On This Day — 27 June
2000s
2024
U.S. President Joe Biden debates former U.S. President Donald Trump. Biden's perceived poor performance leads to his withdrawal from the election on July 21.
President of the United States
2017
A series of powerful cyberattacks using the Petya malware target websites of Ukrainian organizations and counterparts with Ukrainian connections around the globe.
2017 Ukraine ransomware attacks
2015
Formosa Fun Coast fire: A dust fire occurs at a recreational water park in Taiwan, killing 15 people and injuring 497 others, 199 critically.
2015 New Taipei water park fire
2014
At least fourteen people are killed when a Gas Authority of India Limited pipeline explodes in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India.
GAIL
2013
NASA launches the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space probe to observe the Sun.
NASA
2008
In a highly scrutinized election, President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.
2008 Zimbabwean general election
2007
Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997. Chancellor Gordon Brown succeeds him.
Tony Blair
2007
The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre.
Military Police (Brazil)
1900s
1995
Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-71, the first space shuttle mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
1994
Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan. Seven people are killed, 660 injured.
Aum Shinrikyo
1991
Two days after it had declared independence, Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War.
Slovenia
1988
The Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris, France, kills 56 people.
Gare de Lyon rail accident
1988
Villa Tunari massacre: Bolivian anti-narcotics police kill nine to 12 and injure over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants.
Villa Tunari massacre
1982
Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4.
Space Shuttle Columbia
1981
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
1980
The 'Ustica massacre': Itavia Flight 870 crashes in the sea while en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, killing all 81 on board.
Itavia Flight 870
1977
France grants independence to Djibouti.
Djibouti
1977
Constitution for the Federation of Earth was adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.
World constitution
1976
Air France Flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) is hijacked en route to Paris by the PFLP and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda.
Air France
1974
U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union.
President of the United States
1973
The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship.
President of Uruguay
1957
Hurricane Audrey makes landfall near the Texas–Louisiana border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron, Louisiana.
Hurricane Audrey
1954
The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Soviet Union's first nuclear power station, opens in Obninsk, near Moscow.
Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant
1954
The FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game.
1954 FIFA World Cup
1950
The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War.
Korean War
1946
In the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Parliament of Canada establishes the definition of Canadian citizenship.
Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946
1944
World War II: Mogaung is the first place in Burma to be liberated from the Japanese by British Chindits, supported by the Chinese.
Mogaung
1941
Romanian authorities launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iași, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews.
Romania in World War II
1941
World War II: German troops capture the city of Białystok during Operation Barbarossa.
World War II
1928
The Rovaniemi township decree is promulgated, as a result of which Rovaniemi secedes from the old rural municipality as its own market town on January 1, 1929.
Rovaniemi
1927
Prime Minister of Japan Tanaka Giichi convenes an eleven-day conference to discuss Japan's strategy in China. The Tanaka Memorial, a forged plan for world domination, is later claimed to be a secret report leaked from this conference.
Prime Minister of Japan
1924
The Johor–Singapore Causeway opens after five years of construction, providing a land connection for road and rail vehicles travelling between Johor and Singapore.
Johor–Singapore Causeway
1914
The Illinois Monument is dedicated at Cheatham Hill in what is now the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
Illinois Monument
1905
During the Russo-Japanese War, sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin.
Russo-Japanese War
1800s
1898
The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia.
Circumnavigation
1895
The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
1864
American Civil War: Confederate forces defeat Union forces during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta campaign.
American Civil War
1844
Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are killed by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail.
Joseph Smith
1806
British forces take Buenos Aires during the first of the British invasions of the River Plate.
Buenos Aires
Before 1800
1760
Anglo-Cherokee War: Cherokee warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Echoee near present-day Otto, North Carolina.
Anglo-Cherokee War
1743
In the Battle of Dettingen, George II becomes the last reigning British monarch to participate in a battle.
Battle of Dettingen
1556
The thirteen Stratford Martyrs are burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs.
Stratford Martyrs
1499
Amerigo Vespucci sights what is now Amapá State in Brazil.
Amerigo Vespucci