May 16 in History

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Historical Events on May 16

218

Julia Maesa, aunt of the assassinated Caracalla, is banished to her home in Syria by self-proclaimed emperor Macrinus. She declares her 14-year-old grandson Elagabalus to be emperor of Rome. Macrinus is later deposed.
946

Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
1204

Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
1527

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
1532

Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
1584

Santiago de Vera becomes sixth Governor-General of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
1770

A 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
1771

The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
1811

Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
1812

Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. Bessarabia is annexed by Imperial Russia.
1822

Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
1834

The Battle of Asseiceira is fought, the last and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.
1843

The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
1866

The United States Congress establishes the nickel.
1868

United States President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
1874

A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
1888

Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.
1891

The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world's first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).
1916

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.
1918

The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.
1919

A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
1920

In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
1929

In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.
1943

The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
1951

The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
1959

The Triton Fountain is inaugurated in Valletta, Malta.
1960

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1961

Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
1966

The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1969

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.
1974

Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.
1983

Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.
1988

A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
1991

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
1997

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
2003

In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
2005

Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.
2011

STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.
2014

Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.

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