May
15
Independence
Day
Paraguay : May 15 1811
May
15 : International Day of Families
The International
Day of Families is observed on the 15th of May every year. The
Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly resolution in
1993 (A/RES/47/237) and reflects the importance the international
community attaches to families. The International Day provides
an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families
and increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic
processes affecting families
In its resolution,
the General Assembly also noted that the family-related provisions
of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and
summits of the 1990s and their follow-up processes continue
to provide policy guidance on ways to strengthen family-centred
components of policies and programmes as part of an integrated
comprehensive approach to development.
The International
Day of Families has inspired a series of awareness-raising events,
including national family days. In many countries, that day
provides an opportunity to highlight different areas of interest
and importance to families. Activities include workshops and
conferences, radio and television programmes, newspaper articles
and cultural programmes highlighting relevant themes.
The 2010's
commemoration of the International Day of Families focuses on
the impact of migration on families around the world.
Events
392 – Emperor
Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against
the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence
at Vienne.
1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda,
which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in
the Medieval Inquisition.
1525 – The battle of Frankenhausen ends the German Peasants'
War.
1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London
on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She is condemned
to death by a specially-selected jury.
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th 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).
1648 – The Treaty of Westphalia is signed.
1701 – The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first
machine gun.
1755 – Laredo, Texas is established by the Spaniards.
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 manned flights.
1796 – First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800 – George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination
attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason
of insanity.
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
1850 – The Bloody Island Massacre takes place in Lake County,
California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians in Lake
County are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry,
led by Nathaniel Lyon.
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 Suffrage Association.
1891 – Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights
in the encyclical Rerum Novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic
social teaching.
1904 – The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15
miles off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse,
15,000 tons, with 496 crew and "Yashima".
1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2),
in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 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.
1919 – The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 am, almost
the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked
off the job.
1919 – Greek invasion of İzmir. During the invasion, the Greek
army kills or wounds 350 Turks. Those responsible are punished
by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades.
1928 – Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy
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.
1940 – USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the
USS Squalus.
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.
1940 – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino,
California.
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 invade
Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 – The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz,
asks the French government for political asylum.
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.
1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky
of South Vietnam's ruling junta launches a military attack on
the forces of General Ton That Dinh, forcing him to abandon
his command.
1969 – People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has
an impromptu student park owned by University of California
at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking
a riot called Bloody Thursday.
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 – 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
Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become
President.
1974 – Ma'alot massacre: In an Arab terrorist attack and hostage
taking at an Israeli school, a total of 31 people are killed,
including 22 schoolchildren.
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.
1991 – Édith 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.
2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop
and unassisted around the world solo.
Holidays
and observances
Aoi Matsuri
(Kyoto)
Christian Feast Day:
Achillius of Larissa
Athanasius of Alexandria (Coptic Church)
Dymphna
Hallvard Vebjørnsson (Norway)
Hilary of Galeata
Isidore the Laborer, celebrated with festivals in various countries,
the beginning of bullfighting season in Madrid.
Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (Roman Catholic Church)
Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Denise (Roman Catholic Church)
Reticius (Roman Catholic Church)
Sophia of Rome (Roman Catholic church)
May 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constituent Assembly Day (Lithuania)
Earliest date on which Armed Forces Day can fall, while May
21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday of May. (United
States)
Earliest date on which Bike-to-Work Day can fall, while May
21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Friday of May. (United
States)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Paraguay from
Spain in 1811. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence
begin on Flag Day, May 14.
International Day of Families (International)
La Corsa dei Ceri begins on the eve of the feast day of Saint
Ubaldo. (Gubbio)
Mercuralia, in honour of Mercury. (Roman Empire)
Nakba Day (Palestinian communities)
Peace Officers Memorial Day (United States)
Slovenian Army Day (Slovenia)
Teachers' Day (Mexico and South Korea)
For details, contact Datacentre
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