20 June on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats. Despite suffering catastrophic losses that led to the collapse of their alliance with the Goths and the destruction of much of the Roman army, the Romans nevertheless proclaimed victory despite the lack of any clear military success.

First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.

Michael I Komnenos Doukas, the first ruler of the despotate of Epirus, signs a treaty with the Republic of Venice and becomes their vassal.

The Treaty of Anagni, an attempt mediated by the papacy to end the War of the Sicilian Vespers, is signed by the crown of Aragon, the kingdom of France and kingdom of Naples.

The Battle of Höchst takes place during the Thirty Years' War.

The Sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Barbary slave traders.

Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.

A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.

Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.

King Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, and the French royal family attempt to flee Paris during the French Revolution.

The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.

King William IV dies, and is succeeded by his niece, Victoria.

Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.

Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.

American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.

Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.

Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.

British Army officer Thomas Stanton Lambert was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army near Moydrum, Ireland.

Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.

The 28th International Eucharistic Congress begins in Chicago, with over 250,000 spectators attending the opening procession.

The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.

World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Avro Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.

The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.

World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.

A Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel, one of the driving forces in the development of the Las Vegas Strip, in Beverly Hills, California.

In Western Allied-occupied Germany, the Currency Reform of 1948 goes into effect, introducing the Deutsche Mark. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.

A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.

A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.

The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow.

A Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in the Shengang District of Taiwan, killing 57 people.

Watergate scandal: An 18+1⁄2-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.

Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.

Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.

The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.

The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.

The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opens in Tel Aviv, despite attempts by the Turkish government to cancel it, as it included presentations on the Armenian genocide.

Haitian president Leslie Manigat is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy.

Asteroid Eureka is discovered.

The 7.4 Mw Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.

The German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital of Berlin.

The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-78 to conduct life science and microgravity research aboard the Spacelab module.

The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Twelve people are killed, including nine clubgoers and three police officers, during a crowd crush in Mexico City.

Iranian student Neda Agha-Soltan was shot dead in Tehran during the presidential election protests; footage of her death was widely distributed over the Internet, making it "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history".

RusAir Flight 9605 crashes in Besovets during approach to Petrozavodsk Airport, killing 47.

Iran's Air Defense Forces shoot down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The first EF5 tornado in 12 years occurs in Enderlin, North Dakota.

Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress

Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer (died 1880)

Frank Lampard, English footballer

John Goodman, American actor

Martin Landau, American actor and producer (died 2017)

Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician (died 2025)

Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (died 1959)

Lionel Richie, American singer, songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor

Sigismund III Vasa, Polish and Swedish king (died 1632)

Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish banker, economist, and politician

Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1947)

Brian Wilson, American singer, songwriter and producer (died 2025)

Xanana Gusmão, Timorese soldier and politician, 1st President of East Timor

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq

Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Olympia Dukakis, American actress (died 2021)

Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer

Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer

Sead Kolašinac, Bosnian footballer

Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 2003)

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 8th president of Sri Lanka

Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer

Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer

Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1971)

Vikram Seth, Indian author and poet

Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer

Gonçalo Ramos, Portuguese footballer

(O.S.) Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (died 1816)

Kurt Schwitters, German painter and illustrator (died 1948)

Danny Aiello, American actor (died 2019)

Stephen Frears, English actor, director, and producer

Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (died 2017)

John Mahoney, English-born American actor (died 2018)

Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (died 1984)

Nicolas Jackson, Senegalese footballer

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet and author (died 1859)

Jean Moulin, French soldier and engineer (died 1943)

Hugo Ekitike, French footballer

Chet Atkins, American guitarist and record producer (died 2001)

Andrea Nahles, German politician, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs

Gian Galeazzo Sforza, duke of Milan (died 1494)

Paulo Bento, Portuguese footballer and manager

Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy (died 1675)

Terence Young, Chinese-English director and screenwriter (died 1994)

Marc Pubill, Spanish footballer

Ludwig Scotty, Nauruan politician, 10th President of Nauru (died 2026)

Tress MacNeille, American voice actress

(O.S.) John George III, Elector of Saxony (died 1691)

Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (died 2015)

John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, English statesman (died 1435)

Wolfe Tone, Irish rebel leader (died 1798)

James Tolkan, American actor and director (died 2026)

Aurélien Chedjou, Cameroonian footballer

Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor

Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut

Brede Hangeland, Norwegian footballer

Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist

Example, English singer/rapper

Ding Ning, Chinese table tennis player