Today in history 64
A great choice! Here are some of the most notable events that occurred on August 24th throughout history:
1648: The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War and the beginning of the modern system of sovereign nation-states.
1777: American forces defeat the British at the Battle of Oriskany during the American Revolutionary War.
1839: The British East India Company captures the city of Aden, Yemen, which becomes a British colony.
1862: The USS Cairo, a Union ironclad warship, sinks in the Yazoo River during the American Civil War.
1912: The SS Sultana, a steamboat carrying over 2,000 passengers, including many Union soldiers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing over 1,700 people.
1949: The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito, who had declared the country's independence from the Soviet Union.
1964: The United States passes the Civil Rights Act, a landmark law that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
1981: The first mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, who calls a rival telecommunications company to declare that he is speaking from a cell phone.
2003: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members on board.
These are just a few of the many events that have occurred on August 24th throughout history.