Events

• 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
• 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
• 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
• 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
• 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
• 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation.
  • Francisco de Goya later memorialises this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
• 1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
• 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitring during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
  • He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
• 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
• 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.
• 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
• 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
• 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
• 1941 – Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
• 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.
• 1945 – World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.
• 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1,000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
• 1945 – World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the US Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon.
  • Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship’s hull.
  • She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
• 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
• 1989 – Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
• 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
• 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
• Anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising (Community of Madrid, Spain).

People (Births)

• 1567 – Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (d. 1603).
• 1579 – Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shōgun (d. 1632).
• 1750 – John André, English soldier and spy (d. 1780).
• 1882 – Isabel González, Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans’ American citizenship (d. 1971).
• 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918).
• 1901 – Edouard Zeckendorf, Belgian doctor, army officer and mathematician (d. 1983).
• 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, paediatrician, and author (d. 1998).
• 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1943).
• 1917 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2002).
• 1920 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, soldier, and pilot (d. 2004).
• 1924 – Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan (d. 2018).
• 1971 – Fatima Yusuf, Nigerian sprinter.
• 1977 – Jan Fitschen, German runner.
• 1982 – Timothy Benjamin, Welsh sprinter.
• 1993 – Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist.
• 1996 – Schuyler Bailar, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 821 – Liu Zong, general of the Tang Dynasty.
• 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (b. 1396).
• 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast (b. 1762).
• 1929 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879).
• 1947 – Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920).
• 1969 – Franz von Papen, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879).
• 1974 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (b. 1878).
• 1993 – André Moynet, French race car driver, military pilot, and politician (b. 1921).
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (b. 1957).
• 2015 – Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (b. 1915).