Events
of the day
351
– The Jewish revolt against Gallus breaks
out. After his arrival at Antioch, the Jews
begin a rebellion in Palestine.
558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the
Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately
orders that the dome be rebuilt.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of
Lyons opens to regulate the election of
the Pope.
1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans,
pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and
returning, wounded, to lead the final charge.
The victory marks a turning point in the
Hundred Years' War.
1664 – Louis XIV of France inaugurates the
Palace of Versailles.
1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating
back to medieval times) is destroyed by
fire. It is replaced by the current Royal
Palace in the eighteenth century.
1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded
by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
1763 – Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion
begins – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy
of Pontiac" by attacking British forces
at Fort Detroit.
1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces
the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National
Convention as the new state religion of
the French First Republic.
1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance
is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the
composer's supervision.
1832 – The independence of Greece is recognized
by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach,
Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes
Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people.
It is the second deadliest tornado in United
States history.
1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's
oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published
for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1847 – The American Medical Association
is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the
Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant,
breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness
and moves southwards.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist
Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates
to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society
his invention, the Popov lightning detector
— a primitive radio receiver. In some parts
of the former Soviet Union the anniversary
of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20
sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people
including 128 Americans. Public reaction
to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans
in the United States against the German
Empire.
1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led
by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły
and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force
capture Kiev only to be driven out by the
Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes
the independence of the Democratic Republic
of Georgia only to invade the country six
months later.
1920 – The Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto,
opens the first exhibition by the Group
of Seven.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor
Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes,
arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's
forces.
1940 – The Norway Debate in the British
House of Commons begins, and leads to the
replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
with Winston Churchill three days later.
1942 – During the Battle of the Coral Sea,
United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft
attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy
light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle
marks the first time in the naval history
that two enemy fleets fight without visual
contact between warring ships.
1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl
signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims,
France, ending Germany's participation in
the war. The document takes effect the next
day.
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering
(later renamed Sony) is founded with around
20 employees.
1948 – The Council of Europe is founded
during the Hague Congress.
1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit,
the basis for all modern computers, is first
published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien
Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Vietnamese
victory (the battle began on March 13).
1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960 – Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that
his nation is holding American U-2 pilot
Gary Powers.
1964 – Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild
F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California,
killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports
that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that
the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by
a suicidal passenger.
1974 – West German Chancellor Willy Brandt
resigns.
1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow became the
first person to climb each of the Seven
Summits.
1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old
proposed amendment to the United States
Constitution making the 27th Amendment law.
This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from
giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
1992 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched
on its first mission (STS-49).
1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant
in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally
murdered and a fourth permanently disabled
after a botched robbery. It is the first
"fast-food murder" in Canada.
1994 – Edvard Munch's iconic painting The
Scream is recovered undamaged after having
been stolen from the National Gallery of
Norway in February.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40
billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in
the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania
becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly
Eastern Orthodox country since the Great
Schism in 1054.
1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed
and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs
the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João
Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military
coup.
2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as
president of Russia.
2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges
into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is
beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is
recorded on videotape and released on the
Internet.
2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the
tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
2009 – Over 100 New Zealand Police officers
begin a 40-hour siege of a lone gunman in
Napier, New Zealand.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Acacius of Byzantium
Flavia Domitilla
John of Beverley
Stanislaus (Roman martyrology)
May 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Radio Day, commemorating the work of Alexander
Popov (Russia, Bulgaria)
For details, contact Datacentre
