June 24

in History

Hittites March on Azzi — An ancient empire extends its iron grip — SolarEclipse_BC_1312-06-24.gif - Wikimedia Commons

Eastern Anatolia (modern Turkey)Ancient

1312

Hittites March on Azzi

An ancient empire extends its iron grip

Mursili II, the great Hittite warrior-king, launched a military campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa in the mountainous highlands of eastern Anatolia. The campaign was part of Mursili's relentless effort to reassert Hittite dominance after the empire had been weakened by plague and rebellion. His detailed annals, carved in cuneiform on clay tablets, provide one of the most vivid accounts of Bronze Age warfare, documenting the campaigns that restored the Hittite Empire to its former glory.

1312 BC

Harry Partch Was Born — Music's greatest rebel tunes a different scale — Harry_Partch_portrait_1952.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Oakland, California, United StatesEarly 20th Century

1901

Harry Partch Was Born

Music's greatest rebel tunes a different scale

In Oakland, California, Harry Partch was born -- the composer who would reject the entire Western musical tradition and build his own from scratch. Dissatisfied with the conventional twelve-tone scale, he developed a forty-three-tone system and built extraordinary custom instruments from discarded materials to play it. His works, performed on Cloud Chamber Bowls and Spoils of War, created sounds no one had ever heard before, establishing him as one of the most radical innovators in musical history.

1901 AD

Fast battleship — The U. — HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_aerial_view_1918.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Early 20th Century

1937

Fast battleship

The U.

The U.S. Navy's first two fast battleships, North Carolina and Washington, of the North Carolina class, were respectively ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval Shipyards.

1937 AD