May 7Birthdays & History

On this day: May 7 in history

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

1. 351The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.Middle East
2. 558In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.Middle East
3. 1104The Seljuk emirs of Mosul and Mardin defeat the Crusader States of Antioch and Edessa.Middle East
4. 1190The Crusader army of emperor Frederick Barbarossa defeats an army of the Rum Seljuks in the battle of Philomelion.Middle East
5. 1274In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens; it ratified a decree to regulate the election of the Pope.Europe
6. 1342In Avignon, France, Cardinal Pierre Roger is elected Pope and takes the name Clement VI.Europe
7. 1487The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.Europe
8. 1544The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.Europe
9. 1625State funeral of James VI and I (1566–1625) is held at Westminster Abbey.Europe
10. 1664Inaugural celebrations begin at Louis XIV's new Palace of Versailles.Europe
11. 1685Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.Middle East
12. 1697Stockholm's medieval castle Tre Kronor is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.Europe
13. 1718The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.North America
14. 1763Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.North AmericaEurope
15. 1765HMS Victory is launched at Chatham Dockyard, Kent. She is not commissioned until 1778.Europe
16. 1775The Ottoman Empire cedes Bukovina to the Habsburg monarchy.Middle EastEurope
17. 1794French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.Europe
18. 1798French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Îles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses.Europe
19. 1824World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.Europe
20. 1832Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.Europe
21. 1840The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.North America
22. 1864The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.OceaniaEurope
23. 1864American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.North America
24. 1895In 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.Europe
25. 1915World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,199 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.EuropeNorth America
26. 1915The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.AsiaAsia
27. 1920Polish–Soviet War: Kyiv offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.Europe
28. 1920Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.Europe
29. 1930The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed.Middle East
30. 1931The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.North America
31. 1937Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.Europe
32. 1940World War II: 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.Europe
33. 1942World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.North AmericaAsia
34. 1945World War II: Last German U-boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland.Europe
35. 1946Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded.Asia
36. 1948The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.EuropeNorth America
37. 1952The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.Europe
38. 1954Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).Europe
39. 1960Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.EuropeNorth America
40. 1964Pacific Airlines Flight 773 is hijacked by Francisco Gonzales and crashes in Contra Costa County, California, killing 44.North America
41. 1986Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.North America
42. 1991A fire and explosion occurs at a fireworks factory at Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, killing 26.Asia
43. 1992Michigan 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.North America
44. 1992Three 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.OceaniaNorth America
45. 1992Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.North America
46. 1994Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.Europe
47. 1998Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.North America
48. 1999Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.AsiaEurope
49. 1999In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.Africa
50. 1999Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.Europe
51. 2000Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.Europe
52. 2002A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.Asia
53. 2002An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.Africa
54. 2004American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamist militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.North America
55. 2023Tanur boat disaster: At least 22 people are killed when a boat carrying tourists capsizes in Tanur, Malappuram, Kerala, India.Asia
56. 2025The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force conduct surgical strikes code-named Operation SINDOOR on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam Attack that killed 26 people.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "May 7" / CC BY-SA 4.0