Monday, May 31, 2010

Historical Events on 1 Jun

Historical Events on 1 Jun

1204 - King Philip Augustus of France conquers Rouen.
1215 - Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Beijing.
1252 - Alfonso X is elected King of Castile and León.
1283 - Treaty of Rheinfelden: Duke Rudolph II of Austria waives his right to the Duchies of Austria and Styria.
1485 - Matthias of Hungary takes Vienna from Frederick III
1495 - Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky.
1533 - Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.
1660 - Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1779 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for malfeasance.
1792 - Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.
1794 - The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought.
1796 - Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.
1812 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
1813 - James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, cries out "Don't give up the ship!"
1815 - Napoleon swears fidelity to the Constitution of France.
1831 - James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole.
1855 - American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua.
1857 - Charles Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal is published.
1862 - American Civil War, Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.
1868 - Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
1869 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric voting machine.
1879 - Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.
1886 - The railroads of the Southern United States convert 11,000 miles of track from a five foot rail gauge to standard gauge, beginning May 31.
1890 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
1910 - Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition leaves England.
1918 - World War I Western Front: Battle for Belleau Wood - Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
1920 - Adolfo de la Huerta becomes president of Mexico.
1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1922 - Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded.
1925 - Lou Gehrig plays the first game in his streak of 2,130 consecutive games; it was the longest such streak until broken by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995.
193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is assassinated.
1935 - The first driving tests are introduced in the United Kingdom.
1939 - Maiden flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (D-OPZE) fighter aeroplane
1940 - The Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish SSR holds its first congress.
1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.
1941 - The Farhud, a pogrom in Iraqi Jews, takes place in Baghdad.
1942 - World War II: the Warsaw paper Liberty Brigade publishes the first news of the concentration camps.
1943 - British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation the downing was an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
1946 - Ion Antonescu is executed.
1956 - First international flight (to YUL) from the Atlanta Municipal Airport (ATL; now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and currently the world's busiest airport)
1958 - Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
1962 - Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.
1963 - Kenya gains internal self-rule (Madaraka Day).
1967 - The groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album by The Beatles is released
1974 - Flixborough disaster: an explosion at a chemical plant kills 28 people.
1974 - The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
1978 - The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.
1978 - The FIFA World Cup kicks off in Argentina with a match held in Buenos Aires between cup holder West Germany and Poland
1979 - Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.
1979 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power.
1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
1985 - Alan García is proclaimed President of Peru.
1990 - George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
1997 - Hugo Banzer wins the Presidential elections in Bolivia.
2000 - The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) is signed.
2001 - Dipendra of Nepal slaughters his family during dinner.
2001 - Dolphinarium massacre: an Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
2003 - The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.
2005 - The longest oil/natural gas explosion in the Houston, Texas area occurs in Crosby, Texas. The drill was owned by the Louisiana Oil and Gas Company.
2005 - The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution results in its rejection.
2007 - Smoking is banned from United Kingdom's public places.
2007 - Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.
2008 - A fire at the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood destroys several icons from movies, such as Courthouse Square, the clock tower from Back to the Future, and the King Kong exhibit on the studio tour.
987 - Hugh Capet is elected King of France.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Historical Events on 31 May

Historical Events on 31 May

1223 - Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1678 - The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
1775 - American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolutions adopted in the Province of North Carolina
1790 - The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1862 - American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) - Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
1864 - American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor - The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
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 English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in
1889 - Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1902 - Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa.
1911 - R.M.S. Titanic launched.
1916 - World War I: Battle of Jutland - The British Grand Fleet under the command of Sir John Jellicoe & Sir David Beatty engage the Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Reinhard Scheer & Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which
1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
1924 - The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.
1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
1931 - 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
1941 - A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, Ireland claims 38 lives.
1942 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
1961 - Republic of South Africa created.
1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.
1970 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
1971 - In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.
1985 - 1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1985 - Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
1987 - Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece.
1997 - The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.
2008 - Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7m/s) 9.72 seconds.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Historical Events on 30 May

Historical Events on 30 May

1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
1431 - Hundred Years' War: in Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
1434 - Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle of Lipany - effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
1539 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
1574 - Henry III becomes King of France.
1588 - The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1635 - Thirty Years' War: the Peace of Prague (1635) is signed.
1642 - From this date all honours granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament
1806 - Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
1814 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition - the Treaty of Paris (1814) is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent.
1832 - The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is opened.
1842 - John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill, London with Prince Albert.
1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
1868 - Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).
1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
1876 - Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
1879 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1879 - An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.
1883 - In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede that crushes twelve people.
1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1913 - First Balkan War: the Treaty of London, 1913 is signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
1914 - The new and then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
1917 - Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
1922 - In Washington, D.C. the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
1925 - In China protests erupt against the Great Powers infringing on Chinese sovereignty.
1941 - World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb on the Athenian Acropolis, tear down the Nazi swastika and replace it with the Greek flag.
1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.
1942 - World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
1948 - A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
1958 - Memorial Day: the remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1959 - The Auckland Harbour Bridge is officially opened today in Auckland, New Zealand.
1961 - Long time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic.
1966 - Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
1967 - At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row.
1967 - The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
1969 - Riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao
1971 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
1972 - In Tel Aviv members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
1998 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Historical Events on 29 May

Historical Events on 29 May

1167 - Battle of Monte Porzio - A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel
1176 - Battle of Legnano, in which the Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
1414 - Council of Constance.
1453 - Byzantine-Ottoman Wars: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
1592 - At the Battle of Sacheon, the Korean navy led by Admiral Yi Sun Shin, repels a Japanese army that outnumbers it nearly 3 to 1.
1660 - English Restoration: Charles II (on his birthday - see below) is restored to the throne of Great Britain.
1677 - Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians.
1727 - Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1733 - The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.
1765 - Patrick Henry in a speech (on his birthday, see below) denouncing the Stamp Act is believed to have said, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
1780 - Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton massacres Colonel Abraham Buford's continentals allegedly after the continentals surrender. 113 Americans are killed.
1790 - Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
1848 - Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
1864 - Emperor Maximilian of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
1867 - The Austro-Hungarian agreement known as Ausgleich ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire; on June 8 Emperor Franz Joseph is crowned King of Hungary.
1868 - The assassination of Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, in Belgrade.
1886 - Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal.
1903 - May coup d'etat: Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring is premiered in Paris, provoking a riot.
1914 - Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost.
1919 - Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total solar eclipse in Principe and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.
1919 - The Republic of Prekmurje founded
1924 - AEK Athens FC is established on the anniversary of the siege of Constantinople by the Turks.
1932 - World War I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, DC in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1942 - Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas album in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles.
1948 - Creation of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation
1950 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia .
1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's (adopted) 39th birthday.
1954 - First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.
1964 - The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian situation in Israel, leading to the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1968 - Manchester United win the European Cup, the first English Club to do so.
1969 - General strike in Cordoba, Argentina, leading to the Cordobazo civil unrest.
1972 - 26 people are killed and dozens more injured when three Japanese gunmen open fire on crowds at Lod International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1973 - Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff ever to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
1985 - Heysel Stadium disaster: At the European Cup final in Brussels, Belgium, 39 football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses after Liverpool F.C. fans breach a fence separating them from Juventus F.C. fans.
1985 - Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
1988 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union as he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1990 - Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian SFSR by the Russian parliament.
1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
1999 - Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
2001 - International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers inaugurated.
2001 - U.S. Supreme Court rules that disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
2004 - The Al-Khobar massacres in Saudi Arabia kill 22.
2004 - The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
2005 - France resoundingly rejects the European Constitution.
363 - Roman Emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sassanid capital, but is unable to take the city.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Historical Events on 28 May

Historical Events on 28 May

1503 - James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI. A Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England signed on that occasion results in a peace that lasts ten years.
1533 - The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
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 30 for all ships to leave port).
1644 - Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of the Earl of Derby.
1754 - French and Indian War: in the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylv
1774 - American Revolutionary War: the first Continental Congress convenes.
1830 - President Andrew Jackson signs The Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
1863 - American Civil War: the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
1892 - In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1918 - The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declares its independence
1918 - The Democratic Republic of Armenia declares its independence.
1926 - 28th May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
1930 - The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.
1934 - Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Olivia and Elzire Dionne, later becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
1934 - The Glyndebourne festival in England is inaugurated.
1936 - Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
1937 - The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC, who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.
1937 - Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister.
1940 - World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik. This is the first allied infantry victory of World War II.
1940 - World War II: Belgium surrenders to Germany.
1942 - World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1800 people.
1952 - The women of Greece are given the right to vote.
1952 - Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio. The park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
1955 - Henry Bolte becomes Premier of the state of Victoria.
1961 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
1964 - The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.
1970 - The formerly united Free University of Brussels officially splits into two separate entities, the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
1974 - Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
1975 - Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
1977 - In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
1978 - Second round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta. The election is won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.
1979 - Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
1987 - A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1987 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and is not released until August 3, 1988.
1991 - The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
1995 - The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, â…" of total population.
1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
1998 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of Indian nuclear tests with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
1999 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
1999 - Two Swedish police officers are murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a dramatic car chase.
2002 - NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
2003 - Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
2004 - The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
2008 - The first meet of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic ending the reign of 450 year old Shah Dynasty that ruled the Unified Nepal for 240 years.
585 BC - A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Historical Events on 27 May

Historical Events on 27 May

1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed as prince two weeks before his untimely death.
1153 - Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
1328 - Philip VI is crowned King of France.
1647 - Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as Director-General of New Netherland.
1703 - Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
1798 - The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland.
1812 - South American Wars of Independence: In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba fight against the Spanish army.
1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1849 - The Great Hall of Euston station in London is opened.
1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian Unification.
1883 - Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
1895 - Oscar Wilde is imprisoned for sodomy.
1896 - The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri and East Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damages (1997 USD).
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
1907 - A Bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California.
1908 - Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Din iss elected the first Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
1919 - The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
1927 - The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model As.
1930 - The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.
1933 - The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
1933 - New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
1933 - The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago, Illinois.
1935 - New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.
1939 - DC Comics publishes its second superhero in Detective Comics #27; he is Batman, one of the most topical comic book superheroes of all time.
1940 - World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops.
1941 - World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.
1941 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
1942 - World War II: In Operation Anthropoid Reinhard Heydrich is assassinated in Prague.
1957 - Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format.
1958 - The F-4 Phantom II first flight.
1960 - In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
1965 - Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
1967 - The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is christened by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.
1967 - Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.
1968 - The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) takes place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gather in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.
1971 - The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
1975 - The Dibble's Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England kills 32 (the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom).
1980 - The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
1995 - In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
1996 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
1997 - A F5 tornado strikes Jarrell, Texas killing 27 people.
1997 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is in office.
1998 - Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
1999 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
2006 - The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600 people.
927 - Battle of the Bosnian Highlands: Simeon I of Bulgaria is defeated by King Tomislav of Croatia.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Historical Events on 26 May

Historical Events on 26 May

1293 - An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Japan, killing about 30,000.
1328 - William of Ockham, Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.
1538 - Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
1637 - Pequot War: A combined Protestant and Mohegan force under German Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Native Americans.
1647 - Alse Young becomes the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies, when she is hanged in Hartford, Connecticut.
1670 - In Dover, England, Charles II of Great Britain and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover.
1736 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link
1770 - The Orlov Revolt, a first attempt to revolt against the Turks before the Greek War of Independence ends in disaster for the Greeks.
1805 - Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano gothic cathedral in Milan.
1828 - Mysterious feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
1830 - The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.
1857 - Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.
1864 - Montana is organized as a United States territory.
1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
1868 - The impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson ends, with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote.
1869 - Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1879 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
1889 - Opening of the first Eiffel Tower elevator to the public.
1894 - Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1896 - Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
1896 - James Dunham murders six people in Campbell, California.
1906 - Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.
1908 - At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
1913 - Emily Duncan becomes Great Britain's first woman magistrate.
1917 - A powerful F4 tornado rips Mattoon, Illinois apart, killing 101 people and injuring 689. It was the world's longest-lasting tornado, lasting for over 7 hours and traveling 293 miles, spreading death and destruction along its path.
1918 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
1918 - Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarapat.
1928 - The first motion picture is projected publicly in Athens, Greece.
1936 - In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sits down in the early hours of the following morning, he spoke for 10 hours.
1938 - The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.
1940 - World War II: Battle of Dunkirk - In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
1942 - World War II: The Battle of Bir Hakeim takes place.
1948 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
1966 - British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.
1970 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1972 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
1972 - The British state-owned travel firm Thomas Cook & Son is sold to a consortium of private businesses headed by the Midland Bank.
1977 - George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center.
1978 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
1981 - The Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
1983 - A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people, injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed.
1986 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
1991 - Lauda Air Flight 004 explodes over rural Thailand, killing 223.
1991 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
1992 - Charles Geschke, co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc. is kidnapped at gunpoint from the Adobe parking lot in Mountain View, California for $650,000 and is held hostage in a rented house in Hollister, California. The FBI rescues him four days later.
1998 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
2002 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars.
2002 - Álvaro Uribe becomes President of Colombia.
2003 - Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.
2004 - The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
2004 - The New York Times publishes an admission of journalistic failings, claiming that its flawed reporting and lack of skeptism towards sources during the buildup to the 2003 war in Iraq helped promote the belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapon
2006 - The May 2006 Java earthquake kills over 5,700 people, leaves 200,000 homeless.
451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but are guaranteed freedom to openly practice Christianity.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Historical Events on 25 May

Historical Events on 25 May

1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors.
1420 - Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
1521 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
1659 - Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
1738 - A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presides.
1810 - In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy during the Semana de Mayo.
1837 - The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
1865 - In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
1895 - The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president.
1895 - Playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
1914 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
1926 - Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the Paris-based government-in-exile of Ukrainian People's Republic.
1935 - Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1936 - The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
1938 - Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
1940 - World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk begins.
1946 - The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their king.
1953 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.
1953 - The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
1955 - In the United States, a night time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
1961 - Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.
1961 - King Hussein of Jordan marries Princess Muna al-Hussein (Antoinette Gardiner).
1963 - In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
1966 - Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
1966 - The first prominent DaZiBao during the Cultural Revolution in China is posted at Peking University.
1967 - Celtic F.C. (Scotland) become the first northern European team to win the European Champions Cup, which had previously been the preserve of Italian, Portuguese and Spanish clubs by beating F.C. Internazionale Milano 2 - 1.
1977 - Star Wars is released. It rapidly becomes a cult classic and is the start of a six-movie franchise.
1979 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
1981 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1982 - HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War.
1985 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
1995 - The Bosnian Serb Army kills 72 youngsters in the Bosnian city of Tuzla.
1997 - A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
1999 - The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
2000 - Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
2001 - 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2002 - China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.
2002 - A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique kills 197 people.
2003 - Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the economic crisis.
2007 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire for the second time.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Historical Events on 24 May

Historical Events on 24 May

1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
1487 - Lambert Simnel is crowned as "King Edward VI" at Dublin, Ireland.
1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
1621 - The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.
1626 - Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
1689 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded.
1738 - John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.
1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
1822 - Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
1830 - "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale is published.
1830 - The first revenue trains in the United States begin service on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road between Baltimore, Maryland and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland.
1832 - The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland.
1846 - Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
1856 - John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
1861 - American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
1881 - Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1895 - Henry Irving becomes the first personage from the theatre to be knighted.
1900 - Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
1901 - Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.
1915 - World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1921 - The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.
1930 - Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
1940 - Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
1941 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
1943 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1949 - The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade.
1956 - Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbāna.
1958 - United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
1961 - Cyprus enters the Council of Europe.
1962 - Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
1968 - FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.
1970 - The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
1973 - Earl Jellicoe resigns as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords.
1976 - The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
1980 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.
1982 - Liberation of Khorramshahr, Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War.
1988 - Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
1989 - Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded a six-figure sum in damages after winning a libel action against Private Eye.
1990 - A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.
1991 - Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
1992 - The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
1993 - Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
1994 - Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
1999 - Venezuela enters the Antarctic Treaty System.
2000 - Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
2001 - Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
2001 - The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.
2001 - The Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandons the Republican Party and declares himself an independent.
2002 - Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
2004 - Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Historical Events on 23 May

Historical Events on 23 May

1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.
1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1568 - The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
1568 - Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years' War.
1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
1618 - The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.
1701 - After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
1706 - Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal Villeroi.
1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Cathedral of Milan.
1813 - South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").
1844 - Declaration of the Báb: During the previous night, the Persian Prophet the Báb announced his revelation, founding Bábísm. He announced to the world the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the
1846 - Mexican-American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
1863 - Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1863 - The Siege of Port Hudson takes place.
1873 - The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
1900 - American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner.
1907 - The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
1911 - the New York Public Library is dedicated.
1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
1923 - Launch of Belgium's SABENA airline.
1929 - The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released.
1934 - American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
1934 - The Auto-Lite Strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
1939 - The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 26 sailors. The remaining 32 crewmen and one passenger are rescued the following day.
1945 - World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
1945 - World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, committs suicide while in Allied custody.
1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
1951 - Tibetans are forced to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China.
1958 - Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured.
1967 - Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, laying the foundations for the Six Day War.
1970 - A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
1977 - Two terrorist actions unfold in The Netherlands: several dozen hostages are taken on board a train, and about 100 others (mostly children) are held at a school. The train siege lasts until June 11.
1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building are imploded.
1996 - 1996 Everest Disaster : The deadliest year for climbers of Everest
1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2002 - The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
2003 - The euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999.
2004 - Part of Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
2008 - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Historical Events on 22 May

Historical Events on 22 May

1176 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin (Assassins) on Saladin near Aleppo.
12 BC - A daytime meteor shower, possibly Zeta Pirseid, observed in China.
1377 - Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
1455 - Wars of the Roses: at the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
1762 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
1775 - Québec - Jean-Olivier Briand (1715-1794) Bishop of Québec orders loyalty to Britain, forbids Canadians women to marry soldiers in the invading American army.
1807 - Most of the English town of Chudleigh destroyed by fire
1807 - A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
1809 - On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
1819 - The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20.
1826 - The HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
1840 - The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
1842 - Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns when they stumble upon a large gaping hole in the ground.
1843 - Thousands of people and their cattle head west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory. It is part of the Great Migration. They follow what is now known as the Oregon Trail.
1844 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábism. He announces to the world the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
1848 - Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
1856 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas").
1872 - Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
1897 - The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames was officially opened
1903 - Launch of the White Star Liner, SS Ionic.
1906 - The 1906 Summer Olympics, not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, open in Athens.
1906 - The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
1915 - Five trains collide in the Quintinshill rail crash near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.
1915 - Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain, other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.
1936 - Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland.
1939 - World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
1942 - World War II: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine Corps as a flight instructor.
1942 - Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.
1942 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed.
1947 - Cold War: in an effort to fight the spread of Communism, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
1960 - An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, now known as the Great Chilean Earthquake, hits southern Chile. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
1962 - Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
1963 - Assassination attempt of Greek left-wing politician Gregoris Lambrakis, who will die five days afterwards.
1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.
1967 - The L'Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels, Belgium, burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, resulting in 323 dead and missing and 150 injured.
1968 - The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
1969 - Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.
1972 - Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1990 - North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
1990 - The Windows 3.0 operating system is released by Microsoft.
1992 - After 30 years, 66-year-old Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time.
1997 - Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: a federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.
2002 - American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
2002 - In Washington, DC, the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.
2003 - In Fort Worth, Texas, Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
2004 - Felipe, Prince of Asturias, of the Spanish Royal Family marries Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano.
2004 - The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident.
2006 - Results from the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 are announced. 55.4% of voters vote to become independent from the Serbia and Montenegro Union.
334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
337 - Death anniversary - “Constantine the Great” Saint Constantine Flavius Valerius Constantinus (AD285-AD337) born on February 27, AD285 in Upper Moisia at Naissers, became Emperor in AD307 - died at Ankyrona near Nicomedia.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Historical Events on 21 May

Historical Events on 21 May

1260 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire sends his envoy Hao Jing and two other advisors to the Song Dynasty court of Emperor Lizong of Song; while attempting to negotiate with the Song in order to resolve their conflict, Hao Jing and his fellow emissaries are im
1502 - The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova.
1554 - A royal Charter is granted to Derby School in Derby, England.
1674 - The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
1725 - The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by the empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
1758 - Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
1851 - Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
1856 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson - Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
1864 - Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated to be the Circassian Day of Mourning.
1871 - French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week" some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
1879 - War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
1881 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
1894 - 22-year-old French Anarchist Émile Henry is executed by guillotine.
1904 - The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
1917 - The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 takes place.
1924 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".
1927 - Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1932 - Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and thereby becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1934 - Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
1936 - Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
1937 - A Soviet station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.
1941 - World War II: 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first American ship sunk by a German U-boat.
1945 - Screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.
1951 - The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition - a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School.
1958 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, subscriber trunk dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.
1961 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
1969 - Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, aka Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
1972 - Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal.
1979 - White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
1991 - Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
1991 - Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
1994 - The Democratic Republic of Yemen secedes from the Republic of Yemen.
1996 - The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.
1996 - The MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1000.
1998 - Suharto, the Indonesian dictator who had ruled for 32 years, resigns.
1998 - In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
2001 - French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
2003 - An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.
2004 - Sherpa Pemba Dorjie climbs Mount Everest in 8 hours 10 minutes, breaking his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu's record from the previous year.
2004 - Stanislav Petrov is awarded the World Citizen Award for averting a potential World War III in 1983.
2006 - The Swedish ice hockey team Tre Kronor takes gold in the World Championship, becoming the first nation to hold both the World and Olympic titles separately in the same year.
2006 - The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The Montenegrin people choose independence with a majority of 55%.
2007 - The Cutty Sark is badly damaged by fire in London, England. She was the last surviving clipper, now there is none.
878 - Syracuse, Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
879 - Pope John VIII gives blessings to duke Branimir and to Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of Croatian state.
996 - Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Historical Events on 20 May

Historical Events on 20 May

1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
1521 - Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola is seriously wounded.
1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
1609 - Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1835 - Otto is named the first modern king of Greece.
1840 - York Minster was badly damaged by fire
1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
1861 - American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1882 - The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
1883 - Krakatoa begins to erupt. The volcano's final and most notable explosion occurs on August 26.
1891 - History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1896 - The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the first President of Cuba.
1916 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
1916 - The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date.
1920 - Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
1927 - At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
1927 - By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete - German paratroops invade Crete.
1949 - The Kuomintang regime declares Taiwan is under martial law.
1949 - In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
1956 - In Operation Redwing, (shot Cherokee), the first US airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean;
1965 - PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 - 040 B crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 119 of the 125 passengers and crew.
1969 - The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
1980 - In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
1983 - First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.
1984 - The first line of the Miami Metrorail in Miami, Florida opens.
1985 - Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
1989 - The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1990 - The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
1995 - In a second referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays a
2002 - The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself was the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
325 - The First Council of Nicaea - the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
526 - An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
685 - The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Historical Events on 19 May

Historical Events on 19 May

1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).
1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
1568 - Queen Elizabeth I of England has Mary Queen of Scots arrested.
1643 - Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
1649 - An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
1749 - King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
1780 - New England's Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M.
1802 - The Légion d'Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
1828 - U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
1848 - Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD.
1864 - American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
1919 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what was later termed the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is the official date of commemoration of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Greece and Cypru
1921 - The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
1922 - The Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
1943 - World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).
1961 - Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
1962 - A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's infamous rendition of Happy Birthday.
1971 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
1991 - Croatian's vote for independence at their independence referendum.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Historical Events on 18 May

Historical Events on 18 May

1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
1302 - Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
1498 - Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.
1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
1631 - In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
1765 - Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.
1783 - First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 - Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay lead by Jose Artigas.
1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Vicksburg begins.
1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.
1896 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional.
1896 - Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
1900 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
1910 - The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
1927 - The Bath School Disaster: Forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
1933 - New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers ("Fallschirmjäger") evacuate Monte Cassino.
1944 - Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
1944 - World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.
1948 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
1953 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h (1,404.19 mph).
1959 - Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
1974 - Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.
1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1980 - 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
1980 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
1983 - In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
1990 - In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h.
1991 - Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is unrecognised by the international community.
1991 - Helen Sharman from Sheffield becomes the first Briton to orbit in space.
1992 - The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1993 - EU-riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were
1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
2006 - The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Historical Events on 17 May

Historical Events on 17 May

1521 - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.
1536 - George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford is executed for treason.
1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland.
1642 - Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve (1612-1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: the Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
1792 - The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
1814 - Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian.
1814 - The Constitution of Norway is signed and the Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederik is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly.
1849 - A fire threatens to burn St. Louis, Missouri to the ground.
1860 - German football club TSV 1860 München is founded
1863 - Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, her first book in the Galician language.
1865 - The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established.
1875 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
1895 - The first Omonoia station of the Athens metro is inaugurated in Greece.
1900 - Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.
1902 - Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
1915 - The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
1919 - War Department (UK) orders use of National Star Insignia on all airplanes.
1927 - U.S. Army aviation pioneer, Major Harold Geiger, dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4 de Havilland plane at Olmstead Field, Pennsylvania
1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling â€" the national-socialist party of Norway.
1940 - World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
1940 - World War II: the old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland.
1943 - World War II: the Dambuster Raids by No. 617 Squadron RAF on German dams.
1943 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
1963 - Bruno Sammartino defeats Nature Boy Buddy Rogers in 48 seconds in Madison Square Garden for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. It begins the longest heavyweight championship reign in professional wrestling history.
1967 - Six-Day War: President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt.
1969 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
1970 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
1973 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
1974 - Police in Los Angeles, California, raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
1974 - Thirty-three people are killed by terrorist bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland.
1980 - General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
1980 - On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
1983 - U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request.
1984 - Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
1987 - An Iraqi fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. warship USS Stark (FFG-31), killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
1990 - the WHO takes Homosexuality out of its list of mental illnesses.
1992 - In Thailand, the so-called Black May begins. Thai police and protesters start attacking one another. By midnight, the current Thai government declares a state of emergency, and military troops open fire.
1994 - Malawi holds its first multiparty elections.
1995 - After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France.
1997 - Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa.
2000 - In the Philippines an explosion rocks Glorietta 2 injuring 13 persons, mostly teenagers. According to local authorities, the homemade bomb was placed in front of a toilet beside a video arcade.
2004 - Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
2006 - The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to be an artificial reef
2007 - Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Historical Events on 16 May

Historical Events on 16 May

1204 - Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
1527 - The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
1770 - 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
1771 - The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called "The Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
1777 - Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
1811 - Peninsular War - The allies Spain, Portugal and Britain, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
1815 - The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, officially names the town of Blackheath in the upper Blue Mountains.
1822 - Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
1836 - Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.
1843 - The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
1866 - The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
1868 - President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
1874 - A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
1877 - May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
1910 - The United States Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
1914 - The first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final is played. Brooklyn Field Club defeats Brooklyn Celtic 2-1.
1918 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
1919 - A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
1920 - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.
1929 - In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
1943 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
1948 - Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel.
1951 - The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
1960 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
1960 - Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1965 - The Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand.
1966 - The Communist Party of China issues the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1967 - The city of Jerusalem is captured by Israel during the six-day war
1969 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
1974 - Josip Broz Tito is re-elected president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he is elected for life.
1975 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1975 - India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote was in favour of merging with India.
1983 - Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.
1986 - The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
1988 - A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
1992 - STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.
2003 - In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
2004 - The Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev, Ukraine. Here during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100,000 Ukrainian civilians.
2005 - Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.
2006 - A large earthquake (7.4 on the Richter scale) occurs near New Zealand.
2007 - Alex Salmond is elected First Minister of Scotland. He is the first Scottish National Party leader to be elected as First Minister after winning an historic victory at the Scottish general election on the 3rd May.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Historical Events on 15 May

Historical Events on 15 May

1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1514 - Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
1567 - Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1701 - The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1756 - The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
1776 - American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1791 - Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
1792 - War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
1793 - Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights.
1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800 - George III survives two assassination attempts in one day.
1811 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817 - Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
1849 - Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
1858 - Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. it is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia - students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1869 - Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.
1891 - Rerum Novarum, the first document of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, is published by Pope Leo XIII.
1897 - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1910 - The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone.
1911 - The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1911 - The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece.
1914 - Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 - The Finnish Civil War ends.
1919 - Greek invasion of Ä°zmir. During the invasion, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks. The responsible are punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. Hasan Tahsin fires the first shot of the Turkish War of Independence.
1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job.
1920 - Council of Lithuania adjourns as the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania meets for the first time in Kaunas.
1929 - A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1932 - The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
1934 - Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
1935 - The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
1936 - Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Cape Town
1940 - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1940 - World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1941 - Baseball player Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
1942 - World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
1945 - World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948 - Following the demise of the British Mandate of Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1951 - The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asks the French government for political asylum.
1955 - The first ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
1955 - The Austrian Independence Treaty is signed.
1957 - At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963 - Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1970 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
1970 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1972 - In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1974 - Ma'alot massacre: A total of 31 people, including hostage takers, are killed.
1987 - The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
1997 - The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
2008 - California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.