On this day: 27 June

Pope Agatho, later venerated as a saint in both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, began his pontificate.

Amerigo Vespucci sights what is now Amapá State in Brazil.

War of the Second Coalition: French forces won a victory at the Battle of Neuburg, ending Austrian control over the River Danube.

American Civil War: General Sherman's frontal assault against the Confederate Army of Tennessee failed, but did not stop the Union army from advancing on Atlanta.

The military phase of the Meiji Restoration in Japan was completed with an imperial victory in the Boshin War.

One day after surrendering at the Battle of Hakodate, Enomoto Takeaki turned the fort of Goryōkaku over to Japanese forces, signaling the collapse of the Republic of Ezo.

The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia.

The Illinois Monument is dedicated at Cheatham Hill in what is now the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

The Johor–Singapore Causeway opens after five years of construction, providing a land connection for road and rail vehicles travelling between Johor and Singapore.

Prime Minister of Japan Tanaka Giichi convenes an eleven-day conference to discuss Japan's strategy in China. The Tanaka Memorial, a forged plan for world domination, is later claimed to be a secret report leaked from this conference.

The Rovaniemi township decree is promulgated, as a result of which Rovaniemi secedes from the old rural municipality as its own market town on January 1, 1929.

World War II: German troops capture the city of Białystok during Operation Barbarossa.

In the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Parliament of Canada establishes the definition of Canadian citizenship.

Korean War: Five North Korean aircraft attacked an American air convoy above Suwon Air Base in the first air engagement of the Korean War.

Jacobo Árbenz resigned as President of Guatemala following a CIA-led coup against his administration.

The FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game.

The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Soviet Union's first nuclear power station, opens in Obninsk, near Moscow.

The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship.

U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union.

The first identifiable case of Ebola occurred in Sudan.

France grants independence to Djibouti.

Constitution for the Federation of Earth was adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.

Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4.

Croatian War of Independence: As the Yugoslav Army moved into Osijek, Croatia, a civilian attempted to halt them by placing his car in the path of a tank, becoming a symbol of Croatian resistance in the war.

Two days after it had declared independence, Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War.

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-71, the first space shuttle mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

Robert Mugabe was re-elected as President of Zimbabwe with an overwhelming majority after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew, citing violence against his party's supporters.

NASA launches the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space probe to observe the Sun.

Websites of Ukrainian organizations were swamped by a massive cyberattack, blamed on Russian military hackers, using the malware Petya.

The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 (artist's impression pictured) arrived at the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples for return to Earth.

U.S. President Joe Biden debates former U.S. President Donald Trump. Biden's perceived poor performance leads to his withdrawal from the election on July 21.