16th Mar 1812 - Peninsular War: Battle of Badajoz - British and Portuguese forces besieged and defeated the French garrison.

17th Mar 1776 - AWI: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

18th Mar 1915 - World War I: Massive naval attack in the Battle of Gallipoli, as three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

19th Mar 1921 - Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork.  About 100 Irish Republican Army volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

20th Mar 1815 - After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his '100 Days' rule.

21st Mar 1943 - Werhmacht officer Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plans falls through.  Von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.

22nd Mar 1849 - The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.

23rd Mar 1879 - War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topater, the first battle of the war is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.

24th Mar 1944 - WWII: In an event later dramatised in the film 'The Great Escape', 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.

25th Mar 1306 - Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.

26th Mar 1917 - WWI: First Battle of Gaza - British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.

27th Mar 1854 - Crimean War: The UK declares war on Russia.

28th Mar 1860 - First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.

29th Mar 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.

30th Mar 1939 - The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463mph.

31st Mar 1945 - WWII: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmidt Me 262A-1, the worlds first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.

1st Apr 1945 - WWII: Operation Iceberg - United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.

2nd Apr 1982 - Falklands War - Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

3rd Apr 1559 - The Peace of Cateau-Cambresis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars.

4th Apr 1945 - WWII: Soviet Army takes control of Hungary.

5th Apr 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.

6th Apr 1199 - King Richard of England dies from an infection, following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.

7th Apr 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

8th Apr 1918 - WWI: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets if New York City's financial district.

9th Apr 1914 - Mexican Revolution: One of the world's first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coats of western Mexico.

10th Apr 1865 - American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E Lee addresses his troops for the last time.

11th Apr 1990 - Customs officers in Middlesbrough say they have seized what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.

12th Apr 1606 - The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of Great Britain.

13th Apr 1868 - The Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Maqdala.

14th Apr 1471 - The Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.

15th Apr 1942 - The George Cross is awarded to the 'the island fortress of Malta - it's people and defenders' by King George VI.

16th Apr 1919 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

17th Apr 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

18th Apr 1897 - The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

19th Apr 1775 - AWI: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.

20th Apr 1945 - Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.

21st Apr 1918 - WWI: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as 'The Red Baron', is shot down and killed over Vaux-dur-Somme in France.

22nd Apr 1944 - The 1st Air Command Group using the Sikorshy R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR operations in the China-Burma-India theatre.

23rd Apr 1014 - Battle of Clonarf: Brian Boru defeats Vikin invaders, but is killed in battle.

24th Apr 1918 - First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mk IV's met three German A7V's.

25th Apr 1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares was on Spain.

26th Apr 1865 - American Civil War: Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln in Virginia.

27th Apr 1945 - WWII: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting to escape disguised as a German soldier.

28th Apr 1503 - The Battle of Cerignola is fought.  It is noted as the first battle in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.

29th Apr 1672 - Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.

30th Apr 1945 - Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day.  Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.

1st May 1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end.  The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton - the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.

2nd May 1982 - Falkland's War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

3rd May 1815 - Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.

4th May 1471 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales.

5th May 1821 - Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

6th May 1942 - WWII: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Phillippines surrender to the Japanese.

7th May 1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He-51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.

8th May 1945 - WWII: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe.  German forces agree in Rheims, France to an unconditional surrender.

9th May 1864 - 2nd Schleswig War: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.

10th May 1857 - Indian Mutiny: In India, the first war of Independence begins.  Sepoys revolt against their commanding officers at Meerut.

11th May 1745 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.

12th May 1689 - King Williams War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.

13th May 1941 - WWII: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailovic starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.

14th May 1643 - Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, King Louis XIII.

15th May 1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its wthdrawal from Afghanistan.

16th May 1822 - Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.

17th May 1900 - Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.

18th May 1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.

19th May 1848 - Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day US states to the United States for $15 million.

20th May 1941 - WWII: The Battle of Crete - German Paratroops invade Crete.

21st May 1982 - Falklands War: British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.

22nd May 334BC - The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.

23rd May 844 - The Apostle Saint James the Greater is said to have miraculously appeared to a force of outnumbered Spanish rebe;s amd aided them against the forces of the Emir of Cordoba.

24th May 1941 - WWII: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the then-pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.

25th May 1810 - May Revolution: Citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.

26th May 946 - King Edmund I of England is murdered by a thief when whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day.

27th May 1965 - Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

28th May 1588 - The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.  (It will take until May 30th for all ships to leave port).

29th May 1945 - First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.

30th May 1431 - Hundred Years War: In Rouen, France, 19-year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by a tribunal.  Because of this, the Catholic Church remember this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.

31st May 1866 - In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York / Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom.  Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.

Jun 1st 1943 - British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju-88's killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that the downing was an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Jun 2nd 1793 - French Revolution: Francois Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selectd by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.

Jun 3rd 1940 - WWII: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.

Jun 4th 1878 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.

Jun 5th 1944 - WWII: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5,000 tonnes of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.

Jun 6th 1762 - British forces begin a siege of Havana and temporarily capture the city in the Battle of Havana.

Jun 7th 1494 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divides the New World between the two countries.

Jun 8th 793 - Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.

Jun 9th 1862 - ACW: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now studied by militaries around the world.

Jun 10th 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph while leading an army to Jerusalem.

Jun 11th 1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

Jun 12th 1987 - Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate US President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

Jun 13th 1373 - Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal, which is the oldest alliance in the world still in force.

Jun 14th 1645 - ECW: Battle of Naseby - 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.

Jun 15th 923 - Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.

Jun 16th 1815 - Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre-Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.

Jun 17th 1876 - Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud - 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.

Jun 18th 1812 - War of 1812: The US Congress declares war on the United Kingdom.

Jun 19th 1586 - English colonists leave Roanoke Island, after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in North America.

Jun 20th 1631 - The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Nigerian pirates.

Jun 21st 1854 - The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands.

Jun 22nd 168BC - Battle of Pydna: Romans, under Lucius Aemilius Paullus, defeat Macedonian King Perseus, who surrenders after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War.

Jun 23rd 1919 - Estonian War of Independence: the decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cesis.  This day is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

Jun 24th 1314 - First War of Scottish Independence: the Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces lef by Robery the Bruce, though England did not recognise Scottish independence until 1328 with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

Jun 25th 1944 - WWII: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic Countries, begins.

Jun 26th 1917 - The first US troops arrive in France to fight alongside Britain and France against Germany in World War I.

Jun 27th 1743 - War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen - On the battlefield in Bavariam George II personally leads troops into battle, the last time that a British monarch would command troops in the field.

Jun 28th 1919 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end between Germany and the Allies in WWI.