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May 2 in History
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Historical Events on May 2
1194
King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
1230
William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
1335
Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
1536
Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
1559
John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
1568
Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
1611
The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
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.
1672
John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
1808
Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes 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.
1816
Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
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 reconnoitering 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 Bulgaria.
1879
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
1885
Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
1885
The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.
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.
1918
General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
1920
The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
1933
Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
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: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.
1945
World War II: Italian Campaign: General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.
1945
World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
1945
World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border[1] is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.[2]
1952
The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
1955
Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
1963
Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
1964
Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. A North Vietnamese frogman had placed a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
1964
First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
1969
The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
1972
In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.
1982
Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
1986
Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.
1989
Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
1994
A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
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.
1998
The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
1999
Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
2000
President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
2004
The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.
2008
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
2008
Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
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.
2011
An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
2011
The 41st Canadian federal election is held, in which the governing Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, increases their number of seats from a minority to a majority.
2012
A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
2014
Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.
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