Events
of the day
1184
BC β Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned,
according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
173 β Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia
is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the
peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm
emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues
them in the so-called "miracle of the rain".
631 β Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Emperor of
China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing
gold and silk in order to seek the release of
enslaved Chinese prisoners captured during the
transition from Sui to Tang from the northern
frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing
80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned
to China.
1345 β The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief
minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched
by political prisoners.
1429 β Hundred Years' War: start of the Battle
of Jargeau.
1509 β Henry VIII of England marries Catherine
of Aragon.
1594 β Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges
of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines,
which paved way to the stabilization of the
rule of the PrincipalΓa (an elite ruling class
of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1770 β Captain James Cook runs aground on the
Great Barrier Reef.
1775 β The American Revolutionary War's first
naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results
in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 β The Continental Congress appoints Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger
Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee
of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1788 β Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches
Alaska.
1805 β A fire consumes large portions of Detroit
in the Michigan Territory.
1825 β The first cornerstone is laid for Fort
Hamilton in New York City.
1837 β The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston,
fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and
Irish.
1892 β The Limelight Department, one of the
world's first film studios, is officially established
in Melbourne, Australia.
1898 β Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships
set sail for Cuba.
1898 β The Hundred Days' Reform is started by
Guangxu Emperor with a plan to change social,
political and educational institutions in China,
but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after
104 days. The failed reform though led to the
abolition of Imperial Examination in 1905.
1901 β New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands.
1903 β Group of Serbian officers stormed royal
palace and assassinated King Alexander ObrenoviΔ
and his wife queen Draga.
1907 β George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop,
dismisses Northamptonshire for 12 runs, the
lowest total in first-class cricket.
1917 β King Alexander assumes the throne of
Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates
under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens.
1919 β Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming
the first horse to win the Triple Crown.
1920 β During the U.S. Republican National Convention
in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered
in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to
a consensus on their candidate for the U.S.
presidential election, leading the Associated
Press to first coin the political phrase "smoke-filled
room".
1935 β Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first
public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the
United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
1936 β The International Surrealist Exhibition
opens in London, England.
1937 β Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph
Stalin executes eight army leaders.
1938 β Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle
of Wuhan starts.
1938 β Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese
Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow
River flood to halt Japanese forces. 500,000
to 900,000 civilians are killed.
1942 β World War II: The United States agrees
to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
1944 β USS Missouri (BB-63) the last battleship
built by the United States Navy and future site
of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of
Surrender, is commissioned.
1955 β Eighty-three are killed and at least
100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a
Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le
Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1956 β Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported
ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan
Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number
of deaths is reportedly 150.
1962 β Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence
Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to
escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
1963 β American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama
Governor George Wallace stands at the door of
Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama
in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian
Malone and James Hood, from attending that school.
Later in the day, accompanied by federalized
National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 β Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself
with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection
to protest the lack of religious freedom in
South Vietnam.
1964 β World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs
amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany,
killing at least eight children and two teachers
and seriously injuring several more with a home-made
flamethrower and a lance.
1970 β After being appointed on May 15, Anna
Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially
receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming
the first females to do so.
1972 β The Eltham Well Hall rail crash, caused
by an intoxicated train driver, kills six people
and injures 126.
1978 β Altaf Hussain founds the students' political
movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation
(APMSO) in Karachi University.
1981 β A Richter Scale 6.9 magnitude earthquake
at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
1982 β The Sentosa Musical Fountain was officially
opened as part of the second phase of construction
on the island of Sentosa, Singapore.
1998 β Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital
Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech
acquisition.
2001 β Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role
in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 β Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the
first inventor of the telephone by the United
States Congress.
2004 β Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby
of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
2008 β Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
makes an historic official apology to Canada's
First Nations in regard to a residential school
abuse in which children are isolated from their
homes, families and cultures for a century.
Holidays
and observances
Birthday
of Prince Henrik (Denmark)
Christian Feast Day:
Barnabas the Apostle
Bartholomew the Apostle (Eastern Christianity)
June 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Kamehameha Day, official state holiday of Hawaii,
United States
Matralia, in honor of Mater Matuta. (Roman Empire)
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