June 15 - Events

Events

• 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
• 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
• 1184 – King Magnus V of Norway is killed at the Battle of Fimreite.
• 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta.
• 1219 – Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lyndanisse (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia. According to legend, this battle also marks the first use of the Dannebrog, the world's first national flag still in use, as the national flag of Denmark.
• 1246 – With the death of Duke Frederick II, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
• 1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
• 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.
• 1580 – Philip II of Spain declares William the Silent to be an outlaw.
• 1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
• 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
• 1776 – Delaware Separation Day – Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
• 1785 – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, become the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon explodes during their attempt to cross the English Channel.
• 1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
• 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
• 1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
• 1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
• 1846 – The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• 1859 – Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between United States and British/Canadian settlers.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
• 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
• 1867 – Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana.
• 1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
• 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
• 1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire.
• 1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
• 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,000.
• 1905 – Princess Margaret of Connaught marries Gustaf, Crown Prince of Sweden.
• 1909 – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
• 1913 – The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines ends.
• 1916 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
• 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
• 1920 – Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.
• 1920 – A new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
• 1934 – The U.S. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
• 1937 – A German expedition led by Karl Wien loses sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. It is the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
• 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins – Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade Japanese-occupied Saipan.
• 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America.
• 1945 – The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) is founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• 1954 – UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
• 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
• 1985 – Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
• 1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century. In the end, over 800 people die.
• 1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries.
• 1994 – Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
• 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes a large bomb in the middle of Manchester, England.
• 2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
• 2008 – Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, triggering the 2008 financial crisis.
• 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls.