86 years ago today
Dunkirk Evacuation Ends — Churchill Rallies Britain
On June 4, 1940, the Dunkirk evacuation reached its end as the British Armed Forces completed the remarkable rescue of 338,000 Allied troops from the beaches of northern France. What had seemed a certain catastrophe — the encirclement and destruction of the entire British Expeditionary Force — had been transformed by a desperate improvisation involving hundreds of civilian boats alongside Royal Navy vessels. That same evening, Winston Churchill rose in the House of Commons to deliver one of the most electrifying speeches in the English language: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." The speech galvanized a nation standing alone against Nazi Germany and cemented Churchill's authority as war leader. The soldiers were saved, but their equipment was abandoned — Britain had suffered a strategic defeat turned, by rhetoric and resolution, into a moral victory.
On the record: Winston Churchill
This day, across time
- 1411EventKing Charles VI Grants Roquefort Cheese Monopoly
- 1738BornGeorge III
- 1783EventMontgolfier Brothers Demonstrate Hot Air Balloon
- 1784EventFirst Woman to Fly in an Untethered Hot Air Balloon
- 1867BornCarl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
- 1896EventHenry Ford Tests His First Gasoline Automobile
- 1907BornRosalind Russell
- 1913EventSuffragette Emily Davison Fatally Injured at the Derby
- 1919EventU.S. Congress Approves Women's Suffrage Amendment
- 1939EventMS St. Louis Turned Away from the United States
- 1940FeaturedDunkirk Evacuation Ends — Churchill Rallies Britain
- 1941DiedKaiser Wilhelm II
- 1942EventBattle of Midway Begins
- 1975BornAngelina Jolie
- 1989EventSolidarity Wins Polish Elections
- 2010EventSpaceX's Falcon 9 Makes Its Maiden Flight
Alive in 1940
OverlapSame years; not influence
Winston Churchillturned 66 this year
John Lennonborn this year
Wangari Maathaiborn this year
Abraham Heschelturned 33 this year- Adolf Hitlerturned 51 this year
Albert Einsteinturned 61 this year
Carl Gustav Jungturned 65 this year
Deng Xiaopingturned 36 this year
Eleanor Rooseveltturned 56 this year
Elvis Presleyturned 5 this year
21 more figures were alive that year
Step into the moment
Simulation · scenario
We Shall Never Surrender
House of Commons, Westminster, London
Winston Churchill, June 4, 1940. A simulation set on this date. The figure doesn’t know how the day ends.
On This Day in History
10 EventsKing Charles VI Grants Roquefort Cheese Monopoly
King Charles VI of France grants the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon a monopoly on the ripening of Roquefort cheese — one of the earliest recorded food-protection laws in European history.
Montgolfier Brothers Demonstrate Hot Air Balloon
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier publicly demonstrate their hot air balloon in Annonay, France, to a crowd of dignitaries, marking the beginning of the age of human flight.
First Woman to Fly in an Untethered Hot Air Balloon
Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon, covering four kilometres over Lyon, France, in a 45-minute flight — just weeks after the first ever human hot air balloon ascent.
Henry Ford Tests His First Gasoline Automobile
Henry Ford successfully test-drives the Ford Quadricycle — his first self-propelled gasoline vehicle — through the streets of Detroit, Michigan, taking his first steps toward the automobile empire that would reshape the modern world.
Suffragette Emily Davison Fatally Injured at the Derby
Emily Wilding Davison, a militant suffragette, runs onto the Epsom racetrack and is struck by King George V's horse during the Derby. She never regains consciousness and dies four days later, becoming a martyr for the British women's suffrage movement.
U.S. Congress Approves Women's Suffrage Amendment
The U.S. Congress approves the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote, sending it to the states for ratification. It would be ratified fourteen months later.
MS St. Louis Turned Away from the United States
The MS St. Louis, carrying 973 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, is denied entry to the United States after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps.
Battle of Midway Begins
Japan launches a massive naval assault on Midway Atoll, triggering one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Over the following days, the U.S. Navy would sink four Japanese aircraft carriers, shifting the balance of power in the Pacific forever.
Solidarity Wins Polish Elections
The Solidarity trade union movement wins a landslide victory in Poland's first partially free elections since World War II, beginning the wave of democratic revolutions that would sweep Eastern Europe in 1989.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 Makes Its Maiden Flight
SpaceX successfully launches the Falcon 9 rocket for the first time from Cape Canaveral, the debut of the rocket that would transform commercial spaceflight and eventually become the workhorse of the International Space Station resupply missions.
Born on This Day
George III
King of Great Britain (r. 1760–1820)
The British king who presided over the loss of the American colonies and the long wars against Napoleon, George III reigned for 60 years but spent his final decade incapacitated by mental illness, likely caused by porphyria. He was the last British monarch to personally lead troops into battle.
Angelina Jolie
American Actress & Humanitarian
An Academy Award-winning actress and global humanitarian, Jolie starred in films from Gia to Maleficent while spending two decades as a UNHCR Special Envoy visiting more than 60 countries on behalf of refugees and displaced people.
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish General & 6th President of Finland
The commanding figure of Finnish military history who led Finland's defence against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and Continuation War, negotiated Finland's exit from World War II, and served as the country's president. An ethnic Swedish-Finnish aristocrat, he had also served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army before Finnish independence.
Rosalind Russell
American Actress
One of Hollywood's most formidable comic talents in the 1940s and 1950s, Russell earned four Academy Award nominations and is best known for His Girl Friday. She later starred in the original Broadway production of Auntie Mame.
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Kaiser Wilhelm II
German Emperor (r. 1888–1918)
The last German Emperor and King of Prussia, whose personal style of aggressive diplomacy contributed to the chain of events leading to the First World War. He abdicated in 1918 and spent the rest of his life in exile in the Netherlands, dying there as German armies were again at war across Europe.
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