On June 12, 1429, Joan of Arc achieved her first offensive military victory, winning a battle near the small town of Jargeau on the southern bank of the Loire River in central France. By the end of 1428, writes historians, “the English and their…
Read MoreOn June 9, 1949, the literary world witnessed the publication of George Orwell’s 1984, a novel that has since become a cornerstone in the canon of dystopian literature. The novel’s arrival marked a pivotal moment, capturing the anxieties of a post-war era and offering…
Read MoreOn June 8, 1794, the streets of Paris and other French cities thrummed with an extraordinary energy for one of the weirder aspects of the French Revolution. Citizens gathered en masse to witness an event orchestrated by one of the French Revolution’s most enigmatic…
Read MoreOn 8th June 452 AD, the Roman Empire’s biggest bogeyman came to invade Italy: Attila. Referred to as “scourge of God” by his opponents, Attila’s empire stretched thousands of miles from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to…
Read MoreThe Battle of Midway, fought from June 4 to June 7, 1942, stands as a crucial naval engagement in the Pacific Theater of World War II. This battle dramatically altered the course of the war by halting Japanese expansion and shifting the balance of…
Read MoreOn June 7, 1494, two rival powers sat down to sign a treaty that would shape North and South America for the centuries that followed. Following the reports of Christopher Columbus’s discoveries in the Americas, Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella went to the Vatican to help back Spanish…
Read MoreOn June 5, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower faced one of the most crucial decisions of World War II. As the Supreme Allied Commander, he was responsible for launching Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Despite unfavorable weather conditions, Eisenhower decided to…
Read MoreOn June 5, 1947, United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall delivered a speech at Harvard University that shaped the course of modern history. He proposed a comprehensive aid program to help Europe recover from the devastation of World War II. This address…
Read MoreJune 5, 1956, was a day that changed Rock and Roll forever. On the Milton Berle Show, a young musician named Elvis Presley scandalized the country on national television. Elvis’s performance included exaggerated gyrations that drove the girls in the audience wild, and enraged…
Read MoreOn June 3, 1937, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, married Wallis Simpson, an American socialite. This event, held at the Château de Candé in Monts, France, changed the direction of the British monarchy forever. Edward VIII had…
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