618 Li Yuan became Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China.
1178 Five Canterbury monks saw what was possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the moon’s distance from the earth (on the order of metres) are a result of this collision.
1429 French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeated the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay.
1757 Battle of Kolín between Prussian Forces under Frederick the Great of Prussia and an Austrian Army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Year’s War.
1767 Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sighted Tahiti. He is considered the first European to reach the island.
1778 American Revolutionary War: British troops abandoned Philadelphia.
1812 War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declared war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1815 Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and last time.
1830 French invasion of Algeria
1859 First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.
1873 – Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1886 George Mallory, English mountaineer, was born (d. 1924).
1887 The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia was signed.
1895 Minnie Dean’s trial for murdering a baby placed in her care began at the Invercargill Supreme Court.
1900 Empress Dowager Longyu of China ordered all foreigners killed.
1904 Manuel Rosenthal, French conductor and composer, was born (d. 2003).
1908 Japanese immigration to Brazil began when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the Kasato-Maru ship
1908 The University of the Philippines was established.
1913 Sylvia Field Porter, American economist and journalist, was born (d. 1991)
1915 Red Adair, American firefighter, was born (d. 2004) .
1920 Ian Carmichael, English actor, was born (d. 2010).
1923 Checker Taxi put its first taxi on the streets.
1927 Paul Eddington, English actor, was born (d. 1995).
1928 Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she was a passenger,Wilmer Stutz was the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
1930 Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Franklin Institute were held.
1936 Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver, was born (d. 1992).
1936 Ronald Venetiaan, President of Suriname, was born.
1940 Appeal of June 18 by Charles de Gaulle.
1940 “Finest Hour” speech by Winston Churchill.
1942 Paul McCartney, British singer, songwriter and musician (The Beatles, Wings), was born.
1953 The Republic of Egypt was declared and the monarchy abolished.
1953 A United States Air Force C-124 crashed and burned near Tokyo killing 129.
1954 Pierre Mendès-France became Prime Minister of France.
1959 Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long was committed to a state mental hospital; he responded by having the hospital’s director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeded to proclaim him perfectly sane.
1965 Vietnam War: The United States used B-52 bombers to attack National Liberation Front guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
1972 Staines air disaster – 118 were killed when a plane crashes 2 minutes after take off from London Heathrow Airport.
1979 SALT II was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
1981 The AIDS epidemic was formally recognised by medical professionals in San Francisco, California.
1984 A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984-1985 UK miners’ strike.
1994 The Troubles: the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) opened fire inside a pub in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, killing six civilians and wounding five.
1996 Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, was indicted on ten criminal counts.
2006 The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat was launched.
2007 – The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire resulted in the deaths of nine firefighters.
2009 – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft was launched.
2012 – Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia