June 23 History Highlights

@📆 TODAY IN HISTORY
June 23

Ancient World

229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.

Middle Ages

1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.

1280 – The Spanish Reconquista: In the Battle of Moclín the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.

1305 – A peace treaty between the Flemish and the French is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.

1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn (south of Stirling) begins.

Early Modern World

1532 – Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the "Treaty of Closer Amity With France" (also known as the Pommeraye treaty), pledging mutual aid against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

1565 – Dragut, commander of the Ottoman navy, dies during the Great Siege of Malta.

1594 – The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.

1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.

1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1713 – The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.

1757 – Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000-strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.

1758 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld: British, Hanoverian, and Prussian forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.

1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut: Austria defeats Prussia.

Revolutionary Age

1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).

1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kyiv.

1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.

1865 – American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army.

1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer".

1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1913 – Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.

1914 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.

World Wars

1919 – Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city.

1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.

1942 – World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.

Cold War

1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.

1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.