Events
of the day
334
BC – The Macedonian
army of Alexander the
Great defeats Darius
III of Persia in the
Battle of the Granicus.
853 – A Byzantine fleet
sacks and destroys undefended
Damietta in Egypt
1176 – The Hashshashin
(Assassins) attempt
to murder Saladin near
Aleppo.
1200 – King John of
England and King Philip
II of France sign the
Treaty of Le Goulet.
1254 – Serbian King
Stephen Uroš I and the
Republic of Venice sign
a peace treaty.
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.
1629 – Emperor Ferdinand
II & Danish King
Christian IV sign the
Treaty of Lübeck to
end the Danish intervention
in the Thirty Years'
War.
1659 – France, England
& Netherlands sign
"Hedges Concerto"
treaty.
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.
1807 – Most of the English
town of Chudleigh is
destroyed by fire
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.
1816 – A mob in Littleport,
Cambridgeshire, England,
riots over high unemployment
and rising grain costs;
the rioting spreads
to Ely the next day.
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 – HMS Beagle departs
on its first voyage.
1840 – The transportation
of British convicts
to the New South Wales
colony is abolished.
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").
1863 – American Civil
War: Siege of Port Hudson
– Union forces begin
to lay siege to the
Confederate-controlled
Port Hudson, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil
War: After ten weeks,
the Union Army's Red
River Campaign ends
with the Union unable
to achieve any of its
objectives.
1871 – The U.S. Army
issued an order for
abandonment of Fort
Kearny in Nebraska.
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 is officially
opened
1903 – Launch of the
White Star Liner, SS
Ionic.
1906 – The 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
other than Mount St.
Helens to erupt in the
contiguous US during
the 20th century.
1915 – Three 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.
1926 – Chiang Kai-shek
replaces communists
in Kuomintang China
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 United States
Marine Corps as a flight
instructor.
1943 – Stalin disbands
Comintern.
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, each
battling an internal
Communist movement.
1958 – Sri Lankan riots
of 1958: This riot is
a watershed event in
the race relationship
of the various ethnic
communities of Sri Lanka.
The total number of
deaths is estimated
to be 300, mostly Sri
Lankan Tamils.
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.
1980 – Namco releases
the highly influential
arcade game Pac-Man.
1987 – Hashimpura massacre
in Meerut city of India.
1987 – First ever Rugby
World Cup kicks off
with New Zealand playing
Italy at Eden Park,
Auckland.
1990 – North and South
Yemen are unified to
create the Republic
of Yemen.
1990 – Microsoft releases
the Windows 3.0 operating
system.
1992 – After 30 years,
66-year-old Johnny Carson
hosts The Tonight Show
for the last time.
1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia and Slovenia
join the United Nations.
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,
D.C., 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 – The U.S. town
of Hallam, Nebraska,
is wiped out by a powerful
F4 tornado (part of
the May 2004 tornado
outbreak sequence) that
broke a width record
at an astounding 2.5
miles (4.0 km) wide,
which kills one resident.
2008 – The Late-May
2008 tornado outbreak
sequence unleashes 235
tornadoes, including
an EF4 and an EF5 tornado,
between May 22 and May
31, 2008. The tornadoes
struck 19 states and
one Canadian province.
2011 – An EF5 Tornado
strikes Joplin, Missouri
killing 161 people,
the single deadliest
tornado in the United
States since modern
record keeping began
in 1950.
Holidays
and observances
Abolition
Day (Martinique)
Christian Feast Day:
Castus and Emilius
Fulk
Humilita
Julia of Corsica
Quiteria
Rita of Cascia
Romanus of Subiaco
May 22 (Eastern Orthodox
liturgics)
Harvey Milk Day (California)
International Day for
Biological Diversity
(International)
National Maritime Day
(United States)
National Sovereignty
Day (Haiti)
Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
Unity Day or National
Day, celebrate the unification
of North and South Yemen
into the Republic of
Yemen in 1990.
For details, contact
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