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May 15 in History

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Historical Events on May 15

495 BC

A newly constructed temple in honour of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills. To spite the senate and the consuls, the people awarded the dedication to a senior military officer, Marcus Laetorius.
221

Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.
392

Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.
589

King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.
908

The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire by Patriarch Euthymius I at Constantinople.
1252

Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1525

Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
1536

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
1567

Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1618

Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1648

The Treaty of Westphalia is signed.
1718

James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1730

Robert Walpole effectively became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1776

American Revolution: The Fifth Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1791

French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
1792

War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
1793

Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights.
1796

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800

King George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.
1811

Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817

Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
1836

Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
1848

Serfdom is abolished in the Habsburg Galicia, as a result of the 1848 revolutions. The rest of monarchy followed later in the year.
1849

Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
1850

The Bloody Island massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry.
1850

The Arana-Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.
1851

The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
1858

Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1862

President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864

American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1867

Canadian Bank of Commerce opens for business in Toronto. The bank would later merge with Imperial Bank of Canada to become what is CIBC in 1961.
1869

Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
1891

Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
1904

Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthur and sinks Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima.
1905

Las Vegas is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1911

In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1911

More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.
1919

The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.
1919

Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.
1925

Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, is founded.
1928

Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, "Plane Crazy".
1929

A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1932

In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is assassinated.
1933

All military aviation organizations within, or under the control of, the RLM of Germany were officially merged in a covert manner, to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.
1934

Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
1940

USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.
1940

World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1940

McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1941

First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
1941

Joe DiMaggio begins a 56-game hitting streak.
1942

World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1943

Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
1945

World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948

Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1957

At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
1958

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963

Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.
1966

After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam's ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command.
1969

People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by the University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot.
1970

President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army generals.
1970

Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1972

Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, hand over to Japanese control.
1972

In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become President.
1974

Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
1987

The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
1988

Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
1991

Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier.
1997

The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
2004

Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C with the right to claim the title The Invincibles
2008

California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
2010

Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
2013

An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.

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