On June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop, a colonial American woman from Salem, Massachusetts, was executed by hanging after being accused of witchcraft. She became the first person to be put to death during the Salem witch trials, a wave of mass hysteria and legal persecution that would soon engulf the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Bishop, who was around 60 years old at the time of her death, had previously faced accusations of witchcraft but had been acquitted years earlier. However, during the heightened fear and religious fervor of 1692, she was arrested again and brought before the special Court of Oyer and Terminer. She was convicted largely on spectral evidence and questionable testimony.

On May 25, from the quill that drafted dreams, to the swift feet that raced into history, and the stars that launched a thousand ships in our imaginations—this day celebrates the birth of legends.📜🏃‍♂️🌌

On June 27, 1796, during his rapid victories in the Italian Campaigns, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered his army to occupy the Tuscan port city of Livorno. The move was part of France’s wider struggle against the European coalition opposing the French Revolution.

Livorno’s importance as a major Mediterranean trading port made it a valuable target. French forces seized control of the city and moved to confiscate British, Russian, and Austrian goods, aiming to weaken enemy commerce and strengthen French resources.

On June 26, AD 4, Emperor Augustus made one of the most consequential decisions in Roman history by officially adopting his stepson, Tiberius, as his heir. After the deaths of his preferred successors, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Augustus needed a capable leader to preserve the stability of the Roman Empire.

The adoption came with conditions. Augustus also required Tiberius to adopt his talented young nephew, Germanicus, ensuring the continuation of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Although Tiberius was an experienced general with an impressive military record, he was never Augustus' first choice. Nevertheless, he would succeed Augustus upon his death in AD 14, becoming Rome's second emperor and overseeing an empire at the height of its power.

On June 22, 1342 in the Shire Reckoning calendar of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, Bilbo Baggins returned to Bag End after his unexpected adventure with the Dwarves and the dragon Smaug. Instead of receiving a warm welcome, Bilbo discovered that his quiet hobbit life had been turned upside down. The residents of Hobbiton believed he was gone forever, and his relatives, the Sackville-Bagginses, had already declared him legally dead.

The scene became one of the most memorable moments in The Hobbit, filled with humor and irony. While Bilbo was away traveling through dangerous lands, his family members were busy claiming his possessions. The Sackville-Bagginses organized an auction at Bag End, selling furniture, household goods, and personal belongings as if Bilbo would never return. Their shock at seeing the “dead” hobbit walk through the door revealed their greed and obsession with his comfortable home.

On June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo marked one of the most important military defeats in European history. Napoleon Bonaparte, who had returned to power during the Hundred Days after escaping exile on Elba, led the French army against a coalition of European forces. His goal was to defeat the Allied armies before they could unite against him, but he faced a determined force commanded by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.

The battle took place near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, where Wellington’s British-led army held a defensive position against repeated French attacks. Napoleon launched powerful assaults, including attacks against Allied positions at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, but the French failed to break the Allied lines. The arrival of Blücher’s Prussian forces in the afternoon changed the course of the battle, overwhelming Napoleon’s army and forcing a devastating French retreat.

On June 15, 1815, the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte struck a decisive blow against Prussian forces at the Battle of Ligny in present-day Belgium. It was Napoleon’s final battlefield victory, achieved during the opening phase of the Waterloo Campaign, as he sought to divide and defeat the allied armies of Prussia and Britain before they could unite against him.

The Prussian army, led by Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, initially held strong defensive positions in the villages around Ligny. Despite fierce resistance and heavy casualties on both sides, French forces eventually broke through after intense fighting. Napoleon committed his Imperial Guard in a late assault that forced the Prussians to retreat, though the withdrawal was conducted in relatively good order rather than a total collapse.