First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - MAY 24th

This Day in History

May 24th, 1218

Crusades collage: Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by Pope Urban II and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem - Jerusalem considered a sacred city and symbol of all three major Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)

Crusades
1218 - Fifth Crusade; leaves Acre for Egypt.

Wikipedia  Image: The Siege of Antioch, from a 15th-century miniature; After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; Baldwin I of Jerusalem; Medieval image of Peter the Hermit, leading knights, soldiers and women toward Jerusalem during the First Crusade; The Battle of Ager Sanguinis, 1337 miniature; Pope Innocent III excommunicating the Albigensians, Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders; The capture of Jerusalem marked the First Crusade's success.


May 24th, 1607

Mayflower Collage: departs from Southampton, England on its travel to North America

Plymouth Colony:
1607 - 100 English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first English colony in America.

Wikipedia  Painting: "Mayflower", The Granger Collection, New York 1905; Pilgrims landing on Cape Cod in November of 1620; The Pilgrims on the Speedwell; Mayflower arrived inside the tip of Cape Cod fishhook, November 1620 (satellite image, 1997); Landing of the Pilgrims by Michele Felice Cornè, circa 1805. Displayed in the White House.


May 24th, 1626

New Amsterdam: New Orange, 1674 (looking approximately north; the canal in the centre of the image (today's Broad St.) runs roughly north-south) The Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks New York, most populous city in the United States of America, and one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.

Wikipedia  Painting: New Amsterdam; New Orange, 1674 (looking approximately north; the canal in the centre of the image (today's Broad St.) runs roughly north-south) ● New Amsterdam harbor
Photo: ● Statue of Liberty; Manhattan, New York City, credit National Geographics ● The Manhattan Bridge (completed 1909), spanning the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan Island, New York City, credit: Larry Brownstein / Getty Images ● Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, flanked by the apartment buildings of the Upper East Side, credit: © Bruce Stoddard—FPG International ● New York city, Manhattan through a fish eye view, credit Victor Barajas Photography.


May 24th, 1689

English Civil War: (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers)

English Civil War:
1689 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration (1689) protecting Protestants - Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded.

Wikipedia  Painting: English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers);
John Milton publishes Areopagitica; Battle of Naseby, victory of the Parliamentarian New Model Army; Battle of Marston Moor, 1644; "Cromwell at Dunbar", by Andrew Carrick Gow; Oliver Cromwell; King Charles I, painted by Van Dyck; "And when did you last see your father?" by William Frederick Yeames.


May 24th, 1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798: led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins

Irish Rebellion of 1798: led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.

Wikipedia  Painting: In End of the Irish Invasion; (the Destruction of the French Armada, 1797), James Gillray caricatured the failure of Hoche's expedition.


May 24th, 1822

Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: Marine iguana ● Galapagos giant turtle ● Waved Albatrosses on Española ● Galapagos sea lion.

Ecuadorian War of Independence
1822 - Battle of Pichincha; secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
1981 - Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera , his wife, and his presidential committee died in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.

Wikipedia  Photo: Galápagos Islands Marine iguana ● Galapagos giant turtle ● Waved Albatrosses on Española ● Galapagos sea lion.


May 24th, 1832

Greece satellite image, credit NASA; Acrocorinth, looking north towards the Gulf of Corinth; Temple of Apollo Ancient Corinth; Early morning lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens

Greek War of Independence:
1832 - The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.

Wikipedia  Image: Greece satellite image, credit NASA; Acrocorinth, looking north towards the Gulf of Corinth; The Acrocorinth in the background, behind the Temple of Apollo; Temple of Apollo Ancient Corinth; Early morning lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens.


May 24th, 1861

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads

American Civil War:
1861 - Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.


May 24th, 1883

Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States (Brooklyn Bridge fisheye, looking towards Manhattan. New York City), credit Sayed Dhansay, Flickr

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

Wikipedia  Picture: Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States (Brooklyn Bridge fisheye, looking towards Manhattan. New York City), credit Sayed Dhansay, Flickr.


March 24th, 1900

The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog or Tweede Boereoorlog) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State

Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.

Wikipedia  Photo: Second Boer War; (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog or Tweede Boereoorlog) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State.


May 24th, 1915

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1915 - Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.

Wikipedia  Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.


May 24th, 1941

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1941 - Battle of the Atlantic; The German Battleship Bismarck sinks the then pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
Post World War II:
1948 - Arab–Israeli War (1948); Battle of Yad Mordechai - Egypt captures the Israeli kibbutz Yad Mordechai, but the five-day effort gives Israeli forces time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian advance a week later.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.


May 24th, 1967

Middle East satellite image; World satellite image

1967 - Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.

Wikipedia  Image: Middle East satellite image; World satellite image.


May 24th, 1968

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
1968 - FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.
2001 - Versailles wedding hall disaster; in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)


May 24th, 1976

Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time

London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.

Wikipedia  Photo: Concorde, one of the wonders of the modern technical world, the first commercially successful airliner capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) credit Heritage Concorde.


May 24th, 1982

Iran–Iraq_War: (also known as the First Persian Gulf War and by various other names) was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the 20th century

Iran–Iraq War:
1982 - Liberation of Khorramshahr:; Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis.

Wikipedia  Photo: Iran–Iraq War (also known as the First Persian Gulf War and by various other names) was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the 20th century.


May 24th, 1994

The World Trade Center is a site for various buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States (The original World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings - it featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973 and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001)

World Trade Center bombing: Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

Wikipedia  Photo: The World Trade Center is a site for various buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States (The original World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings - it featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973 and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001).


May 24th, 2001

Mount Everest: the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas)

Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.

Wikipedia  Image: Mount Everest: the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas)


May 24th, 2014

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
2014 - Aegean Sea earthquake; A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.


May 24th, 2014

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2014 - Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting; At least three people are killed in a shooting at Brussels' Jewish Museum of Belgium.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)