This Day In History

June 12
1940
World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Major General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
1964 Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.
1987
Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
1990
Russia Day the parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
1991
Russians elect Boris Yeltsin as the president of the republic.
1999
Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force (KFor) enters the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.