May 15Birthdays & History

On this day: May 15 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 221Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.Asia
2. 392Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.Europe
3. 589King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.Europe
4. 756Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Arab dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries, becomes emir of Cordova, Spain.Middle EastEurope
5. 908Constantine VII is crowned Byzantine co-emperor.Europe
6. 1194Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.Middle East
7. 1252Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.Europe
8. 1525Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer are defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.Europe
9. 1532The English church submits to the king of England in passing a convocation in which it surrenders a number of rights, such as to make provincial ecclesiastic laws independently of the king.Europe
10. 1536Anne 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.Europe
11. 1567The wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Bothwell, the chief instigator of the murder of her previous husband Lord Darnley, takes place.Europe
12. 1571Venice, Spain, Naples, the Papal States, and other Italian states establish the Holy League to fight the Ottomans, resulting in the victory at Lepanto later that year.Europe
13. 1602Cape Cod is sighted by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.Europe
14. 1648The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.Europe
15. 1725Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.Europe
16. 1791French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.Europe
17. 1836Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.Europe
18. 1849The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.Europe
19. 1850The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.EuropeLatin America
20. 1851The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.Oceania
21. 1864American 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.North America
22. 1891Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.Europe
23. 1911More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.AsiaLatin America
24. 1911In 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.North America
25. 1916A seventeen-year-old farmworker, Jesse Washington, is lynched in Waco, Texas, USA, after being convicted of rape and murder.North America
26. 1918The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.Europe
27. 1919Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.EuropeMiddle East
28. 1919The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.North America
29. 1929A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.North America
30. 1932In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan, Inukai Tsuyoshi, is assassinated.Asia
31. 1933All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.Europe
32. 1934A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima.Europe
33. 1940World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.Europe
34. 1940Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.North America
35. 1940USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.North America
36. 1941First flight of the Gloster E.28/39, the first British and Allied jet aircraft.Europe
37. 1942World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.North America
38. 1943Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).Europe
39. 1945World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe, is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.Europe
40. 1948Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel, thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.EuropeMiddle East
41. 1957At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.Europe
42. 1963Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.North America
43. 1970President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.North America
44. 1972The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since their conquest in 1945, revert to Japanese control.AsiaNorth America
45. 1974Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.Middle East
46. 1976Aeroflot Flight 1802 crashes near Viktorivka, Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, killing 52.Europe
47. 1988Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.EuropeAsia
48. 1991Édith Cresson becomes France's first female Prime Minister.Europe
49. 1997The 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.North AmericaAsia
50. 1997The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-84 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.Europe
51. 2001A CSX EMD SD40-2 8888 rolls out of a train yard in Walbridge, Ohio, with 47 freight cars, including some tank cars with flammable chemical, after its engineer fails to reboard it after setting a yard switch. It travels south driverless for 66 miles (106 km) until it is brought to a halt near Kenton. The incident became the inspiration for the 2010 film Unstoppable.North America
52. 2004Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C. with the right to claim the title "The Invincibles".Europe
53. 2008California 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.North America
54. 2010Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.Oceania
55. 2013An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.Middle East
56. 2024Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is shot and critically injured while meeting with supporters at an event in Handlová.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "May 15" / CC BY-SA 4.0