May
- Union of England and Scotland as Great Britain, 1707.
Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India, 1877. - Leonardo da Vinci died, 1519.
Catherine the Great born, 1729. - Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister, 1979.
- Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471.
Four students killed by U.S. National Guard at anti-war protest on Kent State University campus in Ohio, 1970. - Estates General meet in France, 1789.
Napoleon Bonaparte died on St. Helena, 1821 - Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from Indians, 1626.
Explosion of the Hindenburg, 1937. - Johannes Brahms born, 1833.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky born, 1840.
German submarine torpedoes the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, 1915. - Joan of Arc liberates Orleans and forces English to retreat, 1429.
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, 1541. - World War II ends in Europe, 1945.
Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die," the first newspaper cartoon is published, 1754. - Treaty of Frankfurt ends Franco-Prussian War, 1871.
Winston Churchill becomes prime minister, 1940. - Constantinople dedicated as capital of Roman Empire, 330.
Battle of Fontenoy, 1745. - Florence Nightengale born, 1820.
- First permanent English settlement at Jamestown, 1607.
Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, born, 1717. - Henry IV of France assassinated, 1610.
State of Israel proclaimed, 1948. - Anne Boleyn beheaded, 1536.
Pierre Curie born, 1859. - James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson, 1763.
Battle of Albuera, 1811. - Florentine revolt against the Medici, 1527.
- Marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane, 1152.
Walter Gropius, architect, born, 1883. - Order of the Legion of Honor created, 1802.
Malcolm X Birthday, 1925. - Magdeburg sacked, 1631.
First American hydrogen bomb dropped over Bikini atoll, 1956. - Charles Lindbergh completes first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic, 1927.
- Battle of St. Albans begins War of the Roses, 1455.
Richard Wagner born, 1813. - Girolama Savonarola burned at the stake, 1498.
"Defenestration" of Prague begins. Thirty Years' War, 1618. - Queen Victoria born, 1819.
Samuel Morse sends first message on U.S. telegraph line, 1844. - Lord Beaverbrook born, 1879.
- Edict of Worms outlawing Luther and his followers, 1521.
King Charles II lands at Dover, 1660. - Vasco da Gama reaches Calcutta, 1498.
Habeas Corpus Act becomes law, 1679. - Neville Chamberlain becomes prime minister, 1937.
- Charles II of England born, 1630.
John F. Kennedy born, 1917.
Sir Edmund Hillary reaches top of Mt. Everest, 1953. - Jeanne of Arc, burned at the stake at Rouen, 1431.
- Adolf Eichmann hanged in Israel, 1962.
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