On This Day

20th June

451 – Flavius Aetius' defeated Attila the Hun.

1214 – The University of Oxford received its charter.

1631 – The Irish village of Baltimore was attacked by Algerian pirates.

1685 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwater.

1756 – A British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

1782 – The U.S. Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States.

1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family began the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution.

1837 – Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne.

1840 – Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph.

1976 - Hundreds of Americans and Britons were moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the US military, following the murder of the US ambassador.

1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder was caught on tape and sparked international outcry against the regime.

1990 - British Chancellor John Major proposed a new European currency which would circulate alongside existing national currencies.

1991 – The German parliament decided to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.

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