This is a list of selected June 21 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
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- Presentation of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Asian-American World War II veterans
Flag of Greenland
Replica of the Manchester Baby
Pope Paul VI
SpaceShipOne
Ellen Fairclough
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Midsummer festivities (Northern Hemisphere); Winter solstice festivals (Southern Hemisphere); | both: refimprove section |
| 217 BC – Second Punic War: The Carthaginians under Hannibal executed one of the largest military ambushes in history when they overwhelmingly defeated the Romans. | multiple issues |
| 1582 – Sengoku period: Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful of the Japanese daimyō, was forced to commit suicide by his own general Akechi Mitsuhide. | refimprove |
| 1798 – Over 15,000 British soldiers launched an attack on Vinegar Hill, the largest camp and headquarters of the County Wexford United Irish rebels, marking a turning point in the Irish Rebellion. | needs more footnotes |
| 1798 – New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and was admitted as the ninth U.S. state. | refimprove section |
| 1813 – Peninsular War: The Marquess of Wellington's combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish allied army defeated the French near Vitoria, Spain. | needs more footnotes |
| 1942 – Second World War: The Panzerarmee Afrika soundly defeated an Allied force in the Battle of Gazala in Libya, considered the greatest victory of Erwin Rommel's career. | unreferenced section |
| 1964 – Three civil rights workers were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S. | refimprove section, lots of CN tags elsewhere (11) |
| 2000 – The controversial British law known as Section 28, prohibiting the "promotion" of homosexuality, was repealed. | cleanup, also appears on May 24 |
| 2004 – SpaceShipOne completed the first privately funded human spaceflight. | SS1: refimprove section; 15P: refimprove |
Eligible
- 1529 – War of the League of Cognac: The French army under Francis de Bourbon was destroyed in Lombardy, Italy, by the Spanish army.
- 1826 – Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.
- 1848 – In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell proclaimed a new republican government.
- 1854 – Crimean War: During the first Battle of Bomarsund, Irish sailor Charles Davis Lucas threw an artillery shell off his ship before it exploded, earning him the first Victoria Cross.
- 1898 – In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam from Spain.
- 1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow to prevent the ships from being seized and divided amongst the Allied Powers.
- 1948 – The Manchester Baby, the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program.
- 1957 – Ellen Fairclough became the first woman appointed to the Canadian Cabinet.
- 1973 – The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark case Miller v. California, establishing the "Miller test" for determining what is obscene material.
- 1985 – Greenland officially adopted its own flag, adding support to its independence movement from Denmark.
- Born/died this day: Rodulf (d. 866) | Salomon Schweigger (d. 1622) | Increase Mather (b. 1639) | Max Wolf (b. 1863) | Claude Auchinleck (b. 1884) | Gideon Sundback (d. 1954) | Maureen Connolly (d. 1969) | Kathleen O'Kelly-Kennedy (b. 1884) | Wendy Saddington (d. 2013)
June 21: Fête de la Musique; International Day of Yoga; National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada
[[File:|175px|Newsreel footage of the Winnipeg general strike]]
Newsreel footage of the Winnipeg general strike
- 1734 – Marie-Joseph Angélique, a black slave, was tortured and hanged after having been convicted of starting a fire that burned much of Old Montreal.
- 1864 – New Zealand Wars: A British victory against the Māori King Movement brought the Tauranga campaign to an end.
- 1919 – During a general strike (newsreel featured) in Winnipeg, Canada, members of the Royal North-West Mounted Police attacked a crowd of strikers, armed with clubs and revolvers.
- 1940 – World War II: The main offensive of the unsuccessful Italian invasion of France began.
- 2000 – President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 22 Asian Americans, mostly from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, for actions during World War II.
- Charles Edward Horn (b. 1786)
- Clara Immerwahr (b. 1870)
- Soad Hosny (d. 2001)