June 6th in History

1523 - Gustav Vasa, the Swedish regent, is elected king of Sweden, marking a symbolic end to the Kalmar Union. This is the Swedish national day.

1586 - Francis Drake's forces raid St. Augustine in Spanish Florida.

1654 - Queen Christina abdicates the Swedish throne and is succeeded by her cousin Charles X Gustav. The reasons for her abdication are that she wants to become a catholic (which is forbidden in the strictly Protestant Sweden) and does not want to marry to produce an heir to the throne.

1808 - Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is crowned King Joseph I of Spain.

1832 - The June Rebellion of Paris is put down by the National Guard.

1859 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Memphis – Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee, from the Confederates.

1909 - French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.

1919 - The Republic of Prekmurje ends.

1944 - World War II: the Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.

1971 - Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Khanh between Australian and Vietnamese communist forces begins.

1982 - The 1982 Lebanon War begins. Forces under the Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee", eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.

1984 - Tetris, one of the best-selling video games of all time, is released.

2012 - The Al-Qubeir massacre occurred in a village near Hama, Syria, killing 78 people.

Famous Birthdays

1296 - Władysław of Legnica,  Duke of Legnica

1502 - John III of Portugal

1714 - Joseph I of Portugal

1772 - Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, Holy Roman Empress, Queen consort of the Romans

1867 - David T. Abercrombie, businessman, founder of Abercrombie & Fitch

1872 - Alexandra of Hesse and by Rhine, Empress consort of All the Russias, spouse of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire.

1901 - Sukarno, 1st President of Indonesia

1916 - Hamani Diori, 1st President of Niger

1938 - HI&RH Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil (disputed)

1945 - David Dukes, actor

1956 - Björn Borg, tennis player

1960 - Steve Vai, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1974 - Danny Strong, actor

1987 - Daniel Logan, actor

1991 - Mary Ann Springer, actress