On This Day: Spanish King Juan Carlos abdicates throne

On this date in history:

In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain, beginning the War of 1812.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

Saudi King Faisal. File Photo courtesy of the Saudi Press Agency/Wikimedia

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty (SALT II) in Vienna.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space after the shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, gunman James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed nine people and wounded four before killing himself at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. Investigators said he had killed two people and injured two others a day earlier.

In 1997, Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

File Photo by Tarik Tinazay/EPA

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2014, Spanish King Juan Carlos abdicated the throne amid scandal, massive unemployment and regional separatism. His son was crowned King Felipe VI one day later.

In 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to create a sixth branch of the military -- a Space Force.

File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI