On this day in military history, June 21: 0217 - (BC) Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal destroy a Roman army under consul Gaius Flaminicy in a battle at Lake Trasimenus in central Italy. 0524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vezerone. 1314 - The Scots, under Robert the Bruce, defeat Edward II's army at Bannockburn. 1621 - an execution of 27 Czech lords on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain. 1665 - First soldiers of Le Régiment de Carignan-Salières arrive at Quebec to invade Iroquois territories. 1667 - The Peace of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War as the Dutch cede New Amsterdam to the English. 1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at Battle of Vinegar Hill 1813 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Vitoria: Wellington and his Portuguese and Spanish allies finally broke the French army, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War. 1813 - Laura Secord sets out to warn British forces of an impending U.S. attack on Queenston, Ontario during the War of 1812. 1824 - Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea. 1826 - Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas. 1854 - First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands. 1862 - Union and Confederate forces skirmish at the Chickahominy Creek. 1863 - In the second day of fighting, Confederate troops fails to dislodge a Union force at the Battle of LaFourche Crossing. 1864 - New Zealand Land Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends. 1900 - General Arthur MacArthur offers amnesty to Filipinos rebelling against American rule. 1919 - Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War. 1940 - World War II: France surrenders to Germany. 1942 - World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces. 1942 - World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the U.S. mainland. 1945 - World War II: Battle of Okinawa ends. 1963 - France announces it will withdraw from the NATO fleet in the North Atlantic.

Go back...