Historical Events on Thursday, 24th July

24/07/2025

Angara Airlines Flight 2311 crashes on approach to Tynda Airport, killing all 48 people on board.

Angara Airlines Flight 2311 was a scheduled domestic flight from Ignatyevo Airport to Tynda Airport, operated by Angara Airlines. On 24 July 2025, an Antonov An-24 operating that flight crashed in Amur Oblast, Russia during its second landing attempt in poor visibility. The crashed site is about 16 kilometres from Tynda airport into a forest near Tynda in eastern Russia. All 42 passengers and 6 crew members on board died.

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24/07/2024

A Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 crashes during takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal killing 18.

Saurya Airlines Pvt. Ltd is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. As of August 2017, the airline served five destinations across three provinces of Nepal from its hub at Tribhuvan International Airport, operating a small fleet of Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft. Saurya Airlines was the first airline to operate the Canadair Regional Jet in Nepal, also becoming the second airline in Nepal after Cosmic Air to operate a jet engine aircraft on the domestic routes.

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24/07/2019

Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He was previously Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and the second mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023.

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24/07/2014

Air Algérie Flight 5017 loses contact with air traffic controllers 50 minutes after takeoff. It was travelling between Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers. The wreckage is later found in Mali. All 116 people on board are killed.

Air Algérie Flight 5017 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, which crashed near Gossi, Mali, on 24 July 2014. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 twinjet was operated by Swiftair for Air Algérie, disappeared from radar about fifty minutes after take-off. All 110 passengers and 6 crew members on board died.

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24/07/2013

Santiago de Compostela derailment: A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers.

On 24 July 2013, an Alvia high-speed train travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside the railway station at Santiago de Compostela. Of the 178 people injured, the final number of deaths had reached 78.

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24/07/2012

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê.

The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war. Post-war clashes and disputes have continued into 2026.

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24/07/2009

Aria Air Flight 1525 crashes at Mashhad International Airport, killing 16.

Aria Air Flight 1525 was a scheduled Iranian domestic flight which crashed on landing at Mashhad International Airport, Mashhad, Iran, on 24 July 2009.

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24/07/2001

The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos, resulting in military and civilian casualties and destroyed aircraft.

The Bandaranaike International Airport attack was a commando raid on 24 July 2001 by Black Tigers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) targeting the Sri Lanka Air Force base SLAF Katunayake and the adjoining Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka. The attack was one of the boldest the LTTE mounted during its war with the Sri Lankan government, and had a profound impact on the country's military, economy, and airline industry.

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24/07/1999

Air Fiji flight 121 crashes while en route to Nadi, Fiji, killing all 17 people on board.

Air Fiji Flight 121 (PC121/FAJ121) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Nausori International Airport in Fiji's capital Suva to Nadi International Airport in Nadi, operated by an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante. On 24 July 1999, the Bandeirante crashed into a mountain near Delailasakau, killing all 15 passengers and 2 crew on board, making it the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Fiji.

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24/07/1998

Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.

The 1998 United States Capitol shooting occurred on July 24, 1998, when Russell Eugene Weston Jr. entered the Capitol and fatally shot United States Capitol Police officers Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson.

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24/07/1987

US supertanker SS Bridgeton collides with mines laid by IRGC causing a 43-square-meter dent in the body of the oil tanker.

MV Bridgeton, ex-al-Rekkah, was a Kuwait Oil Company oil tanker that was reflagged to a U.S flag and renamed during Operation Earnest Will. The ship was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in its Nagasaki shipyard and launched August 14, 1976. Bridgeton was part of the first Earnest Will convoy when it struck an Iranian mine near Farsi Island resulting in a major propaganda victory for the Iranians. In the late 1990s, Bridgeton transferred to Panamanian registry and was renamed Pacific Blue. It was scrapped in 2002 at Haryana Ship Demolition in Alang, India.

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Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan's highest peak.

Hulda Hoehn Crooks was an American mountaineer, dietitian and vegetarianism activist. Affectionately known as "Grandma Whitney" she successfully scaled 14,505-foot (4,421 m) Mount Whitney 23 times between the ages of 65 and 91. She had climbed 97 other peaks during this period. In 1990, an Act of Congress renamed Day Needle, one of the peaks in the Whitney area, to Crooks Peak in her honor.

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24/07/1983

The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Black July was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on a Sri Lankan Army patrol by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 July 1983, which killed 13 soldiers. Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.

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George Brett playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".

George Howard Brett is an American former professional baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals.

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24/07/1982

Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.

Nagasaki , officially Nagasaki City , is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.

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24/07/1980

The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the swimming event at Olympic level.

The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and, through the 2016 Olympics, the Australian victory remains the only occasion the United States has not won the event at Olympic level since its inception in 1960. The quartet consisted of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli, and freestyler Neil Brooks. The team was nominally led by its oldest member Tonelli, who was 23 and was also a spokesperson for the Australian athletes' campaign for their right to compete at the Olympics against the wishes of the Fraser government. The team was seen as an unlikely prospect to win; all four of the swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three experienced suspension or expulsion from the Australian team during their careers.

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24/07/1977

End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.

The Egyptian–Libyan War, also known as the Four Day War, was a short border war fought between Libya and Egypt that lasted from 21 to 24 July 1977. The conflict stemmed from a deterioration in relations that had occurred between the two states after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had rebuffed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's entreaties to unify their countries and had started to pursue peace negotiations with Israel in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Soon thereafter, Libya began sponsoring dissidents and assassination plots to undermine Sadat, in which Egypt responded in kind to weaken Gaddafi. In early 1976, Gaddafi dispatched troops to the Egyptian frontier where they began clashing with border guards. Sadat responded by moving many troops to the area, while the Egyptian General Staff drew up plans for an invasion to depose Gaddafi.

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24/07/1974

Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.

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24/07/1969

Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

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24/07/1967

During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"); the statement angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians.

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and Vichy France in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. Following the 1958 Algiers putsch, he came out of retirement at the request of President René Coty, who appointed him Prime Minister. He commissioned a new constitution which was approved by voters in a referendum, establishing the Fifth Republic. He was subsequently elected President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He is widely regarded as the greatest Frenchman of the 20th century.

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24/07/1966

Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.

Michael Pelkey is considered one of the first individuals to influence the mass practice of BASE jumping as a sport, together with fellow skydiver Brian Schubert. Pelkey and Schubert's first jump was made on July 24, 1966, from the summit of El Capitan mountain. Pelkey made his second jump on October 15, 2005, at the 26th annual Bridge Day event where he and Shubert were attending as guest speakers. Pelkey's planned third jump at the 27th annual Bridge Day in 2006 was unperformed due to the death of Schubert, from a parachute malfunction, moments before Pelkey's jump.

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24/07/1963

The ship Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.

Bluenose II is a replica of the fishing and racing schooner Bluenose, commissioned by Sidney Culverwell Oland and built in 1963 as a promotional yacht for Oland Brewery. Sidney Oland donated the schooner to Nova Scotia in 1971 and it has since operated as a sailing ambassador and promotional device for Nova Scotia tourism. In honour of her predecessor's record, Bluenose II does not officially race.

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24/07/1959

At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".

The American National Exhibition, held from July 25 to September 4, 1959, was an exhibition of American art, fashion, cars, capitalism, model homes and futuristic kitchens. Held at Sokolniki Park in Moscow, then capital of the Soviet Union, the exhibition attracted 3 million visitors during its six-week run. The Cold War event is historic for the Kitchen Debate between then-U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, held first at the model kitchen table, outfitted by General Electric, and then continued in the color television studio where it was broadcast to both countries, with each leader arguing the merits of his system, and a conversation that "escalated from washing machines to nuclear warfare."

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24/07/1950

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.

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24/07/1943

World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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24/07/1935

The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee.

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors and human-made factors: a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion, most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region. The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as long as eight years. It exacerbated an already existing agricultural recession.

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24/07/1929

The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).

The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them". The pact was signed by Germany, France, and the United States on 27 August 1928, and by most other states soon after. Sponsored by France and the U.S., the Pact is named after its authors, United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. The pact was concluded outside the League of Nations and remains in effect.

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24/07/1927

The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.

The Menin Gate, officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads that led Allied soldiers to the front line.

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24/07/1924

Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

Themistoklis Sofoulis or Sophoulis was a prominent centrist and liberal Greek politician from Samos Island, who served three times as Prime Minister of Greece, with the Liberal Party, which he led for many years.

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24/07/1923

The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.

The Treaty of Lausanne is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially arisen between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Empire of Japan, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, and the Kingdom of Romania since the outset of World War I. The original text of the treaty is in English and French. It emerged as a second attempt at peace after the failed and unratified Treaty of Sèvres, which had sought to partition Ottoman territories. The earlier treaty, signed in 1920, was later rejected by the Turkish National Movement which actively opposed its terms. As a result of Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War, Turkish forces recaptured İzmir, and the Armistice of Mudanya was signed in October 1922. This armistice provided for the exchange of Greek-Turkish populations and allowed unrestricted civilian, non-military passage through the Turkish Straits.

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24/07/1922

The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.

Mandatory Palestine, officially known as Palestine, was a British administrative territory between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine. From 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations, it was the Mandate for Palestine. The territory was administered by the British, who deemed it unfit for self-governance.

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24/07/1915

The passenger ship SS Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.

SS Eastland was an American Great Lakes passenger ship. On July 24, 1915, the ship capsized while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what is the largest loss of life from a shipwreck on the Great Lakes.

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24/07/1911

Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".

Hiram Bingham III was an American academic, explorer and politician. In 1911, he publicized the existence of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu which he rediscovered with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. Later, Bingham served as the 69th governor of Connecticut for a single day in 1925—the shortest term in history. He had been elected in 1924 as governor, but was also elected to the Senate and chose that position. He served as a member of the United States Senate until 1933.

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24/07/1910

The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.

The Ottoman Empire, historically also known as the Turkish Empire, was a state that spanned much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th century to the early 20th century, centered in modern-day Turkey. It also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.

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24/07/1901

O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.

William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Caballero's Way", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel Cabbages and Kings. Porter's stories are known for their naturalist observations, witty narration, and surprise endings.

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24/07/1866

Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to Congress following the American Civil War.

The Reconstruction era, often simply called Reconstruction, was a period in United States history that followed the American Civil War (1861–1865) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the abolition of slavery and federal control over, and reintegration of, the former Confederate States into the United States. Three amendments were added to the United States Constitution to grant citizenship and equal civil rights to the newly freed slaves. To circumvent these, former Confederate states imposed poll taxes and literacy tests and sought to intimidate and control the Black population and discourage or prevent them from voting.

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24/07/1864

American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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24/07/1847

After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.

Brigham Young was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877. He also served as the first governor of the Utah Territory from 1851 until his resignation in 1858.

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Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patented the rotary-type printing press.

Richard March Hoe was an American inventor from New York City who designed a rotary printing press identical to Josiah Warren's original invention, and related advancements, including the "Hoe web perfecting press" in 1871; it used a continuous roll of paper and revolutionized newspaper publishing.

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24/07/1712

War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain.

The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict, fought between 1701 and 1714. The death of Charles II of Spain in November 1700 without children resulted in a succession crisis. Philip of Anjou was backed by his grandfather Louis XIV of France. His opponent, Archduke Charles of Austria, was supported by the Grand Alliance. Significant related conflicts include the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and Queen Anne's War (1702–1713).

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24/07/1701

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.

Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, born Antoine Laumet, was a French explorer, military officer, and colonial administrator in New France.

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24/07/1567

Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and be replaced by her one-year-old son James VI.

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.

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24/07/1534

French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.

Jacques Cartier was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "Canada" after the Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona and at Hochelaga.

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24/07/1487

Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.

Leeuwarden is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provincial Council of Friesland.

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24/07/1412

Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.

Ignatius Behnam Hadloyo was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1445 until his death in 1454.

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24/07/1411

Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.

The Battle of Harlaw was a Scottish clan battle fought on 24 July 1411 just north of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. It was one of a series of battles fought during the Middle Ages between the barons of northeast Scotland and those from the west coast.

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24/07/1304

Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.

The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns in the late 13th and 14th centuries in order to protect the independence and sovereignty of the Kingdom of Scotland which had been threatened by the Kingdom of England. The wars were part of a great crisis for Scotland, and the period became one of the most defining times in its history. At the end of both extended wars, Scotland retained its status as an independent, sovereign country.

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24/07/1148

Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.

Louis VII, was King of France from 1137 to 1180. Called the Younger or the Young to differentiate him from his father Louis VI, His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees.

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24/07/1132

Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.

The Battle of Nocera or Scafati was the first major battle of Roger II of Sicily and the first of his two major defeats at the hands of Count Ranulf of Alife.

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24/07/0538

The Ostrogoths abandoned the Siege of Ariminum upon the arrival of the larger than expected Byzantine fleet.

The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy, was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoths killed Odoacer, a Germanic soldier and erstwhile leader of the foederati. Odoacer had previously become the de facto ruler of Italy following his deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the final emperor of the Western Roman Empire, in 476. Under Theodoric, the Ostrogothic kingdom reached its zenith, stretching from Southern France in the west to Western Serbia in the southeast. Most of the social institutions of the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule. Theodoric called himself "King of the Goths and Romans", demonstrating his desire to be a leader for both peoples.

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