Calendar date · June

What happened on June 20

On June 20, 451: Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.

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Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Gemini

Featured moment · 451

Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica, took place on 20 June 451 AD, between a coalition, led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king, Attila. It proved to be one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic foederati composed the majority of the coalition army. The exact strategic significance is disputed.

People

Born on June 20

Hans Niemann 2003– American chess grandmaster (born 2003)
Marc Pubill 2003– Spanish footballer
Hugo Ekitike 2002– French footballer (born 2002)
Nicolas Jackson 2001– Footballer (born 2001)
Gonçalo Ramos 2001– Portuguese footballer (born 2001)
Bálint Kopasz 1997– Hungarian canoeist (born 1997)
Sam Bennett 1996– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1996)
Caroline Weir 1995– Scottish footballer (born 1995)
Carol Zhao 1995– Canadian tennis player born 1995
Show 9 more — notable births on June 20
Leonard Williams 1994– American football player (born 1994)
Sead Kolašinac 1993– Bosnian footballer (born 1993)
Kalidou Koulibaly 1991– Senegalese footballer (born 1991)
Rick ten Voorde 1991– Dutch footballer
Ding Ning 1990– Chinese table tennis player
DeQuan Jones 1990– American basketball player (born 1990)
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 1990– Senegalese writer
Christopher Mintz-Plasse 1989– American actor (born 1989)
Javier Pastore 1989– Argentine footballer (born 1989)

People

Died on June 20

Donald Sutherland Canadian actor (1935–2024)
Taylor Wily American actor (1968–2024)
Caleb Swanigan American basketball player (1997–2022)
Prodigy American rapper (1974–2017)
Angelo Niculescu Romanian footballer and manager
Miriam Schapiro Canadian artist (1923–2015)
Ingvar Rydell Swedish footballer
Judy Agnew Second Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1973
LeRoy Neiman American painter and printmaker (1921–2012)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on June 20
Heinrich IV Prince Reuss
Andrew Sarris American film critic (1928–2012)
Ryan Dunn American television personality and stunt performer (1977–2011)
Roberto Rosato Italian footballer (1943–2010)
Harry B. Whittington British palaeontologist (1916-2020)
Larry Collins American writer and historian (1929–2005)
Jack Kilby American electronics engineer (1923–2005)
Jim Bacon Australian politician and 41st Premier of Tasmania
Erwin Chargaff American biochemist (1905–2002)

Timeline

Every June 20 on record

  1. 451 Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.

    Part of the Hunnic invasion of the Roman province of Gaul

    The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica, took place on 20 June 451 AD, between a coalition, led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king, Attila. It proved to be one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic foederati composed the majority of the coalition army. The exact strategic significance is disputed.

  2. 1180 First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.

    Opening battle of the Genpei War

    The First Battle of Uji , alternatively known as "Mochihitos Raising of an Army" in Japan is a battle which took place on June 20, 1180, following Prince Mochihito and Minamoto no Yorimasa's plan to raise an army to overthrow the Taira clan and the issuing of an edict urging the Minamoto clan, major temples, and shrines in the country to revolt.

  3. 1295 The Treaty of Anagni, an attempt mediated by the papacy to end the War of the Sicilian Vespers, is signed by the crown of Aragon, the kingdom of France and kingdom of Naples.

    1295 treaty

    The Treaty of Anagni was an accord between the Pope Boniface VIII, James II of Aragon, Philip IV of France, Charles II of Naples, and James II of Majorca. It was signed on 20 June 1295 at Anagni, in central Italy. The chief purpose was to confirm the Treaty of Tarascon of 1291, which ended the Aragonese Crusade.

  4. 1622 The Battle of Höchst takes place during the Thirty Years' War.

    1622 battle of the Thirty Years' War

    The Battle of Höchst was fought between a Catholic League army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly and a Protestant army commanded by Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, close to the town of Höchst, today a suburb of the city of Frankfurt am Main. The result was a one-sided Catholic League victory. The action occurred during the Thirty Years' War.

  5. 1631 The Sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Barbary slave traders.

    1631 raid by Barbary slave traders on Baltimore, County Cork, Kingdom of Ireland

    The sack of Baltimore took place on 20 June 1631, when the village of Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa – the raiders included Dutchmen, Moroccans, Algerians and Ottoman Turks. The attack was the largest by Barbary slave traders on Ireland.

  6. 1652 Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
  7. 1685 Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
  8. 1756 A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
  9. 1782 The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
  10. 1787 Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.
  11. 1789 Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.
  12. 1791 King Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, and the French royal family attempt to flee Paris during the French Revolution.
  13. 1819 The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
  14. 1837 King William IV dies, and is succeeded by his niece, Victoria.
  15. 1840 Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
Show 15 earlier entries from June 20
  1. 1862 Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.
  2. 1863 American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
  3. 1877 Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
  4. 1893 Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.
  5. 1895 The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.
  6. 1900 Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.
  7. 1900 Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.
  8. 1921 Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.
  9. 1926 The 28th International Eucharistic Congress begins in Chicago, with over 250,000 spectators attending the opening procession.
  10. 1942 The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  11. 1943 The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.
  12. 1943 World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Avro Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.
  13. 1944 World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".
  14. 1944 World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.
  15. 1944 The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

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