May 1 in History

Historical Events on May 1

1862 American Civil War: The Union Army completes its capture of New Orleans.

1941 World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.

1960 Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1961 The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1987 Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1995 Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.

2003 Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

2004 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2011 Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

All Events

Famous Birthdays on May 1

1769 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

1967 Tim McGraw

1981 Wes Welker

1987 Leonardo Bonucci

All Births

Famous Deaths on May 1

1873 David Livingstone

1945 Joseph Goebbels

1978 Aram Khachaturian

1994 Ayrton Senna

All Deaths

Choose Another Date