Events

• 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England – part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
• 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
• 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
• 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.
• 1654 – Cromwell’s Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.
• 1672 – In preparation for the Franco-Dutch War, Louis XIV of France personally inspects his troops at Charleroi in one of the most magnificent displays of military power in the seventeenth century.
• 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
• 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.
• 1811 – Peninsular War: In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, the British-Portuguese Army repels an attempt by the French Army of Portugal to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.
• 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
• 1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.
• 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy.
• 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate District of the Gulf surrenders about 4,000 men at Citronelle, Alabama.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.
• 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
• 1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
• 1886 – The Bay View massacre: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven.
• 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.
• 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• 1940 – World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London.
• 1940 – World War II: Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.
• 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots’ Victory Day.
• 1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath becomes effective, encompassing all German armed forces opposing the 21st Army Group in northwestern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
• 1945 – World War II: Dönitz gives Löhr permission to seek an armistice with the Western Allies to preserve a communist free Austria and recognising first, from a German standpoint, the separation of Austria from Germany undoing the Anschluss.
• 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.
• 1945 – World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.
• 1945 – World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, the only battle in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.
• 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• 1955 – The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognise the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.
• 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
• 1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
• 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America.
• 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• 1998 – A Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 operating for Occidental Petroleum crashes on approach to Alférez FAP Alfredo Vladimir Sara Bauer Airport in Andoas, Peru, killing 75 people.
• 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
• Cinco de Mayo (Mexico, United States); refer to Battle of Puebla (1862).
• Liberation Day (Denmark, Netherlands).

People (Births)

• 1542 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (d. 1623).
• 1764 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (d. 1812).
• 1883 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English general and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (d. 1950).
• 1887 – Mervyn S. Bennion, American captain, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1941).
• 1889 – Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer and soldier (d. 1973).
• 1919 – Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1999).
• 1925 – Leo Ryan, American soldier, educator, and politician (d. 1978).
• 1934 – Victor Garland, Australian accountant and politician, 26th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs.
• 1946 – Jim Kelly, American actor, athlete, and martial artist.
• 1948 – Bella van der Spiegel-Hage, Dutch cyclist.
• 1956 – Steve Scott, American runner and coach.
• 1958 – Ron Arad, Israeli colonel and pilot (d. 1986).
• 1972 – James Cracknell, English rower.
• 1975 – Meb Keflezighi, American runner.
• 1982 – Wouter D’Haene, Belgian sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 1306 – Constantine Palaiologos, Byzantine general (b. 1261).
• 1671 – Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English general and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom (b. 1602).
• 1821 – Napoleon, French general and emperor (b. 1769).
• 1907 – Şeker Ahmed Pasha, Turkish soldier and painter (b. 1841).
• 1981 – Bobby Sands, PIRA volunteer and hunger striker (b. 1954).
• 1985 – Donald Bailey, English engineer, designed the Bailey bridge (b. 1901).
• 2000 – Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (b. 1914).
• 2002 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, 62nd President of Bolivia (b. 1926).
• 2003 – Sam Bockarie, Sierra Leonean commander (b. 1964).
• 2007 – Theodore Harold Maiman, American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (b. 1927).
• 2011 – Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (b. 1901).