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~195 BC – Died this day: Emperor Gaozu of Han of China (b. 256 BC).
~193 – Roman Emperor Didius Julianus was assassinated in his palace by a soldier just 2 months after buying the throne from the corrupt Praetorian Guard, members of whom had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax.
~1215 – The Battle of Beijing: Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, was captured by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan who then proceeded to massacre the city's inhabitants.
~1252 – Alfonso X was crowned King of Castile and León.
~1434 – Died this day: King Wladislaus II of Poland (b. 1362).
~1494 – Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of scotch whisky.
~1533 – Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen of England. (Enjoy the party while you can Annie...it won't last!)
~1660 – Mary Dyer was hanged for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Is it me or did people just take religion FAR too seriously back then?)
~1679 – In South Lanarkshire, Scotland the Scottish Covenanter rebels defeated Scottish Royal dragoons led by John Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog.
~1792 – Kentucky was admitted as the 15th state of the Union.
~1794 – 400 nautical miles west of Ushant, off the coast of France, the Third Battle of Ushant was fought between the Royal Navy and the French Atlantic Fleet. It was the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although the British seriously mauled the French and won a decisive victory that day, the grain convoy the Atlantic Fleet was escorting did manage to get through.
The oil on canvas "The Glorious First of June" (some pinheads really bought into this glory of war crap back then...)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Loutherbourg%2C_The_Glorious_First_of_June.jpg (broken link)
Artist: Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812)
~1796 – Tennessee was admitted as the 16th state of the Union.
~1812 – U.S. President James Madison asked the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
~1813 – James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, gave his famous order: "Don't give up the ship!" while engaging the smaller and more lightly armed HMS Shannon. The Chesapeake was quickly disabled by the smaller ship and her crew overwhelmed by a British boarding party, though, and Chesapeake was captured.
The USS Chesapeake
Artist: F. Muller, courtesy the US Navy Art Collection
~1831 – Sir John Ross and James Clark Ross located the position of the North Magnetic Pole on the Boothia Peninsula in the far north of Canada.
~1846 – Died this day: Pope Gregory XVI (b. 1765).
~1862 – In Virginia, during the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Seven Pines ended with inconclusive results but a combined casualty total of more than 11,000 between the Confederate and Union forces.
~1868 – The Treaty of Bosque Redondo was signed between the US government and Navajo leaders. It allowed the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
~1879 – Prince Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War. (Due in large part to his own damned stupidity.)
~1893 - The Royal Sovereign class battleship HMS Hood received her commission from the Royal Navy, for service with the Mediterranean Fleet.
HMS Hood (c. 1901)
Photo courtesy the Imperial War Museum
~1918 – Near the Marne River in France, the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought between Allied forces (under US Generals John J. Pershing and James Harbord) and Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
~1921 – The Tulsa Race Riot: In Tulsa, Oklahoma simmering racial tensions exploded into violence as rioters stormed into the predominately black neighborhood of Greenwood. Black owned businesses were firebombed and blacks themselves were seized, beaten and murdered as the night progressed. Oklahoma National Guard troops finally arrived from Oklahoma City by train shortly after 9 AM. By this time most of the surviving black citizens had either fled the city or were in custody at various detention centers. Although they had arrived too late to stop what had happened during the previous 10 hours, by noon (and after declaring martial law) the troops had managed to put an end to most of the remaining violence.
The postcard Little Africa on Fire. Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921
Photographer unknown
~1922 – The Royal Ulster Constabulary (1922-2001) was founded by the merger of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the Belfast Borough Police Force and the Londonderry Borough Police Force. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve.
~1935 – The first driving tests were introduced in the United Kingdom. (Judging by the driving of some Brits, there are a lot of our Limey friends who have never gotten around to taking those tests...)
~1939 – The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger fighter plane took off on its maiden flight. Arguably the Luftwaffe's best fighter plane it would serve throughout World War II.
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Photo courtesy the RAF
~1940 – The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation went out of business, giving the City of New York full control of the subway system in the city.
~1941 – The Battle of Crete ended with the island's defenders surrendering to German forces.
~1941 – The Farhud, a pogrom of Iraqi Jews, began in Baghdad. It took place when the city was without political leadership, after Rashid Ali al-Kaylani had fled but before British and Transjordanian forces had arrived. The rioters killed some 180 Jews.
~1942 – The Warsaw paper Liberty Brigade published the first news of Nazi concentration camps.
~1943 – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Flt. 777, a Douglas DC-3, was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation the downing was an attempt to assassinate British Prime Minister Winston Churchill whom Howard's manager resembled.
~1946 – Ion Antonescu, the Conducator (dictator) of Romania during World War II, was executed. He had been convicted of war crimes, crimes against the peace and treason.
~1958 – Charles de Gaulle came out of retirement to become Premier of France and was given emergency powers for 6 months by the National Assembly.
~1963 - Governor George Wallace vowed to defy an injunction that ordered the integration of the University of Alabama.
~1968 – Died this day: Helen Keller, American humanitarian. Keller had been deaf and blind since the age of 18 months. During her life she learned to speak, ride horses, and the waltz. She also graduated from Radcliffe *** laude (b. 1880).
~1974 – The Flixborough Disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant owned by Nypro killed 28 people and seriously injured 36 others near the village of Flixborough in Humberside, England.
~1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims was first published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
~1979 – The first black led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years took power with Abel Muzorewa as Prime Minister.
~1980 – Cable News Network (CNN) was launched by Ted Turner.
~1990 – US President George H. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
~1993 – The Dobrinja Mortar Attack: 13 people were killed and another 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells were fired at a football (soccer) game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo.
~1999 – American Airlines Flt. 1420, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, overran the runway and crashed while landing at Little Rock National Airport. 11 people onboard the flight from Dallas to Little Rock were killed.
~2001 – The Nepalese Royal Massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shot and killed several members of his family including his father and mother, King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aiswarya. As a result of the shooting, 10 people died and 5 were wounded.
~2001 – The Dolphinarium Discotheque Massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber killed 21 patrons and injured another 132 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
The memorial at the site of the bombing
Photo by Shayde
~2005 – The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution resulted in its being rejected.
~2007 – Jack Kevorkian was released from prison after serving just over 8 years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.
~2009 – Air France Flt. 447, an Airbus A330, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew were killed.
F-GZCP, the aircraft that crashed
Photo by Pawel Kierzkowski
~2009 – General Motors filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was the 4th largest United States bankruptcy in history.
~455 – The Vandals entered Rome and plundered the city for 2 weeks.
~910 – Died this day: Richilde of Provence, Queen of Western Francia (b. 845).
~1098 – The First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ended as the Crusaders took the city. The second siege by the army of Kerbogha would start only 5 days later.
~1418 – Died this day: Katherine of Lancaster, wife of Henry III of Castile (b. 1373)
~1537 - Pope Paul III promulgated Sublimus Dei, a papal bull which forbade the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (called Indians of the West and the South) and all other people.
~1692 – Bridget Bishop was the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts.
~1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of stickball (lacrosse). The ball was hit through the open gate of the fort; the teams rushed in and were then handed weapons which had been smuggled into the fort by Native women. About 15 men of the 35 man garrison were killed in the struggle and 5 more were later tortured to death.
~1793 – Jean-Paul Marat recited the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of them were later guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.
~1855 – The Portland Rum Riot occurred in Portland, Maine in response to the Maine law which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the state the year before.
~1886 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
~1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applied for a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
~1897 - Mark Twain, at age 61, was quoted by the New York Journal as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration." This in response to the rumors that he had died.
~1903 - The Duncan class battleship HMS Exmouth received her commission from the Royal Navy. She served as a flagship for various fleets including the Mediterranean Fleet, the Channel Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning until the start of World War I.
HMS Exmouth in Weymouth Bay (c. 1906)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/HMS_Exmouth_%281901%29_in_Weymouth_Bay_ca._1906.jp g (broken link)
Photo courtesy the Imperial War Museum
~1910 - Charles Stewart Rolls, of Rolls Royce fame, became the first person to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
~1923 - The rugged and simple Boeing Model 15, an open cockpit biplane fighter, took to the skies over Western Washington on her maiden flight. The Model 15 saw service with the United States Army Air Service as the PW-9 series and with the United States Navy as a carrier-based fighter, the FB series. The agile little bipe was dearly loved by the sevicemen who flew her for the abundant power and delightful handling abilities she displayed.
Boeing Model 15 (naval variant FB-5)
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
~1925 – Because of a lineup revision by Miller Huggins, Wally Pipp was replaced by Lou Gehrig at first base for the New York Yankees, beginning a streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, topped only by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995.
~1935 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth announced that he was retiring from baseball. (3 out of 7 sources give this as June 1st).
~1941 - Died this day: Lou Gehrig, American baseball legend, from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS)(b. 1903).
~1941 – The Massacre of Kondomari: An ad hoc firing squad consisting of German paratoopers murdered Greek civilians in the village of Kondomari. The shooting was the first of a long series of mass reprisals in Crete that was orchestrated by Generaloberst Kurt Student, in retaliation for the participation of Cretans in the Battle of Crete which had ended with the surrender of the island only 2 days earlier.
Murdered Greek civilians at Kondomari on June 2nd, 1941
Photo by Franz Peter Weixler, courtesy the Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive)
~1946 – In a referendum, Italians voted to transform Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum the king of Italy, Umberto II di Savoia, was exiled.
~1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey. She was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth. This was the first major international event to be televised.
Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh
Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada
~1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia signed the Belgrade Declaration and normalized relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948. (Even though they kissed and made up, the bloom came off the love again shortly thereafter.)
~1966 – The Surveyor Program: Surveyor 1 landed in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world.
Surveyor 1
Photo courtesy NASA
~1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turned into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg was killed by police. His death resulted in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June by former members of Kommune 1.
~1969 - The Canadian National Arts Center, a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, opened its doors to the public.
~1984 – Operation Bluestar: A military offensive was launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) the holiest shrine for the Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continued until June 6th with causalities, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
~1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak spawned 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12. Petersburg, Indiana was the hardest hit town in the outbreak, with 6 deaths.
~1992 – In a national referendum Denmark rejected the Maastricht Treaty by a thin margin.
~1995 – The Mrkonjić Grad incident: A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, piloted by Captain Scott O'Grady, was shot down by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 surface to air missile over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
~1997 – In Denver, Colorado, a 29 year old former infantryman was convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
~1998 - Royal Caribbean Cruises agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges of dumping waste at sea.
~1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227. The act abolished the state's 30 year old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
~1999 – The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brought television transmissions to the Kingdom of Bhutan for the first time.
~2003 – Europe launched its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launched from the Baikonur space centre (Cosmodrome) in Kazakhstan.
Image of Mars Express
Image courtesy NASA
~2004 – Ken Jennings began his 74 game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!
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Last edited by Da Grouch; 06-02-2010 at 01:26 AM..
~350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus (of the Constantinian dynasty) proclaimed himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators. He was killed 27 days later.
~1326 РThe Treaty of Novgorod was signed in Novograd, Russia. It marked the end of decades of the Norwegian-Novgorodian border skirmishes in the far-northern region called Finnmark. The terms were an armistice for 40 years. A few years earlier, the Republic of Novgorod had settled its conflict with Sweden in the Treaty of N̦teborg. The treaty did not delineate the border but rather stipulated which part of the Sami people would pay tribute to Norway and which to Novgorod, creating a kind of buffer zone in between the countries.
~1395 – Died this day: Ivan Shishman Tsar of Bulgaria (b. 1351).
~1620 – Construction of the oldest stone church in French North America, Notre Dame des Anges, began in Quebec City, Quebec.
~1770 – Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo was founded in Carmel by the Sea, California.
Main frontage of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
Photo by Stephen Lea (June 16th, 2004)
~1800 – U.S. President John Adams took up residence in Washington, D.C. (in a tavern because the White House was not yet completed). (A tavern...good place for the dink!)
~1839 – In Humen, China, Governor Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants. This provided Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
~1856 - Cullen Whipple patented his screw making machine.
~1861 – The Battle of Philippi, the first land battle of the Civil War, was fought. Union forces led by Brigadier General Thomas A. Morris routed Confederate troops under Colonel George A. Porterfield in Barbour County, Virginia. (now West Virginia). (With the Union outmunbering the Rebs nearly 4 to 1, ya' kinda saw that one coming.)
~1864 - As many as 7,000 Union troops were killed within 30 minutes during a poorly coordinated assault on Confedrate positions at the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia.
The 7th New York Heavy Artillery in Barlows charge near Cold Harbor on Friday June 3rd, 1864
Sketch by Alfred R. Waud, as published in Harper's Weekly on June 25, 1864; pgs. 408-9. Courtesy the Library of Congress
~1866 – The Fenians were driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario, (by force) back into the United States. The Fenians and their attempted invasions of Canada were one of the driving reasons behind Canadian Confederation in 1867.
~1871 - Frank and Jesse James, Cole Younger, and Clell Miller robbed the bank in Corydon, Iowa. The bank contacted the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago, the first involvement of the famous agency in the pursuit of the James-Younger Gang. Agency founder Allan Pinkerton dispatched his son, Robert Pinkerton, who joined a county sheriff in tracking the gang to a farm in Civil Bend, Missouri. A short, indecisive gunfight ensued, as the gang successfully escaped along with the $15,000 from the heist.
~1888 – The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, was first published in the San Francisco Examiner.
~1889 – The coast to coast Canadian Pacific Railway was completed with the completion of the International Railway of Maine, connecting Montreal with Saint John, New Brunswick.
~1916 – The National Defense Act was signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
~1920 - A naval milestone: The USS Tennessee (BB-43), the lead ship of her class, received her commission from the US Navy. As a result of extensive experimentation and testing, her underwater hull protection was much greater than that of previous battleships. As well, both her main and secondary batteries had fire control systems. Since Tennessee's 14 in. (360 mm) turret guns could be elevated to 30° rather than only to the 15° of earlier battleships, her heavy guns could extend an additional 10,000 yd (9,100 m). Because battleships were then beginning to carry airplanes to spot long range gunfire, Tennessee's ability to shoot "over the horizon" had a practical value. She survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to serve with great distinction in World War II, earning 10 Battle Stars and a Navy Unit Commendation.
The USS Tennessee underway in 1943
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1935 – On to Ottawa Trek: Almost a thousand unemployed Canadian workers boarded freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to the nation's capital in Ottawa.
Strikers from the unemployment relief camps climbing on boxcars in
Kamloops, British Columbia on the afternoon of June 3rd, 1935
Photographer unknown
The Windsors on their wedding day
Photo courtesy the Press Association
~1940 – The Battle of Dunkirk ended with a German tactical victory but with the British Expeditionary Force and a large contingent of the French Army successfully evacuated to Britain.
British troops evacuating Dunkirk's beaches
Photographer unknown/uncredited, courtesy
the Imperial War Museum
~1941 – The Kandanos Massacre: Occupying German forces razed the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground, murdering 180 of its inhabitants.
~1962 – An Air France Boeing 707 named Chateau de Sully crashed after an aborted takeoff from Paris' Orly Airport, killing 130 of the 132 aboard.
~1963 – The Buddhist Crisis: Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam attacked protesting Buddhists in Huế, South Vietnam, by pouring liquid chemicals from tear gas grenades onto the heads of praying Buddhists. 67 people had to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
~1963 – Northwest Airlines Flt. 293, a Douglas DC-7, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia near the border with Alaska. All 101 aboard were killed and no cause for the accident was ever determined.
~1963 – Died this day: Pope John XXIII (b. 1881).
~1965 – The launch of Gemini 4 took place, it was the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Crew-member Ed White performed the first American spacewalk.
~1968 – Feminazi Valerie Solanas, the author of SCUM Manifesto, attempted to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting at him 3 times. She hit him once. (And speaking of SCUM...)
~1969 – The Melbourne-Evans Collision: Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cut the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half. 74 of Evans’s crew were killed in the mishap.
The stern section of USS Frank E. Evans on the morning after the collision
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 SST crashed near Goussainville, France during the Paris Airshow. 14 people died in this, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
Tu-144 at Berlin in 1971
Photo by Lothar Willman
~1975 – Died this day: Ozzie Nelson, American band leader, producer, director, and actor - husband of Harriet (b. 1906).
~1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico resulted in at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, to date the 2nd worst oil spill in history.
~1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, was shot on a London street. He survived but was permanently paralysed.
~1984 – The Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), the most sacred shrine of Sikhism, after it was occupied by a Sikh religious group.
~1989 - Chinese army troops positioned themselves to began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
~1989 – The SkyDome, so named due to its retractable roof, was officially opened in Toronto, Ontario.
~1989 - Died this day: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran (b. 1902). (I know it's not nice to smile about things like this but...)
~1991 – Mount Unzen in Kyūshū, Japan erupted violently. A pyroclastic flow reached 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from the crater and claimed the lives of 43 scientists and journalists.
~1998 – The Eschede Train Disaster: An ICE high speed train derailed in Lower Saxony, Germany, killing 101 and injuring another 88 of the 287 aboard.
~2003 - Toys "R" Us, Inc. announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Albertson to become the exclusive toy provider for all of all of Albertson's food and drug stores.
...
Last edited by Da Grouch; 06-03-2010 at 10:31 AM..
~781 BC – The first historic solar eclipse was recorded in China. (Yes, I know that the Wikipedia article gives a later date but I did the research, and they're wrong...as usual.)
~470 BC - Born this day: Socrates, Greek philosopher (d. 399 BC). (The date prevailing evidence most strongly suggests.)
~1039 - Died this day: Conrad II Holy Roman Emperor (b. 990).
~1039 – Henry III became Holy Roman Emperor upon the death of his father Conrad II.
~1135 – Died this day: Emperor Huizong of China's Song Dynasty (b. 1082).
~1663 – Died this day: William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1582).
~1769 – A transit of Venus is followed 5 hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history.
~1783 РIn France, the Montgolfier brothers introduced their Montgolfi̬re (hot air balloon) as their first public demonstration at Annonay in front of a group of dignitaries from the Etats particulars. Its flight covered 2 km (1.2 mi), lasted 10 minutes, and had an estimated altitude of 1,600 - 2,000m (5,200 - 6,600 ft).
The first public demonstration
Artist: B. Romanet
~1792 – Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain. (Alas, it was all to be in vain...)
~1794 – British troops captured Port-au-Prince in Haiti. (The bastards!)
~1798 – Died this day: Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer, author and womanizer (b. 1725).
~1802 – Grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicated the throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
~1812 – Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory.
~1825 – French American Revolutionary War General Lafayette spoke at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his United States visit.
~1859 – The Battle of Magenta: During the Second Italian War of Independence, a French force led by Napoleon III defeated an Austrian army twice its size commanded by Marshal Ferencz Gyulai.
~1862 – Confederate troops evacuated their positions at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River. This opened the way for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee. (Although why the Union troops couldn't have just gone around Fort Pillow earlier and taken Memphis I don't know...)
~1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. (Damn! That's better than Amtrak can do it today!)
~1878 – The Cyprus Convention: A secret agreement was reached between the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire which granted control of Cyprus to Great Britain (while the Ottomans retained nominal title) in exchange for their support of the Ottoman position during the Congress of Berlin. This agreement was the result of secret negotiations which had taken place earlier in the year.
~1896 - Henry Ford test drove the first automobile he designed, the Quadricycle. It was also the first automobile he ever drove. The 2 cylinder engine produced 4 horsepower that propelled the car via chain drive. The transmission only had two gears, the first for up to 10 mph (16 km/h) and the 2nd for up to 20 mph (32 km/h), it's maximum speed. The vehicle did not have a reverse gear. The little tiller-steered machine had wire wheels and a 3 gal (11.3 L) fuel tank under the seat.
The Ford Quadricycle
Photographer unknown
~1912 - The British battlecruiser HMS Lion, lead ship of her class ("The Splendid Cats"), received her commission from the Royal Navy. She would werve with great distinction throughout World War I being present at every major naval engaement in the North Atlantic, specifically: The Battle of Heligoland Bight, the Battle of Dogger Bank and the Battle of Jutland.
HMS Lion during World War I
Photo courtesy the Imperial War Museum
~1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, ran out in front of King George V's racehorse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died 4 days later.
~1913 - The German König class battleship SMS Markgraf was launched at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen. She saw action during World War I including the Battle of Jutland where she was damaged by gunfire from HMS Warspite. Interned after the end of the war at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, she was scuttled there by her crew on June 21st, 1919, together with the entire German High Seas Fleet. The wreck of SMS Markgraf still lies in Scapa Flow, near the island of Cava and today is a popular diving attraction.
SMS Markgraf during World War I
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/SMS_Markgraf_1919.jpg (broken link)
Photo courtesy the Royal Navy
~1917 - "The Order of the British Empire", an order of chivalry, was established by King George V of Britain.
~1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall received the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand received the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope received the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
~1919 – The U.S. Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sent it to the U.S. states for ratification.
~1920 – Hungary lost 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon was signed at the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles, France.
~1928 – Zhang Zuolin, the warlord of Manchuria, was killed by a bomb planted by a Japanese army officer. Although Zhang had been Japan's proxy in China, Japanese militarists were infuriated by his failure to stop the advance of the Nationalists.
~1934 - The USS Ranger, the first US warship to be built as an aircraft carrier from scratch, received her commission from the US Navy. She would see much action in World War II, receiving 2 Battle Stars and a Distinguished Service Commendation.
The USS Ranger underway (c. 1936)
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1939 – The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 901 Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps.
MS St. Louis in Havana harbor
Photo courtesy the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
~1940 – The Dunkirk Evacuation ended when the last of over 300,000 evacuating troops were plucked off the docks at Dunkirk, France.
~1940 – German forces entered the city of Paris. They completed taking control of the entire city only 10 days later.
~1941 - Died this day: Kaiser Wilhelm II, last German emperor (b. 1859).
~1942 - The Battle of Midway began. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo led an invasion force against the US base on Midway Island in the central Pacific. The task force comprised of 4 heavy carriers and numerous support ships of the Imperial Japanese navy. But the US Navy had already learned of their plans through deciphering of the now broken Japanese naval code, J-25, and set up an ambush for the unsuspecting invaders. Generally regarded as the turning point in the Pacific War, the ensuing battle saw the Japanese lose all 4 carriers and their assault on Midway crushed.
U.S. Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers about to attack the burning cruiser Mikuma for the 3rd time
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/SBDs_and_Mikuma.jpg (broken link)
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1942 - The Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga was seriously damaged at Midway by attack aircraft from the USS Enterprise. When it became obvious she could not be saved, she was scuttled by Japanese destroyers to prevent her from falling into American hands.
Kaga at Yokosuka Naval Base in 1939
Photo courtesy the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
~1942 - The Japanese aircraft carrier Sōryū was attacked at Midway by a squadron of SBD Dauntless dive bombers from the carrier USS Yorktown. Sōryū received 3 direct hits from 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs; one penetrated to the lower hangar deck and the other 2 exploded in the upper hangar deck. The hangars contained armed and fueled planes in preparation for an upcoming strike, resulting in secondary explosions. Within a very short time the fires on the ship were out of control. At 10:40 she stopped and her crew were taken off by the destroyers Isokaze and Hamakaze. Sōryū sank at 7:13 PM. Losses were 711 crew of her nominal complement of 1103, including Captain Yanagimoto, who chose to remain on board. This was the highest mortality percentage of all the Japanese carriers lost at Midway, due largely to the devastation in both hangar decks. The official record implies that Sōryū sank of her own accord. Later research has revealed she was scuttled with torpedoes by Isokaze.
HIJMS Sōryū underway (c. 1938)
Photo courtesy the National Archives of Japan
~1943 – A military coup in Argentina ousted President Ramón Castillo.
~1944 – A hunter-killer group of the US Navy captured the German submarine U-505. It was the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
~1946 - The Northrop YB-35 experimental heavy bomber made its maiden flight over Hawthorne, California. The ancestor of the B2 Stealth Bomber, the YB-35 flying wing was a dramatic advance in aero technology. But while the concept was innovative to the extreme the propeller drive system was obsolete and the engine exhaust design a nightmare. As such the project was cancelled in 1949 and shelved until technology caught up and made the concept feasible in the 1980's.
The Northrop YB-35
Photo courtesy the US Air Force
~1967 – The Stockport Air Disaster: A chartered British Midland Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashed in Hopes Carr, Stockport. 72 of the 84 aboard were killed in the accident and all 12 survivors were seriously injured.
British Midland Canadair C4 G-ALHG at Manchester Airport on June 29th, 1965, the aircraft that went down at Hopes Carr
Photo by RuthAS
~1970 – Tonga was granted its independence from Britain.
~1973 – A patent for the ATM was granted to Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
~1974 - The Cleveland Indians hosted "Ten Cent Beer Night", but had to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers due to drunken and unruly fans making it impossible to finish the game.
~1979 – Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings siezed power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo was overthrown.
~1989 – Ali Khamenei was elected the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (Just in case anyone actually cares...)
~1989 – The Tiananmen Square Massacre: Student pro-democracy protests were violently crushed in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army.
~1989 – Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparked a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe. This led to the creation of the so called Contract Sejm and began the Autumn of Nations.
~1989 – The Ufa Train Disaster: A natural gas explosion occurred on the Trans-Siberian Railway near Ufa, Russia. The blast happened as 2 trains (carrying mostly children) passing each other threw sparks near a leaky pipeline. At least 575 were killed and 623 injured in the mishap.
~1989 – The victims of a rapist/murderer were found floating in Tampa Bay, Florida. Their killer would not be cptured until 1992.
~1996 – The first test flight of the European Space Agency's new Ariane 5 rocket (Ariane 5 Flt. 501) failed, with the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the control software. This is arguably the most expensive computer bug in history.
~2001 - Died this day: King Dipendra of Nepal, 3 days after ascending the throne by murdering his family at a royal dinner (b. 1971). (Good riddance!)
~2001 – Gyanendra, the last King of Nepal, ascended the throne after the massacre in the Royal Palace.
~2003 - Martha Stewart and her broker were indicted on 9 criminal counts by a Manhatten federal grand jury for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigned as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
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~535 – Died this day: Epiphanius of Constantinople, patriarch of Constantinople (b. circa 467).
~1017 – Died this day: Sanjō, 67th Emperor of Japan (b. 976).
~1257 – Kraków, Poland received its city rights.
~1305 – Raymond Bertrand de Got became Pope Clement V, succeeding Pope Benedict XI who had died a year earlier.
~1316 – Died this day: King Louis X of France (b. 1289).
~1798 – The Battle of New Ross was fought between insurgents called the United Irishmen and British Crown forces composed of regular soldiers, militia and yeomanry. The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster was defeated.
~1817 – The first Great Lakes paddle steamer, the Frontenac, was launched.
~1829 – The 5 gun schooner HMS Pickle captured the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
~1832 – The June Rebellion, an unsuccessful anti-monarchist uprising of Parisian students, broke out in Paris. It was an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis-Philippe.
~1837 – Houston, Texas was incorporated by the Republic of Texas.
~1849 – Denmark peacefully became a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution.
~1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial "Uncle Tom's Cabin" began a 40 week run in National Era, an abolitionist periodical.
~1862 – As the (First) Treaty of Saigon was signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Truong Dinh chose to defy Emperor Tu Duc of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.
~1864 – The Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeated a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.
~1888 – The Rio de la Plata Earthquake (a 5.5 on the Richter scale) took place on the Uruguay-Argentina border. Fortunately, injuries were few and damage was only light to moderate.
~1900 – During the Second Boer War, the city of Pretoria surrendered to British forces led by Frederick Roberts.
~1915 – Denmark amended its constitution to allow women the right to vote in Rigsdagen (parliamentary) elections.
~1933 – The U.S. Congress abrogated the United States' use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
~1934 – Born this day: Bill Moyers, noted American journalist.
~1941 – More than 4,000 Chongqing residents were asphyxiated while taking refuge in a tunnel during a Japanese air raid on the city.
~1942 – The United States declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
~1942 - The Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū was scuttled, by torpedoes fired from the Japanese destroyer Makigumo, when her fires proved unable to be extinguished. She had been struck by 4 or more 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs from 13 attacking SBD Dauntless dive bombers of the USS Enterprise the day before at the Battle of Midway.
The end of Hiryū, with her demolished flight decks clearly visible
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1942 - The Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi was scuttled by torpedoes fired from several Japanese destroyers when the fires burning on her flight decks proved impossible to extinguish or control. She had been struck by a 1,000 lb (454 kg) bomb dropped by an SBD Dauntless dive bomber of the USS Enterprise the day before at the Battle of Midway.
Akagi underway just 6 weeks before her destruction at Midway
Photo courtesy the Japanese Naval Archives
~1944 – More than 1000 British bombers dropped 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries along the Normandy coast in preparation for the D-Day landings.
~1945 – With the signing of the Berlin Declaration of 1945, the Allied Control Council (the military occupation governing body of Germany) formally took power.
~1946 – A fire at the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago, killed 61 people.
~1947 – The Marshall Plan, developed at a meeting of the participating European states, was established.
~1954 - The last new episode of the comic variety program Your Show of Shows aired on NBC.
~1956 – Elvis Presley introduced his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show. His swinging hips caused a national scandal and earned him the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis".
~1960 - The Lake Bodom Murders occurred. 4 teenagers were camping on the shores of Lake Bodom in Finland. Sometime between the hours of 4AM and 6AM, an unknown person or persons murdered 3 of them with a knife and blunt instrument, wounding the 4th. The case is still active half a century later.
~1963 – British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigned due to a sex scandal known as the Profumo Affair.
~1963 – The Movement of 15 Khordad was founded in protest against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by order of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry but peaceful demonstrators were confronted by tanks and paratroopers.
~1964 – The Deep Submergence Vehicle, DSV Alvin was commissioned by the US Navy. To date the submersible has taken 12,000 people on over 4,000 dives to observe the lifeforms that must cope with super-pressures and move about in total darkness. Research conducted by Alvin has been featured in nearly 2,000 scientific papers.
DSV Alvin
Photo courtesy NOAA
~1967 – The Six Day War began. The Israeli air force launched simultaneous pre-emptive attacks on the air forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Israeli troops examine a destroyed Arab MiG
Photo by יחזקאל (חזי) רחמים (Whatever the hell that's supposed to say...)
~1968 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by a gunman. He died from his wounds the next day.
~1975 – After Egypt lifted its blockade, the Suez Canal opened for the first time since the Six Day War.
~1975 – The United Kingdom held its first and (to date) only nationwide referendum, on remaining in the European Economic Community (EEC).
~1976 – In Idaho, the Teton Dam collapsed while filling for the first time. 11 people and 13,000 head of cattle died in the deluge. The dam was never rebuilt.
The reservoir behind the Teton Dam was emptied
within hours of the initial breach
Photo courtesy the U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Reclamation
~1977 – The Apple II, one of the first personal computers, went on sale.
~1981 – AIDS was first reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They had recorded a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now still classified as PCP but known to be caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii) in 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles.
~1984 – The Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, ordered an attack on the Golden Temple. It is the holiest site of the Sikh religion.
~1986 - A 52 year old man in Auburn, Washington died after taking an Excedrin capsule laced with cyanide by his wife; this was the first of the 2 Excedrin Deaths.
~1989 - As the world watched via satellite television link, "The Unknown Rebel" halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour following the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
~1992 - The blockbuster movie Patriot Games, starring Harrison Ford opened in theaters.
~1998 – A strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan. It quickly spread to 5 other assembly plants. The strike went on to last 7 weeks.
~2001 – Tropical Storm Allison made landfall on the upper Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumped large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused 41 deaths and resulted in $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
~2004 – Died this day: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (b. 1911).
~2006 – Serbia declared independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, ending the last remaining vestiges of the former Yugoslavia.
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~1393 – Died this day: Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (b. 1359).
~1480 – Died this day: Vecchietta, master Italian artist and architect of the Renaissance (b. 1412).
~1508 - The army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, was defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he was forced to sign a 3 year truce and cede several territories to Venice.
~1513 – The Battle of Novara was fought during the War of the League of Cambrai. Swiss troops defeated the French under Louis de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza was restored to power following the battle.
~1523 – Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
~1644 – The Qing Dynasty Manchu forces, led by the Shunzhi Emperor, captured Beijing during the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. The Manchus would rule China until 1912 when the Republic of China was established.
~1654 - Queen Christina abdicated the throne of Sweden in order to practice openly her previously secret Catholicism.
~1654 – Charles X Gustav ascended the throne of Sweden upon the abdication of his cousin Queen Christina.
~1674 – Shivaji, founder of the Maratha kingdom, was coronated.
~1809 – Sweden promulgated a new Constitution, which restored political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after 20 years of Enlightened absolutism under King Gustav IV Adolph.
~1813 – The Battle of Stoney Creek: In Upper Canada, a British force of 700 under John Vincent defeated an American force twice its size led by William Winder and John Chandler.
~1832 – The June Rebellion of Paris was put down by the National Guard.
~1844 – The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London by George Williams.
~1857 – Sophia of Nassau married the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.
~1859 – Queensland was established as a separate colony from New South Wales. The date is now celebrated state wide as Queensland Day.
~1862 – On the Mississippi river, the First Battle of Memphis was fought between Union and Confederate naval forces. The result was the total annihilation of the rebel fleet by the Federal Fleet under Commodore Davis.
The Battle of the Rams
Artist: A.R. Ward, courtesy the New York Public Library
~1882 – More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay were killed when a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushed massive waves into the harbor.
~1882 – The Shewan forces of Menelik defeated the Gojjame army at the Battle of Embabo. The Shewans captured Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and their victory was a major step that led to Shewan supremacy over the rest of Ethiopia.
~1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroyed all of downtown Seattle, Washington.
The start of the Great Seattle Fire, looking south on 1st Avenue near Madison Street
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Great_seattle_fire.jpg (broken link)
Photographer unknown, courtesy the University of Washington Library
~1891 – Died this day: Sir John A. Macdonald, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1815).
John A. Macdonald's funeral train which carried his remains from Ottawa to Kingston
Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada
~1892 – The first Chicago 'L', the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad, began revenue service when a small steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches carrying a total of 27 men and 3 women departed the 39th Street station and arrived at the Congress Street Terminal 14 minutes later; over tracks still used by the Green Line.
~1894 – Governor Davis H. Waite ordered the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek Miners' Strike (for the 2nd time).
The illegal sheriff's deputies under guard by the state militia at Cripple Creek, Colorado
Photo by Benjamin McKie Rastall
~1912 – The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska began. It would prove to be the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
The Novarupta lava dome in July 1987
Photo courtesy the National Park Service
~1918 – The Battle of Belleau Wood: The U.S. Marine Corps suffered its worst single day's casualties at that point in their history, losing 1087 of their number while recapturing the wood at Chateau-Thierry.
~1919 – The Republic of Prekmurje was incorporated in the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929.
~1921 – The Southwark Bridge in London, was opened for traffic by King George V and Queen Mary.
The Southwark Bridge in 2004
Photo by Chris O
~1925 – The Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.
~1932 – The Revenue Act of 1932 was enacted. It raised US tax rates across the board, with the rate on top incomes rising from 25 percent to 63 percent. The estate tax was doubled and corporate taxes were raised by almost 15 percent. Also created was the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon (1/4 ¢ per liter) sold.
~1933 – The first drive-in theater opened. It was owned and operated by Richard Hollingshead Jr. and located in Camden, New Jersey.
~1934 – Born this day: King Albert II of Belgium.
~1939 – German dictator Adolf Hitler gave an assembly of returning German volunteers, who fought as Legion Kondor during the Spanish Civil War, a personal address.
~1941 – Died this day: Louis Chevrolet, American automotive pioneer and racecar driver (b. 1878).
Louis Chevrolet in a Buick racer he designed, during the 1909 Cobe Cup Race
Photo courtesy the Chicago Historical Society
~1944 – D-Day: The Battle of Normandy began. In France, Operation Overlord commenced with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy. The allied forces quickly broke through the Atlantic Wall and pushed inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
Personnel of Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando "W" landing on Mike Beach, Juno sector
of the Normandy beachhead on June 6th, 1944. (The soldier on the far left looking directly at
the camera is a well known contributing member of this site who has asked me not to identify
him, for his own personal reasons.)
Photo courtesy the National Archives of Canada
~1946 – The Basketball Association of America was formed in New York City.
~1962 - The Beatles auditioned for EMI Records. The onhand producer stated, "They may have some potential."
~1966 – Civil rights activist James Meredith was shot while leading a march across Mississippi.
~1968 – US Senator Robert F. Kennedy died from his wounds after he was shot the previous night.
~1971 – Soyuz 11 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakh SSR. This was the first successful visit to the world's first space station, Salyut 1. However the mission ended in disaster when the command capsule depressurised during preparations for re-entry, killing the 3 man crew.
~1971 – A midair collision occurred between Hughes Airwest Flt. 706, a Douglas DC-9 jetliner, and a United States Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet fighter near Duarte, California. All 49 on board the DC-9 and 1 of the 2 crewmembers from the F-4 died in the accident. The surviving US Air Force Lieutenant received only minor injuries after ejecting from the falling aircraft.
~1971 – In Vietnam, the Battle of Long Khanh between Australian and Vietnamese communist forces began. The Australian forces would achieve victory the next day but the majority of North Vietnamese troops managed to escape.
~1971 - After 23 years The Ed Sullivan Show aired for the last time.
~1972 - David Bowie released the classic album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on RCA Records.
~1981 – The Bihar Train Disaster: A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India derailed at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. Indian government figures place the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing. It is generally believed, however, that the actual figure is closer to 1,000 killed. The actual cause of the derailment has never been determined.
~1982 – Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invaded southern Lebanon in their Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The end result of the operation was the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon.
~1984 – The Indian Army attacked the Golden Temple in Amritsar following an order from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Official casualties were 576 combatants killed and 335 wounded. Independent observers estimated that thousands of unarmed Sikh civilians are also killed in the crossfire with a total death count adding up to almost 6,000.
The Golden Temple in Amritsar
Photo by Amarpreet Singh
~1985 – The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" was exhumed in Embu, Brazil. The remains found were later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's Angel of Death. Mengele is believed to have drowned while swimming in February, 1979.
~1990 - U.S. District court judge Jose Gonzales ruled that the rap album As Nasty As They Wanna Be by 2 Live Crew violated Florida's obscenity law; he declared that the predominant subject matter of the record was "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind." (Woohoo! Was he in a pissy mood or what!)
~1993 – Mongolia held its first direct presidential elections.
~1997 - New Jersey teenager Melissa Drexler gave birth to a healthy baby in a bathroom stall during her senior prom, then strangled the child with a plastic bag and stashed the corpse in the trash. (Hope ya' fry, COW!)
~1999 - At the Putim maximum security prison in Brazil, 345 prisoners ran from the main gate in the largest jailbreak in Brazilian history, marking the 10th escape for the 3 year old facility. In the ensuing manhunt, 2 fugitives were killed and 5 innocent bystanders were mistakenly jailed.
~2002 – The Eastern Mediterranean Event: A near Earth asteroid estimated at 10 m. (39 ft.) in diameter exploded over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The explosion was estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
~2005 – In Gonzales v. Raich, The United States Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning cannabis even where states approve its use for medicinal purposes.
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~1099 – The Siege of Jerusalem began during the First Crusade. The Crusaders stormed and captured the city from Fatimid Egypt 7 weeks later.
~1329 – Died this day: Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (b. 1274).
~1394 – Died this day: Good Queen Anne (Anne of Bohemia), wife of Richard II of England (b. 1366).
~1420 – After a long siege, forces of the Republic of Venice captured Udine, ending the independence of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
~1494 – Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (already Portuguese) and the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Spain), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola). The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain.
~1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, was granted Royal Assent by Charles I and became law. The Petition is most notable for its confirmation of the principles that taxes can be levied only by Parliament, that martial law may not be imposed in time of peace, and that prisoners must be able to challenge the legitimacy of their detentions through the writ of habeas corpus.
The Petition of Right
Image courtesy the National Archives of the United Kingdom
~1654 – Louis XIV was crowned King of France.
~1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, was struck by a catastrophic magnitude 7.5 earthquake. In just 3 minutes most of the town sank below the sea and more than 2,000 people were killed, with at least 3,000 others seriously injured. During the shaking, the sand liquefied and the buildings, along with their occupants, appeared to flow into the sea. More than 20 ships moored in the harbour were capsized. One ship, the frigate Swan, was carried over the rooftops by a tsunami.
~1776 – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented the Lee Resolution to the Continental Congress. The motion was seconded by John Adams and led to the United States Declaration of Independence.
~1810 – The first issue of the newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres was published in Argentina.
~1832 – The Second Cholera Pandemic: Asian cholera, brought by Irish immigrants, reached Quebec and killed more than about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
~1840 – Died this day: King Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770).
~1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, French troops entered the capital of Mexico City. The main army entered the city 3 days later led by General Forey.
~1866 – Died this day: Chief Seattle, prominent Native American leader and peace advocate (b. circa 1780).
~1866 – 1,800 Fenian raiders were repelled back to the United States after they looted and plundered around the area of Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg in Quebec.
~1880 РThe Battle of Arica was fought. The assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape) was completed by Chilean forces, that ended the Campa̱a del Desierto (Desert Campaign). More than half of the 1,900 Peruvian defenders were killed or wounded in the thrashing delivered by the Chileans who incurred less than 500 dead and wounded.
The 1880 oil on canvas Battle of Arica
Artist: Juan Lepiani
~1902 - The Formidable class battleship HMS London received her commission from the Royal Navy for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. She saw action many times during World War I, including the Dardanelles Campaign, and received several Naval Commendations prior to the 1918 armistice. She was placed in reserve in 1919.
HMS London entering Malta Harbor in 1915
Photo courtesy the Imperial War Museum
~1905 – Norway's parliament dissolved its union with Sweden, a vote that was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13th of that year.
~1906 – The legendary RMS Lusitania of the Cunard Line was launched at the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
RMS Lusitania arriving in New York on her maiden voyage (September 13th, 1907)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Lusitania_arriving_in_New_York_5.jpg (broken link)
Photo courtesy of MaritimeQuest
~1914 - The Giulio Cesare, an Italian Conte di Cavour class battleship that served in both World Wars before joining the Soviet Navy as the Novorossiysk, received her commission from the Regia Marina.
The Giulio Cesare underway in 1914
Photographer unknown, possibly Antonio Divari
~1917 – At the Battle of Messines, Allied ammonal mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge were detonated to mark the beginning of the attack. Over 10,000 German troops were killed in the blasts making them history's deadliest non nuclear manmade explosion of any kind (planned or accidental).
~1938 - The first flight of the long range flying boat the Boeing 314 Clipper took place. One of the largest aircraft of the time, it used the massive wing of Boeing’s earlier XB-15 bomber prototype to achieve the range necessary for flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 12 Clippers were built for Pan Am, 3 of which were sold to BOAC in 1941 before delivery. Sadly, there are no examples of this grand old dame in existence today.
The Boeing 314 Clipper
Photo courtesy the Library of Congress
~1938 – The Douglas DC-4E took off on its maiden flight. Although relatively trouble free, the aircraft proved too complicated and expensive to maintain, with performance well below expectations. So the design was abandoned in favor of a smaller, less-complex 4 engined design. This newer design was designated DC-4, leading to the earlier design to be re-designated DC-4E (E for "experimental").
The Douglas DC-4E in flight on October 5th, 1938
Photographer unknown/uncredited, courtesy the Smithsonian Institute
~1940 – King Haakon VII of Norway, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government left Tromsø and went into exile in London.
~1942 – The aircraft carrier USS Yorkton (CV-5) capsized and sank after being struck by bombs from Japanese Val dive bombers on June 4th and torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-168 on June 6th at the Battle of Midway.
The sinking USS Yorktown on June 6th, 1942
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1942 - The Battle of Midway ended with a decisive American victory over the Japanese. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.
~1942 – Japanese troops landed on, and occupied, the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutians off the Alaska mainland.
~1944 - Off of the coast of Normandy, France, the transport ship USS Susan B. Anthony struck a mine and sank. All 2,689 people aboard were evacuated and survived, only 45 were injured. To date this is still the the largest rescue of people without loss of life.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Usssusanbanthony-ap72.jpg (broken link)
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1944 – During the Battle of Normandy, at Abbey Ardennes, members of the 12th SS Division Hitlerjugend massacred 23 Canadian prisoners of war. The advancing Canadian troops would unknowingly get revenge over the next few days by decimating the ranks of the 12th in close combat. Once the truth about the massacre was known, the Canadians adopted a "no prisoners taken" policy with regards to the 12th SS.
~1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returned with his family aboard the cruiser HMS Norfolk to Oslo exactly 5 years after they had been evacuated from Tromsø.
~1948 – Edvard Beneš resigned as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing a Constitution making his nation a Communist state.
~1955 – Lux Radio Theater signed off the air permanently. The show was launched in New York in 1934 and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
~1955 - The $64,000 Question premiered on CBS.
~1958 – Born this day: Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson), American purple musician.
~1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States decided on Griswold v. Connecticut, legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
~1971 – In Cohen v. California, the United States Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment.
~1975 – After releasing it on May 10th, Sony began selling its new Betamax videocassette recorder to the public. (The smart money didn't invest in that one...)
An original Betamax tape
~1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. The facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons.
~1982 – Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public. The bathroom where Elvis Presley had died 5 years earlier was kept off limits.
~1989 – Surinam Airways Flt. 764, a Douglas DC-8, crashed near Paramaribo Airport, Suriname, killing 176 of the 187 aboard and seriously injuring all 11 survivors.
~1991 – In the Philippines, volcanic Mount Pinatubo exploded, generating an ash column 7 km (4.5 miles) high. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) issued a warning indicating the possibility of a major eruption within 2 weeks. (The main show came only one week later.)
The ash plume from Mount Pinatubo (1991 eruption)
Photo by D. Harlow
~1995 – The long range Boeing 777 entered into service, with United Airlines.
~1998 – James Byrd Jr., a 49 year old black man, was dragged to death behind a pickup truck by 3 white men outside of Jasper, Texas in a racially motivated hate crime.
~2006 – The British Houses of Parliament were temporarily shut down due to an anthrax alert.
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~68 – The Roman Senate proclaimed Galba as the 6th Roman Emperor (for 7 months until his murder). He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.
~218 - Died this day: Macrinus, Roman Emperor (b. circa 165).
~536 - St. Silverius became Pope.
~632 - Died this day: Muhammad, prophet of Islam (b. circa 570).
~793 – Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. This is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
The 1798 painting The ruins of Lindisfarne Priory
Artist: Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
~1042 - Died this day: Harthacnut, King of Denmark and England (b. 1020).
~1191 – The First Crusade: Richard I of England, Philip of France, Leopold of Austria and what was left of the German army, along with the rest of the crusader's army, arrived at Acre in Israel. They captured the city the following month.
~1405 – Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, were executed (without trial) for treason in York, upon direct orders of King Henry IV. This conspiracy is the main historical context for Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, and the execution is described with the words "so much for Lancaster".
~1505 – Died this day: Hongzhi, Emperor of China (b. 1470).
~1690 – Siddi general Yadi Sakat, ordered his army to raze Mazagon Fort, a British Fort in Mumbai.
~1776 РThe Battle of Trois-Rivi̬res: British forces defeated the Continental Army during the last major battle fought on Quebec soil that was part of the American colonists' invasion of Quebec.
~1783 – In Iceland, the volcano Laki began an 8 month eruption which killed over 9,000 people. The eruption caused a massive fluorine poisoning and started a 7 year long famine.
~1795 - Died (murdered) this day: King Louis XVII of France, the "Boy King" (b. 1785).
~1809 - Died this day: Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer: "Common Sense" (b. 1737).
~1856 – The community of Pitcairn Islands and descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, consisting of 194 people, arrived on the Morayshire at Norfolk Island starting the 3rd settlement of the island (the previous 2 attempts were penal colonies).
~1861 – Tennessee voters approved a 2nd referendum calling for secession. Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union.
~1862 – The Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson saved the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
~1874 - Died this day: Cochise, Apache leader and war chief (b. 1805).
~1897 - The Majestic class pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Jupiter received her commission from the Royal Navy for service in the Channel Fleet. In 1915 Jupiter made history by becoming the first ship ever to get through the ice into the Russian port of Arkhangelsk during the winter, her February arrival was the earliest in history there.
HMS Jupiter (c. 1898)
Photo courtesy the Royal Navy
~1906 – US President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law. It authorized the president to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
~1911 - Helen was born. (Miss ya', Granny.)
~1912 – Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.
~1928 – During the Second Northern Expedition, the National Revolutionary Army captured Peking, renaming the city Beijing.
~1940 - Thr British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk by gunfire from the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, while evacuating British troops from Norway. Her sinking resulted in the loss of over 1,200 lives.
HMS Glorious at anchor in 1935
Photo courtesy the Imperial War Museum
~1941 – Allies troops invaded Syria and Lebanon, denying the German war machine access to the oilfields of the Middle East.
~1942 – The Japanese submarines I-21 and I-24 shelled the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
I-21 in 1930, sister ship to I-24
Photographer unknown, courtesy The Navy Association of Japan
~1943 - The Japanese Nagato class battleship Mutsu exploded at her moorings in the Hashirajima fleet anchorage, killing 1,121 of the 1,474 aboard and injuring 39 of the survivors. The most likely cause of the blast was sabotage by a disgruntled crewman.
The Mutsu, in 1921
Photo from Popular Mechanics Magazine, February 1922
~1948 – Milton Berle hosted the debut of Texaco Star Theater on NBC television.
~1949 - The prophetic novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell was published.
~1949 – Celebrities Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson were named in an FBI report as Communist Party members. No proof of these allegations was ever supplied by the bureau. (Sometimes the FBI can't get ANYTHING right!)
~1950 – Sir Thomas Blamey became the first (and, to date, only) Australian born Field Marshal in Australian history.
~1953 – The Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado hit Flint, Michigan, and kills 115. This was the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives (as of June, 2010).
The tornado near Erie, Michigan on June 8th, 1953
Photo courtesy of NOAA
~1955 - Born this day: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.
~1959 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempted the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
~1966 – One of the XB-70 Valkyrie prototypes was destroyed in a mid-air collision with an F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and United States Air Force test pilot Carl Cross were both killed.
The XB-70A Valkyrie just after the collision
Photo courtesy the US Air Force
~1966 – Topeka, Kansas was devastated by a tornado that registered as an F5 on the Fujita Scale: the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. 16 people were killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
~1967 – The USS Liberty incident: During the Six-Day War, the US Navy technical research ship USS Liberty was attacked in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli Air Force jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats. 34 crewmwn were killed and 171 more injured.
The heavily damaged USS Liberty the day after the attack
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1968 – The suspect in the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport.
~1968 – The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
~1974 – An F4 tornado struck Emporia, Kansas, killing 6 people, injuring over 200 and causing $25 million in damage.
~1982 – During the Falklands War, as many as 50 British servicemen were killed in an Argentine air attack on 2 supply ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
~1984 – An F5 tornado struck Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing 9 and injuring 584. 90% of the homes, 17 out of the 18 businesses and the 3 churches are destroyed.
~1986 – Kurt Waldheim, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, was elected president of Austria.
~1987 – New Zealand's Labour government established a national nuclear free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
~1995 – The first version of the PHP (Personal Home Page) programming language was released by its designer, Rasmus Lerdorf.
~2001 – The Osaka School Massacre: At Ikeda Elementary School, a 37 year old former janitor stabbed 8 elementary school pupils to death and wounded another 15 students and teachers.
~2007 – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, was hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of 9 people and the grounding of trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
~2008 – The Akihabara Massacre took place in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. A 25 year old nutcase drove his 2 ton truck into a crowded pedestrianised area before leaving the truck and attacking people with a knife, killing 7 and injuring 10.
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Last edited by Da Grouch; 06-08-2010 at 08:07 PM..
~53 – Roman Emperor Nero married his stepsister Claudia Octavia. (GIRL! You must have been a blond's blond...What in HELL were you thinking!)
~62 – Claudia Octavia was executed (murdered) upon Neros' orders. (I rest my case...oh, and happy anniversary to you Claudia.)
~68 – Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide, after he was deposed by the Senate. (Too bad the scumbag didn't do that before he became Emperor...)
~721 – The Battle of Toulouse: A Frankish army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated the Umayyad (Moors) forces besieging the city of Toulouse, led by the governor of Al-Andalus, Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani.
~1064 - Coimbra, Portugal fell to the forces of Ferdinand I of León and Castile.
~1310 – Duccio's Maestà altarpiece, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, was unveiled and installed in the Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
The Maestà altarpiece (Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints)
Artist: Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1260 – c. 1318-1319)
~1572 – Died this day: Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (b. 1528).
~1650 – The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the 2 administrative boards of Harvard, was established. It was the first legal corporation in the Americas.
~1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet began. It lasted for 6 days and resulted in a decisive victory by the Dutch over the English during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The raid led to a quick end to the war and a favourable peace for the Dutch.
The oil on canvas Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667
Artist: Pieter Cornelisz van Soest
~1732 – James Oglethorpe and his fellow trustees were granted a Royal Charter for the Province of Georgia, between the Savannah and Altamira rivers.
~1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798: In Ireland, both the Battle of Saintfield and the Battle of Arklow were fought between the United Irishmen and the British army. While the United Irishmen were victorious at Saintfield, they were repulsed at Arklow.
~1856 – The Mormon Handcart Pioneers: 274 Mormons left Iowa City, Iowa and headed west for Salt Lake City. They carried all their worldly possessions in 2 wheeled handcarts.
~1863 – The Battle of Brandy Station: In Virginia, the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the Civil War (as well as the largest to take place ever on American soil) was fought to an inconclusive end by Union cavalry under Major General Alfred Pleasonton and Confederate cavalry led by Major General J.E.B. Stuart.
~1873 – Alexandra Palace burnt down after being open for only 16 days, killing 3 members of staff. Only the outer walls survived and in this fire a loaned Exhibition of a Collection of English Pottery and Porcelain, comprising some 4,700 items of historic and intrinsic value, was destroyed. (Hope they were insured...)
Alexardra Palace on fire
Artist unknown, as published in the Illustrated London News June, 1873
~1885 – The Treaty of Tientsin was signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam, most of present day Vietnam, to France.
~1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22 year old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, began her journey that would see her become the first woman to drive across the United States. With 3 female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in 59 days she drove a green Maxwell 30 the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California. (When she got home her husband, John, spanked her and made her write lines for taking the family car without permission and running up the tab on the Exxon card.)
Alice Ramsey on her milestone journey
Ohotographer unknown
~1915 – William Jennings Bryan resigned as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States' handling of the sinking of RMS Lusitania by Germany.
~1922 – The 10 original bells of the Harkness Memorial Chime, at Yale University, were first rung by John Taylor of John Taylor Bellfounders.
~1923 – Died this day: Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1846).
~1928 – Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew completed the first trans-Pacific flight in a Fokker Trimotor monoplane named the Southern Cross.
The Southern Cross at an RAAF base near Canberra in 1943
Photographer unknown
~1930 – Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle was shot dead during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station, as dozens of people watched, in a gangland style murder. Lingle was initially lionized as a martyred journalist, but it was eventually revealed that he was involved in racketeering with the Capone organization, and that his death had more to do with his own criminal activities than his journalism.
~1934 – Donald Duck made his debut in the cartoon short "The Wise Little Hen".
(Low rez) image of
Donald Duck as he
appeared in The Wise Little Hen
Screenshot image
courtesy the Disney Archives
~1944 – 99 civilians were hung from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for attacks by maquisards.
~1945 - Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan would fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender. (Maybe not the time to be shooting off your mouth, Suzuki...)
~1946 - Died this day: Rama VIII, the 8th monarch of Thailand under the House of Chakri, under mysterious circumstances (b. 1925).
~1946 – Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) ascended the throne of Thailand upon the death of his brother King Rama VIII. He is currently the world's longest reigning monarch.
~1953 – Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94.
~1954 – The Army-McCarthy Hearings: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashed out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army. He gave McCarthy the famous rebuke; "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
~1957 – The first ascent of Broad Peak (the world's 12th highest mountain) was made by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus S c h m u c k, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by S c h m u c k. (Note: no spaces in between the letters in Sch/muck's name, but the autocensor seems to think it's extremely vulgar.)
~1958 – Queen Elizabeth II officially opened London Gatwick Airport (LGW), in Crawley, West Sussex.
~1959 – The USS George Washington was launched at the General Dynamics Electric Boat yard in Groton, Connecticut. It was the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
~1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria.
~1973 – Secretariat won the Triple Crown. The first horse to do so in a quarter century.
Secretariat en route to clinching the 1973 Triple Crown with a 31 length win
in the Belmont Stakes in World Record time
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Secretariat_the_belmont.jpg (broken link)
(Photographer forgot to leave accreditation claim...so who knows who took the pic)
~1979 – The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park in North Sydney occurred. Inadequate fire fighting measures and low staffing caused the fire to completely destroy the ride, which was first constructed in 1931, and had been transported from Glenelg, South Australia to Milsons Point, New South Wales during 1934 and 1935. The cause of the blaze that killed 6 children and one adult has never been determined.
~1985 – Thomas Sutherland, Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home. He wasn't released until November 18, 1991; at the same time as Terry Waite.
~1986 – The Rogers Commission released its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. It documented the technical and managerial factors that contributed to the incident.
~1998 - In Jasper, TX, 3 white men were charged in the dragging death (behind a pickup truck) of a black man, 49 year old James Byrd Jr.
~2000 - Canada and the United States signed a border security agreement. The agreement called for the establishment of a border enforcement team.
~2008 – In the village of Lake Delton, Wisconsin, the town's namesake (the 267 acre dammed artificial Lake Delton) drained as a result of the embankment over which the highway ran failing and eventually opening a breach of several hundred feet. The lake, which averaged about 12 feet in depth, drained out over a period of only a few hours.
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Last edited by Da Grouch; 06-09-2010 at 07:38 PM..
~323 BC – Died this day: Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC).
~1190 – Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa drowned in the Saleph River as his army was approaching Antioch from Armenia. Arab historians report that his army had encamped before the river and the Emperor had gone to the river to bathe when he was carried away by the current and drowned in it.
~1619 – The Battle of Sablat was fought during the Bohemian period of the Thirty Years' War. The battle was fought near Budějovice, in present day Czech Republic, between the Roman Catholic army of Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy and the Protestant troops of Ernst von Mansfeld. Mansfield's force was brought to battle and defeated by the Catholics. As a result, the Bohemians had to lift the Siege of Budějovice.
~1624 – The Treaty of Compiègne was signed between France and the Netherlands. It allowed France to subsidize the Dutch war effort against Spain in the Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648) after the end of the Twelve Years' Truce. France offered an immediate loan of 480,000 thalers, to be followed by more installments over a period of 3 years in which the Dutch would continue the fight against Spain. This move was part of the general effort of France to undermine the Habsburg Empire. It led to the revival of a Franco-Dutch alliance which had been enfeebled since the execution of Oldenbarnevelt in 1619.
~1692 – The Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop was hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries".
~1719 – The Battle of Glen Shiel was fought in the West Highlands of Scotland between British government troops and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the government forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland Great Britain.
The oil on canvas "The Battle of Glenshiel, 1719"
Artist: Peter Tillemans
~1786 – A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake 10 days earlier collapsed, the resulting flood extended 1,400 km. (870 mi.) downstream, and killed over 100,000 people in the Sichuan province of China. It is the 2nd deadliest landslide disaster on record.
~1805 – The First Barbary War: Threatened with invasion by American ground forces following the Battle of Derna and the reinstatement of his deposed brother (Hamet Karamanli), Yussif Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities with the United States.
~1829 – The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge took place. (Cambridge won.)
~1838 – The Myall Creek Massacre occurred. It was an incident which involved the murders of 28 Wirrayaraay indigenous people by European settlers at the Myall Creek near Bingara in northern New South Wales. 7 of the 12 settlers involved in the killings were subsequently found guilty of murder and hanged.
~1854 – The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduated.
~1864 – The Battle of Brice's Crossroads: In Mississippi, Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated a Union force almost 3 times their number led by General Samuel D. Sturgis.
~1871 – Sinmiyangyo (The Korean Expedition in 1871): When Korean shore batteries fired upon 2 American warships on June 1, 1871, a punitive expedition was launched 10 days later after the commanding American admiral failed to receive an official apology from the Koreans. US forces landed and destroyed several forts in a matter of hours, with several hundred Koreans killed and 3 Americans.
Americans celebrating their victory over the Deokjin Garrison in Korea
Photo by Felice Beato
~1886 – Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupted, vents at Lake Rotomahana obliterated the Pink and White Terraces and produced a pyroclastic surge that destroyed several villages within a 6 kilometre radius.
The 1884 oil on canvas The White Terraces
Artist: Charles Blomfield (1848-1926)
The oil on canvas The Pink Terraces
Artist: Charles Blomfield (1848-1926)
~1895 - Born this day: Hattie McDaniel, American actress. For her role of Mammy, in the 1939 movie classic Gone With the Wind, she became the first black to win an Academy Award (d. 1952).
~1896 - The Indiana-class battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-2) received her commission from the US Navy. She saw much action during the Spanish-American War and even served into World war I.
The USS Massachusetts during her speed trials in 1898
Photo courtesy the US Navy
~1909 - The Cunard liner SS Slavonia sent the first ever SOS distress signal when it wrecked off the Azores. All 410 passengers and crew were rescued in the incident, but the ship was a total loss.
~1898 – During the Spanish-American War, U.S. Marines landed on the island of Cuba.
~1901 - The Kaiser Friedrich III class pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Kaiser Barbarossa received her commission from the German Navy. Like many of the other pre-dreadnought battleships of the Kaiserliche Marine, Kaiser Barbarossa started World War I serving in V Battle Squadron, but was quickly transferred into the auxiliary role of a torpedo training ship.
SMS Kaiser Barbarossa in port (c. 1905)
Original photo by Bain News Service, New York, courtesy the Library of Congress
~1918 – The Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István sank after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat. Only 89 of her crew died in the sinking, the low death toll partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the *** Navy had to learn to swim before entering active service.
Szent István is the only battleship whose sinking was filmed during World War I:
~1921 – Born this day: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
~1924 – Fascists kidnapped and killed Italian socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in Rome.
~1935 – Under the watch of Bill Wilson (Bill W.), Dr. Robert Smith drank his last beer and Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio by the pair.
~1940 – Italy (Mussolini) declared war on France and the United Kingdom.
~1940 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounced Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
~1940 – German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reached the English Channel near Dieppe, sending his "Am at coast" message to the German Headquarters.
~1940 – Canada declared war on Italy. (The went on to kick the Italians' asses good, too!)
~1940 – With the loss of British supplies and support following the fall of France, Norway surrendered to the invading German forces.
~1942 – The Lidice Massacre: On direct orders from Heinrich Himmler, the Czech village of Lidice was completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. All 192 men over 16 years of age from the village were murdered on the spot by the Germans in a much publicized atrocity. The rest of the population were sent to Nazi concentration camps where many women and nearly all the children were killed.
The men massacred in village Lidice on June 10th, 1942
Photo courtesy the Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archives)
~1943 - Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro patented his ballpoint pen.
~1944 – The Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre: In the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, France 642 men, women and children were murdered by a German Waffen-SS company.
~1944 – The Distomo Massacre:Waffen-SS troops of the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Lautenbach went door to door in Distomo, Greece and massacred Greek civilians, reportedly in revenge for a partisan attack. A total of 218 men, women and children were killed. According to survivors, SS forces "bayoneted babies in their cribs, stabbed pregnant women, and beheaded the village priest."
~1944 – 15 year old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the youngest player ever in a major league game.
~1945 – Operation Oboe Six: Australian Imperial Forces landed on Brunei Bay and Labuan to seize them island from the occupying Japanese troops.
~1947 – Saab produced its first automobile, the Saab 92001 prototype.
The Saab 92001 on display
Photo by JeLuF
~1957 – John Diefenbaker led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a stunning upset over Louis St. Laurent and the Liberals in the Canadian federal election, ending 22 years of Liberal Party rule. (A classic case of replacing one traitor with another...)
~1965 – During the Vietnam War, the Battle of Dong Xoai began. It would end in late June with a Viet Cong victory over predominantly South Vietnamese troops.
~1967 - The Mikoyan-GurevichMiG-23 fighter-bomber took to the skies over Russia on its maiden flight. Arguably the most advanced warbird of its day when first flown, the "swing-wing" MiG-23 is still in active service with several air forces around the world.
A Polish Air Force MiG-23
Photo courtesy the Polish Air Force
~1967 – The Six-Day War ended when Israel and Syria agreed to a ceasefire.
~1977 – The convicted murderer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee, but was recaptured 3 days later.
~1988 - Died this day: Louis L'Amour, famed author of Western fiction (b. 1908).
~1997 – Before fleeing his northern stronghold Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot ordered the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 13 of Sen's family members. Son Sen and his family were shot, after which trucks drove over their bodies. (Gosh Son...I guess your old buddy Pol wasn't as trustworthy as you thought, huh?)
~2001 – Pope John Paul II canonized Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa.
~2003 – The Spirit Rover was launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission.
~2008 – War in Afghanistan: An airstrike by the United States resulted in the deaths of 11 paramilitary troops of the Pakistan Army Frontier Corps and 8 Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal areas.
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June 2
