On this day: 29 June

Cao Rui succeeds his father as emperor of Wei.

The Avars and Sassanids besiege Constantinople, held by Byzantine troops under Patrician Bonus.

A major earthquake hits Syria, badly damaging towns such as Hama and Shaizar and structures such as the Krak des Chevaliers and the cathedral of St. Peter in Antioch.

Sverre is crowned King of Norway, leading to his excommunication by the Catholic Church and civil war.

Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.

The Dutch city of Dordrecht is devastated by fire.

At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.

The first privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, was fought near Cape May, New Jersey (map of location, pictured).

Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.

Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.

France annexes Tahiti, renaming the independent Kingdom of Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie".

In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.

George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.

Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships voted to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest city by area in the United States and the second-largest by population.

More than 50,000 Union and Confederate veterans gathered at the Gettysburg Battlefield, the largest combined reunion of American Civil War veterans ever held.

The Bulgarian army launches attacks against Serbian positions, triggering the Second Balkan War.

France grants "one square kilometer" at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".

The United States Army Air Corps aircraft Bird of Paradise landed at Wheeler Field on the Hawaiian island of Oahu to complete the first transpacific flight.

The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia.

Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.

The first Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.

Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.

Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.

Pope Paul VI ordains some 350 priests in St. Peter's Square in the largest ordination in history

The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.

The Argentina national football team wins the FIFA World Cup held in Mexico after defeating the West Germany national football team by a score of 3–2 in the final at the Estadio Azteca.

Atlantis became the first U.S. Space Shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle–Mir program.

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.

Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone.

Reddit banned r/The_Donald, a pro-Trump subreddit, for rule violations and antagonizing the company.