[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 13th)

• 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
• 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
• 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.
• 1648 - Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed.
• 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from them (the Innviertel).
• 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts (First Fleet) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
• 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
• 1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
• 1861 - Great Comet of 1861 discovered in Australia.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
• 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
• 1888 - With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery.
• 1909 - The first Giro d'Italia took place in Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna was the winner.
• 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) was established.
• 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft.
• 1917 - Three peasant children report seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal.[1]
• 1917 - The Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.
• 1939 - The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later became WDRC-FM.
• 1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
• 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
• 1941 - World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
• 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
• 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
• 1952 - The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, held its first sitting.
• 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1958 - Velcro's trade mark is registered.
• 1960 - Hundreds of UC Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Un-American Activities Committee. 31 students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
• 1967 - Dr. Zakir Hussain became 3rd President of India. He was the first Muslim President of Indian Union. He held this position till August 24, 1969.
• 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.
• 1972 - Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka. Blocked exits and nonfunctional elevators cause 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
• 1976 - The final game in the history of the American Basketball Association is played as the New York Nets defeat the Denver Nuggets 112-106 in New York to win the 1976 ABA Championship.
• 1980 - An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
• 1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope was rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery, and managed to survive.
• 1985 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police storm MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
• 1989 - Large groups of students occupied Tiananmen Square and began a hunger strike. See Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
• 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
• 1998 - India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, in addition to the three conducted on May 11. United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
• 2000 - Lara Dutta (21), who said beauty pageants give women a platform to voice our choices and opinions is named Miss Universe 2000 in the Cyprus capital Nicosia.
• 2000 - In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.
• 2001 - Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition wins the Italian general elections.
• 2005 - Malcolm Glazer completes a hostile takeover of the world's biggest sports club Manchester United Football Club for $1.4 billion.
• 2005 - The Andijan Massacre occurs in Uzbekistan.
• 2006 - 2006 São Paulo violence: A major rebellion occurs in several prisons of the state.
• 2007 - Construction of the Calafat-Vidin Bridge between Romania and Bulgaria begins.

[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 14th)

• 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
• 1483 - Coronation of Charles VIII of France ("Charles l'Affable").
• 1509 - Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Venetians.
• 1607 - Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
• 1608 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen.
• 1610 - Assassination of Henri IV of France, bringing Louis XIII to the throne.
• 1643 - Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
• 1747 - A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.
• 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States.
• 1796 - Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
• 1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
• 1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain.
• 1861 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Jackson (MS).
• 1868 - Japanese Boshin War: End of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.
• 1870 - The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
• 1889 - The children's charity the NSPCC is launched in London.
• 1900 - The 1900 Summer Olympics open in Paris.
• 1913 - New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
• 1927 - Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
• 1927 - University of Chicago's local collegiate organization, Phi Sigma, becomes incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois as Eta Sigma Phi, the National Honorary Classical Fraternity.
• 1929 - Wilfred Rhodes takes his 4000th first-class wicket during a performance of 9 for 39 at Leyton.
• 1931 - Ådalen shootings, five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
• 1935 - The Filipinos ratify an independence agreement.
• 1935 - Northamptonshire County Cricket Club gains (over Somerset at Tauntonby 48 runs) what proved to be their last victory for 99 matches, easily a record in the County Championship. Their next Championship win was not until 29 May, 1939.
• 1939 - Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
• 1940 - World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.
• 1940 - World War II: The Netherlands surrender to Germany.
• 1943 - Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.
• 1948 - Israel declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel was attacked by the neighboring Arab states.
• 1955 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
• 1970 - The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
• 1970 - Mississippi state police kill two black students at Jackson State University.
• 1973 - Human Space Flight: Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket.

Launch of the Saturn INT-21, carrying the Skylab space station.

• 1977 - In Milan, Italy, during a demonstration of the far-left, a hooded extremist shoots at police, killing a policeman, Antonino Custrà. The scene is photographed and the picture [1] of the hooded man shooting in the middle of the street will appear in many magazines around the world.
• 1978 - First round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta.
• 1986 - Formula One Italian driver Elio De Angelis has a terrible crash with his Brabham at the Paul Ricard circuit in France during a test session. He will die the next day at the Marseille hospital.
• 1988 - Carrollton bus disaster: A drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, USA hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
• 1995 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.
• 1998 - The finale of Seinfeld airs on NBC, with 76 million viewers tuning in.
• 2002 - Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.
• 2004 - The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
• 2004 - The marriage of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and Mary Donaldson takes place in Copenhagen.
• 2005 - Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonization into sainthood.
• 2005 - Ex-America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
• 2006 - Much of New England is hit with a massive flood, forcing people out of their homes and causing millions of dollars worth of damage.
• 2007 - Filipinos head to the polls to elect 17,889 public officials in the Philippine mid-term elections.

Events (May 15th)

• 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe.
• 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 weds 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: Virginia convention instructs its delegates to propose a declaration of independence from Great Britain.
• 1791 - Maximilien Robespierre proposed the self-denying ordinance.
• 1792 - War of the First Coalition, France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
• 1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
• 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) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1829 - According to LDS teaching, John the Baptist confers the Aaronic Priesthood onto Joseph Smith Jr. and Oliver Cowdery.
• 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 - The third Royal Opera House officially opens in London.
• 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed USDA).
• 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 UnionGeneral 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 Suffrage Association.
• 1897 - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in Greco-Turkish War
• 1902 - In a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore reportedly becomes the first person to fly a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider).
• 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 Lake Elsinore Fault.
• 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 dissolved.
• 1911 - The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece.
• 1914 - Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1918 - Finnish Civil War ends.
• 1918 - The US Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
• 1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike began. By 11:00, virtually the entire working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.
• 1919 - Greek invasion of İzmir. During the invasion killed or wounded 350 Turks by the Greek army. The responsible were punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. Hasan Tahsin fired the first gun of the Turkish War of Independence.
• 1920 - Council of Lithuania adjourned as newly elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania met for the first time in Kaunas.
• 1928 - Release of the animated short "Plane Crazy", featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
• 1929 - A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
• 1930 - Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess, on a flight from Oakland, California to Chicago.
• 1932 - The May 15 Incident. In an attempted coup the Prime Minister of JapanInukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
• 1934 - The United States Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger.
• 1934 - Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
• 1940 - Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time in the United States.
• 1940 - World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Nazi Germany, marking the beginning of 5 years of occupation.
• 1940 - McDonald's is founded.
• 1941 - Baseball player Joe DiMaggio starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
• 1942 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
• 1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
• 1945 - Last skirmish of the Second World War in Europe fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
• 1948 - 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.
• 1951 - The cartoon Rabbit Fire is released
• 1955 - Austrian Independence Treaty signed.
• 1955 - First ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
• 1957 - Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
• 1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• 1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
• 1963 - Project Mercury: launch of Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper onboard. He became the first American to spend more than a day in space. Final Mercury mission.
• 1964 - The Smothers Brothers give their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• 1970 - The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released in the United States.
• 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 killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
• 1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
• 1972 - In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes AlabamaGovernor George Wallace while Wallace is campaigning to be American President.
• 1974 – Ma'alot massacre a total of 31 people, including hostage takers, are killed.
• 1978 - Lagumot Harris, having only been elected President less than a month before, is replaced as the leader of the republic of Nauru. He is succeeded by Hammer DeRoburt.
• 1981 - Len Barker, American baseball pitcher, completes a perfect game for the Cleveland Indians against the Toronto Blue Jays.
• 1987 - Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform, which failed 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.
• 2004 - The largest known prime number at the time of its discovery, 224036583 − 1, is found by Josh Findley and the GIMPS collaborative effort.
• 2004 - Arsenal completes a whole English Premiership season, 38 games, unbeaten.
• 2007 - David Bain is released on bail, following a Privy Council ruling that a retrial should be undertaken on the murder of his four family members.

[NoRanynn]

Events (May 16th)

• 1204 - Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
• 1527 - The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes a republic.
• 1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
• 1568 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
• 1605 - Paul V becomes Pope.
• 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 - Allies (Spain, Portugal & Britain) defeat French at the Battle of Albuera.
• 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 Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.
• 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 during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
• 1874 - A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroyed much of four villages and killed 139 people.
• 1877 - May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
• 1910 - The U.S. Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
• 1918 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense.
• 1919 - US Navy 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.
• 1938 - A fire at the Terminal Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 35 people.
• 1943 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
• 1948 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
• 1960 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US 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 - Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand.
• 1966 - The Communist Party of China issued the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
• 1967 - The city Jerusalem is taken over by the nation of Israel
• 1969 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
• 1974 - Josip Broz Tito was re-elected as president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he was elected for life.
• 1975 - India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state held a referendum where popular vote was in favour of merging with India.
• 1975 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 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.

Events (May 17th)

• 1521 - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, 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 (the later 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.
• 1918 - Almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin are arrested.
• 1919 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike.
• 1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — 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 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1943 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by No. 617 Squadron RAF on German dams.
• 1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
• 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 - Peru: Terrorist group Shining Path attacked a voting poll 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.
• 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.
• 1992 - In Thailand, the so-called Black May begins. Thai police and protestors 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.
• 1998 - David Wells of the New York Yankees pitches the 15th perfect game in baseball history against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium.
• 1999 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
• 2004 - Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
• 2006 - The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany 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. The cost to the South Korean government for this one time symbolic border-crossing is an $80 million USD aid package in the form of materials for the North's light industry.

Events (May 18th)

• 1152 - Henry II marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• 1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.
• 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 - Las Piedras Battle first great military triumph of the liberating revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay leaded by Jose Artigas.
• 1825 - Theodoros Kolokotronis, general in the Greek War of Independence is released from prison.
• 1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins, ending on July 4.
• 1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.
• 1869 - The Public Credit Act is passed by Ulysses S. Grant, one of his first actions as President of the United States. The Act endorsed the payment of the national debt after the American Civil War in gold currency instead of greenbacks.
• 1876 - Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas under Marshal Larry Deger.
• 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 during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1389 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 passes the U.S. Congress giving the President 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 Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
• 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 (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour (1049.835 km/h) at Rogers Dry Lake, California).
• 1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).
• 1959 - Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
• 1969 - Project Apollo: Apollo 10 launched. Crewed by astronauts Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, and John Young. Dress-rehearsal flight for the moon landing missions that followed.
• 1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
• 1974 - Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.
• 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, scene of remarkable pirate radio broadcasting during the decade, the Government launched 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 - 515.3km/h - superseding the previous record of 406.9km/h set by the German InterCityExperimental train
• 1991 - Helen Sharman from Sheffield becomes the first Briton to orbit in Space
• 1991 - Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland however it is unrecognised by the international community.
• 1992 - The Archivist of the United States issues a proclamation to officially announce that the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been ratified, despite more than 200 years for completion of the ratification process by the state legislatures.
• 1995 - Alain Juppé becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
• 2004 - Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson throws a perfect game, defeating the Atlanta Braves 2-0.
• 2006 - The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

Events (May 19th)

• 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.
• 1568 - Queen Elizabeth I of England has Mary Queen of Scots arrested.
• 1604 - The town of Montreal is founded.
• 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: never-explained complete darkness falls on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 2 pm.
• 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: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the USA for USD $15 million.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
• 1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
• 1919 - In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to Samsun from Istanbul with a few followers, to oppose the Ottoman government, which eventually leads to the Turkish War of Independence.
• 1921 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration
• 1922 - 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 data).
• 1962 - A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's infamous rendition of Happy Birthday.
• 1971 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1992 - In a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes television character Murphy Brown for ignoring the importance of fathers and bearing a child alone.
• 2005 - The final Star Wars film and third episode in the series, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, debuted on this day.

[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 20th)

• 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.
• 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 2 May date).
• 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
• 1521 - Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded in the battle.
• 1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
• 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.
• 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Roman Catholic James II.
• 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.
• 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 - The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.
• 1891 - History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs).
• 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.
• 1910 - Krazy Kat and Ignatz first appear in 'The Dingbat Family' comic strip
• 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 - The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany's Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved.
• 1920 - Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
• 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.
• 1927 - At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
• 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 - In the United States of America, the Armed Forces Security Agency (predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
• 1949 - Kuomintang regime declare Taiwan is under the martial law.
• 1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
• 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 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 and lesbians.
• 2002 - East Timor becomes independent from Indonesian rule.

Events (May 21st)

• 878 - Syracuse 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.
• 1502 - The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova.
• 1674 - John Sobieski is elected by the szlachta to be the King of Poland.
• 1725 - The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was instituted in Russia by an 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 - Abolition of slavery 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.
• 1871 - French Government 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 Emile Henry is executed by guillotine.
• 1904 - Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) founded in Paris.
• 1917 - Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
• 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 - Amelia Earhart, because of bad weather, lands in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1934 - Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint each 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 became 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 United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
• 1945 - United States screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.
• 1951 - opening of the Ninth Street Show otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition was a gathering of a number of notable artists, and it was the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School.
• 1956 - Nuclear testing: Shot Redwing-Cherokee is successfully detonated at Bikini Atoll at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands. With a yield of 3.8 megatons, it is the first aircraft deliverable hydrogen bomb tested by the United States.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1980 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released into theaters.
• 1981 - Pierre Mauroy becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1991 - Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
• 1996 - The MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1000.
• 1998 - At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kipland Kinkel, suspended for bringing a gun to school, shoots a semi-automatic rifle into a room filled with students, killing 2 wounding 25 others after killing his parents at home.
• 1998 - In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
• 1998 - Soeharto, Indonesian dictator who had been ruling for 32 years, resigned.
• 2000 - A chartered British Aerospace Jetstream 31 crashes near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, killing 19.
• 2001 - French Taubira law which officially recognize 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.
• 2005 - In Kiev, Ukraine, Greece wins the fiftieth Eurovision Song Contest with "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou.
• 2006 - The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; Montenegrin people choose independence by the majority of 55%.
• 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.
• 2007 - One of the best-preserved clippers in existence, the Cutty Sark, while preserved in Greenwich, is severely damaged by fire.

Events (May 22nd)

• 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
• 1176 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin (Assassins) on Saladin near Aleppo.
• 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.
• 1807 - A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
• 1809 - Second and last Day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon was 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.
• 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 headed west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory. It was part of the Great Migration. They followed what is now known as the Oregon Trail.
• 1844 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces His revelation, founding Bábism. He announced to the world of 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.
• 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.
• 1906 - The 1906 Summer Olympics, not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, opens in Athens.
• 1906 - Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
• 1915 - Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain to erupt other than Mount St. Helens in the continental US during the 20th century.
• 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.
• 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 - 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.
• 1942 - World War II: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the U.S. Navy Air Corps.
• 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 Richter 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.
• 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 Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels, Belgium, burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, which results 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, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1981 - British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper, starts a life sentence.
• 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.
• 1995 - Bangladesh Shahityacharcha Kendro established.
• 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 - In Washington, DC, the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.
• 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.
• 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 killed one local resident.
• 2006 - Results from the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 are announced. 55.4% of voters voted to become independent from the Serbia and Montenegro Union.

Events (May 23rd)

• 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne. (See Siege of 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.
• 1541 - Jacques Cartier leaves St-Malo, France on his third voyage.
• 1555 - Paul IV becomes Pope.
• 1568 - Netherlands declared 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 - the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeats a French army under Marshal Villeroi.
• 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th U.S. state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 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 - over the prior night the Persian Prophet the Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábísm. He announced to the world of 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.
• 1846 - Mexican-American War: Mexico declares war on the United States.
• 1863 - Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
• 1863 - The Siege of Port Hudson starts.
• 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 - Unicameral Parliament of Finland gathered for its first plenary session.
• 1911 - Dedication ceremony for the New York Public Library.
• 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, was released.
• 1933 - Seabiscuit, legendary American racehorse, is born
• 1934 - American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
• 1934 - The Auto-Lite Strike culminated in the "Battle of Toledo," a five-day melee 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: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
• 1945 - World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz was dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
• 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established, and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany proclaimed.
• 1958 - Explorer I ceases transmission.
• 1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has 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.
• 1969 - Rock band The Who release Tommy, the first rock opera.
• 1970 - An outbreak of fire occurs in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and amounting to approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
• 1977 - Two terrorist actions unfold in The Netherlands: Several dozen hostages are taken onboard a train, and about 100 others (mostly children) are held at a Dutch school. The train siege lasts until June 11.
• 1985 - U.S. engineer Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.
• 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, what remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is imploded.
• 1997 - Mohammad Khatami is elected as President of Iran.
• 1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum, with a high margin of three-fourth 'yes' votes to Northern Ireland.
• 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.
• 2003 - 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa, makes the fastest-ever ascent of Mount Everest, in 12 hours 45 minutes. This is broken by his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu only three days later.
• 2004 - Part of Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
• 2007 - Parliament of Finland celebrated its 100th anniversary plenary session, with President Tarja Halonen and veterans in attendance.

Events (May 24th)

• 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
• 1276 - Magnus Ladulås crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
• 1487 - Imposter Lambert Simnel is crowned as "King Edward VI" at Dublin.
• 1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
• 1621 - Protestant Union 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 Hale is published.
• 1830 - The first revenue trains in the United States begin service on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills.
• 1832 - The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
• 1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Supreme Court room in Washington, D.C. 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 is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
• 1893 - The Niagara Falls Park and River Railway opens in Ontario.
• 1895 - Henry Irving becomes the first personage from the theatre to be knighted.
• 1899 - The first public parking garage in the United States is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1900 - Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
• 1911 - The New York Public Library opened.
• 1915 - World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1921 - The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.
• 1929 - The Cocoanuts, the first film to star the Marx Brothers, 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).
• 1935 - Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, hosts major-league baseball's first night game ever as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.
• 1940 - Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
• 1941 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship BismarckHood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy. sinks the HMS
• 1943 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer in Auschwitz concentration camp.
• 1949 - The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade.
• 1956 - The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland and is won by the host nation.
• 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 - Students set fire to the Paris bourse.
• 1968 - FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.
• 1970 - The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the USSR
• 1973 - Earl Jellicoe resigns as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords.
• 1974 - After a nine-year run, The Dean Martin Show airs for the last time.
• 1975 - A group of 80 reporters and cameramen are the first Westerners allowed to leave Saigon in South Vietnam since it fell to communist forces on April 29.
• 1976 - London to Washington, DC Concorde service begins.
• 1980 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.
• 1981 - First International Women's Day for Disarmament.
• 1982 - Liberation of Khorramshahr, Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during 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.
• 1993 - Microsoft unveils Windows NT.
• 1994 - Four men convicted of bombing New York's World Trade Center in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
• 1999 - Venezuela entered 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 collapse 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.

Events (May 25th)

• 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo 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.
• 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.
• 1865 - In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
• 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.
• 1895 - The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president.
• 1901 - River Plate was founded to become one of the most succesful teams in Argentina.
• 1914 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching 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 - Babe Ruth hits his 714th and last home run at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, setting a baseball record that will stand for 39 years.
• 1936 - The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
• 1938 - Spanish Civil War: Bombing of Alicante, 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.
• 1955 - In the United States, a night time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It was 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 was posted at Peking University.
• 1967 - Celtic F.C. become the first British and Non-Latin to win the European Champions' Cup in the Lisbon Lions 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1977 - George Lucas' film Star Wars, is released, and becomes an instant hit.
• 1977 - Liverpool F.C. win their first European Champions' Cup, defeating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1 in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome.
• 1979 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
• 1979 - Florida executes John Spenkelink, the first non-voluntary execution in the United States in more than 10 years.
• 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.
• 1986 - Hands Across America, a benefit event, takes place.
• 1992 - The first episode of Shortland Street screens.
• 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 released the Cox Report which detailed 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.
• 2001 - 64-year-old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest 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.
• 2005- Liverpool FC win the European Cup for the fifth time.
• 2007 - the Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia catches fire for the second time.

[ThinkerBeLL]

Events (May 26th)

• 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 practise Christianity.
• 1293 - Earthquake strikes Kamakura, Japan, kills 30,000.
• 1328 - William of Ockham, Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, go a sentence of death 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 Puritan and Mohegan force under English 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, King Charles II of England and King 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 Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.
• 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 (Napoleon I) 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.
• 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 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.
• 1896 - 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.
• 1917 - A powerful F4 tornado rips Mattoon, Illinois apart, killing 101 persons 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.
• 1928 - The first motion picture is projected publically in Athens, Greece.
• 1936 - In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sat down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken 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.
• 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.
• 1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their second Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.
• 1970 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
• 1972 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
• 1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 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 - Strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggers a tsunami that kills at least 104 people, injures thousands. Many missing people and thousands of buildings destroyed.
• 1986 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
• 1991 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
• 1991 - Lauda Air Flight 004 explodes over rural Thailand, killing 223.
• 1992 - Charles Geschke, co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc. was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Adobe parking lot in Mountain View, California for $650,000