- 1091 Battle at Monte Levunium: Byzantium Emperor Alexius I beats Petshegene force invading from the north
Historic Siege
1429 Joan of Arc arrives at the siege of Orleans
Historic Event
1587 English naval officer Francis Drake sails into Cadiz, Spain and sinks the Spanish fleet, thereby "Singeing the King of Spain's Beard" and delaying the Spanish invasion by a year
Historic Siege
1636 Prince Frederick Henry occupies Schenkenschans fortress after a nine-month siege during the Dutch Revolt
Gregory Conquers Julius Caesar
1701 Drenthe, Netherlands, adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is May 12, 1701
Historic Event
1715 English Astronomer John Flamsteed observes Uranus for 6th time
- 1751 The New York Gazette and Post Boy carries first public report of a cricket match played in America; New York XI v London XI on the site of what is today the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan, NYC
Historic Invention
1769 Scottish engineer James Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser enrolled (Patent 913)
Historic Expedition
1834 Charles Darwin's expedition sees the top of the Andes Mountains from Patagonia
- 1845 Macon B. Allen & Robert Morris Jr are 1st African Americans to open a law practice in the US
- 1853 Comet C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) approaches within 0.0839 AUs of Earth
- 1854 Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, receives its charter from Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, making it the 1st degree-granting Black college in US
- 1857 US Army, Pacific Div HQ permanently forms at Presidio (San Francisco)
- 1861 Maryland's House of Delegates votes against seceding from Union (US Civil War)
- 1862 100,000 federal troops prepare to march into Corinth, Mississippi
- 1862 New Orleans falls to Union forces during US Civil War
- 1863 Battle of Grand Gulf, Mississippi: Union navy ironclad warships attack Confederate fortifications
- 1864 -30] Skirmish at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas
- 1864 The Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York
Battle of Gate Pā
1864 Battle of Gate Pa (Pukehinahina): 1,700 British troops suffer their worst defeat of the New Zealand Wars at the hands of 230 entrenched Maori warriors in Tauranga
Historic Event
1882 The "Elektromote" - forerunner of the trolleybus - is tested by Werner von Siemens in Berlin
- 1886 1st public Dutch electricity service begins
Meeting of Interest
1888 Old Kavallison, Congo: Henry Morton Stanley meets Emin Pasha
- 1892 Charlie Reilly is baseball's 1st pinch hitter
- 1894 The 500-strong Commonwealth of Christ (Coxey's Army) arrives in Washington, D.C., to protest against unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol
- 1901 27th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on His Eminence wins in 2:07.75
- 1901 Antisemitic riot in Budapest
- 1902 Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act (of 1882) prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers from territories to the mainland, a rule clearly aimed at Chinese in the Philippines
- 1903 Limestone slides at Turtle Mountain kill 9 in Frank, Alberta
- 1905 2" rain falls in 10 mins in Taylor, Texas
- 1905 Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza lands in Libreville, Gabon
Historic Event
1910 Ex-US President Theodore Roosevelt visits Amsterdam
- 1912 108°F (42°C), Tuguegarao, Philippines (Oceania record)
Theater Premiere
1912 Frank Wedekind's play "Tod und Teufel" premieres in Berlin
Easter Proclamation of 1916
1916 Irish republicans abandon the post office in Dublin and surrender unconditionally, marking the end of the Easter Rising
Sports History
1918 Tris Speaker ties career outfield record of 4 unassisted double plays
- 1920 Duke Kahanamoku wins his 2nd gold medal of the day in the winning American 4 x 200m freestyle relay team with Perry McGillivray, Pua Kealoha and Norman Ross in world record 10:04.4
- 1922 1st official International Weightlifting Federation Champ in Tallinn, Estonia
- 1926 France and US reach accord on repayment of WW I
- 1927 Construction of Spirit of St Louis (the monoplane which Charles Lindburgh was to fly across the Atlantic) is completed
- 1930 123 runs are scored in 7 major league games
- 1930 North Sea floodgate at Ijmuiden (biggest in world) officially opens
- 1930 Telephone connection Britain-Australia goes into service
- 1931 Cleveland Indians pitcher Wes Ferrell no-hits St Louis Browns, 9-0
- 1932 1st broadcast of "One Man's Family" on NBC radio, longest-running dramatic serial on US radio (ends 1959)
- 1934 Pittsburgh is last major league city to play a home game on a Sunday
- 1936 1st pro baseball game in Japan is played Nagoya defeats Daitokyo, 8-5
- 1937 Symbolic 'Golden Rivet', completing the Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, is driven (later replaced with a more structurally sound steel version)
- 1939 Whitestone Bridge connecting the New York boroughs of Bronx and Queens opens
- 1940 1st radio broadcast of "Young Dr Malone" on CBS
- 1940 Norwegian King Haakon & government flee to Britain
- 1940 Robert Sherwood's play "There Shall be No Night" premieres in NYC
- 1942 Japanese troop march into Lashio, cutting off Burma Road
- 1942 Jews forced to wear a Jewish Star in Netherlands & Vichy-France
- 1943 German pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrested by the Gestapo
Theater Premiere
1943 Noël Coward's comic play "Present Laughter" premieres in London
- 1943 US 34th Division occupies Hill 609, North Tunisia
- 1944 Raid by Dutch Resistance on the National Printing Office in The Hague to procure 10,000 Dutch identity cards.
- 1945 First food drop by RAF above Nazi-occupied Holland (Operation Manna)
- 1945 Japanese army evacuates Rangoon, British Burma
- 1945 German armies in Italy sign an unconditional surrender to the Western Allies to be carried out on 2 May
- 1945 US Army liberates 31,601 people from the Dachau Nazi concentration camp in Germany
- 1945 Venice and Mestre captured by the Allies
- 1945 Conscientious objector Desmond Doss saves approximately 75 wounded soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa at Hacksaw Ridge. Later depicted in the Oscar-winning film "Hacksaw Ridge".
- 1946 28 former Japanese leaders indicted in Tokyo as war criminals
- 1951 China seizes the assets of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, a joint venture between the Shell and Royal Dutch oil companies in retaliation for the Hong Kong Government's requisitioning of the tanker Yung Hao
- 1953 Milwaukee Braves' Joe Adcock is 1st to homer into Polo Grounds center field bleachers
- 1953 The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV
- 1953 6th Cannes Film Festival: "The Wages of Fear" directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- 1955 Giovanni Gronchi elected third President of Italy
- 1956 WLUC TV channel 6 in Marquette, MI (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1956 WSPA TV channel 7 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1956 WWBT TV channel 12 in Richmond, VA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 1st military nuclear power plant dedicated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia
- 1961 ABC's "Wide World of Sports" debuts
- 1962 16th Tony Awards: "A Man For All Seasons" & "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" win
Golf Tournament
1963 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Marilynn Smith beats Mickey Wright by 1 shot in 18-hole playoff
Music Single
1967 Aretha Franklin releases her single "Respect" (written by Otis Redding); Billboard Song of the Year, 1967
- 1968 "Hair" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 1750 performances
- 1969 "Trumpets of the Lord" opens at Brooks Atkinson NYC for 7 performances
- 1970 US and South Vietnamese forces launch an incursion into Cambodia, expanding the Vietnam War
- 1971 Boeing receives contract for Mariner 10, Mercury exploration
- 1971 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Historic Event
1974 US President Richard Nixon said he will release edited tapes made in the White House
- 1975 Ethiopia nationalizes all land
The Fall of Saigon
1975 Vietnam War: US begins to evacuate its citizens from Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind in response to advancing North Vietnamese forces, bringing an end to US involvement in the war
- 1975 Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge are the last two United States servicemen killed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War
- 1976 Minister Irene Vorrink begins fluoridating Dutch drinking water
- 1977 British Aerospace forms
- 1980 Corazones Unidos Siempre Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. is founded
- 1980 NFL Draft: Oklahoma running back Billy Sims first pick by Detroit Lions
Baseball Record
1981 Phillie Steve Carlton is 1st lefty to strike out 3,000 batters
- 1981 NFL Draft: South Carolina running back George Rogers first pick by New Orleans Saints
Music Awards
1982 17th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama, Merle Haggard, and Barbara Mandrell win
- 1982 Alfredo Magana elected President of El Salvador
Murder of Interest
1982 American mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski murders pharmacist Paul Hoffman by beating him with a tire iron
- 1983 Harold Washington sworn in as Chicago's 1st African American mayor
- 1984 "Oliver!" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 17 performances
- 1985 17th space shuttle mission (51-B)-Challenger 7 launched
- 1985 Ranger Larry Parrish is 5th to hit 3 HRs in a game in both leagues
- 1985 Tony Tubbs beats defending champion Greg Page by unanimous decision in 15 rounds at Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo for WBA heavyweight boxing title
Sports History
1985 New York Yankees fire manager Yogi Berra 16 games into season, despite assurance from owner George Steinbrenner that he would be kept for the whole season. Billy Martin named as replacement.
- 1986 800,000 books destroyed by fire in Los Angeles Central Library
Baseball Record
1986 Boston Red Sox Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners
Sports History
1986 NFL Draft: Auburn running back Bo Jackson first pick by Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sports History
1987 Chicago Cub Andre Dawson hits for cycle
- 1987 Japan's premier Nakasone visits the US
- 1988 Orioles beat White Sox 9-0 for 1st 1988 win after 21 loses
- 1988 Baltimore Orioles end their record 21-game losing streak by beating the White Sox 9-0
- 1989 2nd government of Lubbers falls in the Netherlands
- 1990 "Change in the Heir" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 16 performances
- 1990 Dan Quisenberry (all-time AL save king, 238) announces his retirement
- 1990 Wrecking cranes began tearing down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate
- 1990 US 66th manned space mission STS 31 (Discovery 10) returns from space
- 1991 "Our Country's Good" opens at Nederlander Theater NYC for 48 performances
- 1991 Cyclone strikes the Chittagong district in Bangladesh, killing 139,000 people and leaving 10 million homeless
- 1991 Earthquake in Georgia, kills 100
- 1991 "Don't Rock the Jukebox" single released by Alan Jackson (ASCAP Award Country Song of the Year, 1992; Billboard Song of the Year, 1991)
- 1992 William Finn and James Lapine's musical "Falsettos" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 487 performances
Music Awards
1992 27th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire win
- 1992 Country singer Doug Stone, 35, undergoes quadruple bypass surgery
Rodney King Riots
1992 Jury acquits Los Angeles Police Department officers on charges of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King; the decision sparks massive riots in the city
- 1992 Sheena Easton collapses on stage while performing in "Man of LaMancha"
- 1992 Voting ends on choice of Elvis stamps
- 1994 Last day of voting in 1st multi-racial elections in South Africa
- 1994 Ferry boat smashes into Mombasa Harbor Kenya, kills over 300
- 1994 Israel & PLO sign economic accord
- 1995 Final TV broadcast of "Empty Nest" on NBC TV
- 1995 KC Royal John Nonely is 70th to HR on his 1st at bat
- 1995 Longest sausage ever, at 28.77 miles, made in Kitchener, Ontario
Film Release
1996 "Rent", starring Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs, opens at Nederlander Theater NYC
- 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Fresno CA on KFRR 104.1 FM
- 1997 "Candide" opens at Gershwin Theater NYC for 103 performances
- 1997 KC Royal Chili Davis is 75th to hit 300 HRs
- 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 comes into force, outlaws production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons among its signatories
- 1997 50th British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAS): "The English Patient" Best Film, Joel & Ethan Coen Best Director
- 1997 43rd British Academy Television Awards: "Only Fools and Horses" Best Comedy, "EastEnders" Best Drama
- 1999 Avala TV Tower near Belgrade is destroyed in NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
- 2002 The United States is re-elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, one year after losing the seat it had held for 50 years
9/11 Attack on New York's World Trade Towers
2004 Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office
- 2004 Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production
- 2005 Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation
- 2005 New Zealand's first civil union takes place
- 2006 NFL Draft: North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams first pick from Houston Texans
- 2007 2nd Republic protest in support of state secularism held in Istanbul, Turkey
- 2012 International Chemical Weapons Convention deadline for chemical weapon stockpiles comes into effect
- 2013 7 people are killed after a Boeing 747 crashes in Bagram, Afghanistan
- 2015 Indonesia executes 8 prisoners, including 7 foreigners, for drug offences at Besi Prison on the island of Nusakambangan
- 2015 German Measles is declared eradicated from North and South America - 1st world region to do so
- 2016 Iranian run-off elections give moderates and reforms a majority in parliament
- 2016 "H.O.L.Y" single released by Florida Georgia Line (Billboard Song of the Year, 2016)
- 2017 3 tornadoes hit south east of Dallas, Texas, killing 5
- 2018 UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigns amid immigration scandal involving the Windrush generation
- 2018 Sweden's official Twitter account confirms Swedish meatballs actually originated in Turkey
Sports History
2018 Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal equals his Open-era record for most wins at the same event (11 Monte Carlo) with his 11th Barcelona ATP title
Film & TV History
2018 Animated series "The Simpsons" surpasses 635-episode count of "Gunsmoke"'; highest number of episodes of any series on TV
- 2019 Indonesia is plans to relocate its capital from Jakarta due to the city sinking, according to a government minister
- 2019 Over 300 people declared to have died through overwork in Indonesia's one-day election on April 17th, with over 2,000 fallen sick
- 2019 Over 700 people infected with measles in the US, highest number for 25 years
- 2019 Sports Illustrated features a Muslim model, Halima Aden, in a Burkini for the first time in their swimsuit edition
- 2019 Islamic State releases video showing leader Bakr al-Baghdadi for first time in five years
- 2020 A mile-wide asteroid named 1998 OR2 passes within 3.9 million miles of Earth
- 2020 US GDP falls 4.8% for the financial quarter, officially ending the country's growth streak. Worst contraction since 2008.
- 2020 UK official death toll reaches 26,000 deaths from COVID-19 as care home and community deaths included
- 2020 Fire at an Icheon warehouse, South Korea, kills 38
- 2021 Brazil's official COVID-19 death toll passes 400,000, with daily fatalities at 3,000, down from 4,000
- 2021 World's longest pedestrian bridge at 516 metres (1,700 feet) opens inside northern Portugal's Arouca Geopark
