June 13Birthdays & History

On this day: June 13 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 313The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia.Europe
2. 1325Ibn Battuta begins his travels, leaving his home in Tangiers to travel to Mecca (gone 24 years).Middle East
3. 1381In England, the Peasants' Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, comes to a head, as rebels set fire to the Savoy Palace.Europe
4. 1514Henry Grace à Dieu, at over 1,000 tons the largest warship in the world at this time, built at the new Woolwich Dockyard in England, is dedicated.Europe
5. 1525Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.Europe
6. 1625King Charles I of England marries Catholic princess Henrietta Maria of France and Navarre, at Canterbury.Europe
7. 1740Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine.EuropeNorth America
8. 1774Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.North AmericaEurope
9. 1777American Revolutionary War: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.North America
10. 1805Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.North America
11. 1850The American League of Colored Laborers, the first African American labor union in the United States, is established in New York City.North AmericaAfrica
12. 1855Twentieth opera of Giuseppe Verdi, Les vêpres siciliennes ("The Sicilian Vespers"), is premiered in Paris.Europe
13. 1878Start of the Congress of Berlin in which the major powers of Europe revise the Treaty of San Stefano, signed on March 3 the same year, that Russia had imposed on a defeated Ottoman Empire.North AmericaEuropeMiddle East
14. 1881The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.World
15. 1886A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.North AmericaEurope
16. 1893Grover Cleveland notices a rough spot in his mouth and on July 1 undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; the operation was not revealed to the public until 1917, nine years after the president's death.North America
17. 1895Émile Levassor wins the world's first real automobile race. Levassor completed the 732-mile course, from Paris to Bordeaux and back, in just under 49 hours, at a then-impressive speed of about fifteen miles per hour (24 km/h).Europe
18. 1898Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.North America
19. 1907The Workers' Federation of Chile declares a general strike in solidarity with a rail workers' strike.Latin America
20. 1917World War I: The deadliest German air raid on London of the war is carried out by Gotha G.IV bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.Europe
21. 1927Aviator Charles Lindbergh receives a ticker tape parade up 5th Avenue in New York City.North America
22. 1944World War II: German combat elements, reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, launch a counterattack on American forces near Carentan.EuropeNorth America
23. 1944World War II: The Battle of Villers-Bocage: German tank ace Michael Wittmann ambushes elements of the British 7th Armoured Division, destroying up to fourteen tanks, fifteen personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns in a Tiger I tank.Europe
24. 1944World War II: Germany launches the first V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs strike their targets.Europe
25. 1952Catalina affair: A Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.Europe
26. 1956Spanish football club Real Madrid CF wins the inaugural European Cup, UEFA's premier club competition, by winning 4–3 against French club Stade de Reims in the final.Europe
27. 1966The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their Fifth Amendment rights before questioning them (colloquially known as "Mirandizing").North America
28. 1967U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.North America
29. 1971Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.AsiaNorth America
30. 1973In a game versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell play together as an infield for the first time, going on to set the Major League Baseball record of staying together for 8+1⁄2 years.North America
31. 1977Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.North America
32. 1981At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.Europe
33. 1982Battles of Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge, during the Falklands War.Latin America
34. 1982Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.Middle East
35. 1983Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune.World
36. 1990First day of the June 1990 Mineriad in Romania. At least 240 strikers and students are arrested or killed in the chaos ensuing from the first post-Ceaușescu elections.Europe
37. 1994A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.North America
38. 1996The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.North America
39. 1996Garuda Indonesia flight 865 crashes during takeoff from Fukuoka Airport, killing three people and injuring 170.AsiaAsia
40. 1997The Uphaar Cinema Fire takes place at Green Park, Delhi, resulting in the deaths of 59 people and seriously injuring 103 others.Asia
41. 1997A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.North America
42. 1999BMW win 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.Europe
43. 2000President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.Asia
44. 2000Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.EuropeMiddle East
45. 2002The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.North America
46. 2005The jury acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of all charges for allegedly sexually abusing a child in 2003.North America
47. 2007The Al Askari Mosque is bombed for a second time.Middle East
48. 2010A capsule of the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa, containing particles of the asteroid 25143 Itokawa, returns to Earth by landing in the Australian Outback.AsiaOceania
49. 2012A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, kills at least 93 people and wounds over 300 others.Middle East
50. 2018Volkswagen is fined one billion euros over the emissions scandal.Europe
51. 2021A gas explosion in Zhangwan district of Shiyan city, in Hubei province of China, kills at least 12 people and wounds over 138 others.Asia
52. 2023At least 100 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State, Nigeria.Africa
53. 2023Three people are killed and another three injured in an early morning stabbing and van ramming attack in Nottingham, England.Europe
54. 2025Israel initiates air strikes against Iran, initiating the Twelve Day War.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "June 13" / CC BY-SA 4.0