May 14
1264 The English Barons under Simon de Montfort defeat Henry III at the Battle of Lewes. "...Montfort and his faction were fed up with years of poor government and profligate spending by the king. They fiercely objected to Henry's reliance on foreign advisors and friends, and his refusal to abide by the Magna Carta. Montfort was one of those rare men who seems to have been motivated, not by greed or personal ambition, but by a genuine desire to make a better society. In 1258 the barons forced Henry to sign The Provisions of Oxford, which established the principles of government by council rather than by royal whim alone. The king repudiated the Provisions in 1261, and civil war was almost inevitable. Montfort drew up his men in a commanding position on Offham Hill. The battle began badly for the rebels. The royal cavalry under Prince Edward routed the Londoners on Montforts left flank, but the inexperienced Edward allowed his men to pursue the Londoners far from the field, thus throwing away any chance of turning the initial gain into victory. In fact, Edward and his men chased their foe for so long that they did not return to the battlefield until the fight was over..."
1590 Battle at Ivry: The French King Henri IV defeats the Catholic League.
1610 Death: Henry IV of France, assassinated.
1643 Louis XIV becomes King of France at the age of four years 231 days, upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. He will reign for more than 72 years and became known as 'The Sun King' of France.
1702 England and Netherlands declare war on France and Spain.
1702 Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Warsaw.
1727 Birth: Thomas Gainsborough, artist.
1771 Birth: Robert Owen, Scottish reformer.
1772 Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England.
1787 Delegates begin gathering in Philadelphia to draw up the US Constitution.
1796 Dr. Edward Jenner gives the first vaccination for smallpox in England to a healthy 8-year-old boy; the treatment is successful.
1804 One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. "In May 1804, as Lewis and Clark were about to move west along the Missouri River, President Thomas Jefferson wrote, "We shall delineate with correctness the great arteries of this great country: those who come after us will fill up the canvas we begin." While Jefferson directed Lewis and Clark to gather information about the people, animals, and plants of the West, one of his main objectives was to chart the territory, hoping to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean. In his instructions to Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson writes, "Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations of latitude and longitude at all remarkable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter." Even before becoming president in 1801, Jefferson had dreamed of probing the uncharted West for many years. He was involved in several expeditions sent to find a water passage to the west coast of North America, but they were unsuccessful. Yet, these attempts gave Jefferson experience in exploration, providing a basis for his future pursuits of mapping unknown land. Jefferson's presidency gave him the necessary resources to seriously consider exploration of the West. In his first inaugural address, he saw "A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye." Less than two years later, on January 18, 1803, Jefferson followed through with his vision, requesting $2,500 from Congress for the Corps of Discovery, which became known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition..."
1811 Paraguay proclaims independence from Spain.
1844 Samuel Morse transmits the first message on the US telegraph in Morse code.
1862 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents the chronograph; a timepiece that allows for split-second timing of sporting events.
1897 A statue of George Washington is unveiled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To commemorate the occasion, John Philip Sousa's march, The Stars and Stripes Forever is performed. It is the first public performance for Sousa's march and the President of the US, William McKinley is in the audience.
1897 By treaty with Ethiopia, Britain abandons certain claims in Somaliland but Emperor Menelek refuses to surrender his claims to lands near the Nile.
1904 The Third Olympiad of the modern era, and the first Olympic Games to be held in the United States, opens in St. Louis, Missouri. The 1904 Games were actually initially awarded to Chicago, Illinois, but are later given to St. Louis to be staged in connection with the St. Louis World Exposition. Like the Second Olympiad, held in Paris in 1900, the St. Louis Games are poorly organized and overshadowed by the world's fair. There are few entrants other than Americans in the various events, and, expectedly, US athletes win a majority of the competitions (21 events) and the unofficial team championship. Twenty years later, the first truly successful Olympic Games will be held in Paris, and since then, with increasing popularity, the games have been held in various cities around the globe.
1913 John D. Rockefeller makes the largest gift of money to this date by establishing the Rockefeller Foundation for $100,000,000. The foundation promotes 'the well-being of mankind throughout the world.'
1917 WW1: A coalition government is established in Russia that includes several moderate socialists in addition to Aleksandr Kerensky, who had been in the cabinet from the beginning. The participation of such socialists in a government that continues to prosecute the war and fails to implement basic reforms, however, only serves to identify their parties -- the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and others -- with government failure.
1918 WW1: 50,000 well-equipped troops from the Czechoslak Corps deploy along the Trans-Siberian railway, and soon seize several key cities on the Volga and in Siberia. (Polyakov)
1921 The British Legion is founded in London by Earl Haig. It will become the Royal British Legion in 1971.
1921 Mussolini's Italian fascists obtain 29 parliament seats.
1935 A plebiscite in the Philippines ratifies the independence agreement.
1935 A Swiss court, after almost two years of testimony and deliberations, rules that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are a forgery and demoralizing literature. (See June 26, 1933 and November 1, 1937)
1937 Holocaust: German Jews are forbidden to play music by Beethoven or Mozart during Jewish cultural concerts.
1940 WW2: The Nazis bomb Rotterdam, leaving 600-900 dead, as the Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
1945 WW2: A Kamikaze-Zero strikes the US aircraft carrier Enterprise.
1945 WW2: During a US offensive on Okinawa, Wana Ridge is attacked. "...On 14 May the 1st Battalion relieved the 2d Battalion, which had been in the attack for four days. On the next day the 1st Battalion consolidated ground already taken, and artillery, naval guns, and air strikes were directed against Japanese defenses on Shuri Heights. Wana Ridge was the next objective of the 1st Marine Division elements on the high ground. Operations against the ridge were to be coordinated with the fighting around Wana Draw. The 1st Marines Advances on the Right While the 7th Marines fought for Dakeshi Ridge during 10-13 May, the 1st Marines moved south along the rolling ground below Shuri Heights. After capturing Hill 60 on 9 May, the 1st Marines found its zone of action sloping downward and exposed to enemy observation and fire from Shuri Heights and from Hill 55, which was just below Wana Draw. Immediately before the regiment lay the low basin drained by the Asa River. On the marines' right the railroad from Naha ran along an embankment. When the 1st Marines attempted to push past the western nose of Dakeshi Ridge on 10 and 11 May, fire from Shuri Heights was so severe that the advance stalled. Consequently the attack was reoriented, and the marines, giving Dakeshi Ridge a wide berth, advanced west of the railroad. Here the 1st Marines made good progress in coordination with the 6th Marine Division. The farther the troops advanced on the right, however, the greater was the difficulty in supplying the forward elements; all routes of approach were under fire. Japanese artillery shelled the area between Dakeshi Ridge and the railroad. On is May it was necessary to use air drops, but these were only partially successful because some of the parachutes drifted into areas under enemy fire. The attack of the 1st Marines on 13 May was coordinated with the moves of the 7th Marines on Dakeshi Ridge. Artillery, naval guns, mortars, and 37-mm. guns pounded the areas in front of the marines. By noon the 3d Battalion was near Hill 55. This hill, forming part of the south wall of Wana Draw, presented to the marines a steep incline. Its defenses were well integrated with those of Wana Ridge and Draw. One company, supported by tanks, assaulted Hill 55 during the afternoon but was hit by heavy fire from the heights. Japanese machine guns, mortars, and 20-MM. automatic guns forced the company to withdraw under a smoke screen. The plan for 14 May was an attack on Wana Ridge in coordination with the 7th Marines. Wana Ridge formed the northern wall of Wana Draw. The ridge, a long coral spine running out of the northern part of Shuri, was lined on both sides with fortified tombs, many of which looked out on the low ground..."
1948 As the British mandate in Palestine comes to an end, a Jewish provisional government is formed in Israel with Chaim Weizmann as president and David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister: The first Jewish state since biblical times.
1948 Three-year-old June Devaney, recovering from pneumonia at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, England, is kidnapped from her bed. Nurses discover her missing at 1:20 am the next day, and police are immediately summoned to investigate. Two hours later, her body is found with multiple skull fractures. The medical examiner determines that Devaney had been raped and then swung headfirst into a wall. Two significant clues are found in the children's ward that will prove helpful in catching the killer: footprints on the freshly cleaned floor and a water bottle that had been moved. Although there are several fingerprints on the bottle, police are able to account for all but one set. These prints also fail to match any of those in the police's database of known criminals. Investigators fingerprint over 2,000 people who had access to the hospital. Still, they can't find a match. Detective Inspector John Capstick then goes even further: He decides that every man in the town of Blackburn, a city with more than 25,000 homes, will be fingerprinted. The plan goes into effect in Blackburn on 23 May, with police assurances that the collected prints will be destroyed afterward. Two months later, the police will have collected over 40,000 sets of prints, but will still not turn up a match. Checking against every registry they can find, authorities will determine that there are still a few men in town who haven't provided their prints. On 11 August, police will catch up with one of these men, Peter Griffiths. His footprints match the ones found at the scene. When his fingerprints also come back a match, he confesses to the awful crime, blaming it on alcohol. Griffiths will be found guilty of murder and executed on 19 November 1948. Note: A procedure such as this, taking evidence from every citizen of a locale, would be impossible in the United States where Fourth Amendment protections prevent searches without probable cause.
1949 President Harry S. Truman signs a bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral.
1955 Representatives from the USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania, sign the Warsaw Pact in Poland.
1960 The USSR launches its first unmanned space capsule.
1961 A bus with the first group of Freedom Riders is bombed and burned in Alabama.
1963 Kuwait becomes the 111th member of the UN.
1973 The United States launches Skylab I, its first manned space station.
1974 Police trap members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in a Los Angeles house. The SLA is decimated but Patty Hearst, whom they had abducted, disappears for 18 months.
1975 US forces raid the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recapture the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members are released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 US servicemen are killed in the military operation.
1980 President Jimmy Carter inaugurates the Department of Health and Human Services.
1985 The first McDonald's restaurant, in Des Plaines, Illinois, becomes the first museum of the fast-food business.
1985 Eccentric pop icon Michael Jackson receives a humanitarian award from US President Ronald Reagan at the White House.
1986 The Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary. Note: This version, presumably, still lacks the three pages dealing with her adolescent sex musings removed by her father, but is otherwise complete.
1989 A demonstration for democratic reforms picks up speed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
1990 In separate decrees, Soviet President Gorbachev declares that the republics of Estonia and Latvia have no legal basis for moving toward independence.
1991 President George H. Bush nominates Robert M. Gates for director of the CIA, a position he was denied four years earlier due to the Iran-Contra investigation.
1997 Russia and the NATO nations agree on a treaty that clears the way for NATO expansion to the east.
1998 A federal judge dismisses involuntary manslaughter charges against a former FBI agent in connection with the 1992 deadly shooting at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
1999 President Bill Clinton expresses hope that the US and China can repair the damage to their relations since the US bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
2000 A group of 139 UN personnel held by rebels in Sierra Leone are released.
2000 Saudi Arabia's first skyscraper is officially opened in the capital, Riyadh. At 267m high, the gently curving profile of the Faisaliah tower is visible from almost anywhere in the city of four million. From a distance, the British-designed tower resembles the nib of a fountain pen. It took three years to complete, and uses some unusual methods of combating the desert heat of more than 50°C (120°F).
2000 Million Mom March: Hundreds of thousands of mothers and other gun control advocates march in Washington and several other cities, demanding 'sensible' gun laws and mourning the loss of children to gun violence.
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