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May Military History
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Born
| 1 | 1238 | King Magnus VI of Norway (1263-80) | | | 1245 | King Philippe III of France (1270-85) | | | 1501 | Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi - Pope Marcellus II (7 Apr-6 May 1555) | | | 1764 | Benjamin Henry Latrobe, designer of the U.S. Capital | | | 1769 | Arthur Wellsley, the Duke of Wellington | | | 1800 | Thomas Aloysius Dornin, naval officer, U.S., d. 1874 | | | 1807 | John Bankhead "Prince John" Magruder, Maj Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1819 | William Steele, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885 | | | 1830 | Marie Harris "Mother" Jones, radical | | | 1835 | Alfred Napoleon Alexander Duffie, Brig Gen, U.S. | | | 1881 | Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit theologian, paleontologist, who earned the Médaille Militaire and Legion of Honor in WW I | | | 1909 | Kate Smith, singer (“God Bless America”) | | | 1923 | Joseph Heller, veteran, novelist ("Catch-22") | | 2 | 1729 | Tsarina Catherine II “the Great” of Russia (1762-96) | | | 1810 | Giacchino Pecci – Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) | | | 1849 | Prince Bernhard von Bülow, German Chancellor (1900-09) | | | 1850 | Theodore Herzel, founder of Zionism | | | 1892 | Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the Red Baron | | | 1935 | King Faisal II of Iraq (1939-58), murdered 1958 | | | 1935 | King Hussein ibn Talal of Jordan (1952-2000) | | | 1938 | Constantine Bereng Seeiso - King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (1966-1995) | | 3 | 611 | Byzantine Emperor Constantine III (Feb 11-May 26 [?] 641) | | | 1455 | King Joao II of Portugal (1481-95), friend to Jews | | | 1469 | Niccolo Machiavelli | | | 1816 | Montgomery Meigs, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892 | | | 1826 | King Charles XV Bernadotte of Sweden and Norway (1859-72) | | | 1897 | Krishna Menon, leftist Indian Minister of Defense | | | 1898 | Golda Meir, Israeli PM (1969-74) | | 4 | 1508 | Ercole II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, Modena, & Reggio (1534-59), son of Alfonso I & Lucrezia Borgia, condottiero, d. 1559 | | | 1778 | Onorato V Gabriele Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco (1815-1841), Captain of Imperial Dragoons (1810-1814) | | | 1796 | Joseph Pannell Taylor, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864 | | | 1796 | William H. Prescott, historian ("The Conquest of Mexico") | | | 1810 | Count Alexandre Walweski, illegitimate son of Napoleon I, Minister to III | | | 1889 | Francis J Spellman, Vicar General of the U.S. Armed Forces, Archbishop of NY | | | 1928 | Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt (1981-) | | 5 | 482 | Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus - Roman Emperor Justinian, at Tauresiurn, Thrace | | | 1061 | Godfrey of Bouillon, Crusader, King of Jerusalem (1099-1100) | | | 1352 | Ruprecht, uncrowned Holy Roman Emperor (1400-1410) | | | 1818 | Karl Marx, who inspired millions of murders | | | 1822 | Sir Harry Paget Flashman, V.C., etc., etc., d. 1915 | | | 1823 | James Allen Hardie, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1870 | | | 1826 | Eugenie Maria de Montijo y de Guzman, Mrs. Napoleon III | | | 1879 | Symon Petlyura, Ukrainian nationalist | | | 1884 | Wang Ching-Wei, Premier of China (1932-35), later a Japanese puppet | | | 1900 | Spencer Tracy, actor ("Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo") | | | 1908 | Rex Harrison, actor ("Cleopatra") | | | 1913 | Tyrone Power, actor (“Prince of Foxes") | | 6 | 973 | Holy Roman Emperor Henry II (1014-1024) | | | 1574 | Giambattista Pamfili - Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) | | | 1585 | John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas | | | 1758 | Maximilien Robespierre, French demagogue, guillotined, 1794 | | | 1769 | Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany | | | 1812 | Maj. Martin Robinson Delaney, seniormost black Civil War officer | | | 1813 | Joseph Tarr Copeland, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1893 | | | 1825 | Joseph Bailey, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1867 | | | 1902 | Air Chief Marshal Walter Dawson | | | 1913 | Stewart Granger, actor ("Prisoner of Zenda," "Bohwani Junction") | | | 1953 | Tony Blair, British prime minister | | 7 | 1530 | Prince Louis I de Conde, Huguenot leader | | | 1574 | Giambattista Pamfili - Pope Innocent X (1644-55) | | | 1763 | Josef Poniatowski, Polish general, Marshal of France, d. 1813 | | | 1827 | Francis Engle Patterson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862 | | | 1892 | Josip Broz Tito, soldier, partisan, Yugoslav dictator, d. 1980 | | | 1901 | Gary Cooper, actor ("Sergeant York") | | | 1919 | Evita Duarte, wife to Juan Peron, First Lady of Argentina | | 8 | 1629 | Niels Juel, Danish admiral | | | 1737 | Capt. Edward Gibbon of the Hampshire Grenadiers | | | 1753 | Fr. Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla, leader of the Mexican Revolution | | | 1810 | James Cooper, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1863 | | | 1814 | Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin, revolutionary anarchist | | | 1824 | William Walker, American filibuster, President of Nicaragua (1856-57) | | | 1833 | Frank Wheaton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903 | | | 1836 | Bryan Morel Thomas, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905 | | | 1884 | Harry S Truman, National Guardsman, veteran | | | 1899 | Jan van Hall, Dutch sculptor and resistance fighter | | 9 | 1800 | John Brown, abolitionist. Hanged, 1859 | | | 1824 | William Edmonson "Grumble" Jones, Brig Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1843 | Belle Boyd, Confederate spy | | | 1882 | Henry J. Kaiser, master ship builder | | | 1892 | Zita, last Empress of Austria & Queen of Hungary | | | 1907 | Baldur von Schirach, Nazi youth leader | | | 1921 | Sophie Scholl, “White Rose” anti-Nazi, executed 1943 | | | 1925 | Peter Leng, Master General of the Ordnance | | 10 | 214 | M. Aurelius Claudius - Emperor Claudius II Gothicus (268-270) | | | 1536 | Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England | | | 1724 | Johan Zoutman, Dutch Admiral (Doggerbank) | | | 1730 | George Ross, Signer of the Declaration of Independence | | | 1769 | Marshal of France Jean Lannes, duc de Montebello, kia, 1809 | | | 1770 | Marshal of France Louis Nicholas Davout | | | 1810 | James Shields, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1879 | | | 1824 | Charles Henry Van Wyck, Brig Gen. U.S., d 1895 | | | 1838 | John Wilkes Booth, actor, heartthrob, assassin, k 1865 | | 11 | 1568 | Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg | | | 1720 | Karl Friedrich Heironymus Freiherr von Munchhausen, soldier, fabulist, d. 1797 | | | 1821 | Charles John Stolbrand, Brig Gen, U.S., | | | 1830 | John Converse Starkweather, Brig Gen, U.S. | | | 1888 | Irving Berlin, Doughboy, composer ("God Bless America") | | | 1894 | Anton A Mussert, Dutch Nazi | | | 1912 | Phil Silvers, actor ("Sergeant Bilko," “Marcus Leicus Leno”) | | 12 | 1567 | Claudio Monteverdi, soldier, composer | | | 1670 | August II the Strong of Poland, Duke of Saxony, sire of 355 children | | | 1729 | Michael Freiherr von Melas, Austrian general, Revolutionary Wars | | | 1806 | Amos Beebe Eaton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1877 | | | 1812 | Louis Blenker, Brig Gen, U.S., in 1863 | | | 1820 | Florence Nightingale | | 13 | 1265 | Dante Alighieri, cavalryman, traveler, poet, who loved Beatrice | | | 1655 | Michelangelo Dei Conti - Pope Innocent XIII (1721-1724) | | | 1717 | Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Empress. d. 1780 | | | 1769 | King Joao VI of Portugal (1816-26) | | | 1792 | Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti - Pope St. Pius IX (1846-1878) | | | 1914 | Joe Louis, the “Brown Bomber,” heavyweight, soldier | | | 1931 | Jim Jones, homicidal prophet | | 14 | 968 | Earl Leofric III of Mercia, husband to Lady Godiva, d. 1057 | | | 1316 | King Charles IV of Bohemia (1346-78), Holy Roman Emperor (1355-78) | | | 1553 | Queen Marguerite de Valois of Navarre | | | 1710 | King Adolfus Frederik of Sweden (1751-70) | | | 1830 | George Pierce Doles, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864 | | | 1836 | James Patrick Major, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877 | | 15 | 1633 | Sebastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban, fortification master, d. 1707 | | | 1773 | Prince Klements Wenzel von Metternich, statesman, d. 1859 | | 16 | 1611 | Benedetto Odescalchi - Pope Bl. Innocent XI (1676-1689) | | | 1760 | Claude J.R. de Lisle, composer of "La Marseillaise" | | | 1801 | William Henry Seward, Secretary of State (1861-1869) | | | 1806 | George C. Cadwalader, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1879 | | | 1816 | Henry Hopkins Sibley, Brig Gen, C.S.A., drunkard, d. 1886 | | | 1819 | Daniel Ammen, naval officer, U.S., d. 1898 | | | 1824 | Edmund Kirby Smith, General, C.S.A., d. 1893 | | | 1893 | Jose Calvo Sotelo, Spanish Minister of Finance, murdered 1936 | | | 1905 | Henry Fonda, naval officer, actor ("Mr. Roberts") | | | 1916 | Gregory Peck, actor ("Twelve O'Clock High") | | | 1936 | Philippe de Montebello, Director Metropolitan Museum, heir to Marshal Lannes | | 17 | 1451 | Count Engelbert II of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz, Viceroy of Luxembourg | | | 1490 | Albrecht von Hohenzollern, first Duke of Prussia | | | 1741 | John Penn, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1788 | | | 1812 | Joseph Warren Revere, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1880 | | | 1886 | King Alfonso XIII of Spain, born a king, deposed 1931, d. 1941 | | | 1900 | Ruhollah Khomeini, evil high priest, d. 1989 | | | 1925 | Malcolm X, k. 1965 | | | 1928 | Donald Cameron Watt, historian (“How War Came”) | | | 1928 | Pol Pot, Cambodian mass murderer | | 18 | 1797 | King Frederik Augustus II of Saxony (1836-54) | | | 1798 | Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1870 | | | 1817 | James William Denver, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892 | | | 1868 | Nicholas II, the last Tsar (1894-1917), murdered, 1918 | | | 1869 | Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria, German general | | | 1872 | Bertrand Russell, pacifist, when it was convenient | | 19 | 1808 | Samuel Jameson Gholson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883 | | | 1812 | Felix Kirk Zollicoffer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia 1862 | | | 1815 | John Gross Barnard, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882 | | | 1828 | Adin Ballou Underwood, Brig Gen, U.S. | | | 1860 | Victor Emanuel Orlando, Italian premier (1917-19) | | | 1890 | Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese Communist leader (1946-1969) | | | 1897 | Frank Luke, American ace (18 kills), kia, 1918 | | | 1898 | Oswald Boelcke, German ace (40 kills), kia 1916 | | | 1939 | Francis R. Scobee, USAF, astronaut | | | 1955 | Pierre J. Thuot, USN, astronaut | | 20 | 1743 | Toussaint L'Ouverture, Liberator of Haiti | | | 1799 | Honoré de Balzac, author ("Droll Stories") | | | 1828 | James William Reilly, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1905 | | | 1883 | Faisal ibn Husayn, friend to Lawrence, King of Iraq (1921-1933) | | | 1915 | Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and defense minister | | | 1944 | David M. Walker, USN, astronaut | | 21 | 427 | BC Plato, hoplite, wrestler, philosopher | | | 1527 | King Philip II of Spain (1556-98) and Portugal (1580-98) | | | 1775 | Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano, courtesy of his brother | | | 1822 | Dabney Herndon Maury, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1900 | | | 1822 | Mosby Monroe Parsons, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1865 | | | 1825 | George Lafayette Beal, Brig Gen, U.S. | | | 1826 | Prince Danilo II of Montenegro | | | 1835 | Newton Martin Curtis, Brig Maj Gen, U.S. | | | 1851 | Leon Bourgeois, French politician, Nobel Peace Prize, 1920 | | | 1878 | Glenn Hammond Curtiss, aviation pioneer | | | 1885 | Umberto Nobile, aviation pioneer | | | 1921 | Andrei Sakharov, Father of the Soviet H-Bomb, Nobel Peace Prize, 1975 | | | 1924 | Telly Savalas, actor (“The Battle of the Bulge”) | | | 1942 | Robert C. Springer, USMC, astronaut | | 22 | 1813 | Richard Wagner, composer ("The Flying Dutchman," "The Ring") | | | 1821 | Alfred Sully, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1879 | | | 1859 | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author ("Sherlock Holmes) | | | 1885 | Toyoda Soemu, CinC, Combined Fleet, 1944-1945, d. 1957 | | 23 | 1813 | Mason Brayman, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1895 | | | 1824 | Ambrose E. Burnside, Maj Gen, U.S. | | | 1837 | James Sanks Brisbin, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1892 | | | 1843 | Hans Heinrich XIV, Graf von Hochberg, Freiherr zu Fürstenstein, composer | | | 1957 | Princess Caroline of Monaco | | 24 | 15 | BC Germanicus Caesar, overrated general, d. AD 19 | | | 1738 | King George III (1760-1820) | | | 1743 | Jean-Paul Marat, who met Charlotte Corday in the bath | | | 1751 | King Charles Emanuel II of Sardinia (1796-1802) | | | 1753 | Oliver Cromwell, black American patriot | | | 1803 | Charles Bonaparte, son of Lucien, Principe of Canino & Musignano, d. 1854 | | | 1811 | Charles Clark, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877 | | | 1816 | Emanuel Leutze, painter ("Washington Crossing the Delaware") | | | 1816 | Robert Seaman Granger, Brig Gen, d. 1894 | | | 1819 | Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India | | | 1854 | Louis Battenburg/Mountbatten, British admiral | | | 1870 | Jan C. Smuts, South African general and politician | | | 1904 | Kenneth Buckley, British rear-admiral | | | 1905 | Mikhail Sholokov, novelist ("And Quiet Flows the Don") | | 25 | 1550 | Camillus de Lellis, Soldier & Saint, d. 1607 | | | 1781 | Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este | | | 1818 | Franz Edvard Todleben, Russian military engineer, defender of Sebastopol | | | 1852 | Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Marshal of France | | | 1865 | King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony (1904-18) | | | 1878 | Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, drum major, 369th Infantry, WW I, dancer | | | 1889 | Gunther Lutjens, German admiral, kia 1941 in the Bismarck | | | 1889 | Igor Sikorsky, aviation pioneer | | | 1908 | David Lean, British director ("Lawrence of Arabia") | | 26 | 1478 | Giulio de' Medici - Pope Clement VII (1523-34) | | | 1566 | Sultan Mohammed III of Turkey (1595-1603) | | | 1799 | Alexander Pushkin | | | 1806 | Henry Knox Thatcher, naval officer, U.S., d. 1880 | | | 1835 | Edward Porter Alexander, Brig Gen, C.S.A., artilleryman | | | 1877 | Sadao Araki, Japanese Minister of War (1931-34) | | | 1895 | Paul Lukas, actor (“Watch on the Rhine”) | | | 1907 | John Wayne, IV-F actor ("Sands of Iwo Jima") | | | 1912 | Janos Kadar, Communist premier of Hungary (1956-58) | | | 1968 | Prince Frederik of Denmark | | 27 | 1626 | Prince William II of Orange | | | 1756 | King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria | | | 1774 | Adm Francis Beaufort, devised the wind force scale | | | 1819 | Julia Ward Howe, lyricist (“The Battle Hymn of the Republic") | | | 1823 | John Gray Foster, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1874 | | | 1836 | Edwin Gray Lee, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1870 | | | 1837 | Robert Frederick Hoke, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1912 | | | 1837 | William "Wild Bill” Hickok | | | 1894 | Dashiell Hammett, soldier, novelist ("Maltese Falcon") | | | 1923 | Henry Kissinger, in Germany | | | 1936 | Louis Gossett, Jr., actor (“An Officer & a Gentleman”) | | 28 | 970 | BC King Solomon of Israel | | | 1369 | Muzio Attendolo Sforza, Condottiero, drowned 1424 | | | 1371 | Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy | | | 1577 | Count Floris II van Pallandt of Culemborg | | | 1660 | King George I of England (1714-27) | | | 1759 | William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister (1783-1801, 1804-06) | | | 1818 | Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, General, C.S.A. | | | 1819 | William Birney, Brig Gen, U.S. d. 1907 | | | 1828 | Alpheus Baker, Brig Gen, C.S., d. 1891 | | | 1830 | George Lucas Hartsuff, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1874 | | | 1838 | Basil Wilson Duke, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1916 | | | 1908 | Ian Fleming, British spymaster, author ("James Bond") | | 29 | 1439 | Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini - Pope Pius III (22 Sep-18 Oct 1503) | | | 1594 | Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Imperial general, kia 1632 | | | 1630 | King Charles II of England (1660-85) | | | 1736 | Patrick Henry, patriot | | | 1763 | Joseph Fouche, head of Napoleon’s secret police | | | 1810 | Erasmus Darwin Keyes, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1895 | | | 1810 | Solomon Meredith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1875 | | | 1824 | Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, Maj Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1825 | David Bell Birney, Maj Gen, U.S. | | | 1827 | Reuben Lindsay Walker, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1890 | | | 1880 | Oswald Spengler, philosopher ("The Decline of the West") | | | 1903 | Bob Hope, USO entertainer | | | 1917 | John F. Kennedy, naval officer, president, k. 1963 | | 30 | 339 | Eusebius of Caesarea, "Father of Ecclesiastical History" | | | 1220 | Alexander Nevski, Prince of Novgorod (1252-63) | | | 1524 | Sultan Selîm II “the Blonde” of Turkey (1566-74) | | | 1672 | Tsar Peter I "the Great" of Russia (1682-1725) | | | 1812 | John Alexander McClernand, Maj Gen, U.S. | | | 1832 | George Doherty Johnston, Brig Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1845 | Duke Amadeo d’Aosta, King of Spain (1870-73) | | | 1881 | George von Kuchler, German field marshal | | | 1958 | Michael Lopez-Alegria, USN, astronaut | | 31 | 1469 | King Manuel I of Portugal(1495-1521) | | | 1819 | Walt Whitman, war poet ("Beat Drums, Beat!") | | | 1837 | Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Maj Gen, C.S.A., KIA 1864 | | | 1837 | William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee, Maj Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1857 | Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti – Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) | | | 1923 | Rainier III Grimaldi, Foreign Legionnaire, Sovereign Prince of Monaco (1949-2005) |
Died
| 1 | 408 | Roman Emperor Arcadius | | | 1118 | Queen Maud of England | | | 1171 | King Dermot MacMurrough, last Irish King of Leinster | | | 1277 | King Stefan IV “the Great” of Serbia (1243-76) | | | 1281 | Ugolino Manfredi, condottiero, kia at Forli | | | 1282 | Count Taddeo of Montefeltro (1266-82), kia against his brother Guido I, from whom he had usurpsed the title in 1266 | | | 1308 | Holy Roman Emperor Albrecht I von Hapsburg (1298-1308), murdered | | | 1447 | Duke Ludwig VII of Bavaria (1413-43) | | | 1572 | Pope St. Pius V - Michele Ghisleri (1566-1572) | | | 1896 | Shah Naser ed-Din of Persia (1848-96), murdered at 65 | | | 1993 | Pres Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka (1989-93), 68, & bodyguards, by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber | | 2 | 903 | Tsar St. Boris I of Bulgaria | | | 1250 | Turanshah, the last Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, murdered | | | 1285 | Manfredo Manfredi, Lord of Serravalle al Senio, murdered by his brother Alberigo Manfredi, for his lands | | | 1285 | Alberghetto, son of Manfredo, murdered by his uncle Alberigo Manfredi | | | 1501 | Agamennone Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio, for plotting with Cesare Borgia | | | 1501 | Agesilao Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Antenore Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Bedoro de’ Preti, husband to Cornelia Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Ludovico Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Marescotto Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Scipione Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1501 | Tideo Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, murdered by Ermes Bentivoglio | | | 1519 | Leonardo from Vinci, military engineer, at 67 | | | 1679 | James Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrew's in Scotland, assassinated | | | 1845 | August Pauly, scholar (“Real-Encyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft”), at 48 | | | 1849 | David Chasse‚ Dutch-Belgian general, at 84 | | | 1945 | Martin Bormann, Hitler henchman | | | 1972 | J. Edgar Hoover, at 77 | | | 2002 | William T. Tutte, British master codebreaker | | 3 | 115 | Pope St. Alexander I (c. 106-115), martyr | | | 1270 | King Bela IV of Hungary | | | 1294 | Duke Jan I of Brabant and Limburg | | | 1410 | Pope Alexander V - Pietro Philargi (June 26, 1409—May 3, 1410) | | | 1442 | Count Engelbert I of Nassau-Dillenburg | | | 1481 | Sultan Mohammed II "the Conqueror" of Turkey (1451-81) | | | 1758 | Pope Benedict XIV - Propsero Loreanzo Lambertini (1740-1758), scholar, 83 | | | 1916 | Pedraic Pearse, Irish patriot, British firing squad | | | 1926 | Napoleon V Bonaparte, pretender to the throne of France | | | 2007 | Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USN, astronaut, at 84 | | 4 | 1471 | Prince Edward of Wales, son of Henry VI, kia, Tewkesbury, at 17 | | | 1471 | Lord Wenlock, axed for ineptitude by the Duke of Somerset, after Tewkesbury | | | 1799 | Tipu Sultan, kia at Seringapatam | | | 1885 | King Alexander I Karadjordjevic of Serbia (1842-58), at 78 | | | 1938 | Carl von Ossietzky, pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize, 1935, at 52 | | | 1945 | Count Franz zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, in the Soviet P/W camp at Gostynia | | | 1955 | Louis Breguet, French aviation pioneer, at 75 | | | 1970 | Alisa Krause, shot at Kent State | | | 1970 | Jeffrey Miller, shot at Kent State | | | 1970 | Sandra Scheuer, shot at Kent State | | | 1970 | William Schroeder, ROTC cadet, shot at Kent State | | | 1980 | Josip Broz Tito, dictator of Yugoslavia (1943-80), at 87 | | | 2004 | Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (1950-2004), Military Cross, b. 1920 | | 5 | 1028 | King Alfonso V of Leon & Castille (999-1028), while besieging Viseu | | | 1194 | Grand Duke Casimir II the Just of Poland (1177-94) | | | 1309 | King Charles II of Naples (1285-1309) | | | 1432 | Francesco “Carmagnola” Bussone, condottiero, beheaded by the Serenissima at c. 42 | | | 1525 | Duke Frederik III the Wise of Saxony (1486-1525) | | | 1555 | Pope Marcellus II - Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi (7 Apr-6 May 1555) | | | 1705 | Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, at 64 | | | 1786 | King Pedro III of Portugal | | | 1821 | The Corsican Ogre, on St. Helena | | | 1827 | King Frederik Augustus I of Saxony (1806-27), at 76 | | | 1921 | Alfred H Fried, pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize, 1911 | | | 1981 | Bobby Sands, IRA activist, on the 66th day of a hunger strike | | 6 | 523 | King Thrasamund of the Vandals (496-523) | | | 988 | Count Dirk II of Holland | | | 1085 | King Alfonso VI of León, Liberator of Toledo | | | 1124 | Emir Balak of Aleppo, murdered | | | 1333 | Bertoldo Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Buccio Ballo, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Cecco Ballo, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Cola Orsini, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Count Francesco dell’Anguillara, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Francesco Savelli, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Giovanni Annibaldi, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Giovanni Orsini, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Giovanni Savelli, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Guglielmo Savelli, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Martino da Porto Stefano, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Matteo di Campo dei Fiori, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Nuccio Savelli, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Pietro d’Amico, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1333 | Rinaldo Orsini, in the Ambush of San Cesario | | | 1501 | Pope Marcellus II - Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi (Mar 17 - May 6, 1555) | | | 1527 | Charles de Bourbon, 37, French rebel, Imperial general, shot in the head by Benevenuto Cellini while storming Rome | | | 1575 | Ristoro Ludovico Machiavelli, Patrician of Florence, executed for conspiracy against the Duke of Tuscany. | | | 1757 | Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal, 70. cannonballed at Prague, rallying the troops | | | 1882 | Frederick Cavendish & Thomas Henry Burke, shot by the Fenians | | | 1910 | King Edward VII of England (1901-10) | | | 1987 | William J Casey, director of CIA (1981-87), at 73 | | | 1989 | Guy Williams, actor (“Zorro”), at 65 | | 7 | 399 | BC Socrates, noted hoplite, stone cutter, hemlocked [Alt] | | | 685 | Umayyad Caliph Marwan I ibn al-Hakam of Baghdad (684-685), at c. 62 | | | 973 | Holy Roman Emperor Otto I “the Great” (962-973), at 60 | | | 1166 | King William I “the Bad” of Sicily (1154-66) | | | 1205 | King Ladislaus III Arpad of Hungary (1204-05), c. 5 | | | 1523 | Franz von Sickingen, knight, adventurer, intriguer, kia | | | 1524 | Marquis Oberto Pallavicini, Condottiero, kia Garlasco | | | 1539 | Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, at 69 | | | 1884 | Judah P Benjamin, Confederate cabinet member | | | 1915 | Elbert Hubbard, author ("A Message to Garcia"), in the Lusitania | | | 1932 | Albert Thomas, French Minister of Munitions | | | 2000 | Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Knickerbocker Gray, naval officer, at 90 | | 8 | 535 | Pope John II – the Presbyter Mercurius (533-35) | | | 615 | Pope St. Boniface IV (608-615) [or 25 May] | | | 1319 | King Haakon V of Norway (1299-1319) | | | 1773 | Ali Bey, Egyptian Mameluk leader | | | 1794 | Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, chemist, guillotined at Paris as a war profiteer | | | 1819 | King Kamehameha the Great of Hawaii (c. 1790-1819), at about 62 | | | 1844 | King Charles XIV of Sweden, sometime Jean Bernadotte, Marshal of France | | | 1887 | Alexander Ulyanov, Lenin's brother, hanged for treason | | | 1915 | Henry McNeal Turner, first black army chaplain, at 82 | | | 1988 | Robert A. Heinlein, sometime naval officer | | | 1994 | George Peppard, actor ("The Blue Max") | | 9 | 480 | Roman Emperor Julius Nepos (474-475/480) | | | 1280 | King Magnus VI of Norway (1263-80), at 42 | | | 1688 | Frederick William “The Great” Elector of Brandenburg, at 67 | | | 1766 | The Comte de Lally, executed at Paris | | | 1864 | Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, kia at 50, though smaller than an elephant | | | 1949 | Prince Louis II Onorato of Monaco (1921-1949), French soldier & general, at 78 | | | 1992 | Marlene Dietrich, anti-Nazi, at 91 | | 10 | 238 | Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax (235-238), beheaded along with his son by mutinous troops | | | 1632 | Mareschal de Marillac, beheaded at Paris | | | 1774 | King Louis XV of France (1715-74) | | | 1818 | Paul Revere, patriot | | | 1863 | Stonewall Jackson, Lt Gen, C.S.A., near Chancellorsville | | | 1897 | Andres Bonifacio, Philippine nationalist, executed by the Spanish, at 32 | | | 1897 | Procopio Bonifacio, his brother, executed by the Spanish | | | 1904 | Henry M Stanley, Union & Confederate veteran, explorer, imperialist | | | 1943 | Andre Bertulot, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged by the Nazis | | | 1943 | Armand Fraiteur, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged by the Nazis | | 11 | 1610 | Matteo Ricci, intrepid & learned Jesuit missionary in China | | | 1778 | William Pitt the Elder, British PM (1756-61, 66-68), at 69 | | | 1812 | British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, assassinated | | | 1927 | Maj Gen Henry M. Robert, U.S., parliamentarian ("Rules of Order"), 90 | | | 1944 | Henk Hos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed by the Nazis at 37 | | | 1945 | Helga, Hilde, Helmut, Holde, Hedda, & Heide Goebbels, murdered by their parents, Joseph & Magda Goebbels, who commit suicide | | | 2006 | Frankie Thomas, actor (“Tom Corbett, Space Cadet”), at 85 | | 12 | 912 | Byzantine Emperor Leo VI “The Wise” (886-912), at 45 | | | 1003 | Pope Sylvester II - Gerbert of Aurillac (999-1003) first French pope | | | 1012 | Pope Sergius IV - Pietro “Bucca Porci” (1009-1012) | | | 1382 | Queen Giovanna I of Naples, after ruining her kingdom | | | 1641 | Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, executed by Bill of Attainder | | | 1863 | King Radama II of Madagascar (1861-1863), assassinated at 23 for opening the country to Christianity | | | 1864 | J.E.B. Stuart, 31, Confederate cavalryman, d/w from Yellow Tavern, 11th | | | 1905 | Hiram Cronk, last surviving War of 1812 veteran, at 105 | | | 1935 | Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, founder of modern Poland, at 67 | | | 1944 | Max Brand [Frederick Schiller Faust], pulp western author, war correspondent with the 351st Infantry, kia at 51 near near Itri. | | | 1957 | Erich von Stroheim, actor ("The Grand Illusion") | | 13 | 1390 | King Robert II the Steward of Scotland (1371-90) | | | 1619 | Johan Van Olden Barneveldt, 72, Dutch statesman, beheaded by the Calvinists for advocating religious freedom | | | 1865 | PVT John J Williams, 34th Indiana, reportedly the "last man killed” in the Civil War | | | 1930 | Fridtjof Nansen, diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize, 1922 | | 14 | 649 | Pope Theodore I (642-49) | | | 964 | Pope John XII - Octavianus (955-64), allegedly in the arms of his mistress | | | 1080 | Bishop Walcher of Lorraine and his retinue, murdered | | | 1608 | Duke Charles "the Great" of Lorraine | | | 1610 | King Henry IV of Navarre (1572-1610) and France (1589-1610), assassinated at 56 | | | 1643 | King Louis XIII of France (1610-43), at 41 | | | 1906 | Carl Schurz, Maj. Gen., U.S.V., social reformer, at 77 | | | 1912 | King Frederik VIII of Denmark (1906-12), at 68 | | | 1940 | Emma Goldman, anarchist who first blew the whistle on the glorious “Bolshevik Revolution,” and was totally ignored | | | 1968 | Husband E. Kimmel, who didn't understand "a war warning," at 86 | | | 1991 | Jiang Qing, widow of Mao Tse Tung, suicide | | | 1998 | Frank Sinatra, notorious draft-dodger, actor (“Von Ryan’s Express”) | | 15 | 392 | Roman Emperor Valentinian II (375-392), found hanging in a locked room at 21 | | | 884 | Pope Marinus I (882-884) | | | 1174 | Nur-ed-Din, Atabeg of Aleppo (1146-1174) | | | 1464 | The Earl of Somerset, executed by Edward IV | | | 1470 | King Charles VIII of Sweden (1448–1457, 1464-1465, 1467-1470) and of Norway (1449-1450) | | | 1526 | Thomas Munzer, leader of the German Peasants' War, executed | | | 1591 | Dimitri Ivanovitch, son of Tsar Ivan IV, murdered at 9 | | | 1638 | Gerrit Jansen, knifed by Jan Gysbertsen in front of Fort Amsterdam; NYC’s first recorded murder. | | | 1877 | Tajik Bey, Tadjik national hero, at about 57 | | | 1926 | Mohammed VI, last sultan of Turkey (1918-22) | | | 1932 | Ki Inukai, Prime Minister of Japan (1931-32), murdered by nationalists | | | 1976 | Samuel Eliot Morison, sailor, historian ("Admiral of Ocean Sea"), 88 | | 16 | 561 | Pope Pelagius I (556-561) | | | 1412 | Duke Giovanni Maria Visconti I of Milan (1402-1412), assassinated in church at 24 | | | 1576 | Isabella de Medici, Princess of Toscany, murdered by her husband, Paolo Giordano Orsini, the Duke of Bracciano. | | | 1691 | Jacob Leisler, Royal Governor of NY, and Jacob Milborne, his son-in-law, hanged for treason | | | 1828 | Sir William Congreve, inventor of the “Congreve Rocket”, at Toulouse | | | 1864 | Lean Bear, Cheyenne chief, murdered | | 17 | 1164 | Heloise, who loved Abelard | | | 1536 | Sir Francis Weston, alleged lover of Anne Boleyn, beheaded | | | 1727 | Tsarina Catherine I of Russia | | | 1838 | Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, eely French statesman | | 18 | 526 | Pope John I (523-26) | | | 1160 | St Erik IX, King of Sweden | | | 1291 | William de Beaujeu, 21st Master of the Templars, kia at Acre | | | 1807 | Marquis Adalberto Pallavicini, 2nd Lt, 1st Royal Italian Infantry, kia Colberg | | | 1839 | Countess Carolina Bonaparte – Mrs. Joachim Murat, at 57 | | 19 | 526 | Pope St. John I (523-526) | | | 1125 | Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev (1113-1125), at c. 76 | | | 1296 | Pope St. Celestine V - Pietro di Murrone (5 Jul - 13 Dec 1294, resigned) | | | 1536 | Anne Boleyn, Mrs. Henry VIII No. 2, beheaded | | | 1536 | Lord Rochford, her brother, beheaded | | | 1777 | Button Gwinnet, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, of wounds from a duel on May 16th | | | 1864 | Nathaniel Hawthorne, militiaman, novelist ("The Scarlet Letter”) | | | 1895 | Jose Marti y Perez, poet, Cuban nationalist, kia at 42 | | | 1935 | T. E. Lawrence of Arabia, in a motorcycle accident | | | 1953 | Damasco Berenguer y Fuste, Spanish general and historian, at 79 | | | 2002 | Walter Lord, author (“Miracle at Midway”) | | 20 | 685 | King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (670-685), kia at c. 40, Nechtansmere | | | 1277 | Pope John XXI [XX] - Pedro Julião (Sept 13, 1276-May 20, 1277), at c. 62, from injuries sustained when a roof collapsed – fourth pope to die since Jan 1276 | | | 1285 | King John of Jerusalem and Cyprus | | | 1471 | King Henry VI of England (1422-61, 70-71) | | | 1506 | Christopher Columbus, in Spain at 55 | | | 1622 | Sultan Osman II of the Turks(1618-22), murdered | | | 1648 | King Wladyslaw IV Wasa of Poland | | | 1834 | The Marquis de Lafayette, American | | | 1943 | Adm. Henry A. Wiley, CINCUS, 1927-1929, “Father of the Merchant Marine Academy” | | 21 | 879 | Count Baldwin “Iron Arm” of Flanders | | | 987 | Louis V, last Carolingian King of France (966-987) | | | 1076 | Earl Waltheof, executed by William the Conqueror | | | 1118 | Pope Paschal II – Cardinal Ranierius of St. Clement’s (1099-1118) | | | 1471 | King Henry VI of England, beheaded in the Tower | | | 1481 | King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden | | | 1542 | Hernando de Soto, while searching for gold, Mississippi | | | 1650 | James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose (1612-1650), Royalist commander, hanged by the Convenanters in Edinburgh | | | 1774 | Sultan Mustapha III of Turkey (1757-74), at 56 | | | 1942 | Freiherr Robert-Georg von Malapert-Neufville, kia, Russia | | | 1988 | Dino Conte Grandi, Fascist, at 92 | | | 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minster (1984-91), assassinated | | | 1993 | John Frost, who held the "Bridge Too Far" in 1944, at 80 | | 22 | 455 | Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus (17 Mar-22 May 455), murdered by a Roman mob | | | 1336 | Count Louis III of Loon | | | 1540 | Francesco Guicciardini, historian, at 57 | | | 1667 | Pope Alexander VII - Fabio Chigi (1655-1667) | | | 1859 | King Ferdinand II "Bomba" of Naples and Sicily | | | 1885 | Victor Hugo | | | 1925 | Sir John French, inept Field Marshal | | 23 | 230 | Pope St Urban I (222-230) | | | 1002 | Otto III, King of the Germans (983-1002), Holy Roman Emperor (996-1002), at 21 | | | 1498 | Girolamo Savonarola, radical preacher, barbecued in Florence | | | 1516 | King Ferdinand II Aragon & Sicily, at 63 – widower of Isabella of Spain | | | 1524 | Shah Ismail of Persia | | | 1570 | The Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, assassinated | | | 1701 | Captain William Kidd, New Yorker, & 3 henchmen, hanged in London | | | 1881 | Kit Carson, Brevet Brig Gen, U.S. | | | 1920 | Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna, Austro-Hungarian field marshal, at 63 | | | 1945 | Heinrich Himmler, Nazi, suicide | | 24 | 1153 | King David I of Scotland (1107-1153), at c. 68 | | | 1437 | Bernardino della Carra, condottiero, Commander of 800 lances. | | | 1670 | Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici of Tuscany (1621-1670), at 59 | | | 1792 | Adm. George Brydges, Baron Rodney | | | 1861 | Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, 11th NY, shot by irate Reb James W. Jackson after pulling down a Confederate flag, Alexandria, Va | | | 1861 | James W. Jackson, shot & bayoneted by an irate Yank after shooting Elmer Elsworth | | | 1879 | William Lloyd Garrison, noted abolitionist, at 73 | | | 1896 | Conte Federico Luigi Menabrea, soldier, engineer, inventor, premier of Italy (1867–1869), at 86 | | | 1941 | Vice Adm. Lancelot Holland and c. 1,400 others, in his flagship, HMS Hood | | | 1986 | Lt Cdr Stephen D Thorne, astronaut, plane crash, at 33 | | | 1993 | Cardinal Juan Jesus Posada Ocampo and six others, murdered, Guadalajara, Mex | | | 1995 | Harold Wilson, Prime Minister (1964-70, 74-76), of cancer at 79 | | | 2004 | Alberta Martin, 97, Civil War widow | | 25 | 615 | Pope Boniface IV (608-15) | | | 946 | King Edmund the Elder of Wessex (939-46) | | | 1085 | Pope Gregory VII - Hildebrand (1073-85) | | | 1261 | Pope Alexander IV - Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni (1254-61) | | | 1968 | George von Küchler, German field marshal, at 86 | | | 1971 | Jo Etha Collier, 17, murdered by whites in Drew, Ms. | | | 1996 | Renzo de Felice, historian (“Mussolini”), at 67 | | 26 | 1402 | Giovanni I Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna, kia at Casalecchio | | | 1421 | Sultan Mehemet I of Turkey (1413-21), of apoplexy | | | 1512 | Sultan Bajezid II of Turkey | | | 1703 | Samuel Pepys, First Lord of the Admiralty, bon vivant, diarist | | | 1755 | Louis Mandrin, French bandit chieftain, broken on the wheel | | | 1818 | Michael A Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal | | | 1840 | Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, G.C.B., who bested Napoleon repeatedly | | 27 | 866 | King Ordoño I of the Asturias (850-66) | | | 927 | Tsar Simeon I “the Great” of the Bulgars (920-927), at c. 34 | | | 1039 | Count Dirk III of Holland | | | 1508 | Ludovico “il Moro” Sforza, sometime Duke of Milan (1494-1499; 1500), patron of the arts, at 55 | | | 1541 | Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Salisbury, the last Plantagenet, 67, beheaded for being Catholic & royal | | | 1569 | Francois de Coligny, French general | | | 1606 | The "False Dimitri," lynched in Moscow | | | 1610 | Francois Ravaillac, murderer of Henry IV of France, drawn and quartered | | | 1661 | Marquis Archibald Campbell of Argyll, soldier, beheaded | | | 1755 | The Comte de Loewendhall, Marshal of France | | | 1916 | Joseph Gallieni, who saved Paris at the Marne | | | 1941 | Adm Gunther Lutjens and c. 1,400 other German seamen, kia, Bismarck | | | 1951 | Australian Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey | | 28 | 1259 | King Christopher I of Denmark (1252-1259), at c. 40 | | | 1357 | King Afonso IV of Portugal (1325-57), at 66 | | | 1509 | Caterina Sforza, warrior countess, daughter and mother of condottiere, at 45 | | | 1644 | Antonio Maria Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, assassinated. | | | 1971 | Audie Murphy, air accident | | 29 | 1265 | Dante, sometime cavalryman, traveler, poet | | | 1453 | Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor, killed in the Romanus Gate at 49 | | | 1500 | Bartholomeu Diaz, explorer, drowned | | | 1546 | Cardinal Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, murdered | | | 1606 | Ranuccio Tomassoni, murdered by Caravaggio in a dispute over a tennis game | | | 1660 | Prince Gyorgy Rakoczi II of Transsylvania, kia | | | 1814 | Josephine, Empress of the French (1804-14) | | | 1866 | Bvt Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, "Old Fuss and Feathers" | | | 1944 | 2nd Lt. Allen Brown, kia, Italy; step-son of George C. Marshall | | 30 | 542 | King Arthur of the Britons, kia [Trad] | | | 1035 | Count Baldwin IV of Flanders (988-1035) | | | 1249 | King Reginald II of the Isle of Man, assassinated | | | 1252 | King St. Ferdinand III of Castilla y Leon | | | 1305 | Captain Roger de Flor & c. 200 of knights of the Catalan Company, massacred at Adrianople by Emperor Michael IX | | | 1431 | Joan of Arc, 19, burned as a witch by the English, Rouen | | | 1574 | King Charles IX of France (1560-74) | | | 1582 | Laurence Richardson, hanged, drawn, & quartered in England, for being Catholic | | | 1582 | Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam, & William Filbie hanged, drawn, & quartered in England, for being Catholic | | | 1593 | Christopher Marlowe, gentleman, playwright, spy, stabbed over a tavern bill | | | 1912 | Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneer | | | 1924 | Giacomo Matteotti, Italian Socialist, murdered by Fascists | | | 1934 | Admiral of the Fleet Togo Heihachiro, at 87 | | | 1964 | Leo Szilard, nuclear physicist, at 66 | | | 1981 | President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, assassinated by rebellious officers | | 31 | 1329 | Albertino Mussato, poet, soldier, historian, ambassador, in exile | | | 1488 | Lord Galeotto Manfredi of Faenza, Condottiero, Captain of Florence, murdered at 48 by his wife Francesca Bentivoglio | | | 1504 | Count Engelbert II of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz | | | 1740 | King Frederick-William I of Prussia (1713-1740), at 51 | | | 1806 | Michael Freiherr von Melas, inept Austrian general | | | 1916 | B1C John Tavers Cornwell, 16, HMS Chester, kia, Jutland, earning a VC | | | 1961 | President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, assassinated | | | 1962 | Adolf Eichmann, war criminal, hanged in Israel at 56 | | 92 | 1424 | Ridolgo III da Varano, Lord of Camerino (1399-1424), condottiero with 64 children, at c. 60. |
Event
| 1 | 0 | International Workers' Day | | | 0 | Law Day | | | 305 | Roman Emperor Diocletian (282-305) retires to grow cabbages at Spoletum | | | 305 | Roman Emperor Maximian (286-305) retires too, under protest | | | 1006 | Supernova in Lupus | | | 1045 | Giovanni Graziani elected Pope as Gregory VI (1045-1046; abdicated, d. 1048) | | | 1654 | Parliament imposes the Pale on Ireland: The Irish are forced west of the Shannon | | | 1703 | Battle at Pultusk: Swedes defeat the Russians & Saxons | | | 1707 | Parliament forms the United Kingdom of Great Britain | | | 1759 | British fleet captures Guadeloupe from the France | | | 1857 | Filibuster William Walker surrenders to USN, Nicaragua | | | 1861 | R.E. Lee orders T. J. Jackson to Harper's Ferry | | | 1862 | David Farragut captures New Orleans | | | 1863 | Battle of Chancellorsville beings (ends on the 4th) | | | 1863 | Confederate Congress urges the killing of captured black soldiers | | | 1863 | Grant's Vicksburg Campaign: Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi | | | 1864 | Wilderness Campaign begins | | | 1866 | Fenian armed schooner Friend takes a British ship off Canada | | | 1869 | Folies-Bergere opens in Paris, a beacon for soldiers in two world wars | | | 1898 | George Dewey says, "You may fire when ready, Mr. Gridley" | | | 1915 | German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight | | | 1917 | German torpedo plane sinks the British steamer Gena | | | 1919 | Eruption of Mount Kelud, Indonesia, c. 5,000 die | | | 1919 | U.S. anti-radical "May Day Raids" | | | 1929 | Berlin: May Day demonstrators shot by police, 19 killed & injured | | | 1931 | The Empire State Building opens | | | 1936 | Emperor Haile Selassie leaves Ethiopia as the Italians rout his army | | | 1937 | FDR signs the Second Neutrality Act | | | 1941 | German assault on Tobruk | | | 1942 | Japanese troops occupy Mandalay, Burma, and press on westwards. | | | 1943 | Wartime food rationing begins in US | | | 1944 | U.S. Navy bombards Ponape, in the Carolines. | | | 1945 | Australians land on Tarakan, Borneo. | | | 1947 | Vice Adm Roscoe Hillenkoeter becomes 1st CIA director | | | 1948 | Democratic People's Republic of [North] Korea established | | | 1954 | Puerto Rican radicals shoot up the House of Representatives, 4 injured | | | 1960 | Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane shot down over Sverdlovsk | | | 1961 | Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba | | | 1961 | First hijack of an American commercial airliner, to Cuba | | | 1962 | First French underground nuclear blast, in the Sahara | | | 1992 | Rioting in Los Angeles over the Rodney King verdict | | | 1997 | Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain | | | 2003 | GWB declares major combat operations in Iraq over | | 2 | 1399 | Pope Boniface IX proclaims a Crusade against Count Onorato I of Fondi | | | 1501 | Ermes Bentivoglio, 19, initiates a massacre of the Marescotti at Bologna | | | 1598 | Treaty of Vervins: Spanish & French make peace | | | 1645 | Battle of Mergentheim: Franz von Mercy’s Imperialists defeat Turenne’s French | | | 1668 | Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle: War of Devolution ends | | | 1703 | Portugal and England renew their ancient alliance | | | 1776 | France & Spain agree to donate arms to the American rebels | | | 1808 | Madrid rises against the French, igniting the Peninsular War | | | 1813 | Battle of Lutzen: Napoleon defeats the Russo-Prussians | | | 1848 | Battle of Chiapuzza: Italian Nationalists defeat the Austrians | | | 1863 | Stonewall Jackson wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville | | | 1885 | Leopold I of Belgium founds the "Congo Free State" | | | 1933 | Nazis prohibit trade unions in Germany | | | 1934 | Nazis institute "People's Courts" | | | 1942 | Sub Drum sinks Japanese seaplane carrier Mizuho off Honshu. | | | 1943 | Darwin, Australia, bombed by the Japanese | | | 1945 | Berlin formally surrenders to the Red Army | | | 1945 | German forces in Italy surrender | | | 1945 | Hungary's Crown of St. Stephen is entrusted to the U.S. Army | | | 1945 | Queen Wilhemina returns to The Netherlands after five years in exile | | | 1953 | Hussein I installed as King of Jordan (1953-1999) | | | 1964 | Aircraft Transport Card sunk by Viet Cong UDT at Saigon | | | 1982 | Falklands War: sub HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine CL Belgrano, c. 300 die | | 3 | 0 | World “Freedom of the Press” Day | | | 326 | St. Helena, Constantine’s mother, finds the True Cross | | | 996 | Consecration of Pope Gregory V (996-999), first German pope | | | 1294 | John II becomes Duke of Brabant and Limburg | | | 1342 | Count Hartmann II becomes ruler of Vaduz, in Liechtenstein | | | 1382 | Battle of Beverhoudsveld: Ghent defeats Bruges, using firearms | | | 1515 | Portuguese fleet captures Hormuz, Persia | | | 1568 | The French burn the Spanish fort at San Mateo, Florida | | | 1616 | Treaty of Loudun: ends Second League of Princes rebellion against Louis XIII (1615-1616) | | | 1622 | Portguese-held Hormuz, besieged since 18 Feb, surrenders to an Anglo-Persian force | | | 1678 | French fleet attacks Dutch Curacao, 1200 die | | | 1800 | Second Battle of Stockach: French defeat the Austrians | | | 1808 | The Russians capture Sveaborg from the Swedes | | | 1809 | Battle of Ebelsberg: French defeat the Austrians | | | 1810 | Lord Byron swims the Hellespont | | | 1811 | Five day Battle of the Fuentes de Onoro begins: Wellington defeats the French | | | 1814 | Napoleon arrives on Elba | | | 1815 | Battle of Tolentino: Austrians defeat King Joachim Murat of Naples | | | 1846 | Mexican army invades Texas | | | 1861 | Lincoln orders expansion of Army by 23,000 and Navy by 18,000 | | | 1861 | USS Surprise captures Confederate privateer Savannah | | | 1861 | Winfield Scott proposes the "Anaconda Plan" | | | 1863 | Battle of Salem Church, VA | | | 1898 | Marines raise Old Glory over Cavite, the Philippines | | | 1919 | Third Anglo-Afghan War begins | | | 1936 | French Popular Front wins elections | | | 1938 | Vatican recognizes Franco’s government in Spain | | | 1942 | Nazis require Dutch Jews to wear a Star of David | | | 1942 | Solomon Is.: Japanese troops occupy Tulagi, Gavutu, & Tanambogo | | | 1943 | US 1st Armored Div captures Mateur, Tunisia | | | 1944 | Allied aircraft begin mining waters off Rangoon and Bangkok | | | 1944 | Meat rationing ends in US | | | 1945 | Allies arrest German nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg | | | 1945 | British troops liberate Rangoon | | | 1945 | Polish 1st Armored Brigade captures Wilhelmshafen | | | 1945 | RAF sinks several German prison-ships in Lubeck Bay, c. 7,500 die | | | 1946 | Military Tribunal in Tokyo begins war crimes trials | | | 1949 | First firing of a US Viking rocket, to 80 km | | | 1982 | Falklands War: Argentine exocet sinks HMS Sheffield | | | 1983 | US Catholic bishops condemn nuclear weapons | | 4 | 0 | Feast of St. Florian, Patron of Poland and of Firemen | | | 1471 | Battle of Tewksbury: Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians, making Edward IV King of England | | | 1481 | Neapolitans liberate Otranto from the Ottomans | | | 1493 | Pope Alexander VI divides America between Spain & Portugal | | | 1540 | Treaty of Constantinople, between Venice and Turkey | | | 1626 | Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from the Indians, for a lot more than $24 | | | 1652 | Battle of Etampes: Turenne’s French Royal Army defeats the Fronde rebels | | | 1799 | English capture Seringapatam. | | | 1814 | Bourbon Restoration in France; Louis XVIII "the Unavoidable" becomes king | | | 1858 | Mexican War of Reform begins: Juaristas establish capital at Vera Cruz | | | 1863 | Battle of Chancellorsville: Army of the Potomac withdraws | | | 1864 | U. S. Grant crosses the Rapidan to begin the Overland Campaign | | | 1865 | Battle of Citronville, Al; Richard Taylor surrenders | | | 1865 | Battle of Mobile, Al | | | 1865 | Lincoln is laid to rest in Springfield, Ill | | | 1886 | Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen | | | 1891 | Sherlock Holmes falsely reported dead at Reichenbach Falls | | | 1898 | U.S. landing party skirmishes with Spanish troops at Guanoy, Philippines | | | 1912 | Italians capture Rhodes from the Turks | | | 1916 | Germany abandons unrestricted submarine warfare, at “request” of the US | | | 1917 | "The Mayflower Returns" - US DDs reach Ireland, to join the U-Boat war | | | 1917 | Arab rioters sack the Jewish settlement of Tel Aviv | | | 1942 | Corregidor subject to an intense artillery and aerial bombardment. | | | 1942 | CV Yorktown raids Japanese at Tulagi, damaging a destroyer. | | | 1945 | British ships bombard Japanese in the Sakishimas, off Okinawa. | | | 1945 | German troops in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway surrender | | | 1946 | US Marines recapture Alcatraz from rioting prisoners | | | 1970 | Ohio National Guard kills four students at Kent State | | 5 | 614 | The Persians take Jerusalem with great slaughter, & capture the True Cross | | | 1010 | Battle of Ringmere: The Danes defeat Ulfkell Snilling of Norfolk | | | 1405 | Battle of Pwllmelyn: English defeat Owen Glendower’s Welch | | | 1430 | Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany | | | 1576 | Peace of Beaulieu: restores the government of Picardy to the Protestant Prince de Condé | | | 1646 | King Charles I surrenders in Scotland | | | 1789 | French King Louis XVI calls the Etats-Generaux | | | 1789 | Louis XVI convenes the Estates General, for the first time since 1614 | | | 1797 | Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister, marries Felix Bacciochi | | | 1809 | Canton Aargau, Switzerland, denies citizenship to Jews | | | 1814 | British attack Ft Ontario, Oswego, NY | | | 1833 | Turks cede Crete and Syria to Mehemet Ali of Egypt | | | 1860 | Garibaldi and the Thousand sail from Quarto for Sicily | | | 1861 | Confederate troops abandon Alexandria, Va. | | | 1862 | Cinco de Mayo: Mexicans defeat the French at Puebla | | | 1862 | Peninsular Campaign: Battle of Williamsburg, VA | | | 1863 | Battle of Tupelo, MS | | | 1864 | Battle of Wilderness: Germanna Ford/Wilderness Tavern | | | 1866 | Guano War: Spanish fleet bombards Callao, Peru | | | 1908 | The Great White Fleet reaches San Francisco | | | 1920 | Polish troops capture Kiev | | | 1940 | Norwegians form a government-in-exile in London | | | 1941 | Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa | | | 1942 | British land at Diego Suarez, Vichyite naval base in Madagascar. | | | 1942 | Burma: British forces evacuate Akyab. | | | 1942 | Philippines: Japanese troops land on Corregidor | | | 1942 | Southwest Pacific: Japanese CVs Zuikaku & Shokaku enter the Solomons Sea, as US CVs Yorktown and Lexington rendezvous in the Coral Sea | | | 1942 | US begins rationing sugar during WW II | | | 1944 | British release Mahatma Ghandi, imprisoned since August 1942 | | | 1945 | Okinawa: 131 Kamikaze sink 17 ships | | | 1945 | Oregon: Japanese balloon bomb kills a pregnant woman and five children | | | 1952 | Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny" wins the Pulitzer Prize | | | 1954 | Paraguay: Military coup by General Alfredo Stroessner | | | 1961 | Alan Shepard makes a suborbital flight on Freedom 7 | | | 1964 | Separatist riot in Québec | | | 1965 | First large US ground units arrive in South Vietnam | | | 1985 | At the Bitburg military cemetery, President Reagan & Chancellor Kohl lay a wreath at the base of a brick tower marking the graves of nearly 2,000 German soldiers | | 6 | 1249 | Reginald II becomes King of the Isle of Man | | | 1333 | The Ambush of San Cesario: Stefano Colonna (20) slaughters the Orsini & Savelli, a deed celebrated by Petrarch | | | 1456 | The Oddi & Corgna families attempt a coup against the Baglioni at Perugia | | | 1527 | Charles V's Spanish and German troops begin the "Sack of Rome" | | | 1529 | Battle of Ghagra: Babur defeats the Sultan of Bengal | | | 1622 | Battle of Wimpfen: Imperial troops under Tilly & Cordoba defeat George Frederick of Baden-Durlach | | | 1757 | Battle of Prague: Frederick the Great defeats the Austrians | | | 1794 | Toussaint L'Ouverture begins the Haitian Revolution against France | | | 1848 | Battle of Santa Lucia: Austrians defeat the Piedmontese | | | 1861 | Arkansas is the 9th state to secede from the Union | | | 1864 | Battle of Port Walthall Junction, VA | | | 1864 | Cherokee Stand Watie becomes a Confederate brigadier general | | | 1864 | The Wilderness: James Longstreet is wounded by friendly fire during a counterattack | | | 1889 | Dedicaiton of the Eiffel Tower | | | 1898 | US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire at Havana & Santiago | | | 1910 | King George V ascends the British throne | | | 1915 | Gallipoli: Allies attack Cape Hellas | | | 1916 | Belgians capture Kigali, German East-Africa | | | 1919 | The 77th Division marches home up Fifth Avenue | | | 1933 | Italo-Soviet trade agreement: Fascists and Communists united | | | 1937 | Hindenburg disaster, Lakehurst, NJ, 36 die | | | 1941 | Bob Hope’s first USO show, March Field, California | | | 1942 | Corregidor and the Philippines surrender to the Japanese | | | 1945 | Axis Sally makes her last broadcast | | | 1945 | German troops in the Netherlands surrender to the Allies | | | 1948 | Greek government executes 43 communist rebels at Athens | | | 1955 | West Germany joins NATO | | | 1962 | SSBN Ethan Allen fires first nuclear warhead from a submerged submarine | | 7 | 431 | BC Peloponessian War begins [Alt] | | | 878 | Battle of Ethandune: Alfred the Great defeats the Danes | | | 1342 | Pierre Roger elected Pope as Clement VI (1342-1352) | | | 1355 | Massacre of 1,200 Jews at Toledo | | | 1429 | Joan of Arc breaks the English siege of Orleans | | | 1592 | Battle of Yvetot: Spanish defeat the French | | | 1682 | HM Frigate Gloucester wrecked off the English coast, with heavy loss of life | | | 1727 | Tsarina Catherine I of Rus |
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