On This Day in History for May 15

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 186

• 756 Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova, Spain
• 884 Marinus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

• 1004 Henry II the Saint crowned King of Italy

• 1248 Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden lays cornerstone for Cologne Cathedral
• 1252 Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition
• 1492 Cheese & Bread rebellion: German mercenaries kill 232 residents of Alkmaar, Netherlands
• 1514 Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo's Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version
• 1525 The battle of Frankenhausen: German peasant army surrounded, 5,000 slaughtered ; ends the peasants' uprising

• 1572 Louis van Nassau & huguenots occupy Valenciennes
• 1602 Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold

• 1625 16 rebellious farmers hanged in Vocklamarkt, Upper-Austria
• 1648 Treaty of Munster ratified by Spain & Netherlands


• 1665 Pope Alexander VII appoints committee to investigate Jansenism
• 1672 1st copyright law enacted by Massachusetts
• 1701 The War of the Spanish Succession begins

• 1718 James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents world's 1st machine gun

• 1793 Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 metres", at a height of 5-6 metres, one of the first attempted flights
• 1796 France & Sardinia sign Peace treaty of Paris

• 1817 Ambonese uprising against Dutch authority (modern Indonesia), under Thomas Matulesia (aka Kapitan Pattimura)
• 1817 First private mental health hospital opens in the US, Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• 1836 Francis Baily observes "Baily's Beads" during annular solar eclipse
• 1849 Philadelphia Turngemeinde founded
• 1851 King Mongkut [Rama IV or Phra Chomklao Chaoyuhua] crowned in Siam (Thailand)
• 1856 2nd San Francisco Vigilance Committee organized
• 1862 -May 17] Battle of Princeton West Virginia
• 1862 Battle of Drewry's Bluff (Fort Darling), Virginia


• 1862 Confederate ship Alabama launched as the Enrica at Birkenhead, England, where she had been built in secret
• 1862 US Department of Agriculture created
• 1862 Major Gen Benjamin F Butler issues order (New Orleans) that confederate women abusing union soldiers be treated as whores

• 1864 Battle of New Market, Virginia
• 1864 Skirmish at Marksville (Avoyelles) (Red River Campaign)
• 1868 Dutch government of Zuylen van Nijevelt falls

• 1882 May Laws-Tsar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania
• 1883 Italy signs military treaty with Austria-Hungary & Germany
• 1885 Canadian Métis insurgent Louis Reil captured in the aftermath of the Battle of Batoche in Saskatchewan

• 1891 British Central African Protectorate (now Malawi) forms
• 1891 Operations begin at Philips & Co in Holland

• 1896 Tornado kills 78 in Texas
• 1897 The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.

• 1902 Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft
• 1902 "Bailundo Revolt" begins after Ovimbundu kingdom & allies revolt against Portuguese Empire in Benguela Highlands, central Portuguese Angola
• 1905 Las Vegas founded in Nevada
• 1905 Pierre de Brazza reaches Leopoldville
• 1908 Reich Association Law comes into force
• 1910 The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone
• 1911 British House of Commons accept Parliament Bill
• 1911 Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Indiana University, incorporates
• 1911 Supreme Court dissolves Standard Oil (Sherman Antitrust Act)
• 1911 The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece
• 1914 Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1914 US Colonel Edward House sails for Europe to persuade major powers to reduce armies and navies; from Germany, House reports: 'Everybody's nerves are tense; it only needs a spark to set the whole thing off'
• 1916 Asiago, Italy, falls when Austrian troops attack the Italian front
• 1916 Claiming that the USA must act to quell dangerous disorder, the government orders US Marines to land in Santo Domingo; the American occupation will continue until 1924
• 1917 The first officer's training camp is opened in the US, as the country prepares for war
• 1918 1st regular US airmail postal service between NY, Philadelphia & Washington, D.C.
• 1918 Greeks troops land at Smyrna
• 1918 The Finnish Civil War ends
• 1921 British Legion formed to care for ex-servicemen
• 1922 Germany turns over the Upper Silesia region to Poland under Allied pressure and despite a plebiscite in favor of merging with Germany
• 1923 Cooperation of Dutch Molen forms
• 1929 Fire in X-ray film stock kills 125 at Crile Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio)
• 1930 Ellen Church becomes 1st female airline stewardess aboard a United flight from San Francisco to Cheyenne

• 1932 The 15th May Incident: in an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed
• 1933 1st voice amplification system to be used in US Senate
• 1934 US Department of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive
• 1934 Karlis Ulmanis names himself fascist dictator of Latvia
• 1935 The Moscow Metro is opened to public

• 1938 Paul-Henri Spak forms red coalition of Belgium
• 1940 German armoured division moves into Northern France
• 1940 German troops occupy Amsterdam, General Winkelman surrenders
• 1940 Nazis capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP)
• 1940 USS Sailfish (SS-192) recommissioned, originally the Squalus
• 1940 Richard and Maurice McDonald open the 1st McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino, California
• 1941 1st British turbojet flies
• 1941 British attack Halfaya-pass & Fort Capuzzo in Egypt and Libya
• 1942 Gasoline 1st rationed in US (17 Eastern States)
• 1942 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands arrest 2,000 Dutch officers
• 1943 Halifax bombers sinks U-463

• 1944 Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of Patriarch Throne
• 1945 World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia

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Birthdays in History

• 1565 Henrick de Keyser, architect/master builder of Amsterdam
• 1608 René Goupil, French Catholic missionary (Canadian Martyrs) (d. 1642)
• 1689 Mary Wortley Montagu, English essayist, feminist, eccentric (baptism 26 May)
• 1720 Maximilian Hell, Slovakian astronomer (d. 1792)
• 1749 Levi Lincoln, Sr., American revolutionary, statesman, politician, and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1820)
• 1773 Clemens L Metternich, Austrian prince
• 1786 General Dimitris Plapoutas, a Revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence (d. 1864)
• 1791 Baron Floris A van Hall, Dutch minister of Justice/Finance
• 1802 Isaac Ridgeway Trimble, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1888)
• 1810 Jacob Thompson, (Confederacy), (d. 1885)
• 1817 Debendranath Tagore, Indian religious reformer (d. 1905)
• 1819 Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, American lawyer, politician, and Major General (Union Army), born in Russellville, Kentucky (d. 1893)
• 1830 Laurence Simmons Baker, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1907)
• 1830 Martinus W van der Aa, author/Dutch head-editor (The Time)
• 1845 Ilya Mechnikov, Russian zoologist and bacteriologist known as the "father of natural immunity" (Nobel 1908), born in Ivanovka, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire
• 1848 Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (d. 1926)
• 1855 Eduard von Keyserling, Baltic German writer (Dritte Stiege)
• 1856 Lyman Frank Baum, American children's book author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), born in Chittenango, New York (d. 1919)
• 1857 Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (d. 1911)
• 1859 Pierre Curie, French physicist (Nobel 1903) and husband of Marie Curie, born in Paris, France (d. 1906)
• 1860 Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, 1st wife of US President Woodrow Wilson
• 1862 Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian playwright/novelist (La Ronde)
• 1865 Albert Verwey, Dutch poet/literature historian (Motion)
• 1880 Otto Dibelius, German theologist/bishop (Confessional Church)
• 1888 Jean Wahl, French philosopher
• 1889 Bessie Hillman, founder (Almalgamated Clothing Workers of America)
• 1890 Katherine Anne Porter, American novelist (Ship of Fools)
• 1891 David Vogel, Russian-born Hebrew writer (Huwelijksleven), born in Satanov, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
• 1891 Fritz Feigl, Austrian Brazilian chemist (spot tests), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1971)
• 1891 Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian playwright and novelist (The Master and Margarita, Black Snow), born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1940)
• 1893 Stanley Lupino, English comic (Cheer Up, Over She Goes), born in London (d. 1942)
• 1895 Charles Lamont, director (Abbott & Costello Go to Mars), born in San Francisco, California
• 1895 William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (d. 1941)
• 1899 Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
• 1901 Xavier Herbert, Australian author (d. 1984)
• 1902 Richard J Daley, American politician (38th Mayor-Chicago-D:1955-76), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1976)
• 1903 Maria Reiche, German-born mathematician and archaeologist (d. 1998)
• 1907 Phillip Piratin, communist
• 1907 Sukhdev Thapar, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
• 1911 Max Frisch, Swiss architect/writer (Stiller, Biedermann)
• 1911 Herta Oberheuser, Nazi doctor (d. 1978)
• 1912 Alexis Kagame, Rwanda, priest/writer
• 1914 Jack Pepys, immunologist
• 1915 Paul A Samuelson, economist (1970 Nobel, 1947 John Bates Clark Medal)
• 1920 Hugh Henry Home Popham, aviator/writer/poet
• 1922 Enrico Berlinguer, Italian communist/Secretary-General (CPI) [or May 25]
• 1922 Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
• 1922 Selma Engel [Saartje Wijnberg], Dutch born Jew, the first to tell of Nazi Sobibor extermination camp, born in Groningen, the Netherlands (d. 2018)
• 1923 Richard Avedon, American photographer (1957 ASMP award)
• 1924 Jaime Garcia Terre, poet/essayist
• 1924 Maria Koepcke, German ornithologist (d. 1971)
• 1925 Jos Jacobs, Flemish director (Madonna of Nedermunster)
• 1925 Mary Lyon, English geneticist (X-chromosome inactivation), born in Norwich, Norfolk (d. 2014)
• 1926 Anthony Shaffer, Engish playwright (Sleuth), twin brother to Peter, born in Liverpool (d. 2001)

• 1929 Frank Evans Heart, American computer engineer (worked on first routing computer for ARPANET, the Internet's predecessor), born in the Bronx, New York (d. 2018)
• 1930 Jasper Johns, painter/sculptor (Green Target), born in Augusta, Georgia
• 1931 F Korthals Altes, Dutch minister of Justice (VVD)
• 1934 David Robin Francis Guy Greville, 8th Duke of Warwick
• 1936 Donald [Anthony] Moffitt, American sci-fi author (Jupiter Theft)
• 1936 Paul Zindel, playwright (Effects of Gamma Rays on Marigolds)
• 1936 Wavy Gravy, American clown and activist
• 1936 Ralph Steadman, British cartoonist
• 1937 Madeleine Albright, American politician and diplomat and 1st female U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia
• 1939 Brian Hartley, British mathematician (group theory) (d. 1994)
• 1940 Roger Ailes, American TV executive and CEO of Fox News (1996-2016), born in Warren, Ohio (d. 2017)
• 1942 Anthony Wayne England, PhD/astronaut (STS 51-F), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
• 1942 Doug Lowe, 35th Premier of Tasmania
• 1944 Bill Alter, Missouri State Senator
• 1945 Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portuguese crown
• 1949 Frank L Culbertson Jr, Cmdr USN/astro (STS-38), born in Charleston, South Carolina
• 1951 Frank Wilczek, American Physicist (2004 Nobel Prize), born in Mineola, New York
• 1952 David Brandon, American businessman (Toys "R" Us, Domino's Pizza), born in Dearborn, Michigan
• 1954 Robert P. Harrison, American thinker
• 1957 Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)
• 1963 George Heidweiler, Suriname, Dutch painter
• 1968 Cecilia Malmström, Swedish politician

Weddings in History

• 1996 Auto racing champ-turned-TV commentator Danny Sullivan (46) weds former Manhattan financial planner Brenda Bosveld (33) in Monte Carlo, Monaco
• 2009 Former Bachelorette star Jen Schefft (32) weds Chicago's public relations executive Joe Waterman (35) at the Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia in Chicago, Illinois

Deaths in History

• 392 Valentinianus II, emperor of Rome (375-392), murdered at 21
• 884 Marinus I [Martinus II], Pope (882-84), dies
• 913 Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz
• 1036 Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan, 68th Emperor of Japan (1016-36), dies at 27
• 1157 Yury Dolgoruky, Russian prince
• 1174 Nur ad-Din, King of Syria (1146-1174), dies at 56
• 1381 Eppelein von Gailingen, German robber baron
• 1482 Paolo Toscanelli, Italian physician & mapmaker, dies
• 1585 Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1535)
• 1591 Dmitry Ivanovitch, youngest son of Russian Tsar Ivan IV, murdered at 8
• 1621 Henrick de Keyser, Amsterdam's master builder, dies at 56
• 1622 Peter Plancius, Flemish vicar/cartographer, dies at about 69
• 1634 Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
• 1685 Henri Otto, Spanish marquis of Caretto/Savona/Grana, dies
• 1699 Edward Petre, English Jesuit and privy councilor (b. 1631)
• 1714 Roger Elliott, British general and Governor of Gibraltar
• 1740 Ephraim Chambers, English encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
• 1760 Alaungpaya, King of Burma (b. 1711)
• 1761 Jacob Mossel, Dutch Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1750-61), dies at 56
• 1773 Alban Butler, English Catholic priest and writer, dies at 62
• 1782 Richard Wilson, Welsh landscape painter, dies at 67
• 1801 Louis C count Barbiano de Belgioioso, Austrian diplomat, dies at 73
• 1842 Emanuel A D M J count de las Cases, French historian (Napoleon), dies at 76
• 1845 Samuel I Wiselius, Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer, dies at 76
• 1852 Louisa Adams, US First Lady (1825-29), dies at 77
• 1855 Jan Mazereeuw, Frisian farmer/sect leader, dies at 75
• 1873 Alexander J Cuza, monarch of Moldavia/Romania, dies at 53
• 1879 Gottfried Semper, German architect (b. 1803)

• 1889 Alfred Potocki, premier Austrian/governor/viceroy of Galicia, dies
• 1892 Arthur Hodister, British ivory seller (Heart of Darkness), murdered
• 1895 Joseph Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker's Almanack), dies at 75
• 1899 Francisque Sarcey, French writer (Le Temps), dies at 70
• 1924 Paul Henri Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and pacifist (Nobel 1909), dies at 71
• 1926 Mohammed VI Vahideddin, last sultan of Turkey (1918-22), dies
• 1932 Ki Inukai, premier Japan (1931-32), murdered
• 1935 Kazimir Malevich, Polish/Ukrainian artist (b. 1878)
• 1937 Phillip Snowden, British politician first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, dies at 72
• 1940 Joseph Limburg, Dutch lawyer and politician, dies at 73
• 1940 Willem Adriaan Bonger, Dutch criminologist (Race & Crime), suicide at 63
• 1945 Major Courtney, US medal of honor marine, dies in battle of Sugar Loaf
• 1945 Charles Williams, British poet and writer, dies at 58
• 1948 Edward Flanagan, American priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
• 1954 William March, American writer (Company K), dies at 60
• 1956 Austin Osman Spare, English magician (b. 1886)
• 1958 Michael G the Boer, historian (Harbor of Amsterdam), dies at 91
• 1964 Cornelis H Edelman, Dutch geologist, dies at 61
• 1964 Vladko Maček, Kingdom of Yugoslavia deputy prime minister (b. 1879)
• 1965 Adrian Schoevers, Dutch director (Schoevers Institution), dies
• 1967 Edward Hopper, American painter (House by Railroad), dies at 84
• 1971 Donald F. Duncan Sr., American entrepreneur (Duncan Toys Company), dies at 78
• 1973 Willem Huibert Rassers, Dutch cultural anthropologist (Pandji), dies at 95
• 1974 Guy Simonds, Canadian army, youngest General officer, dies at 71
• 1976 Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea), dies at 88
• 1977 Modibo Keïta, 1st President of Mali (1960-68), dies at 61

• 1983 James Van Der Zee, African-American photographer, dies at 96
• 1984 Lionel Charles Robbins, British economist, dies at 85
• 1984 Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
• 1986 Theodore H. White, American journalist (Making of President, Pulitzer Prize1962), dies at 71
• 1987 John Baur, American museum director and author (American Paintings in 19th Century), dies at 78
• 1991 Andreas Floer, German mathematician (Floer homology), dies at 34
• 1992 Robert Morris Page, US physicist (radar), dies at 88
• 1993 Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
• 1994 [Henry] John Baker, resistance fighter/journalist (Slogan), dies at 79
• 1996 Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
• 1996 Claus Bremer, German dramatist, dies at 71
• 1998 John Hawkes, American writer (2nd Skin), dies at 72
• 2003 George Francis, British gangster (b. 1940)
• 2005 Alan B. Gold, Quebec Chief Justice (b. 1917)
• 2007 Jerry Falwell, American TV evangelist, founder of Liberty University, dies at 73
• 2008 Willis Lamb, American physicist (Nobel 1955), dies at 94
• 2010 Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli Bible scholar, dies at 81
• 2012 Carlos Fuentes, Mexican author (The Death of Artemio Cruz), dies from a haemorrhage at 83
• 2012 Jean Craighead George, American writer (Julie of the Wolves), dies at 92
• 2014 Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian Prime Minister (1992-99), dies from a fall at 73
• 2017 Ian Brady [Ian Duncan Stewart], British serial killer (Moors Murders), dies in prison at 79