May 6Birthdays & History

On this day: May 6 in history

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

1. 1104King Baldwin I of Jerusalem begins the siege of Acre, then held by the Fatimids.Middle East
2. 1527Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.Europe
3. 1536The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.Latin AmericaEurope
4. 1541King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.Europe
5. 1542Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.EuropeAsia
6. 1594The Dutch city of Coevorden, held by the Spanish, falls to a Dutch and English force.Europe
7. 1659English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.Europe
8. 1682Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.Europe
9. 1757English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.Europe
10. 1757The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757).Asia
11. 1757Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.Europe
12. 1782Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.Asia
13. 1801Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.Europe
14. 1835James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.North America
15. 1840The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Europe
16. 1857The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.AsiaEurope
17. 1861American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.North America
18. 1863American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with a major defeat of the Union's Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee.North America
19. 1877Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.North America
20. 1882Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.Europe
21. 1882The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.North AmericaAsia
22. 1889The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.Europe
23. 1901The first issue of Gorkhapatra, the oldest still running state-owned Nepali newspaper, is published.Asia
24. 1906The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).Europe
25. 1910George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.Europe
26. 1915Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.North America
27. 1915Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: The SY Aurora breaks loose from its anchorage during a gale, beginning a 312-day ordeal.World
28. 1916Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.Middle East
29. 1916Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.AsiaEurope
30. 1933The Deutsche Studentenschaft attack Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.Europe
31. 1935New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.North America
32. 1937Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.EuropeNorth America
33. 1940John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.North America
34. 1941The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.North America
35. 1941At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.North America
36. 1942World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.North AmericaAsiaAsia
37. 1945World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.Europe
38. 1945World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.Europe
39. 1949EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.Europe
40. 1954Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.Europe
41. 1960More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.Europe
42. 1966Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.Europe
43. 1972Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.Middle East
44. 1975During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide.Middle EastEurope
45. 1976The 6.5 Mw Friuli earthquake affects Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured.Europe
46. 1983The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.Europe
47. 1984One hundred and three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.AsiaEurope
48. 1988All thirty-six passengers and crew are killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashes into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.Europe
49. 1994Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.Europe
50. 1996The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.North America
51. 1997The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.Europe
52. 1998Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.North America
53. 1998Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.North America
54. 1999The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.Europe
55. 2001During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.Middle EastEurope
56. 2002Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.Europe
57. 2004The final episode of the television sitcom Friends is aired.North America
58. 2010In just 36 minutes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges nearly 1,000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.North America
59. 2013Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.North America
60. 2023Eight people are killed and seven injured in a mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The perpetrator is killed by a police officer.North America
61. 2023The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "May 6" / CC BY-SA 4.0