On this day in military history, June 14: 1300 - Battle of Ponza: Roger de Lauria's Sicilian-Catalan fleet defeats the Angevin-Sicilians. 1381 - The Peasant’s Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, climaxed when rebels marched on London. They plundered, burned and captured the Tower of London and killed the Archbishop of Canterbury. 1645 - English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers. 1646 - Naval Battle of Orbetello: the Spanish defeat the French. 1658 - Battle at Dunes: English and French fleet beat Spanish. 1673 - Battle at Schooneveld: Michiel de Ruyter beats French/English fleet. 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The United States Army is established by the Continental Congress. 1800 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy. 1809 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of the Raab: French defeat the Austrians. 1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Wellington thanks his army for its performance in the Peninsula. 1815 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon opens the Waterloo Campaign. 1847 - Commodore Matthew C Perry makes amphibious landing at Tabasco, Mexico. 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Second Winchester – A Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia. 1864 - American Civil War: At the Battle of Pine Mountain, Georgia, Confederate General Leonidas Polk is killed by a Union shell. 1864 - American Civil War: Congress orders Black soldiers be paid the same as whites. 1898 - Santiago: US ships exchange fire with Spanish batteries 1900 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy. 1904 - Dutch troops occupies Kuto Reh, Sumatra, killing all inhabitants. 1908 - Fourth German Navy Bill is passed authorizing the financing the building of another four major warships. 1940 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11%. 1940 - World War II: German troops march into Paris, meeting practically no resistance as French and allied forces retreat. 1942 - World War II: German merchant cruiser Thor enters the Indian Ocean. 1942 - World War II: The bazooka goes into production at Bridgeport, Ct. 1944 - World War II: Sixty U.S. B-29 Superfortress' attacked an iron and steel works factory on Honshu Island. It was the first U.S. raid against mainland Japan. 1945 - World War II: Burma is liberated by the British. 1952 - Cold War: The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus. 1953 - Military coup by general Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in Colombia. 1965 - A military triumvirate took control in Saigon, South Vietnam. 1982 - Falklands War ends: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley unconditionally surrender to British forces.

Go back...