By: History.com Editors

1940

Germany invades Paris

History.com Editors

Published: November 16, 2009

Last Updated: January 29, 2025

On June 14, 1940, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening as German troops enter and occupy Paris.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on, not to sue for peace, that America would enter the war and come to its aid. French premier Paul Reynaud telegrammed President Franklin Roosevelt, asking for just such aid—a declaration of war, and if not that, any and all help possible. Roosevelt replied that the United States was prepared to send material aid—and was willing to have that promise published—but Secretary of State Cordell Hull opposed such a publication, knowing that Hitler, as well as the Allies, would take such a public declaration of help as but a prelude to a formal declaration of war. While the material aid would be forthcoming, no such commitment would be made formal and public.

By the time German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled, with good reason. In short order, the German Gestapo went to work: arrests, interrogations, and spying were the order of the day, as a swastika flew above the Arc de Triomphe.

While Parisians who remained trapped in their capital despaired, French men and women in the west cheered as Canadian troops rolled through their region, offering hope for a free France yet.

The United States did not remain completely idle, though. On this day, President Roosevelt froze the American assets of the Axis powers, Germany and Italy.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 14th

1775

U.S. Army founded

On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress authorizes the enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year. This launches the U.S. Army as America's first national institution, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence is published on July 4, 1776.

1777

Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes

June 14, 1777: During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.

1700s 1770s AMERICAN FLAG...

1789

Bounty mutiny survivors reach Timor

English Captain William Bligh and 18 others, cast adrift from the HMS Bounty seven weeks before, reach Timor in the East Indies after traveling nearly 4,000 miles in a small, open boat.

1811

Writer and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe is born

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut, the seventh child of Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher.

1846

California’s Bear Flag Revolt begins

Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebel against the Mexican government and proclaim the short-lived California Republic during the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846.

1877

First African American graduate of West Point

Henry Ossian Flipper, born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on June 14, 1877.

This Day In History: First African American graduate of West Point, Henry Ossian Flipper

1917

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gives Flag Day address

On June 14, 1917, as the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) travel to join the Allies on the battlefields of World War I in France, United States President Woodrow Wilson addresses the nation’s public on the annual celebration of Flag Day.

1946

The United States presents the Baruch Plan

The United States presents the Baruch Plan for the international control of atomic weapons to the United Nations. The failure of the plan to gain acceptance resulted in a dangerous nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

1951

UNIVAC, the first commercially produced digital computer in the U.S, is dedicated

On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the first commercially produced electronic digital computer in the United States. UNIVAC, which stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was developed by a team of engineers led by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. These giant computers, which used thousands of vacuum tubes for computation, were the forerunners of today’s digital computers.

1968

Dr. Spock convicted for aiding draft resisters

A Federal District Court jury in Boston convicts Dr. Benjamin Spock and three others, including Yale University Chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., of conspiring to aid, abet and counsel draft registrants to violate the Selective Service Act.

1982

Falklands War ends

After suffering through six weeks of military defeats against Britain’s armed forces, Argentina surrenders to Great Britain, ending the Falklands War.

1985

TWA flight 847 is hijacked by terrorists

TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who immediately demand to know the identity of ”those with Jewish-sounding names.” Two of the Lebanese terrorists, armed with grenades and a 9-mm. pistol, then forced the plane to land in Beirut, Lebanon.

2015

Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s mother, Dee Dee, found stabbed to death

On June 14, 2015, sheriff’s deputies in Missouri discover a grisly scene: the bloody body of Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who had been stabbed to death a few days before. The murder of Blanchard, lying face down in bed in a pool of blood, becomes a highly publicized case about Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a rare mental illness and form of child abuse where a caretaker feigns a child’s dire symptoms—or induces real ones—to gain sympathy and/or financial support.

2017

Grenfell Tower fire kills 72 in London

Shortly before 1:00 A.M. on June 14, 2017, a fire tears through West London’s 24-story Grenfell tower. Seventy-two people died in the blaze, scores were injured and hundreds were left homeless in Britain’s deadliest fire in more than a century.

2017

Gunman shoots four people, including GOP congressman, at baseball practice

On June 14, 2017, a gunman walked onto a baseball field at Eugene Simpson Park in Alexandria, Virginia, opening fire on politicians and wounding House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and four others.

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HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata.

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Citation Information

Article title
Germany invades Paris
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 24, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 29, 2025
Original Published Date
November 16, 2009

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