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

Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.

War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.

The Spanish Reconquista: In the Battle of Moclín the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.

The Aragonese fleet under Roger of Lauria defeats a Angevin fleet in the Battle of the Counts close to Naples.

A peace treaty between the Flemish and the French is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.

First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn (south of Stirling) begins.

Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the "Treaty of Closer Amity With France" (also known as the Pommeraye treaty), pledging mutual aid against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Dragut, commander of the Ottoman navy, dies during the Great Siege of Malta.

The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.

William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.

On the First Sunday after Trinity, J. S. Bach led the first performance of Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39, one of a few new cantatas written that year.

Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000-strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.

Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld: British, Hanoverian, and Prussian forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.

Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut: Austria defeats Prussia.

American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).

Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kyiv.

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon signed the Armistice of Bologna, agreeing a ceasefire between France and the Papal States.

John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.

War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.

The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.

American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army.

Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer".

The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating the nation's first national park, Banff National Park.

The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

The Persian Cossack Brigade bombards the building of the National Consultative Assembly of Iran (Majles), killing hundreds of civilians.

Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.

Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.

Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

Shameen Incident: British Army and French Army soldiers stationed in the concession of Shameen open fire on Chinese protesters, resulting in at least 52 deaths.

The College Board administers the first SAT exam.

Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.

The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.

Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.

World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.

An F4 tornado tears through the Appalachian Mountains, killing over 100 people in West Virginia, particularly in the town of Shinnston.

The Holocaust: After a closely supervised visit to Theresienstadt Ghetto in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, Red Cross official Maurice Rossel reported that conditions there were "almost normal".

The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.

The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched.

In a nationwide referendum, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected President of Egypt, a post he held until his death in 1970.

The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.

Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.

The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.

The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.

Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.

Seventy-four people were killed and 150 others injured in a stampede at a football match between Boca Juniors and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.

Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.

Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.

The Los Angeles Dodgers started Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, and Bill Russell in the infield, beginning a record eight-year run in Major League Baseball for four people designated as starters for those positions.

Chinese American Vincent Chin died after being beaten into a coma in Highland Park, Michigan, U.S., by two automotive workers who were angry about the success of Japanese auto companies.

A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, killing two and injuring four. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard.

Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform, beginning the popular video game franchise.

Croatian War of Independence: The Battle of the Miljevci Plateau ended after a failed counterattack by forces of the Republic of Serbian Krajina against the Croatian Army who had captured the plateau.

NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.

The 8.4 Mw southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 74 people dead, and 2,687 injured.

American social news and discussion site Reddit is founded in Medford, Massachusetts by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian.

Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials.

Militants storm a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, killing ten climbers and a local guide.

Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.

The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction.

Brexit: The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.

A series of terrorist attacks take place in Pakistan, resulting in 96 deaths and wounding 200 others.

Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation.

Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (died 1954)

Zinedine Zidane, French footballer and manager

Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet and author (died 1966)

Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom (died 1972)

Martti Ahtisaari, Finnish captain and politician, 10th President of Finland, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)

Frances McDormand, American actress, winner of the Triple Crown of Acting

Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (died 1582)

Giambattista Vico, Italian jurist, historian, and philosopher (died 1744)

Jean Anouilh, French playwright and screenwriter (died 1987)

Joséphine de Beauharnais, French wife of Napoleon I (died 1814)

Richard Bach, American novelist and essayist

Armen Sarkissian, Armenian physicist, politician and President of Armenia

Patrick Vieira, French footballer and manager

Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (died 1956)

Caesarion, Egyptian king (died 30 BC)

Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director (died 1987)

Joss Whedon, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Francesca Schiavone, Italian tennis player

Wilma Rudolph, American runner (died 1994)

Vint Cerf, American computer scientist and Internet pioneer

James Meade, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995)

Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish painter and musician (died 1962)

Huda Sha'arawi, Egyptian feminist and journalist (died 1947)

Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress

Selma Blair, American actress

Yann Tiersen, French singer-songwriter and guitarist

Costas Simitis, Greek economist, lawyer, and politician, 180th Prime Minister of Greece (died 2025)

Clarence Thomas, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Melissa Rauch, American actress

June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (died 2003)

Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer and manager

Jean Tigana, French footballer and manager

John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, President of Southern Sudan (died 2005)

Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, English cosmologist and astrophysicist

Martin Klebba, American actor, producer, and stuntman

Joel Edgerton, Australian actor

KT Tunstall, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician

Paola Suárez, Argentinian tennis player

Mohamed Boudiaf, Algerian politician, President of Algeria (died 1992)

Ola Ullsten, Swedish politician and diplomat (died 2018)

James Levine, American pianist and conductor (died 2021)

Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland (died 1486)

Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1910)

Tribhuvan of Nepal (died 1955)

William P. Rogers, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (died 2001)

Donn F. Eisele, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 1987)

Nampalys Mendy, French footballer

Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer

Duke Francis II of Brittany (died 1488)

Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist and academic (died 1801)

Norman Pritchard, Indian-English hurdler and actor (died 1929)

Bryan Brown, Australian actor and producer

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (died 1962)

Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress and singer

Michèle Mouton, French race car driver and manager

Lisa Carrington, New Zealand flatwater canoeist

Charles II of Savoy, Italian nobleman (died 1496)

Glenn Danzig, American singer-songwriter and producer

Vasek Pospisil, Canadian tennis player