This date in history

[Rockstar]

13 June 1774, Rhode Island becomes the first British colony in North America to ban the importation of slaves.

1967, President Lyndon Johnson nominates Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court after Justice Tom Clark retires.

1941, A week before Germany's invasion of the USSR, Goebbels plants an article in a German newspaper making it seem Germany was about to invade Britain. To further deceive, German police confiscated most of that day's newspaper.

2000, President Kim Dae-Jung of South Korea and Dictator Kim Jong-il of North Korea begin the first ever inter-Korea summit in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

1944, The first V-1 flying bombs were launched against England. Flakregiment 155(W), the unit responsible for implementing the campaign, was not yet fully ready and could only get seven missiles in the air. Four crossed the English coast, the first spotted at 4:08am from a Royal Observer Corps post in a Martello Tower (a legacy of the Napoleonic Wars) at Dymchurch. Instructions had already been issued to use the code word ‘Diver’ if pilotless weapons were sighted. This V-1 flew across Kent, exploding in a field at Swanscombe at 4:13.

Other missiles fell in farmland near Cuckfield, Sussex at 4:20 and at Platt, near Sevenoaks, Kent at 5:06. The latter made ‘a terrible mess of a row of greenhouses’ in the grounds of a large house, but there were no casualties. The scene when the first V-1 to hit London landed on Grove Road, Bethnal Green, at 4:25 was very different.

The missile struck and partially demolished a railway bridge over Grove Road which carried the line between Liverpool Street and Stratford. Remarkably, it was replaced with a temporary structure, in place until 1948, within 40 hours. In a sign of what was to come, the blast from the explosion demolished 12 and damaged 50 houses on Antill Road, Burnside Street and Bellraven Street, making 200 people homeless. Six people were killed and 50 seriously injured.

The first fatal casualties of the V-1 campaign were:
Dora Cohen, aged 55
Connie Day, 33
Willie Rogers, 50
Lennie Sherman, 12
Ellen Woodcraft, 19 and her 8-month old baby, Tom.

Commemorative plaque on the Grove Road railway bridge.

[Rockstar]

13 June 1962, the 2.9-kiloton Des Moines nuclear test (conducted as part of Operation Nougat in a tunnel beneath Rainier Mesa at the Nevada Test Site), accidentally vented, releasing 11 million curies of radioactive material and sending workers racing away from the cloud.



The Des Moines venting was the largest accidental release of radioactivity from an underground nuclear test in US history.



Per a formerly secret 1962 AEC report, the cloud traveled “northerly for a few hundred miles, then toward the west and finally curled down the west coast. The highest record amount of I-131 in milk was 1,240 micromicrocuries per liter at Spokane, Washington, on June 21, 1962.”

[Rockstar]

14 June 1158, Munich is founded by Henry the Lion. Munich is derived from Old/Middle High German meaning "by the monks". Henry was one of the most powerful princes of his time. He was also cousins with Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.

1645, Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army smashes Royalists under Charles I at Naseby. Although England's three-year-old civil war will continue for another 12 months, the king is effectively beaten.

1775, The Continental Army is founded by the Second Continental Congress. It is considered to be the birth of the United States Army. Before finally being disbanded in 1783, it will reach a peak strength of 80,000 men.



1777, The Second Continental Congress passes the Flag Resolution adopting the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States. It had 13 stars, now 50, representing each state. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies.

1800, Napoleon triumphs at Marengo. The victory sees Austria driven from Italy while consolidating Bonaparte's power as First Consul. Parisian streets, French warships & even a chicken dish will all be named for the battle. Napoleon even dubs his favourite horse Marengo.

1807, Napoleon crushes Tsar Alexander I's army at Friedland (in present-day Kaliningrad). After suffering 40% casualties in one day of fighting, Russia is forced to sue for peace, leading to the Treaty of Tilsit and the end of the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1846, The Bear Flag Revolt begins when a group of 30 Americans, led by William Ide and Ezekiel Merritt, attack a Mexican outpost in Sonoma that was left undefended. After taking Sonoma, the men declared California an independent republic.

[Rockstar]

14 June 1944, Normandy. Major "Spike" Galloway MC (6 Durham LI) from Newcastle, going to hospital after his wounded arm had been attended to at a Regimental Aid Post. (He was killed by a tree burst on 12 August near Le Plessis Grimault.)

[Jimbuna]

1789 Captain William Bligh and his loyal men cast off from HMS Bounty reach Timor, after sailing 5,800 km in a 6-metre launch.

1908 Fourth German Navy Bill is passed authorising the financing of the building of another four major warships.

1917 1st German air attack on England, 100+ killed in East London.

1931 Reinhard Heydrich's first meeting with Heinrich Himmler.

1934 European despots Adolf Hitler, of Germany, and Benito Mussolini, of Italy, meet in Vienna, Austria.

1940 Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp opens in Nazi controlled Poland with Polish POWs, later expanded to include civilian Jews and gypsies (approx. 3 million would die within its walls)

1940 German U-47 sinks airship Balmoral.

1942 Anne Frank begins her diary.

1954 President Eisenhower signs order adding words "under God" to the Pledge.

1972 Members of the NI Social Democratic and Labour Party hold a meeting with representatives of the Irish Republican Army in Derry; the IRA representatives outline their conditions for talks with the British Government.

1982 Argentina surrenders to Great Britain, ending the 74-day Falklands Islands conflict.

[Rockstar]

15 June 1215, The Magna Carta is sealed by King John of England. It guarantees feudal rights and privileges, upheld the freedom of the church, and maintain the nation’s laws. It was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons' War.

1389, The Ottomans defeat Serbia at the Battle of Kosovo, subjugating Serbia to Ottoman Islamic rule. The day is commemorated as St. Vitus' Day in Serbia. It symbolizes Serbian martyrdom in defense of their honor and Christendom.

1815, Wellington learns that Napoleon has captured Charleroi and is threatening to split the Anlgo-allied and Prussian armies. “He's humbugged me, by God!" the Duke reportedly declares.

[Rockstar]

15 June 1864: 18 months after President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, black soldiers are paid the same as white soldiers.

1775, the Continental Congress unanimously elects a 43-year-old Virginia militia officer named George Washington to command the Continental Army.

[Rockstar]

15 June 1859, an American farmer on the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest shoots a hog owned by a British settler. The incident sparks what becomes known as the "Pig War," a crisis that nearly leads to conflict between the US & Great Britain.

[Jimbuna]

1775 George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the day after Congress establishes the force.

1940 German troops occupy Paris as French resistance to the German invasion crumbles.

1955 The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual "Operation Alert" (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA's preparations for a nuclear attack.

1960 Argentina complains to UN about Israeli illicit transfer of Adolf Eichmann.

1974 "All the President's Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward detailing their Watergate investigation is published by Simon and Schuster in the US

1982 Riots occur in Argentina after the country is defeated in the Falklands Island War.

1996 IRA bomb in Manchester wrecks city centre at 11.17am, injuring 200

[Rockstar]

15 June 1864, the U.S. government establishes a cemetery for fallen Union soldiers on the grounds of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's estate at Arlington, Virginia.

[Rockstar]

16 June 1815, Napoleon wins the last victory of his career at Ligny. Two days later, he'll lose everything at Waterloo.



1858, future U.S. president Abraham Lincoln warns of the growing danger of civil war. "A house divided against itself, cannot stand," he says. "This government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. It will become all one thing or all the other."

1940, Marshal Henri Pétain, a WWI hero, becomes Chief of State, of Vichy France after the French surrendered to the Germans during World War II. After the war, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison.

1940, A communist government is installed in Lithuania after the Soviet Union occupies the country the day before on June 15.

1950, David Greenglass was arrested & charged with espionage for passing US atomic bomb secrets to Soviet spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, who were later convicted and executed. Greenglass was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released after 9 1/2 years.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

16 June 1815, Napoleon wins the last victory of his career at Ligny. Two days later, he'll lose everything

...from which we get the expression in English: "He met his Waterloo"... ie: 'c'est le guerre"!?

[Jimbuna]

1779 Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of France and the USA, starting the Great Siege of Gibraltar which goes on to last 3 years, 7 months and 2 weeks.

1815 French army under Napoleon defeats Prussia in the Battle of Ligny, Napoleon's last military victory.

1922 Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth.

1944 George Stinney, a 14-year-old African-American boy, is wrongfully executed for the murder of two white girls, becoming the youngest person ever executed in 20th-century America.

1944 King George VI visits General Montgomery's HQ in Normandy.

2000 Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

[Aktungbby]

2020: federal authorities announced murder and attempted murder charges against an Air Force sergeant, Steven Carrillo, in the fatal shooting of a a federal security officer and wounding of another in a 'drive by' shooting as the two officers stood on the front steps of the Oakland, California Federal building. Carrrillo, who had ties to rthe far right,anti government"boogaloo" movement pled guilty to a federal murder charge in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty.... I used to guard that building on day and grave shifts monitoring the X-ray machine for bombs, ID checks, and temporarily confiscating Kirpans (symbolic cultural weapons)from Sikh&s and regular knives from persons entering the building...(confiscating the occasional illegal switchblade). RULE ONE in downtown "Oaktown": U do not ever stand outside on the front steps in uniform!

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

...from which we get the expression in English: "He met his Waterloo"... ie: 'c'est le guerre"!?

And it’s been said the deciding factor was the Belgians stopping Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva at the crossroads of Quatre-Bras. When Swiss mercenary Jean Victor de Constant Rebecque, William of Orange’s quartermaster-general grew a pair and countermanded Wellington’s order to retreat from the area. Had he not, ol’ Boney would have taken Brussels without a battle at Waterloo.