24 August on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

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.

Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father.

The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written.

The Visigoths under King Alaric I begin to pillage Rome.

Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans.

King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Angoulême Cathedral.

Pope Innocent III issues a bull declaring Magna Carta invalid.

An English fleet defeats a French fleet in the battle of Sandwich, cutting off Prince Louis of France from supplies and diminishing his hopes to gain the English throne during the First Barons' War.

Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.

The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book produced on a printing press, was completed.

The town and castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army.

The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Syria at the Battle of Marj Dabiq.

Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.

The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.

A Dutch fleet establishes a new colony in the ruins of Valdivia in southern Chile.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is legally enforced as the liturgy of the Church of England, precipitating the Great Ejection of Dissenter ministers from their benefices.

A Polish-Lithuanian army under John III Sobieski defeats an Ottoman-Tartar army in the battle of Lwow.

William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

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).

War of the Spanish Succession: An Anglo-Dutch fleet engaged a French naval force at the Battle of Málaga in the Mediterranean Sea.

The War of the Hats: The Swedish army surrenders to the Russians in Helsinki, ending the war and starting Lesser Wrath.

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.

The first naval battle of the Svensksund begins in the Gulf of Finland.

Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz.

British troops capture Washington, D.C. and set the Presidential Mansion, Capitol, Navy Yard and many other public buildings ablaze.

The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed.

The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.

Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal.

The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.

The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.

The Wolseley expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.

89 New Zealand Native football team

The New Zealand Native football team, predominantly comprising Māori players, concluded their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history.

Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.

Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.

Manuel de Arriaga is elected and sworn in as the first President of Portugal.

The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World War I.

World War I: German troops capture Namur.

World War I: The Battle of Cer ends as the first Allied victory in the war.

The Royal Navy's R.38, the world's largest airship at the time, was destroyed by a structural failure over Hull, killing 44 of the 49 crew aboard.

Second day of two-day Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, result in the death of 65–68 Jews; the remaining Jews are forced to flee the city.

Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

The Crescent Limited train derails in Washington, D.C., after the bridge it is crossing is washed out by the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane.

The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.

Spanish Civil War: Sovereign Council of Asturias and León is proclaimed in Gijón.

Spanish Civil War: the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.

Kweilin incident: A Japanese warplane shoots down the Kweilin, a Chinese civilian airliner, killing 14. It is the first recorded instance of a civilian airliner being shot down.

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.

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.

World War II: Allied troops begin the attack on Paris.

The treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization goes into effect.

Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the United Nations.

United Air Lines Flight 615 crashes near Decoto, California, killing 50 people.

The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

Vice president João Café Filho takes office as president of Brazil, following the suicide of Getúlio Vargas.

Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the United States Embassy, Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm if he did not remove his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.

Cultural Revolution: Red Guards vandalised the Jokhang, the holiest Buddhist temple in Tibet.

Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.

Vietnam War protesters bomb Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leading to an international manhunt for the perpetrators.

Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.

Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Homestead, Florida as a Category 5 hurricane, causing up to $25 billion (1992 USD) in damages.

Microsoft releases Windows 95 to the public in North America.

First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.

Air Transat Flight 236 loses all engine power over the Atlantic Ocean, forcing the pilots to conduct an emergency landing in the Azores.

Ninety passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers from Chechnya.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.

A Cessna 208 Caravan crashes in Cabañas, Zacapa, Guatemala, killing 11 people.

Sixty-five passengers are killed when Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes during an emergency landing at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Agni Air Flight 101 crashes near Shikharpur, Makwanpur, Nepal, killing all 14 people on board.

Henan Airlines Flight 8387 crashes at Yichun Lindu Airport in Yichun, Heilongjiang, China, killing 44 out of the 96 people on board.

In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 72 illegal immigrants are killed by Los Zetas and eventually found dead by Mexican authorities.

Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, is sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the largest in that area since 1989.

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.

Proxima Centauri b, the closest exoplanet to Earth, is discovered by the European Southern Observatory.

The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space.

Erin O'Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Japan officially begins discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking international concerns and condemnation.

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (died 1986)

Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and songwriter

Sauli Niinistö, Finnish captain and politician, 12th President of Finland

Rupert Grint, English actor

Fernand Braudel, French historian and academic (died 1985)

Jean Michel Jarre, French pianist, composer, and producer

Marlee Matlin, American actress and producer

Alan Walker, British-Norwegian DJ and record producer

Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, producer, and screenwriter

John Green, American author and vlogger

Maya Yoshida, Japanese footballer

William I of the Netherlands (died 1840)

Ferdinand I of Romania (died 1927)

William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (died 1833)

Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983)

A. S. Byatt, English novelist and poet (died 2023)

Karen Uhlenbeck, American mathematician

Orson Scott Card, American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist

Alexander II of Scotland (died 1249)

Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (died 2010)

Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, and entrepreneur; co-founded WWE

Robert Enke, German footballer (died 2009)

Chad Michael Murray, American actor, model, and author

Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (died 1151)

Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)

Mike Huckabee, American minister and politician, 44th Governor of Arkansas

Hideo Kojima, Japanese director, screenwriter and video game designer

Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter

Reggie Miller, American basketball player and sportscaster

Kim Källström, Swedish footballer

José Bosingwa, Portuguese footballer

Jean Rhys, Dominican-British novelist (died 1979)

Jared Harris, English actor

Anne Archer, American actress and producer

Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter and educator (died 1614)

Marsha P. Johnson, American gay liberation activist and drag queen (died 1992)

John I of Castile (died 1390)

Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, Brazilian footballer

Steve Guttenberg, American actor and producer

Sophia Brahe, Danish horticulturalist and astronomer (died 1643)

Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (died 1956)

Ava DuVernay, American director and screenwriter

Gregory Jarvis, American engineer, and astronaut (died 1986)

Ken Hensley, English rock singer-songwriter and musician (died 2020)

Joe Manchin, American politician, 34th Governor of West Virginia

Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor, writer, director, and producer

Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, and surfer (died 1968)

Kenny Baker, English actor (died 2016)

Robert Herrick, English poet and cleric (died 1674)

Michael Redd, American basketball player

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary

James Weddell, Belgian-English sailor, hunter, and explorer (died 1834)

Siaka Stevens, Sierra Leonean police officer and politician, 1st President of Sierra Leone (died 1988)

Salizhan Sharipov, Kyrgyzstani-Russian lieutenant, pilot, and astronaut

Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer and manager

Ronee Blakley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

James D'Arcy, English actor

James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon), American psychologist and science fiction author (died 1987)

Alexander McCall Smith, Rhodesian-Scottish author and educator

Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer