July 24 in Military History

A joint English and Dutch fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke captures the Rock of Gibraltar in a three-day operation, beginning three centuries of British control over the Mediterranean chokepoint and establishing the naval base that anchored Atlantic-Mediterranean operations through two world wars.

The future "Liberator" of South America is born in Caracas, Venezuela. Bolívar would lead military campaigns that freed six nations from Spanish rule, becoming one of the most important military commanders in Western Hemisphere history.

Tennessee becomes the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union during Reconstruction, setting the precedent for the terms under which the remaining ten states would rejoin over the next four years.

Yale historian and future U.S. Army Air Service officer Hiram Bingham is guided to Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes, an expedition that tested early aerial survey and photographic techniques later employed by the U.S. military in World War I reconnaissance.

The RAF launches the first of a devastating series of air raids on Hamburg, Germany, culminating in a firestorm that kills over 42,000 civilians and destroys much of the city, the deadliest bombing attack in Europe until Dresden.

RAF Bomber Command employs "Window" (aluminum foil strips) for the first time during the Hamburg raids, completely blinding German radar defenses and revolutionizing electronic warfare.

U.S. Marines of the 4th Marine Division land on Tinian Island in the Marianas, beginning the battle for the island that would become the launch point for the atomic bomb missions against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev spar before cameras at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, a Cold War confrontation that highlighted the strategic linkage between consumer goods, industrial capacity, and military production.

The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia splashes down in the Pacific Ocean 900 miles southwest of Hawaii, recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, closing the first crewed lunar landing mission with a textbook Navy-led recovery operation.

The Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Nixon must release the White House tapes, precipitating his resignation. The scandal's aftermath would shape civil-military relations and the War Powers Act.

Air Algerie Flight 5017 crashes in northern Mali after flying into a severe thunderstorm, killing all 116 aboard and drawing French military search and recovery forces, including Operation Barkhane assets, into the remote Sahel where they were already fighting Islamist insurgents.