Events on June 3 43
Year 350
The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
Year 713
The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.
Year 1326
The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
Year 1608
Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
Year 1665
James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
Year 1781
Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.
Year 1839
In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
Year 1861
American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.
Year 1864
American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
Year 1885
In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police.
Year 1889
The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
Year 1916
The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
Year 1935
One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa.
Year 1940
World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
Year 1940
Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
Year 1941
World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants.
Year 1942
World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.
Year 1943
In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
Year 1962
At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130.
Year 1963
The Buddhist crisis: Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam attack protesting Buddhists in Huế, South Vietnam, with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
Year 1965
The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.
Year 1969
Melbourne-Evans collision: off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
Year 1973
A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
Year 1979
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.
Year 1980
The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $872 million in 2016) worth of damage.
Year 1982
The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed.
Year 1984
Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
Year 1989
The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
Year 1991
Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
Year 1992
Aboriginal land rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Eddie Mabo.
Year 2006
The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.
Year 2012
A plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and 10 people on the ground.
Year 2012
The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.
Year 2013
The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Year 2013
At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China.
Year 2017
London attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police.