Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (died 1992) Wikipedia
• 1956 Steve Ballmer, American businessman Wikipedia
• 1961 Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance Wikipedia
• 1969 Ilir Meta, Albanian politician, incumbent president of Albania Wikipedia
• 1973 Jim Parsons, American actor Wikipedia

Died on March 24

• 809 Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (born 763) Wikipedia
• 1603 Elizabeth I of England (born 1533) Wikipedia
• 1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (born 1807) Wikipedia
• 1905 Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1828) Wikipedia
• 1953 Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom, Empress Consort of India (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1976 Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 2002 César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2007 Shripad Narayan Pendse, Indian Marathi novelist (born 1913)[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 2016 Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (born 1947) Wikipedia
• 2016 Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2018 Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2018 Rim Banna, Palestinian singer, composer, arranger and activist (born 1966) Wikipedia
• 2020 Manu Dibango, Cameroonian musician and songwriter (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2023 Gordon Moore, American businessman, engineer and co-founder of Intel Corporation (born 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Catherine of Vadstena Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hildelith of Barking Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mac Cairthinn of Clogher Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria Karłowska Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paul Couturier (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Walter Hilton (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina) Wikipedia
• International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims Wikipedia
• National Tree Planting Day (Uganda) Wikipedia
• World Tuberculosis Day (International) Wikipedia

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