Events

• 1179 – The Battle of Kalvskinnet takes place outside Nidaros (now Trondheim), Norway. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil wars.
• 1306 – The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeats Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.
• 1586 – English colonists leave Roanoke Island, after failing to establish England’s first permanent settlement in North America.
• 1800 – War of the Second Coalition Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria.
• 1816 – Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
• 1821 – Decisive defeat of the Filiki Eteria by the Ottomans at Drăgășani (in Wallachia).
• 1862 – The US Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.
• 1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 41 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.
• 1867 – Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.
• 1875 – The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins.
• 1903 – Benito Mussolini, at the time a radical Socialist, is arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike.
• 1910 – The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
• 1943 – The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL merge for one season due to player shortages caused by World War II.
• 1944 – World War II: First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
• 1953 – Cold War: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York.
• 1961 – Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1965 – Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state.
• 1985 – Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador.
• 1991 – The last Soviet army units in Hungary are withdrawn.
• 2009 – War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

People (Births)

• 1606 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (d. 1649).
• 1764 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan general and politician (d. 1850).
• 1861 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish-English field marshal (d. 1928).
• 1888 – Arthur Massey Berry, Canadian soldier and pilot (d. 1970).
• 1906 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (d. 1984).
• 1917 – Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean guerrilla leader and politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (d. 1999).
• 1927 – Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general and human rights violator (d. 2018).
• 1945 – Radovan Karadžić, Serbian-Bosnian politician and convicted war criminal, 1st President of Republika Srpska.
• 1952 – Bob Ainsworth, English politician, Secretary of State for Defence.
• 1963 – Rory Underwood, English rugby player, lieutenant, and pilot.

People (Deaths)

• 404 – Huan Xuan, Jin-dynasty warlord and emperor of Huan Chu (b. 369).
• 1185 – Taira no Munemori, Japanese soldier (b. 1147).
• 1768 – Benjamin Tasker Sr., American soldier and politician, 10th Colonial Governor of Maryland (b. 1690).
• 1786 – Nathanael Greene, American general (b. 1742).
• 1864 – Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, American soldier (b. 1843).
• 1995 – Peter Townsend, Burmese-English captain and pilot (b. 1914).
• 2012 – Norbert Tiemann, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Nebraska (b. 1924).
• 2014 – Oskar-Hubert Dennhardt, German general (b. 1915).