Today in History: March 24

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1387 – English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate. 1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1550 – France, Scotland, and England sign the Peace of Boulogne to end hostilities in the War of the Rough Wooing. 1603 – James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I. 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan. 1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne. 1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051. 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed. 1765 – Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops. 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. 1829 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament. 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith. 1837 – Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote. 1854 – Slavery is abolished in Venezuela. 1860 – Sakuradamon Incident: Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke. 1869 – The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising. 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300. 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis. 1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Bang Bo on the Tonkin–Guangxi border. 1896 – A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history. 1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published. 1921 – The 1921 Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, first international women's sports event. 1927 – Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city. 1933 – The Enabling Act passed in both the Reichstag and Reichsrat. 1934 – United States Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth. 1944 – Ardeatine massacre: German troops murder 335 Italian civilians in Rome. 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. 1946 – A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership. 1958 – Rock 'n' roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army. 1961 – Quebec Board of the French Language is established. 1965 – Images from the Ranger 9 lunar probe are broadcast live on network television. 1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles. 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. 1977 – Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India, the first Prime Minister not to belong to Indian National Congress. 1980 – El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites. 1989 – In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground. 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. 1998 – Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded. 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others. 1998 – First computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany 1999 – Kosovo war: NATO began attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country. 1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno kills 38 people. 2003 – The Arab League votes 21–1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq. 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election. 2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.