Historical Events on Friday, 20th June

20/06/2025

The first EF5 tornado in 12 years occurs in Enderlin, North Dakota.

On the night of June 20, 2025, a large, extremely violent and historic EF5 tornado moved through rural North Dakota, United States, passing near the community of Enderlin. Part of a larger severe weather outbreak and derecho sequence across the northern Great Plains between June 19 and 22, the tornado, referred to as Enderlin Tornado #1 by the National Weather Service (NWS), was the first to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale in 12 years. During its 16-minute lifespan, it achieved a peak width of just over one mile (1.6 km) wide, and tracked a total length of 12.1 miles (19.5 km), with wind speeds in excess of 210 mph (340 km/h). It killed three people, becoming the deadliest tornado to occur in North Dakota since the F4 tornado that struck Elgin in 1978.

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20/06/2019

Iran's Air Defense Forces shoot down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force is the anti-aircraft warfare branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (Artesh). It split from the air force (IRIAF) in 2008 and controls the country's military radar network.

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20/06/2011

RusAir Flight 9605 crashes in Besovets during approach to Petrozavodsk Airport, killing 47.

RusAir Flight 9605 was a passenger flight which crashed near Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, on 20 June 2011 while attempting to land in thick fog. The aircraft involved, a Tupolev Tu-134, was operating a RusAir scheduled domestic flight from Moscow. Of the 52 people on board, only 5 survived.

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20/06/2003

The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as a charitable foundation. The foundation is most known for being the host of Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world. It also hosts fourteen related open collaboration projects, and supports the development of MediaWiki, the wiki software which underpins them all. The foundation was established in 2003 in St. Petersburg, Florida by Jimmy Wales, as a non-profit way to fund Wikipedia and other wiki projects which had previously been hosted by Bomis, Wales' for-profit company.

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20/06/1996

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-78 to conduct life science and microgravity research aboard the Spacelab module.

Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and becoming the first spacecraft to be re-used after its first flight when it launched on STS-2 on November 12, 1981. As only the second full-scale orbiter to be manufactured after the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Enterprise, Columbia retained unique external and internal features compared with later orbiters, such as test instrumentation and distinctive black chines. In addition to a heavier aft fuselage and the retention of an internal airlock throughout its lifetime, these made Columbia the heaviest of the five spacefaring orbiters: around 1,000 kilograms heavier than Challenger and 3,600 kilograms heavier than Endeavour when originally constructed. Columbia also carried ejection seats based on those from the SR-71 during its first six flights until 1983, and from 1986 onwards carried an imaging pod on its vertical stabilizer.

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20/06/1994

The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.

The Imam Reza shrine bombing refers to a bomb explosion that occurred on 20 June 1994 in a crowded prayer hall at the shrine of Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Imam of Shia, located in Mashhad, Iran. To maximize the number of casualties, the explosion took place on Ashura, one of the holiest days for Shia Muslims, when hundreds of pilgrims had gathered to commemorate the death of their third Imam, Husayn ibn Ali.

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20/06/1991

The German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital of Berlin.

The Bundestag is the federal parliament of Germany. It is the only constitutional body in the country directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the Bundesrat.

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20/06/1990

Asteroid Eureka is discovered.

An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter. Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no atmosphere, and are broadly classified into C-type (carbonaceous), M-type (metallic), or S-type (silicaceous). The size and shape of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from small rubble piles under a kilometer across to Ceres, a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter. A body is classified as a comet, not an asteroid, if it shows a coma (tail) when warmed by solar radiation, although recent observations suggest a continuum between these types of bodies.

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The 7.4 Mw  Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.

The 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake occurred on Thursday, 21 June 1990 at 00:30:14 local time in the Caspian Sea region of northern Iran. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.4 and a Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). Devastation occurred in a 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi) area, causing extensive damage in several cities. A large aftershock also added to the destruction. Between 35,000 and 50,000 people died in the earthquake; another 60,000–105,000 were injured.

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20/06/1988

Haitian president Leslie Manigat is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy.

Leslie François Saint Roc Manigat was a Haitian politician who was elected as President of Haiti in a tightly controlled military held election in January 1988. He served as President for only a few months, from February 1988 to June 1988, before being ousted by the military in a coup d'état.

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20/06/1982

The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opens in Tel Aviv, despite attempts by the Turkish government to cancel it, as it included presentations on the Armenian genocide.

The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide was the first major conference in the field of genocide studies, held in Tel Aviv on 20–24 June 1982. It was organized by Israel Charny, Elie Wiesel, Shamai Davidson, and their Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, founded in 1979. The conference's objective was to further the understanding and prevention of all genocides; it marked the shift from viewing genocide as an irrational phenomenon to one that could be studied and understood.

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The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.

Corbeta Uruguay base was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on Thule Island, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. It was vacated and mostly demolished in 1982 following Britain's victory against Argentina in the Falklands War.

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20/06/1979

ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.

ABC News is the news division of the American television network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ABC World News Tonight with David Muir; other programs include morning news-talk show Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The network also includes daytime talk shows The View, Live with Kelly and Mark, and Tamron Hall. In addition to the division's television programs, ABC News has radio and digital outlets, including ABC News Radio and ABC News Live, plus various podcasts hosted by ABC News personalities.

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20/06/1975

The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley, it stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, who, with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter, hunts a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a New England summer resort town. Murray Hamilton plays the town's mayor, and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody's wife. The screenplay is credited to Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.

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20/06/1973

Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.

A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic sights. Modern snipers use high-precision rifles and high-magnification optics. They often also serve as scouts or observers feeding tactical information back to their units or command headquarters.

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Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.

Aeroméxico Flight 229 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 that crashed into the side of a mountain while on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on 20 June 1973. There were no survivors among the 27 passengers and crew.

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20/06/1972

Watergate scandal: An 18+1⁄2-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.

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

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20/06/1964

A Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in the Shengang District of Taiwan, killing 57 people.

The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company publicity. It was used primarily as a cargo aircraft during World War II, with fold-down seating for military transport and some use in delivering paratroops. Mainly deployed by the United States Army Air Forces, it also served the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps, which called it R5C. The C-46 filled similar roles as its Douglas-built counterpart, the C-47 Skytrain, with some 3,200 C-46s produced to approximately 10,200 C-47s.

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20/06/1963

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow.

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis, was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.

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20/06/1960

The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).

The Mali Federation was a federation in West Africa linking the French colonies of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic for two months in 1960. It was founded on 4 April 1959 as a territory with self-rule within the French Community and became independent after negotiations with France on 20 June 1960. Two months later, on 19 August 1960, the Sudanese Republic leaders in the Mali Federation mobilized the army, and Senegal's leaders in the federation retaliated by mobilizing the gendarmerie ; this resulted in a tense standoff, leading to Senegal's withdrawal from the federation the next day. The Sudanese Republic officials resisted this dissolution, cut off diplomatic relations with Senegal, and defiantly changed the name of their country to the Republic of Mali. During the brief existence of the Mali Federation, Modibo Keïta, who would later become the first President of Mali, served as its premier, and the government was based in Dakar, the eventual capital of Senegal.

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20/06/1959

A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.

The 1959 Escuminac disaster, also known as the Escuminac hurricane, was considered the worst fishing-related disaster in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in 100 years. It occurred due to the extratropical remnants of an Atlantic hurricane. The storm was the third tropical cyclone and first hurricane of the 1959 Atlantic hurricane season, and developed from a tropical wave in the central Gulf of Mexico on June 18. It headed rapidly northeastward and struck Florida later that day. Shortly after entering the Atlantic Ocean, it strengthened into a tropical storm later on June 18. By the following day, it had strengthened into a hurricane. However, it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone about six hours later. The remnants struck Atlantic Canada, once in Nova Scotia and again in Newfoundland before dissipating on June 21.

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20/06/1956

A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and various islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an area of 912,050 km2 (352,140 sq mi), with a population estimated at 31.8 million in 2025. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is Caracas. The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, Brazil on the south, Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east, and on the east by Guyana. Venezuela consists of 23 states, the Capital District, and federal dependencies covering Venezuela's offshore islands. Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north and in the capital.

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20/06/1948

The Deutsche Mark is introduced in Western Allied-occupied Germany. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.

The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" ( ), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990, and then unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the "Deutschmark". One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs.

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20/06/1945

The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.

The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State, equivalent to a minister of foreign affairs.

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20/06/1944

World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a major naval battle of World War II on 19–20 June 1944 that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious reconquest of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons. The battle was the largest carrier-to-carrier engagement in history, involving 24 aircraft carriers, deploying roughly 1,350 carrier-based aircraft.

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World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.

The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 September 1944 with the Moscow Armistice. The Soviet Union and Finland had previously fought the Winter War from 1939 to 1940, which ended with the Soviet failure to conquer Finland and the Moscow Peace Treaty. Numerous reasons have been proposed for the Finnish decision to invade, with regaining territory lost during the Winter War regarded as the most common. Other justifications for the conflict include Finnish President Risto Ryti's vision of a Greater Finland and Commander-in-Chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim's desire to annex East Karelia.

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The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

MW 18014 was a German A-4 test rocket launched on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaining an apogee of 176 kilometres (109 mi), well above the Kármán line that was established later as the lowest altitude of space. It was a vertical test launch, and was not intended to reach orbital velocity, so it returned and impacted Earth, making it the first sub-orbital spaceflight.

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20/06/1943

The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.

The 1943 Detroit race riot took place in Detroit, Michigan, from the evening of June 20 through to the early morning of June 22. It occurred in a period of dramatic population increase and social tensions associated with the military buildup of U.S. participation in World War II, as Detroit's automotive industry was converted to the war effort. Existing social tensions and housing shortages were exacerbated by racist feelings about the arrival of nearly 400,000 migrants, both African-American and White Southerners, from the Southeastern United States between 1941 and 1943. The migrants competed for space and jobs against the city's residents as well as against European immigrants and their descendants. The riot escalated after a false rumor spread that a mob of white people had thrown a black mother and her baby into the Detroit River. Black people looted and destroyed white property as retaliation. White people overran Woodward to Veron where they proceeded to violently attack black community members and tip over 20 cars that belonged to black families.

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World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Avro Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.

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

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20/06/1942

The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, approximately two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were committed primarily through mass shootings across Eastern Europe and poison gas chambers in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chełmno and Majdanek death camps in occupied Poland. Concurrent Nazi persecutions killed millions of other non-Jewish civilians and prisoners of war (POWs); the term Holocaust is sometimes used to include the murder and persecution of non-Jewish groups, such as the Romani and Soviet POWs.

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20/06/1926

The 28th International Eucharistic Congress begins in Chicago, with over 250,000 spectators attending the opening procession.

The 28th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Chicago, Illinois, United States from June 20 to 24, 1926. The event, held by the Catholic Church, was a eucharistic congress, which is a large scale gathering of Catholics that focuses on the Eucharist and other items of Catholic faith. The event was organized by Cardinal George Mundelein, the Archbishop of Chicago, and was the first International Eucharistic Congress held in the United States and the second held in North America. Cardinal Giovanni Bonzano served as the papal legate for the event. The event attracted a large number of people to the city, with most sources claiming at least several hundred thousand attendees. Large events were held throughout the area, at locations including Soldier Field, Holy Name Cathedral, and the Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary. Some sources claim that approximately 1 million people attended the closing day Mass held at the seminary in nearby Mundelein, Illinois.

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20/06/1921

Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.

Buckingham and Carnatic Mills, popularly known as B & C Mills, were textile mills run by Binny and Co. in the city of Madras, India. The mills were closed down in 1996 and the site is now used as a container freight station and is a popular venue for film shootings.

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20/06/1900

Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.

The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, Boxer Movement, or Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists. Its members were known as the "Boxers" in English, owing to many of them practicing Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of foreign powers.

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Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.

Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll, better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian geologist and Arctic explorer. He led the Russian polar expedition of 1900–1902 in search of the legendary Sannikov Land, a phantom island purported to lie off Russia's Arctic coast. During the expedition, Toll and a small party of explorers disappeared from Bennett Island, and their fate remains unknown to this day.

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20/06/1895

The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.

The Kiel Canal is a 98-kilometer-long (61 mi) freshwater canal that links the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. It runs through the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, from Brunsbüttel, at the mouth of the Elbe, to Holtenau, on the Kiel Fjord. It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 and widened between 1907 and 1914. In addition to the two sea entrances, the canal is linked at Oldenbüttel to the navigable River Eider by the short Gieselau Canal.

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20/06/1893

Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was an American woman who was tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892, axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders and, despite ostracism from other residents, Borden spent the remainder of her life in Fall River. She died of pneumonia at age 66, just nine days before the death of her older sister Emma.

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20/06/1877

Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.

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20/06/1863

American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

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

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20/06/1862

Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.

Barbu Catargiu was a conservative Romanian politician and journalist. He was the first Prime Minister of Romania, in 1862, until he was assassinated on 8 June that year. He was a staunch defender of the great estates of the boyars, and notably originated the conservative doctrine that "feudalism in Romania had never existed".

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20/06/1840

Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer and the namesake of Morse code in 1837 and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

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20/06/1837

King William IV dies, and is succeeded by his niece, Victoria.

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of the United Kingdom's House of Hanover.

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20/06/1819

The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.

SS Savannah was an American hybrid sailing ship/sidewheel steamer built in 1818. She was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, transiting mainly under sail power from May to June 1819. In spite of this historic voyage, the great space taken up by her large engine and its fuel at the expense of cargo, and the public's anxiety over embracing her revolutionary steam power, kept Savannah from being a commercial success as a steamship. Originally laid down as a sailing packet, she was, following a severe and unrelated reversal of the financial fortunes of her owners, converted back into a sailing ship shortly after returning from Europe.

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20/06/1791

King Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, and the French royal family attempt to flee Paris during the French Revolution.

Louis XVI was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Maria Josepha of Saxony, Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his paternal grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of king of the French.

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20/06/1789

Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.

A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-national, national, such as the Japanese Diet, sub-national as in provinces, or local.

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20/06/1787

Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.

Oliver Ellsworth was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, jurist, politician, and diplomat. Ellsworth was a framer of the United States Constitution, United States senator from Connecticut, and the third chief justice of the United States. Additionally, he received 11 electoral votes in the 1796 presidential election.

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20/06/1782

The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation period. A unicameral body with legislative and executive function, it was composed of delegates appointed by the legislatures of the thirteen states. Each state delegation had one vote. The Congress was created by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union upon its ratification in 1781, formally replacing the Second Continental Congress.

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20/06/1756

A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories headed by the British monarchy. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and colonisation attempts by Scotland during the 17th century. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 percent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km2 (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

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20/06/1685

Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.

The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Dissident Protestants led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, opposed James largely due to his Catholicism.

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20/06/1652

Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman Albanian statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 20 June 1652 to 21 March 1653, when he was executed because of the economic reforms he initiated.

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20/06/1631

The Sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Barbary slave traders.

The sack of Baltimore took place on 20 June 1631, when the village of Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa – the raiders included Dutchmen, Moroccans, Algerians and Ottoman Turks. The attack was the largest by Barbary slave traders on Ireland.

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20/06/1622

The Battle of Höchst takes place during the Thirty Years' War.

The Battle of Höchst was fought between a Catholic League army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly and a Protestant army commanded by Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, close to the town of Höchst, today a suburb of the city of Frankfurt am Main. The result was a one-sided Catholic League victory. The action occurred during the Thirty Years' War.

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20/06/1295

The Treaty of Anagni, an attempt mediated by the papacy to end the War of the Sicilian Vespers, is signed by the crown of Aragon, the kingdom of France and kingdom of Naples.

The Treaty of Anagni was an accord between the Pope Boniface VIII, James II of Aragon, Philip IV of France, Charles II of Naples, and James II of Majorca. It was signed on 20 June 1295 at Anagni, in central Italy. The chief purpose was to confirm the Treaty of Tarascon of 1291, which ended the Aragonese Crusade. It also dealt with finding a diplomatic solution to the conquest of Sicily by Peter III of Aragón in 1285.

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20/06/1180

First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.

The First Battle of Uji , alternatively known as "Mochihitos Raising of an Army" in Japan is a battle which took place on June 20, 1180, following Prince Mochihito and Minamoto no Yorimasa's plan to raise an army to overthrow the Taira clan and the issuing of an edict urging the Minamoto clan, major temples, and shrines in the country to revolt.

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20/06/0451

Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica, took place on 20 June 451 AD, between a coalition, led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king, Attila. It proved to be one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic foederati composed the majority of the coalition army. The exact strategic significance is disputed. Historians generally agree that the siege of Aurelianum was the decisive moment in the campaign and stopped the Huns' attempt to advance any further into Roman territory or establish vassals in Roman Gaul. However, the Huns looted and pillaged much of Gaul and crippled the military capacity of the Romans and Visigoths. Attila died only two years later, in 453. After the Battle of Nedao in 454, the coalition of the Huns and the incorporated Germanic vassals gradually disintegrated.

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