01010616 This Day In History, June 16

363: While under attacks from the Persians (see also The Decrees Of The Persian Kings), Roman Emperor Julian (see also A History Of Jerusalem: Pompey And The Caesars) retreated up the Tigris River in Iraq while burning his supply ships.

455: Rome was sacked by the Vandals, a Germanic tribe - hence the term "vandalism" (see also The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation).

1487: The Battle of Stoke, the last great battle fought on English soil, brought an end to the War of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

1654: Queen Christina abdicated the Swedish throne after converting to Roman Catholicism.

1567: Mary Queen of Scots was locked up in Lochleven Castle prison.

1671: Cossack rebel leader Stenka Razin was executed in Moscow.

1745: British troops took Cape Breton Island, which is now part of Nova Scotia, Canada.

1746: The Battle of Piacenza during War of Austrian Succession; Austria and Sardinia defeated a Franco-Spanish army.

1779: Spain declared war on Britain; the Great Siege of Gibraltar began.

1815: After marching into Belgium earlier in the month, Napoleon found himself confronted by 2 allied armies, which he tried to split. On this day, a French attack at the crossroads called Quatre Bras on the British army failed to rout it or take the crossroads. The Prussian army also retired intact. Both armies faced Napoleon 2 days later at Waterloo.

1891: John Abbott became Canada's third Prime Minister since the present-day nation was founded in 1867 (July 1 is Canada Day, the national holiday).

1897: The Republic of Hawaii was annexed to the U.S.

1903: The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1932: The ban on Nazi storm troopers is lifted by the von Papen government in Germany.

1933: Chaim Arlosoroff, a prominent Jewish Zionist (see Anti-Zion Is Anti-Christ) organization leader, was murdered at Tel Aviv.

1952: A Swedish rescue plane searching for a lost aircraft was shot down by Soviet fighters over Swedish territorial waters.

1955: At the Vatican, Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President Juan Peron.

1963: Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, aboard the Vostok 6 (Sally Ride became the first U.S. female astronaut in space 20 years later, in 1983).

1969: British Field Marshal Harold Alexander died at age 78. During the Second World War, he commanded the evacuation of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk (where he was the last man to leave the beaches), directed the allied ground offensive that resulted in the surrender of German forces at Tunis in May 1943, appointed commander of all allied forces in Italy in 1944, Governor-General of Canada 1946-1952, served as minister of defense 1952-1954 in Winston Churchill's government.

1993: Canada's peacekeeping mission to Cyprus ended after 29 years. The troops transferred their sector to British and Australian troops the previous day.

2012: China launched Shenzhou 9; the spacecraft carried three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut, Liu Yang.