On this day: 21 June

A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarios sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily.

William Clito defeated Thierry of Alsace in a battle over the succession to the title of Count of Flanders.

Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols and Wuzong of the Yuan.

War of the League of Cognac: The French army under Francis de Bourbon was destroyed in Lombardy, Italy, by the Spanish army.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded.

James Otis Jr. offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court.

New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and was admitted as the ninth U.S. state.

King Louis XVI and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

Peninsular War: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria.

Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.

Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began an invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but were initially held off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.

In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell proclaimed a new republican government in present-day Romania.

American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins.

The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to African-Americans.

Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow to prevent the ships from being seized and divided amongst the Allied Powers.

During a general strike in Winnipeg, Canada, members of the Royal North-West Mounted Police attacked a crowd of strikers, armed with clubs and revolvers.

An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.

One-year conscription comes into force in France.

World War II: The main offensive of the unsuccessful Italian invasion of France began.

Having defeated forces of Vichy France, Allied forces capture Damascus.

World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland.

World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.

The Manchester Baby (replica pictured), the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first program.

The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

Ellen Fairclough (pictured) became the first woman to be appointed to the cabinet of Canada.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI.

Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to date.

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark case Miller v. California, establishing the Miller test for determining what is obscene material.

The Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino is inaugurated in Arica, Chile.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.

Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite. It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module.

President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 22 Asian Americans, mostly from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, for actions during World War II.

SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.

Greenland assumes self-rule.