June 20 facts for kids

June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 194 days remain until the end of the year.

June 20th is a day filled with many important events throughout history, from ancient battles to modern discoveries. It's also a day when many famous people were born and others passed away. Let's explore some of the interesting things that happened on this day!

Historical Events

Ancient Times (Before 1600)

• 451 – A big battle called the Battle of Chalons happened. Flavius Aetius fought against Attila the Hun. The battle didn't have a clear winner, but Attila's army left, making the Romans feel like they had won.
• 1180 – The First Battle of Uji began in Japan. This battle marked the start of the Genpei War, a major conflict in Japanese history.

From 1601 to 1900

• 1622 – The Battle of Höchst took place during the Thirty Years' War, a long and important conflict in Europe.
• 1631 – The village of Baltimore in Ireland was attacked by pirates who captured people. This event is known as the Sack of Baltimore.
• 1685 – During the Monmouth Rebellion, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth announced he was the King of England in Bridgwater.
• 1756 – A British group was held captive in a small, crowded prison in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
• 1782 – The U.S. Congress officially adopted the Great Seal of the United States. This is the official symbol of the United States.
• 1789 – French lawmakers took the Tennis Court Oath. This was a key moment at the start of the French Revolution, where they promised to create a new constitution.
• 1791 – King Louis XVI and his family tried to secretly leave Paris during the French Revolution.
• 1819 – The American ship SS Savannah arrived in Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the first ship powered by steam to cross the Atlantic. Most of its journey was still done with sails.
• 1837 – King William IV passed away. His niece, Victoria, became the new Queen.
• 1840 – Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph. This invention changed how people communicated over long distances.
• 1863 – During the American Civil War, West Virginia officially became the 35th U.S. state.
• 1877 – Alexander Graham Bell set up the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
• 1895 – The Kiel Canal was officially opened. This important waterway crosses the Jutland peninsula and is one of the busiest in the world.
• 1900 – The Imperial Chinese Army began a long siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China. This happened during the Boxer Rebellion.
• 1900 – Baron Eduard von Toll started the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900 from Saint Petersburg. He sailed on the ship Zarya and was never seen again.

From 1901 to Today

• 1921 – Workers at Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in Chennai, India, started a four-month-long strike.
• 1926 – The 28th International Eucharistic Congress began in Chicago. Over 250,000 people attended the opening parade.
• 1942 – Four prisoners, including Kazimierz Piechowski, bravely escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp by stealing an SS staff car.
• 1943 – The Detroit race riot began, a period of civil unrest that lasted for several days.
• 1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launched Operation Bellicose. Bombers damaged V-2 rocket factories while flying to an air base in Algeria.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea ended with a big U.S. naval victory. This air battle was also called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."
• 1944 – World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland surrender. Finland refused.
• 1944 – An experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reached an altitude of 176 kilometers. This made it the first human-made object to reach outer space.
• 1945 – The United States approved bringing Wernher von Braun and other German rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
• 1948 – The Deutsche Mark was introduced in Western Germany. In response, the Soviet Union started the Berlin Blockade a few days later.
• 1959 – A rare June hurricane hit Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence, causing 35 deaths.
• 1960 – The Mali Federation gained independence from France. It later split into two separate countries, Mali and Senegal.
• 1963 – After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to set up a direct communication link, known as the "red telephone" between Washington, D.C. and Moscow.
• 1972 – During the Watergate scandal, an 18-and-a-half-minute gap appeared in the tape recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisors.
• 1975 – The movie Jaws was released in the United States. It became the highest-earning film at the time and started the trend of "summer blockbusters."
• 1982 – The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opened in Tel Aviv.
• 1982 – The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrendered to Royal Marine commandos. This was the last action of the Falklands War.
• 1988 – Haitian president Leslie Manigat was removed from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy.
• 1990 – Asteroid Eureka was discovered.
• 1990 – A large earthquake, the Manjil–Rudbar earthquake, hit northern Iran. It caused many deaths and injuries.
• 1991 – The German Bundestag voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin.
• 2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind Wikipedia, was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• 2019 – Iran's Air Defense Forces shot down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. This happened during rising tensions between the two countries.

Famous Births

Born Before 1900

• 1389 – John of Lancaster, an important English statesman.
• 1469 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, a duke of Milan.
• 1566 – Sigismund III Vasa, who was king of both Poland and Sweden.
• 1761 – Jacob Hübner, a German scientist who studied insects.
• 1771 – Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, a Scottish helper of people and politician.
• 1819 – Jacques Offenbach, a German-French cellist and composer.
• 1847 – Gina Krog, a Norwegian activist who fought for women's rights.
• 1861 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, an English biochemist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1875 – Reginald Punnett, an English geneticist and statistician.
• 1887 – Kurt Schwitters, a German painter and illustrator.
• 1891 – John A. Costello, an Irish lawyer and politician who became the 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland.
• 1899 – Jean Moulin, a French soldier and engineer.

Born After 1900

• 1905 – Lillian Hellman, an American playwright and screenwriter.
• 1909 – Errol Flynn, a famous Australian-American actor.
• 1915 – Terence Young, a Chinese-English film director and screenwriter.
• 1924 – Chet Atkins, an American guitarist and record producer.
• 1925 – Audie Murphy, an American soldier and actor who received the Medal of Honor.
• 1928 – Martin Landau, an American actor and producer.
• 1931 – Olympia Dukakis, an American actress.
• 1933 – Danny Aiello, an American actor.
• 1942 – Brian Wilson, an American singer, songwriter, and producer, known for The Beach Boys.
• 1945 – Anne Murray, a Canadian singer and guitarist.
• 1946 – Xanana Gusmão, a soldier and politician who became the first President of East Timor.
• 1949 – Lionel Richie, an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
• 1952 – John Goodman, a well-known American actor.
• 1954 – Ilan Ramon, an Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1967 – Nicole Kidman, a famous American-Australian actress.
• 1968 – Robert Rodriguez, an American director, producer, and screenwriter.
• 1978 – Frank Lampard, a famous English footballer.
• 1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, an American actor.

Notable Deaths

Passed Away Before 1900

• 840 – Louis the Pious, a Carolingian emperor.
• 1597 – Willem Barentsz, a Dutch mapmaker and explorer.
• 1820 – Manuel Belgrano, an Argentinian general, economist, and politician.
• 1837 – William IV of the United Kingdom, the King of the United Kingdom.

Passed Away After 1900

• 1947 – Bugsy Siegel, an American figure.
• 1958 – Kurt Alder, a German chemist and academic who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1966 – Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest, physicist, and astronomer.
• 2005 – Jack Kilby, an American physicist and engineer who won a Nobel Prize.
• 2011 – Ryan Dunn, an American television personality.
• 2017 – Prodigy, an American music artist.

Holidays and Special Days

• Day of the National Flag in Argentina.
• This is the earliest possible date for the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. This means it's one of the longest or shortest days of the year!
  • It's also the earliest day for the Day of the Finnish Flag in Finland.
  • International Surfing Day is celebrated on or near this day.
  • Many Midsummer celebrations happen in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Gas Sector Day in Azerbaijan.
• Martyrs' Day (Eritrea) in Eritrea.
• West Virginia Day in West Virginia, USA.
• World Refugee Day is an international day to honor refugees around the world.

See also

In Spanish: 20 de junio para niños