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.
• 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.
• 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 theEnglish 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 Mountainsto 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/Canadiansettlers.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Siege 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 most destructive 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.
• 1911 – Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) is incorporated.
• 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 inNorth 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.
• 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.