What happened on April 24 ?

1184 BC - Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional).

1704 - The first regular newspaper in the United States, the Boston, Massachusetts New-Letter, is published.

1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".

1862 - American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.

1863 - The Keyesville Massacre: a massacre of 53 Native American men from the Tehachapi tribe in Keyesville, California.

1877 - Russo-Turkish War, 1877?1878: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.

1913 - The skyscraper Woolworth Building in New York City was opened.

1915 - The Armenian Genocide began when the Young Turks undertook the systematic annihilation of Armenian intellectuals and entrepreneurs within the city of Constantinople and later the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.

1916 - Easter Rising begins: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett start a rebellion in Ireland.

1941 - World War II: Operation Demon ? The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.

1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

1955 - Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.

1961 - Bob Dylan earned a $50 session fee for playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's "Midnight Special." It was his recording debut.

1961 - The 17th century Swedish ship Vasa is salvaged.

1963 - Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.

1964 - Mexico becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1965 - Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when civilians lead by some members of the armed forces, including Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrow the triumvirate that was in power since the coup d'état on Juan Bosch, who was legally elected president in 1963.

1967 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, when the parachute fails to open. He was the first human to die during a space mission.

1967 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."

1968 - Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.

1970 - The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.

1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.

1975 - The Baader-Meinhof Gang blow up the West German embassy in Stockholm.

1980 - Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.

1981 - The first IBM PC is introduced.

1990 - STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery.

1990 - Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of anthrax after 48 years of quarantine.

1991 - Freddie Stowers is awarded the posthumous Medal of Honor for which he had been recommended in 1918.

1993 - An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of City of London.

1996 - In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced.

2004 - US lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya, 18 years previously as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

2006 - King of Nepal, King Gyanendra gives into the demands of the protesters and restores the parliament that he dissolved in 2002.