This Day in History

May 26th

47 BC – Julius Caesar visits Tarsus on his way to Pontus, where he meets enthusiastic support, but where, according to Cicero, Cassius is planning to kill him at this point.

AD 17 – Germanicus returns to Rome as a conquering hero; he celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe.

451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire takes place. The Sasanids defeat the Armenians militarily but guarantee them freedom to openly practice Christianity.

946 – King Edmund I of England is murdered by a thief whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day.

961 – King Otto I elects his 6-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. He is crowned at Aachen, and placed under the tutelage of his grandmother Matilda.

1135 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in León Cathedral as Imperator totius Hispaniae (Emperor of all of Spain).

1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 23,000.

1328 – William of Ockham, the Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.

1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.

1573 – The Battle of Haarlemmermeer, a naval engagement in the Dutch War of Independence.

1637 – Pequot War: A combined English and Mohegan force under John Mason attacks a village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Pequots.

1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claim victory in the Battle of Montijo.

1736 – The Battle of Ackia was fought near the present site of Tupelo, Mississippi. British and Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the then-Chickasaw village of Ackia.

1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.

1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated the end of fighting in the American Revolution.

1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.

1821 – Establishment of the Peloponnesian Senate by the Greek rebels.

1822 – One hundred sixteen people die in the Grue Church fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway's history.

1830 – The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

1857 – Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.

1864 – Montana is organized as a United States territory.

1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.

1868 – The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson ends with his acquittal by one vote.

1869 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.

1896 – Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.

1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.

1897 – The original manuscript of William Bradford's history, "Of Plymouth Plantation" is returned to the Governor of Massachusetts by the Bishop of London after being taken during the American Revolutionary War.

1900 – Thousand Days' War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.

1908 – At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

1917 – Several powerful tornadoes rip through Illinois, including the city of Mattoon, killing 101 people and injuring 689.

1918 – The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.

1923 – The first 24 Hours of Le Mans was held and has since been run annually in June.

1936 – In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sits down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken for ten hours.

1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.

1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.

1940 – World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.

1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 80-557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

1966 – British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.

1967 – The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.

1968 – H-dagurinn in Iceland: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight

1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.

1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.

1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.

1972 – The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

1981 – Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).

1981 – An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.

1983 – The 7.8 Mw  Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.

1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.

1991 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.

1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes in the Phu Toei National Park in Thailand, killing all 223 people on board.

1993 – Tahar Djaout, Algerian journalist and writer, was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists, dying in hospital on June 2, 1993.

1998 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.

1998 – The first "National Sorry Day" was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.

1999 – Manchester United complete an unprecedented Treble as they beat Bayern Munich 2-1 to add their second European Cup triumph to their Premier League and FA Cup success, becoming the first and only English club to achieve the feat.

2002 – The tugboat Robert Y. Love collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.

2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

2008 – Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

May 28th

585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.

621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.

1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.

1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)

1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.

1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.

1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops.

1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.

1871 – Fall of the Paris Commune.

1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race was held.

1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.

1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.

1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.

1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer is founded.

1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.

1942 – World War II: In retaliation for the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.

1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.

1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

1961 – Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

1974 – Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.

1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.

1987 – A West German pilot, Mathias Rust, who was 18 years old, evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. He is immediately detained and released on August 3, 1988.

1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shook the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.

1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.

1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.

1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.

2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.

2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.

2010 – Ahmadiyya mosques massacre: In Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, 94 people are killed during Friday prayers at two mosques.

2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

May 30th

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres.

1381 – Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England.

1416 – The Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.

1431 – Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.

1434 – Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany: Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.

1510 – During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, Ming dynasty rebel leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Prince of Anhua rebellion.

1536 – King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.

1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.

1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.

1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.

1631 – Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper.

1635 – Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Prague is signed.

1642 – From this date all honors granted by Charles I of England are retroactively annulled by Parliament.

1806 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel.

1814 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition: The Treaty of Paris (1814) is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon is exiled to Elba.

1815 – The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives.

1834 – Minister of Justice Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law seizing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses" from the Catholic religious orders in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".

1842 – John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert.

1845 – The Fatel Razack coming from India, lands in the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Tobago carrying the first Indians to the country.

1854 – The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (by "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).

1876 – Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.

1883 – In New York City, a stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge killed twelve people.

1899 – Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.

1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.

1913 – The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War; Albania becomes an independent nation.

1914 – The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.

1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..

1925 – May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.

1937 – Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.

1941 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag.

1942 – World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.

1943 – The Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Auschwitz concentration camp.

1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

1958 – Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.

1961 – The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.

1966 – Former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.

1967 – The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.

1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.

1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.

1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.

1972 – In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

1974 – The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.

1975 – European Space Agency is established.

1982 – Cold War: Spain joins NATO.

1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Sq.

uare by student demonstrators.

1998 – The 6.5 Mw  Afghanistan earthquake shook the Takhar Province of northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), killing around 4,000–4,500.

1998 – Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt TNT equivalent.

2003 – Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi flees the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.

2008 – Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted.

2012 – Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

2013 – Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.

June 1st

1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.

1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king of Castile and León.

1298 – Residents of Riga and Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida.

1495 – A monk, John Cor, records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.

1533 – Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.

1535 – Combined forces loyal to Charles V attack and expel the Ottomans from Tunis during the Conquest of Tunis.

1648 – The Roundheads defeat the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.

1649 – Start of the Sumuroy Revolt: Filipinos in Northern Samar led by Agustin Sumuroy revolt against Spanish colonial authorities.

1660 – Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1670 – In Dover, England, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, which will force England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

1676 – Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea, during the Scanian War (1675–79)

1679 – The Scottish Covenanters defeat John Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog.

1773 – Wolraad Woltemade rescues 14 sailors at the Cape of Good Hope from the sinking ship De Jonge Thomas by riding his horse into the sea seven times. He drowned on his eighth attempt.

1779 – Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is court-martialed for malfeasance.

1792 – Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.

1794 – The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars.

1796 – Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.

1812 – War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.

1813 – Capture of USS Chesapeake.
1815 – Napoleon promulgates a revised Constitution after it passes a plebiscite.

1831 – James Clark Ross becomes the first European at the North Magnetic Pole.

1849 – Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey declared the Territory of Minnesota officially established.

1855 – The American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua.

1857 – Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal is published.

1861 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fairfax Court House is fought.

1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: The Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.

1868 – The Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

1879 – Napoléon Eugène, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.

1890 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.

1910 – Robert Falcon Scott's second South Pole expedition leaves Cardiff.

1913 – The Greek–Serbian Treaty of Alliance is signed, paving the way for the Second Balkan War.

1916 – Louis Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

1918 – World War I: Western Front: Battle of Belleau Wood: Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.

1922 – The Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded.

1929 – The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires.

1939 – First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.

1941 – World War II: The Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.

1941 – The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes.

1943 – BOAC Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing British actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was actually an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

1946 – Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" ("Leader") of Romania during World War II, is executed.

1958 – Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.

1961 – The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history.

1962 – Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.

1964 – Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta (1897 – 22 August 1978) as its first President (1964 to 1978).

1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.

1975 – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum and others.

1978 – The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.

1979 – The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.

1980 – Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

1988 – European Central Bank is founded in Brussels.

1988 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect.

1990 – Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.

1993 – Dobrinja mortar attack: Thirteen are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo.

1999 – American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock.

2001 – Nepalese royal massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother.

2001 – Dolphinarium discotheque massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.

2004 – Oklahoma state prosecutors sentence Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of a parole breaking a Guinness World Record.

2009 – Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed.

2009 – General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.

2011 – A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people.

2011 – Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights.

2015 – A ship carrying 458 people capsizes on Yangtze river in China's Hubei province, killing 400 people.

June 3rd

350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.

713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.

1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.

1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.

1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.

1608 – Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.

1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland.

1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.

1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.

1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.

1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.

1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.

1866 – The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario back into the United States.

1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police.

1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.

1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa.

1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.

1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.

1940 – World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.

1940 – Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.

1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants.

1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.

1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.

1950 – Herzog and Lachenal of the French Annapurna expedition become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.

1962 – At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130.

1963 – The Buddhist crisis: Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam attack protesting Buddhists in Huế, South Vietnam, with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.

1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.

1969 – Melbourne–Evans collision: off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.

1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.

1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.

1980 – An explosive device is detonated at the Statue of Liberty. The FBI suspects Croatian nationalists.

1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $912 million in 2018) worth of damage.

1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed.

1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.

1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.

1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.

1992 – Aboriginal land rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Eddie Mabo.

1998 – After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.

2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.

2012 – A plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and 10 people on the ground.

2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.

2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.

2013 – At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China.

2015 – An explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana, killing more than 200 people.

2017 – London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police.

June 5th

AD 70 – Titus and his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem.

754 – Boniface, Anglo-Saxon missionary, is killed by a band of pagans at Dokkum in Frisia.

1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.

1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, captures Charles of Salerno.

1288 – Battle of Worringen, ending the War of the Limburg Succession with John I, Duke of Brabant being one of the more important victors.

1625 – The city of Breda surrenders to the Spanish tercios under general Ambrosio Spinola.

1798 – The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated.

1817 – The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched.

1829 – HMS Pickle captures the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.

1832 – The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe.

1837 – Houston is incorporated by the Republic of Texas.

1849 – Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution.

1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.

1862 – As the Treaty of Saigon is signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Trương Định decides to defy Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.

1873 – Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar closes the great slave market under the terms of a treaty with Great Britain.

1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris.

1888 – The Rio de la Plata earthquake takes place.

1893 – Lizzie Borden's trial begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the subject of the Borden Murders.

1900 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.

1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage.

1916 – Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; he is the first American Jew to hold such a position.

1916 – World War I: The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire breaks out.

1917 – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day".

1933 – The U.S. Congress abrogates 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.

1940 – World War II: After a brief lull in the Battle of France, the Germans renew the offensive against the remaining French divisions south of the River Somme in Operation Fall Rot ("Case Red").

1941 – World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.

1942 – World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

1944 – World War II: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
1945 – The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
1946 – A fire in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, kills 61 people.
1947 – Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

1949 – Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand's Parliament.

1956 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

1959 – The first government of Singapore is sworn in.

1963 – The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns in a sex scandal known as the "Profumo affair".

1963 – Movement of 15 Khordad: Protests against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers.

1964 – DSV Alvin is commissioned.

1967 – The Six-Day War begins: Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border.

1975 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

1975 – The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).

1976 – The Teton Dam in Idaho, United States, collapses.

1981 – The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

1983 – More than 100 people are killed when the Russian river cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a girder of the Ulyanovsk Railway Bridge. The collision caused a freight train to derail, further damaging the vessel yet the ship remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service.

1984 – Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.

1989 – The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

1993 – Portions of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, fall into the sea following a landslide.

1995 – The Bose–Einstein condensate is first created.

1997 – The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins.

1998 – A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks.

2000 – The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed.

2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.

2003 – A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50 °C (122 °F) in the region.

2004 – Noël Mamère, Mayor of Bègles, celebrates marriage for two men for the first time in France.

2006 – Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

2009 – After 65 straight days of civil disobedience, at least 31 people are killed in clashes between security forces and indigenous people near Bagua, Peru.

2013 – A building collapse in Philadelphia kills six and wounds 14 other people.

2015 – An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.0 struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia killing 18 people, including hikers and mountain guides on Mount Kinabalu, after mass landslides that occurred during the earthquake. This is the strongest earthquake to strike Malaysia since 1975.

2017 – Montenegro becomes the 29th member of the NATO.

2017 – Six Arab countries—Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates—cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.