**JP** >>>15 June in history<<<

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.

 

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 U.S. 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.

 

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.

 

1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade 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 des Associations Européennes de Football) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.

 

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

 

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.

 

1988 -  President General Zia-ul-Haq promulgates Shariat Ordinance making Sharia supreme law of the Pakistan.

 

1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the USA 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.