On This Day: 12 June

Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous 'feigned retreat' tactic (as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War, in the 6^th century BC)		910
At the instigation of Louis IX of France, the so–called Disputation of Paris starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis		1240
In the Peasants' Revolt, the rebels arrive at Blackheath, where they are met by government representatives who unsuccessfully attempt to persuade them to return home		1381
The French army, led by Joan of Arc in her first offensive, capture the city of Jargeau and English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk		1429
Magdalen College, Oxford, founded		1458
The city of Helsinki (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden		1550
Fleet of the Massachusetts Bay Company docks at Salem with 700 Puritan colonists		1630
Thomas Willett is appointed as the first mayor of New York City		1665
Jean–Baptiste Denys, surgeon to Louis XIV, successfully transfuses the blood of a sheep into a 12–year–old boy		1667
Library of John Cotton (now part of the British Library) presented to the nation		1700
The French explorer Marc–Joseph Marion du Fresne and 25 of his men are killed by Māori in New Zealand		1772
Pope Pius VII excommunicates Napoleon Bonaparte		1809
German inventor Karl Drais makes the first recorded ride on his Laufmaschine (running machine – derogatorily known as the dandy horse), for a distance of about seven kilometres in Mannheim		1817
34,000 French soldiers land at Sidi Ferruch, 27 kilometers west of Algiers, to begin their invasion of what had been an Ottoman province since 1529		1830
Sir William Clarke and Sir Charles Wheatstone patent the electric telegraph		1837
Baseball introduced to America by Abner Doubleday		1839
200 people die after a theatre catches fire in Quebec		1846
In the American Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their position at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south		1864
Vast areas of Assam, India, are devastated by an earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale		1897
Carl Elsener takes out a patent for the Swiss Army knife		1897
General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain		1898
Rotherhithe Tunnel (to Stepney) opened		1908
Hamburg–Amerika liner Imperator leaves Spithead on her maiden voyage		1913
Massacre of Phocaea: on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, Turkish irregulars slaughter 50 to 100 Greeks and expel thousands of others in an ethnic cleansing operation in the Ottoman Empire		1914
King Constantine of Greece abdicates in favour of his second son Alexander		1917
Britain's last Sunday postal delivery		1921
Al Capone is arrested by the Untouchables		1931
Bolivia and Paraguay negotiate a ceasefire to end the Chaco War (fought over an area of territory thought to be rich in oil)		1935
The Battle of Bordeaux: in a FIFA World Cup quarter–final, three players (two Brazilian and one Czech) are sent off, three Brazilians leave the field with injuries, and two Czech players play on with a broken leg and a broken arm respectively. The match ends 1–1 after extra time and has to be replayed		1938
The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York		1939
Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday, and begins writing in it		1942
Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot		1943
Medgar Evers, civil rights lawyer, murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi by white segregationists		1963
Nelson Mandela and seven others are sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage		1964
The Beatles are awarded MBEs in the Queen's birthday honours		1965
The US Supreme Court declares all state laws that prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional		1967
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is barred from holding office for six years after a judge in Allahabad rules her 1971 election victory illegal		1975
US cyclist and hang glider pilot Bryan Allen wins the second £100,000 Kremer Prize for making the first human–powered crossing of the English Channel, in Gossamer Albatross (see 23 August 1977)		1979
Derek Hatton, deputy leader of Liverpool Council, is expelled from the Labour Party after being found guilty of membership of the left–wing Militant faction		1986
In a speech made at the Brandenburg Gate, US President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall		1987
Jean–Bédel Bokassa, former Emperor of the Central African Republic, is sentenced to death for crimes committed during his 13–year rule		1987
Princess Anne is awarded the title Princess Royal		1987
The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares the Federation's sovereignty (the date celebrated since its second anniversary as Russia Day)		1990
Boris Yeltsin becomes the first democratically–elected President of Russia; Leningrad votes to change its name back to St. Petersburg		1991
The Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village of Kokkadichcholai, near the eastern province town of Batticaloa		1991
Mount Pinatubo, in the Philippines, erupts after lying dormant for 600 years		1991
Nicole Simpson, estranged wife of O. J. Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, are murdered outside Simpson's home in Los Angeles		1994
Four people killed by a bomb on the Moscow underground as the Presidential election approaches		1996
Japanese geneticists announce that they have succeeded in adding jellyfish genes to mice, making them fluorescent – a possible aid to the diagnosis of cancer		1997
HM the Queen reopens the Globe Theatre in London		1997
Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO–led UN peacekeeping force enters the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo		1999
London's Millennium Bridge closes, two days after opening, after reports of unexpected lateral vibration		2000
Tony Blair announces sweeping changes to the legal and judicial systems, including the abolition of the position of Lord Chancellor and replacement of the Law Lords with an American–style Supreme Court		2003
Mike Tyson retires from boxing, three weeks before his 39 ^th birthday, after losing to Irish journeyman Kevin McBride on a technical knockout		2005
A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide–ranging local and international protests		2009
Forty–nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police		2016
Hundreds of thousands of people protest in Hong Kong against proposed legislation regarding extradition to mainland China		2016
British cyclist Chris Froome is hospitalised with a fractured right femur, a fractured elbow, and fractured ribs, after crashing into a wall at 60 kph (37 mph) while blowing his nose, on a training ride in France		2016

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On This Day: 12 June